Detecting Discrimination How Group-Based Biases Shape Economic and Political Interactions: Five Empirical Contributions

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

Detecting Discrimination How Group-Based Biases Shape Economic and Political Interactions: Five Empirical Contributions Detecting Discrimination How Group-based Biases Shape Economic and Political Interactions: Five Empirical Contributions Malte Dahl [email protected] +45 6014 3755 Department of Political Science University of Copenhagen Denmark September 2019 This dissertation is presented for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Detecting Discrimination How Group-based Biases Shape Economic and Political Interactions: Five Empirical Contributions Malte Dahl [email protected] +45 6014 3755 Department of Political Science University of Copenhagen Denmark September 2019 This dissertation is presented for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy PhD Dissertation 2019 © Malte Dahl ISBN 978-87-7209-322-2 Printed by SL grafik, Frederiksberg, Denmark (slgrafik.dk) Detecting Discrimination How Group-based Biases Shape Economic and Political Interactions: Five Empirical Contributions Malte Dahl [email protected] +45 6014 3755 Department of Political Science University of Copenhagen Denmark September 2019 This dissertation is presented for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Preface Acknowledgements This is an article-based dissertation. It consists of a frame (chapters 1-4) and five This dissertation would not have been possible without the help and support of research articles. The research articles are self-contained. They answer individual colleagues, friends and family. A long list of people have contributed and improved research questions and each of the five articles can be read on their own. this dissertation immensely; any shortcomings that surely remain are my own. First of all, I am extremely grateful to Peter Thisted Dinesen, who supervised A Dahl, Malte & Krog, Niels (2018). ’Experimental evidence of discrimination in this project. Peter is not only a brilliant researcher, he is also the most generous and the labour market: Intersections between ethnicity, gender, and socio-economic supportive advisor that anyone could ask for. I greatly admire how he approaches status’ (Subsequently referred to as ’Intersections’) research with enormous intellectual curiosity, analytical talent and hard work. If God B Dahl, Malte (2019). ’Alike but different: How cultural distinctiveness shapes is in the details, Peter’s meticulous approach to all aspects of the research process immigrant-origin minorities’ access to the labour market’ (Subsequently re- serves as inspirational proof of this old idiom. Over the years, Peter has read and ferred to as ’Alike but different’) commented on countless drafts of the papers contained within this dissertation and his insightful ideas and feedback have improved the quality of my work substantially. C Dahl, Malte & Dinesen, Peter Thisted & Schioler, Mikkel (2019). ’Who is re- I am also thankful to my colleagues at the Department of Political Science, both sponsive? How electoral incentives and candidate selection shape ethnocentric former and present, for their inspiration, questions and criticisms. When I began my responsiveness’ (Subsequently referred to as ’Who is responsive?’) dissertation in 2016, I was fortunate to enter a stimulating and thriving community D Dahl, Malte & Nyrup, Jacob (2019). ’Candidate choice in a high-information of aspiring scholars working on various aspects of political behaviour. Martin Vinæs setting: Do ascriptive characteristics shape candidates’ electoral prospects?’ Larsen and Jens Olav Dahlgaard deserve special mention. As teachers, and later as (Subsequently referred to as ’Candidate choice’) colleagues, both sparked my interest in experiments, helped inspire the dissertation E Dahl, Malte (2019). ’Social desirability bias in conjoint experiments: What is and provided me aid and encouragement along the way. Other colleagues to whom the optimal design when studying sensitive topics?’ (Subsequently referred to I owe thanks include Jonas Hansen, Rasmus Tue Pedersen, Kasper Møller Hansen, as ’Social desirability’) Karina Kosiara-Pedersen, Frederik Hjorth, Mogens Jin Pedersen, Lene Holm Peder- sen and Asmus Leth Olsen. Too many others to name made an impact on my time at the department and I acknowledge them all. Acknowledgements This dissertation would not have been possible without the help and support of colleagues, friends and family. A long list of people have contributed and improved this dissertation immensely; any shortcomings that surely remain are my own. First of all, I am extremely grateful to Peter Thisted Dinesen, who supervised this project. Peter is not only a brilliant researcher, he is also the most generous and supportive advisor that anyone could ask for. I greatly admire how he approaches research with enormous intellectual curiosity, analytical talent and hard work. If God is in the details, Peter’s meticulous approach to all aspects of the research process serves as inspirational proof of this old idiom. Over the years, Peter has read and commented on countless drafts