Acta Academiae Beregsasiensis, Philologica 2025/1: 9–25. УДК 81’373.45:811.511.141 DOI 10.58423/2786-6726/2025-1-9-25 Krisztián Váradi, Anna Lehocki-Samardžić The Word of the Week – A dissemination project of pluricentric Hungarian 1. Introduction After the Treaty of Trianon in 1920, the borders of the Hungarian state were reorganized, and with some minor modifications, these newly emerged borders have remained largely unchanged to this day. The new political borders also meant that more than three million Hungarians found themselves outside the mother country. These communities still live in the border regions of Hungary’s neighbouring states, and the vast majority have preserved their Hungarian identity and native language dominance. Before the political transition of 1989, the language use of Hungarians beyond the borders was not given as much attention as it has been in the last three decades. Lanstyák (1998, p. 158) wrote before the turn of the millennium that Hungarian is a pluricentric language since it fulfils so-called ‘elevated functions’ in several countries of the Carpathian Basin. In other words, it is used in the spheres of state administration, education, mass communication, religious ceremonies, cultural life, and scientific research. Shortly thereafter, in 2001, the Termini Hungarian Language Research Network was established to unite Hungarian linguistic research institutions operating in neighbouring countries. On the tenth anniversary of its existence, the network outlined its mission in a separate volume: “…we should strive to ensure that the term Hungarian in connection with language (as well as culture, history, etc.) truly signifies Hungarian, and not merely something from Hungary!” (Benő–Péntek eds., 2011, p. 299). They launched their ‘debordering’ dictionary program, which aimed to document the unique lexical elements of Hungarian dialects spoken beyond Hungary’s borders, and to incorporate them into Hungarian dictionaries and reference books. This initiative replaced linguistic divergence with a policy of lexical convergence. The linguists of the Termini Hungarian Language Research Network advocated for the inclusion of lexical elements used on a daily basis by the members of Hungarian-speaking communities outside Hungary (which differ from the standard variety) alongside standard Hungarian lexemes in newly developed lexicographical works and dictionaries.