The Toponymic Competence: A Case Study in the Hungarian Settlement Tépe

The paper outlines the previous studies on toponymic competence in the Hungarian literature. After a brief introduction, the author analyses toponymic competence of four age groups (under 20 years, 21 to 40 years, 41 to 60 years and over 61 years) and the possible reasons (e.g. age, occupation, gender, personal interest) for differences between age groups and individuals. The investigation considers the toponymy of the small Hungarian settlement Tépe. Interviews with the inhabitants gave insights into how many place names are known by them, which names are stable and which ones are vanishing. The analysis finds that younger generations (people under 20 and between 21 and 40), on average, tend to forget place names, and that there are differences between the toponymic competence of the individuals in all age groups. The paper focuses on the methodological issues as well, such as what we exactly analyse when we study the toponymic competence, or the problem of the individually used names and the scope of the analyses.