of the papers contained within this dissertation and his insightful ideas and feedback have improved the quality of my work substantially. I am also thankful to my colleagues at the Department of Political Science, both former and present, for their inspiration, questions and criticisms. When I began my dissertation in 2016, I was fortunate to enter a stimulating and thriving community of aspiring scholars working on various aspects of political behaviour. Martin Vinæs Larsen and Jens Olav Dahlgaard deserve special mention. As teachers, and later as colleagues, both sparked my interest in experiments, helped inspire the dissertation and provided me aid and encouragement along the way. Other colleagues to whom I owe thanks include Jonas Hansen, Rasmus Tue Pedersen, Kasper Møller Hansen, Karina Kosiara-Pedersen, Frederik Hjorth, Mogens Jin Pedersen, Lene Holm Peder- sen and Asmus Leth Olsen. Too many others to name made an impact on my time at the department and I acknowledge them all. I owe a great debt of gratitude to my extremely talented former and current generous financial support – and a special thank you to Line Vikkelsø Slot and PhD colleagues for helpful comments, support and good times. Wiebke Marie Junk, Nanna Margrethe Krusaa. I am also grateful to Augustinus Fonden, Oticon and to Clara Vandeweerdt, Anders Woller Nielsen, Livia Rohrbach, Lasse Aaskoven, Jonas Reinholdt W. Jorck og Hustrus Fond for the financial support that made my stay at Lind, Jens van der Ploeg, Anne Bach Nielsen, Yevgeniy Golovchenko, Christoffer UC Berkeley possible. Pfeiffer Cappelen and Ma Yi deserve special acknowledgment. A special thank you I have spent most days using various packages in the open source program R to Benjamin Egerod, my office mate over the course of the last year and a half. and I would like to thank all the people who volunteer their spare time to develop Benjamin is the model of what a scholar and good colleague is supposed to be. I will these packages. There are too many to thank here, but I am grateful in particular miss our daily talks about B-movies, the best records of the 70s and causal inference. to Thomas Leeper, Alexander Coppock and Hadley Wickham. Further, I feel deeply indebted to my co-authors outside the department. I am I also would like to thank my former students. It has been fun and challenging to grateful to Niels Krog, my old friend and the co-author of the first article included engage with our very talented students at the department. Kasper Arabi and Lotte in this dissertation. His hard work, creativity and optimism played a big role in Andersen also deserve special mention for their invaluable research assistance. shaping the initial ideas for this project. Also, a big thanks to our man in Oxford, Finally, and most importantly, I would like to thank my family – my parents and Jacob Nyrup. It has been truly inspiring to see someone complete as much high my brother – for a lifetime of unwavering support. I owe my deepest gratitude to quality work within such different subfields as fast as Jacob. I also would like to my beautiful wife, Rebecca. Writing a dissertation can be strenuous, but Rebecca thank Mikkel Schiøler for his excellent and hard work that made the third article has been a source of endless support and encouragement – and a constant reminder possible. that work is not life. When days at the office were frustrating and long, it was all Throughout my PhD program, I have received great comments on my work from left behind once I headed home to spend time with Rebecca. A heartfelt thank you a number of brilliant international scholars to whom I am grateful. Numerous aca- for your unconditional love and support. demics helped frame my thinking as I pursued this research and I would like to thank in particular Alexander Coppock, Eline de Rooij, Florian Foss, Ryan Enos, David Broockman, Christian Grose, Michael Gaddis, Arnfinn Midtbøen and Alex Hughes. Also, a debt of gratitude to Jack Citrin for hosting my stay at UC Berkeley. I also owe special thanks to The Danish Institute for Human Rights for their generous financial support – and a special thank you to Line Vikkelsø Slot and Nanna Margrethe Krusaa. I am also grateful to Augustinus Fonden, Oticon and to Reinholdt W. Jorck og Hustrus Fond for the financial support that made my stay at UC Berkeley possible. I have spent most days using various packages in the open source program R and I would like to thank all the people who volunteer their spare time to develop these packages. There are too many to thank here, but I am grateful in particular to Thomas Leeper, Alexander Coppock and Hadley Wickham. I also would like to thank my former students. It has been fun and challenging to engage with our very talented students at the department. Kasper Arabi and Lotte Andersen also deserve special mention for their invaluable research assistance. Finally, and most importantly, I would like to thank my family – my parents and my brother – for a lifetime of unwavering support. I owe my deepest gratitude to my beautiful wife, Rebecca. Writing a dissertation can be strenuous, but Rebecca has been a source of endless support and encouragement – and a constant reminder that work is not life.
