Minority languages and the language policy in the rural area of Baranya (Croatia) – A case study

Abstract: The paper explores the position of minority languages in Croatian primary schools in multi-lingual communities on the example of the village of Darda, situated in the Hungarian-Croatian border area. The research is based on a questionnaire developed by Professor Sture Ureland from the University Mannheim, Germany, within a broader research project on mi-nority languages in Europe. The questionnaire, consisting of 43 questions, was conducted on the sample of 53 pupils taking part in the minority language education programme of the pri-mary school of Darda, a multilingual community 10 km away from Osijek. The sample in-cludes primary school children belonging mostly to three national minorities: the Serbian, the Hungarian and the Romany. In the first part of the paper the author describes the language policy of the Republic of Croatia with specific reference to minority languages. The main part is dedicated to the analysis of the results of the questionnaire concerning the usage of minority languages at school and in everyday communication by the respondents, as well as their atti-tudes towards their mother tongue on one hand and Croatian as the official language on the other. In the conclusion the author compares the results and, by using the example of multi-lingual community of the village of Darda, offers an overview of the position of minority lan-guages in the Hungarian-Croatian border area. The results will also indicate how the minority language policy is applied in Croatian primary schools and how it reflected on the ethnolin-guistic vitality of that specific multilingual community.