Business writing in early sixteenth-century Norway Ivar Berg (
[email protected]) NTNU Norwegian University of Science and Technology Note: This is a ost rint version of an article in Merchants of innovation. The Languages of Traders! ed. by Esther#$iriam &agner! Be'ina Beinho( ) Ben *uthwaite! . +,-./0. Boston/Berlin: de 3ruyter $outon, 4/.0. 5*I2 ./..6.61,0+.6/.6/7684#//6. For citation! please consult the published version. Abstract This article discusses the linguistic %ake#u of business writing in late %edieval 1 early %odern Norway and addresses ;uestions of language choice and language %i<ing. The %ost i% ortant foreign language was =ow 3er%an, and the wri'en culture also de ended on =atin; these %ultilingual in?uences are evident in business records and accounting %anuscri ts fro% the early si<teenth century. @ case study of language choice in international co%%uni# cation sheds light on the status of =atin as o osed to the vernaculars! as well as the relationshi between the various vernaculars. *Acial docu%ents are nor%ally wri'en in one language> however! in the %ore infor%al register of ad%inistrative and econo%ical notes we Bnd =atin and =ow 3er%an words and hrases (code#switching and loanwords) in te<ts otherwise wri'en in Scandinavian. This language %i<ing is %ar:edly di(erent fro% that of %ore for%al writings and rovides valuable insights into the general linguistic co% etence of those involved in trade! either as %erchants or scribes. It is suggested that the code#%i<ed infor%al te<ts re resent an unmar:ed! functional code for bilingual scribes.