Recommended publications
  • Social-Ecological Resilience in the Viking-Age to Early-Medieval Faroe Islands
    City University of New York (CUNY) CUNY Academic Works All Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects 9-2015 Social-Ecological Resilience in the Viking-Age to Early-Medieval Faroe Islands Seth Brewington Graduate Center, City University of New York How does access to this work benefit ou?y Let us know! More information about this work at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu/gc_etds/870 Discover additional works at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu This work is made publicly available by the City University of New York (CUNY). Contact: [email protected] SOCIAL-ECOLOGICAL RESILIENCE IN THE VIKING-AGE TO EARLY-MEDIEVAL FAROE ISLANDS by SETH D. BREWINGTON A dissertation submitted to the Graduate Faculty in Anthropology in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, The City University of New York 2015 © 2015 SETH D. BREWINGTON All Rights Reserved ii This manuscript has been read and accepted for the Graduate Faculty in Anthropology to satisfy the dissertation requirement for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. _Thomas H. McGovern__________________________________ ____________________ _____________________________________________________ Date Chair of Examining Committee _Gerald Creed_________________________________________ ____________________ _____________________________________________________ Date Executive Officer _Andrew J. Dugmore____________________________________ _Sophia Perdikaris______________________________________ _George Hambrecht_____________________________________
    [Show full text]
  • ERC Project “Grammatical Universals”)
    2.6 The Circum-Baltic Area Ilja A. Seržant Ilja A. Seržant is currently a postdoc at Leipzig University (ERC project “Grammatical Universals”). He previously held postdoc positions at Johannes-Gutenberg-University of Mainz (DFG project “Triangulation Approach for Modelling Convergence”) and Konstanz University (Excellence cluster “Zukunftskolleg”). Abstract After a brief historical introduction, this chapter provides an overview of language-contact phenomena in the Circum-Baltic linguistic area with the focus on pattern borrowings and pattern adaptations. It furthermore discusses general conceptual and methodological concerns of areal linguistics, which, it argues, should be viewed as a discipline in its own rights. Keywords Circum-Baltic, language contact, pattern borrowing, Slavonic, Baltic, Finnic, Germanic 2.6.1 Introduction 19 years have now passed since the seminal publication by Koptjevskaja-Tamm and Wälchli (2001) that considerably advanced the research on the Circum-Baltic (CB) area hitherto.1 Their claims and methodological suggestions still hold. However, the aim of the present contribution is not to recapitulate their findings but to amend them on the basis of the research results achieved since then (cf. 2.6.2), as well as to address conceptual questions (cf. 2.6.3) and issues of methodology (cf. 2.6.4). 1 The author gratefully acknowledges the support of the European Research Council (ERC Advanced Grant 670985, “Grammatical Universals”). I cordially thank Alain Fabre for his numerous and very valuable comments and suggestions on an earlier draft of this paper. I also thank Jan Feller, Lidia Federica Mazzitelli, Nicole Nau, Mikael Parkvall and Susanne Michaelis for their very valuable discussions and comments.
