Germanic Languages 825

IV. NORWEGIAN STUDIES* LANGUAGE By Arne Kruse, Lecturer in Norwegian, School of European Languages and Cultures, University of Edinburgh

1. General A general presentation in German of the Norwegian language and current language situation is H. Sandøy’s contribution, pp. 865–905 in Nation und Sprache. Die Diskussion ihres Verha¨ltnisses in Geschichte und Gegenwart, ed. Andreas Gardt, Berlin, Mouton de Gruyter. Martin Skjekkeland, Tysk-danske la˚nord i nynorsk og i bygdema˚la. Om ein frisk debatt- og om ei gransking av ordtilfanget i to bygdema˚l (Forskningsserien no. 16), Agder College, 1999, 130 pp., contributes to the discussion about German/Danish loan-words in Nynorsk with an investigation into the actual usage of such words in two local dialects. Other contribu- tions to this debate are by G. Akselberg, pp. 25–35 of 7. Møde om Udforskningen af Dansk Sprog, ed. Peter Widell and Mette Kunøe, Aarhus U.P., 1999, and among others, H. Sandøy, pp. 209–24 of the report Spra˚kbrukeren — fri til a˚ velge? Artikler om homogen og heterogen spra˚knorm, ed. Helge Omdal (Research series no. 17), Kristiansand, Agder College, 1999, 234 pp. The entire report focuses on theoretical and practical implications of restrictive vs. liberal norms for written Norwegian, and questions the validity of the claim that the many optional forms in Bokma˚l and Nynorsk are to the benefit of the user of written Norwegian. The three following books are published in the series ‘Publications of the Ivar Aasen Institute’: Ny-Noreg møter Svensk-Finland, ed. S. J. Walton, Volda, Volda College, 47 pp., is a compilation of five articles which compare the situations for Nynorsk and Swedish in Finland. Peter J. Burgess, Ivar Aasen’s Logic of Nation: Toward a Philosophy of

* The place of publication of books is Oslo unless otherwise indicated. 826 Norwegian Studies Culture, Volda College, 1999, 158 pp., discusses Aasen as a catalyst of Norwegian cultural identity. Stephen J. Walton, Litt laust, mest fast, Volda College, 1999, contains seven texts discussing what problems and possibilities there are for Nynorsk in what the author calls a ‘new- baroque culture’. Ord etter ord. Heidersskrift til Oddvar Nes, ed. G. Akselberg and J. Bondevik, Bergen, Norsk Bokreidingslag, 1998, 280 pp., is a Festschrift to Professor Oddvar Nes. The 23 scholars who contribute to the volume reflect Nes’s interest in etymology, language history, dialectology, and onomastics. Muntlig norsk, ed. Frøydis Hertzberg and Astrid Roe, Tano Aschehoug, 1999, 197 pp., is a compilation of articles addressing the oral use of Norwegian in classroom situations. Finn-Erik Vinje, Riktig norsk, Cappelen 1999, is a handbook of practical Norwegian usage, one of several similar books from the same author. A published doctoral dissertation on how young immigrants read Norwegian texts is Lise Iversen Kulbrandstad, En studie av fire innvandrerungdommers lesing av læreboktekster pa˚ norsk (Acta Humaniora, 30), Scandinavian U.P., 1998, 528 pp. Spra˚kvitskap og vitskapsteori, ed. R. B. Brodersen and T. Kinn, Larvik, Ariadne, 201 pp., contains ten articles discussing research methodology and theory concerning linguistics and Norwegian.

2. History of the Language and Textual Studies Hildegunn Otnes and Bente Aamotsbakken, Tekst i tid og rom. Norsk spra˚khistorie, Samlaget, 1999, 274 pp., is a history of the language with a new approach, where the examples of texts are the starting point for the discussion of changes over time and in social context. The last spelling reform of Bokma˚l is thoroughly covered in Gro-Rene´e Rambø, Bokma˚lsreformen i 1981. Med særlig vekt pa˚ Særutvalgets arbeid (Research series no. 20), Kristiansand, Agder College, 462 pp. G. Akselberg puts this reform into context when he sums up the tendencies and changes in language policy over the last 20 years in Norsklæraren, 23.3, 1999:11–15. A doctoral thesis on word formation is Kristin Bakken, En studie av leksikaliseringsprosessen belyst ved et gammelnorsk diplommateriale fra 1300–tallet (Acta Humaniora, 38), Scandi- navian U.P., 1998, 332 pp. In Dataha˚ndbok for humanister, Gyldendal, Oslo, 1999, O. E. Haugen (147–71) introduces methods for compu- terized text analyses. Ma˚lsamlingar 1851–1854 av Ivar Aasen, ed. J. Bondevik, O. Nes, and T. Aarset (Publications of the Ivar Aasen Society, Series A, Text no. 6), Bergen, Norsk bokreidningslag, 1999, 238 pp., is a compilation of texts by Ivar Aasen from the period 1851–54, including grammatical explorations and collections of vocabulary from various regions of Norway.