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1332 150. The development of the Nordic languages from the mid-16th century to the end of the 18th century: Sociolinguistic aspects 1. Swedish - it must reasonably be assumed- to a varying 2. Danish and Norwegian degree also in speech. It had been transformed 3. Icelandic and Faroese from a synthetic classical Germanic tongue 4. Literature (a selection) into a more modem, analytic language. It was also strongly coloured by Low German. The 1. Swedish more widespread the ability to read and write became, the more natura! it was that the old 1.1. The sociolinguistic situation around written norm, nurtured above all by the 1550 church, should be broken down and make way The Swedish language as it was around the for a modem language. It has traditionally middle of the 16th c., had undergone far­ been suggested that the impetus for the major reaching changes in terms ofvocabulary, mor­ changes affecting Swedish came from Ger- phology and, not least, syntax in writing and man. In the largest towns at least, and espe- 150. Sociolinguistic aspects 1333 cially the capital, bilingualism was no doubt we able to follow this variation through his- commonplace. German infiuence was clearly tory. However, from the beginning of the 17th in evidence in both public administration and c. onwards we do find samples of spoken dia- trade. Moberg (1989) has given an in-depth lects of Swedish in written texts. As for later account of the bilingualism of medieval Stock- periods, evidence of social differences in holm. She emphasizes that it must have been speech can be found in grammars, and also the result of intense day-to-day contact over in texts of an oral character, such as letters a long period, but that this was not a question and comedies, although sources of these types of a diglossic situation. Danish, too, exerted must be approached with a certain amount of a significant infiuence: in the late Middle Ages, caution. Obviously, we also need to reckon Sweden formed part of a union with Den- with the infiuence of one social class on an- mark-Norway, and a similar linguistic pattern other, or at any rate of higher classes on lower. prevailed in all three countries. At the macro level, the social development during this per- iod can be seen as an adjustment to the feudal 1.2. The sociolinguistic stratification conditions prevailing on the continent, with of spoken Swedish according to a powerful nobility and an infiuential urban Sven Hof merchant class, together with a reasonably To find a solid foundation for a study of so- well-educated clergy spread fairly widely cially determined linguistic differences, we across the country — three groups which stood must move on to the 18th c. Sven Hors Sven- out from the great mass of the peasantry. A ska språkets råtta skrivsått [On the correct clear linguistic marker of the social differences writing of the Swedish language] from 1753 was the use of the plural / instead of the sin- admittedly has as its primary aim the laying gular du as the form of address for persons down of authoritative rules on orthography, of higher rank. The common linguistic devel- but since it is Hors contention that correct opment of the Nordic countries came to an writing should be based on correct speech, his end for Sweden when it broke free from the discussion also brings him onto the subject of union in the 1520s. With the new Bible trans- variation in the spoken language and the so- lation of 1541, Sweden turned its back on the cial value of the different variants. Hof points Danish-infiuenced language of the union peri- out (§§117-122) that considerable linguistic od. It also laid a foundation for the linguistic variation exists in Sweden. Every province has unity of the country by providing much-need- its own mode of speech, which is rarely uni- ed guidance on orthography. form beyond a radius of a few tens of kilo- Beneath this relatively stable surface, how- metres. In addition to this regional diversity, ever, there must have been an immense there is also situational and social variation. breadth of variation in the spoken language. One difference is that existing between the lan- The modern Swedish that emerged in the final guage of the public and the private spheres. centuries of the Middle Ages cannot have been A typical feature of the speech variety of the in the repertoire of every Swede. Clearly it public sphere is that it preserves the old, longer must have been coloured to a greater or lesser forms of words which in private speech are degree by different regional substrates, which often abbreviated, giving rise to word pairs are also discernible in 0Sw. texts. It has long such as fader-far `father', eder-er `you, your', been held that, as early as the Middle Ages, hava-ha 'have' and sade-sa `said'. As Carin there were Swedish dialects which were rela- Ipstman (1992) shows, occasional instances of tively similar to those that would be recorded the shorter forms can be found even in texts at a much later date. Some modern-day rural from the Middle Ages, but it would be a long dialects exhibit features that are otherwise time before they were fully accepted in writing. known only from classical 0Sw., and which The spoken language of the private sphere en- sometimes are even older than that. It is al- compasses a good deal of variation, and Hof most inconceivable that a modern language divides it into two categories: umgångesspråk could have been superimposed on an archaic — a language of (polite or educated) conver- one without leaving traces in the form of social sation, used by the upper classes — and gemene differences. Presumably, therefore, a broad mans språk — the language of the common spectrum of spoken Swedish existed, with the man, used by the great mass of other Swedes. variety providing the basis for writing at one Thus, even in a single place, variations in end and a very archaic form of speech at the spoken language could occur. Hof describes other. Only to an extremely limited extent are the differences between the various styles of 1334 XIV. The development of the Nordic languages speech in some detail, quoting numerous could also assume another form in the lan- examples. In particular, he sheds light on the guage of conversation, -ena. According to relationship between Uppland speech and Wessen (1965, 200), this variant arose in the public speech (see especially §§ 336-345). 17th c. under the influence of the informal pro- Uppland speech, in the form used by the com- nunciation of the definite plural of non-neuter mon man or woman, is, he says, completely nouns. Innovations in educated colloquial out of place in the public sphere. The only speech were, in other words, able to compete form of it that is deemed acceptable is the successfully with developments in more for- variety used in more fashionable circles in mal language. As late as the beginning of the Stockholm and the neighbouring provinces. 20th c., a form such as husena 'the houses' (Roughly the same geographical demarcation could be identified as a "form of the future". had previously been proposed by Arvidi and Today, though, it is losing ground, displaced Columbus. See Widmark 1992, 165.) This by the old form husen, although it has gained higher variety of Uppland speech, according something of a foothold in the dialects. The to Hof, is the one that enjoys most prestige, language of polite conversation thus appears but as a rule its forms are still not accepted to have fought an at times successful, at times in the context of public speaking. The polite losing battle against the language of public conversational form ckihår `this', for example, speaking. To a certain extent it was also must be replaced in more demanding situ- adopted by the common people. Its downward ations with clatta. To Hof s way of thinking, diffusion must presumably have been medi- then, the norm-defining position of public ated primarily by the large servant class, and speech is virtually uncontested. A command above all in the towns. A linguistic infiuence of it also required a good command of the in the opposite direction would hardly have written language. According to Hof (§ 189), been natural. Ståhle suggests (1979, 210) that both sexes were generally able to read, and a the form solan 'the sun' may have been chosen good number of men and women could also as a hypercorrection of the dialectal sola. In write. In addition, he mentions (§ 338) that, the same way, although much later, husena among the well-read especially, the language may have declined in use because it had also of public speaking sometimes replaced the lan- become common among the broad masses of guage of conversation, a practice which he the people. When solen, husen finally also dis- views as unnatural. Thus, to Hof, a good mas- placed the forms found in aristocratic speech, tery of the language meant a firm grasp of both it was not because they actually existed to public speech and an educated language of some extent in the dialects, but rather because conversation. of the prestige associated with writing and Hof s categorization of the varieties of public speaking. Swedish makes it clear that we are concemed here with three different levels of speech, each of which must be described and taken into ac- 1.3. The language of polite conversation count if we wish to capture the changes oc- As has already been indicated, Hof makes it curring in the language.

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