    [Show full text]
  • Marine Biological Investigations and Assemblages of Benthic Invertebrates from the Faroe Islands
    Marine biological investigations and assemblages of benthic invertebrates from the Faroe Islands Bruntse, G., O.S. Tendal (editors) Kaldbak Marine Biological Laboratory, The Faroe Islands February 2001 Marine biological investigations and assemblages of benthic invertebrates from the Faroe Islands. Editors: Grethe Bruntse, Kaldbak Marine Biological Laboratory, Faroe Islands Ole Tendal, Zoological Museum, University of Copenhagen, Denmark Copyright: Authors of each section Published by: Kaldbak Marine Biological Laboratory, Faroe Islands Graphic work: Vizuel, Denmark, phone 0045 7010 1864 Printed in 500 copies Distribution by Kaldbak Marine Biological Laboratory, FR-180 Kaldbak, Faroe Islands ISBN-no.: 99918-3-066-9 Front cover: The faroese research vessel, Magnus Heinasson. (© photo G. Bruntse). Marine biological investigations and assemblages of benthic invertebrates from the Faroe Islands Bruntse, G., O.S. Tendal (editors) Kaldbak Marine Biological Laboratory, The Faroe Islands February 2001 Bruntse, G,, O.S. Tendal (eds.), 2001. Marine biological investigations and assemblages of benthic invertebrates from the Faroe Islands List of contributors Acknowledgements Grethe Bruntse, Kaldbak Marine Biological The report has been undertaken in 1998- Laboratory, FR-180 Kaldbak, The Faroe Is- 1999 on behalf of the GEM environmental lands. work group. Grete Dinesen, Biological Institute, Univer- Ruth Nielsen, Botanical Museum, Univer- sity of Aarhus, Finlandsgade 14, DK-8200 sity of Copenhagen and Hans Tore Rapp, Aarhus, Denmark. Trondhjem Biological Station, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, are Alf B. Josefson, The Danish National Re- kindly thanked for comments on the man- search Institute (DMU), Frederiksborgvej uscript, and Gerd Brovad, Zoological Mu- 399, 4000 Roskilde, Denmark seum, University of Copenhagen for preparing all photos.
    [Show full text]
  • Grammaticalization in the North Noun Phrase Morphosyntax in Scandinavian Vernaculars
    Grammaticalization in the North Noun phrase morphosyntax in Scandinavian vernaculars Östen Dahl language Studies in Diversity Linguistics 6 science press Studies in Diversity Linguistics Chief Editor: Martin Haspelmath Consulting Editors: Fernando Zúñiga, Peter Arkadiev, Ruth Singer, Pilar Valen zuela In this series: 1. Handschuh, Corinna. A typology of marked-S languages. 2. Rießler, Michael. Adjective attribution. 3. Klamer, Marian (ed.). The Alor-Pantar languages: History and typology. 4. Berghäll, Liisa. A grammar of Mauwake (Papua New Guinea). 5. Wilbur, Joshua. A grammar of Pite Saami. 6. Dahl, Östen. Grammaticalization in the North: Noun phrase morphosyntax in Scandinavian vernaculars. 7. Schackow, Diana. A grammar of Yakkha. ISSN: 2363-5568 Grammaticalization in the North Noun phrase morphosyntax in Scandinavian vernaculars Östen Dahl language science press Östen Dahl. 2015. Grammaticalization in the North: Noun phrase morphosyntax in Scandinavian vernaculars (Studies in Diversity Linguistics 6). Berlin: Language Science Press. This title can be downloaded at: http://langsci-press.org/catalog/book/73 © 2015, Östen Dahl Published under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Licence (CC BY 4.0): http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ ISBN: 978-3-944675-57-2 ISSN: 2363-5568 Cover and concept of design: Ulrike Harbort Typesetting: Felix Kopecky, Sebastian Nordhoff Fonts: Linux Libertine, Arimo Typesetting software:Ǝ X LATEX Language Science Press Habelschwerdter Allee 45 14195 Berlin, Germany langsci-press.org Storage and cataloguing done by FU Berlin Language Science Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of URLs for external or third-party Internet websites referred to in this publication, and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain, ac- curate or appropriate.
