A critical sociolinguistic study of diasporization among Hungarians in Catalonia

This thesis investigates how contemporary diasporas evolve, how diasporization takes place under the conditions of late modernity, and how language features in this process. By diasporization, I refer to the process(es) in which diasporic groups emerge and individuals start to engage in certain diasporic practices, i.e., social practices that are associated with their ethnic or national origin or with their imagined homeland, or with boundary management in the host-land. The research was an ethnographically informed critical sociolinguistic study of first-generation Hungarians in Catalonia that drew on collaborative methodologies in order to include the emic perspectives of the participants. To capture these perspectives, the research combined many data generating techniques, such as ethnographic field notes, biographical interviews, online focus groups, collection of material evidence, and collaborative interpretation with the key participants in the research.