    [Show full text]
  • 2 Linguistic Mysteries Around the North Sea Östen Dahl Stockholm University
    2 Linguistic Mysteries Around the North Sea Östen Dahl Stockholm University Everyone who knows anything about the history of the Germanic lan- guages knows that English was influenced by Scandinavian around the Viking Age. The question I will raise in this paper, without giving any definite answer, is: Did the contacts across the North Sea have any effect on the Scandinavian languages? As far back as ten years ago, Maria Koptjevskaja Tamm and I asked the same question in a con- ference presentation that never resulted in a published paper (but see Dahl 2010a, 2010b for some discussion). Our point of departure was the striking similarities between the possessive constructions called “ s- genitives’ in English and the Scandinavian languages, and the obser- vation that in Scandinavia, s-genitives are by and large found only in standard Danish, standard Swedish, and some Danish-influenced vari- eties of Norwegian. Moreover, it seemed that the origin of s-genitives was in western Denmark, next to the North Sea. In this connection, two papers by the Danish Scandinavianist Kristian Ringgaard seemed relevant (Ringgaard 1986, 1989). Ringgaard argues against the common view that the simplification processes that took place in the Danish inflectional system in the Middle Ages were due to the intensive contacts with Low German in the Hanseatic period. Referring to earlier work by Anders Bjerrum, he argues that these pro- cesses started much too early to be triggered by the influx of German merchants, whose culmen was in the second half of the 14th century. He also argues that there were significant differences within the Danish- speaking area as to the strength and chronology of these processes, with a cline Jutland>Island Danish>Scanian.
    [Show full text]
  • A Comparison of the Danish and the Virginia Secondary Teacher Education System: Their Values and Emphasis on Mathematics Content Knowledge
    The Mathematics Enthusiast Volume 2 Number 2 Article 3 9-2005 A Comparison of the Danish and the Virginia Secondary teacher Education System: Their values and Emphasis on Mathematics Content Knowledge Bettina Dahl Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.umt.edu/tme Part of the Mathematics Commons Let us know how access to this document benefits ou.y Recommended Citation Dahl, Bettina (2005) "A Comparison of the Danish and the Virginia Secondary teacher Education System: Their values and Emphasis on Mathematics Content Knowledge," The Mathematics Enthusiast: Vol. 2 : No. 2 , Article 3. Available at: https://scholarworks.umt.edu/tme/vol2/iss2/3 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by ScholarWorks at University of Montana. It has been accepted for inclusion in The Mathematics Enthusiast by an authorized editor of ScholarWorks at University of Montana. For more information, please contact [email protected]. TMME,vol2,no.2,p.93 A Comparison of the Danish and the Virginia Secondary teacher Education System: Their values and Emphasis on Mathematics Content Knowledge Bettina Dahl Virginia Tech University (USA) Abstract: In this paper I will first examine an example of secondary mathematics teacher education in the USA, namely Virginia, then compare it with the secondary teacher education in Denmark. The purpose is both to investigate how much mathematics the students get in the respective systems and secondly to see what this type of teacher education communicates about the values emphasized in the various countries’ education systems. I spent more time on explaining the Danish education system than that of the USA and the single states since it is assumed that the reader is familiar with these systems.
    [Show full text]
  • Curriculum Vitae Surname and Name Dahl Per-Johan
    CURRICULUM VITAE SURNAME AND NAME DAHL PER-JOHAN Home Address Phone number Fax number E-mail address Nationality Swedish Birth date 25 February 1969 Academic Position: Qualification/Title Visiting Scholar University Columbia University Department GSAPP Academic Field Architecture and urban design Academic Discipline Architecture Working experience: August 2000 – present Research Institute for Experimental Architecture, Gewerbezentrum Vidmarhallen Könizstrasse 161 3097 Bern Liebefeld Switzerland Faculty (Board Member since 1 October 2009) Teaching, research, management May 2013 – June 2016 City University of Hong Kong, Tat Chee Avenue, Kowloon, Hong Kong Assistant Professor, Department of Architecture and Civil Engineering Teaching, research, administration, service August 2010 – July 2011 OTIS College of Art and Design, 9045 Lincoln Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90045, USA Senior Faculty, Faculty of Architecture / Landscape / Interiors Teaching, administration Education and Training: 14 September 2012 University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) Ph.D. in Architecture 8 October 1999 Lund University Master of Science Degree in Architecture INTERNATIONAL REFEREES INDICATED BY THE CANDIDATE Name Institution of origin Address e-mail address (compulsory) Professor Mary McLeod Columbia University, 1172 Amsterdam [email protected] Columbia GSAPP Ave, New York, NY 10027, USA Professor Diane Favro University of California 1317 Perloff Hall [email protected] Los Angeles (UCLA), Box 951467 Department of Los Angeles, CA Architecture & Urban 90095-1467, USA Design Professor Guy Lafranchi Bern University of Pestalozzistrasse 20 [email protected] Applied Sciences, Postfach 1058 Architecture, Wood and 3401 Burgdorf, Civil Engineering, Switzerland Professor Lisa Diedrich SLU Department of Box 52, SE-230 53 [email protected] Landscape Architecture, Alnarp, Sweden Planning, and Management Associate Professor City University of Hong Tat Chee Avenue, [email protected] Charlie Q.L.
    [Show full text]
  • The Survival of an Island
    The survival of an island A study on landownership and depopulation on the islands Mykines and Skúgvoy in the Faroe Islands A picture of Mykines taken from a helicopter (Picture: Olga Biskopstø 2013) “We do not want our island to be a museum demonstrating how the Faroese people used to live” (citation from an outer islander). Degree of Master of Science (Two Years) in Human Ecology: Culture, Power and Sustainability 30 ECTS CPS: International Master’s Programme in Human Ecology Human Ecology Division Department of Human Geography Faculty of Social Sciences Lund University Author: Gunnhild Dahl Niclasen Supervisor: Ragnheiður Bogadóttir Term: Spring 2015 Department: Human Ecology Division, Department of Human Geography Address: Geocentrum 1, Sölvegatan 12, 223 62 Lund, Sweden Telephone: +46 (0)46 – 222 86 90 Supervisor: Ragnheiður Bogadóttir Title and Subtitle: The survival of an island: A study on landownership and depopulation on the islands Mykines and Skúgvoy in the Faroe Islands Author: Gunnhild Dahl Niclasen Examination: Master’s thesis (two year) Term: Spring Term 2015 Abstract: Urbanisation is an ongoing trend all over the world, and these same trends occur in the Faroe Islands as well. Some of the small peripheral islands are now believed to be on the verge of becoming unpopulated. This study investigates the role of landownership in depopulation on the outer islands in the Faroe Islands. The study looks at two islands in particular and investigates trends in land ownership and access to local resources in relation to local residency. In order to situate the issue of outer island depopulation in the Faroes in a larger context, world system analysis, post colonialism and ecologically unequal exchange are applied in the analysis of the material.
    [Show full text]
  • What's in a Swedish Surname? Nils William Olsson
    Swedish American Genealogist Volume 1 | Number 1 Article 15 3-1-1981 What's in a Swedish Surname? Nils William Olsson Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.augustana.edu/swensonsag Part of the Genealogy Commons, and the Scandinavian Studies Commons Recommended Citation Olsson, Nils William (1981) "What's in a Swedish Surname?," Swedish American Genealogist: Vol. 1 : No. 1 , Article 15. Available at: https://digitalcommons.augustana.edu/swensonsag/vol1/iss1/15 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by Augustana Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Swedish American Genealogist by an authorized editor of Augustana Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. What's in a Swedish Surname? Nils William Olsson The use of surnames in Sweden is of comparatively late date. Prior to the 15th and 16th Centuries, all Swedes used patronymics, i.e. the father's name in conjunction with the word -son (son) or -dotter (daughter). This practice was not unique in Sweden, but existed in practically all European cultures. Whereas in Sweden the patronymic was a suffix, coming at the end of the father's baptismal name, it was a prefix in the British Isles, where the word Fitz (from the French fils meaning son) was prefixed to the father's Christian name, thus giving rise to such forms as Fitzgerald, Fitzpatrick and Fitzsimmons. In Ireland the prefix was O' as in O'Connell, O'Grady and O'Neill. In Scotland where the word for son was Mac, patronymics became MacAdams, Maccarthy and MacDonald.
    [Show full text]
  • Language Reconstruction Methods Put to the Test
    Language reconstruction methods put to the test a comparison between traditional and computational phylogenetic reconstruction methods with data from Scandinavian language varieties Stephan Eekman University of Amsterdam RMA Linguistics 14 October 2015 Supervisors: Prof. dr. A.P. Versloot dr. R.A. Cloutier Prof. dr. M. Dunn Introduction The genesis of historical linguistics is traditionally attributed to the Calcutta based English orientalist Sir William Jones, who in his lecture to the Asiatic Society on 2 February 1786 said the following about Sanskrit and the languages of Europe (Allan 2013:143): “The Sanskrit language, whatever its antiquity, is of a wonderful structure; more perfect than the Greek, more copious than the Latin, and more exquisitely refined than either; yet bearing to both of them a strong affinity, both in the roots of verbs and forms of grammar, than could possibly have been produced by accident; so strong, indeed, that no philologer could examine the Sanskrit, Greek and Latin, without believing them to have sprung from some common source, which, perhaps, no longer exists.” Although similar ideas had been put forward before Jones’ lecture, this was the first time that the idea of a common ancestor of the languages of Europe and India was embraced by other linguists who further worked out the idea proposed by Sir William Jones. A revolutionary contribution to the development of historical linguistics was made by the linguist August Schleicher who was first to summarise the linguistic history of a language family in a tree model in 1853 (Allan 2013:154). The tree model is still used extensively in historical linguistics and has even been adopted into evolutionary biology.
    [Show full text]
  • THE NORSE LANDNAM in the FAROE ISLANDS in the LIGHT of RECENT EXCAVATIONS at TOFTANES, Leirvik
    THE NORSE LANDNAM IN THE FAROE ISLANDS IN THE LIGHT OF RECENT EXCAVATIONS AT TOFTANES, LEIRvIK Steffen Stummann Hansen INTRODUCTION Previous work In the 1940's the late State Antiquary of the Faroe Islands Sverri Dahl commenced upon a series of archaeological excavations in the Faroe Islands. This pioneer work was to become the initial step in establishing archaeological science in the Faroes. The investigations gradually came to deliver the archaeological evidence of the Norse landnam in the Viking Age thus supporting in general the information of written sources such as the so-called "Saga of the Faroe Islanders". Sites such as Kvivik, Tj9irnuvik and Fuglafj0rdur today are inextricably bound up with the name of Sverri Dahl (S. Dah11951, 1958, 1971A, 1971B and S. Dahl & J. Rasmussen 1956). Through the excavations parts of ancient settlements were located. In general only limited areas were excavated, and large-scale excavations were never carried out. The dating of the settlements has caused many problems, as in practice it has proved difficult to provide more than just a rough dating of the excavated structures. In order to understand this, one has to take note of the unique conditions connected to archaeological research in the Faroe Islands. Due to the old framework of property relations in Faroese society, one can argue for a long unbroken continuity at the farmsteads of the landnam­ period. Most ofthe so-called byling-farms with their associated settlement areas became an unbroken backbone in the development of Faroese settlement-structure up to the present day (A. Thorsteinsson 1981). Through history these farmsteads have been located inside a legally fixed settlement area (Faroese: heimrust).
    [Show full text]