DOCSLIB.ORG

Perspectives on Two Centuries of Norwegian Language Planning and Policy Theoretical Implications and Lessons Learnt

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Perspectives on Two Centuries of Norwegian Language Planning and Policy Theoretical Implications and Lessons Learnt $&7$$&$'(0,$(5(*,$(*867$9,$'2/3+,&/,, 3HUVSHFWLYHVRQ7ZR&HQWXULHVRIPerspectives on Two Centuries of 1RUZHJLDQ/DQJXDJH3ODQQLQJDQG3ROLF\Norwegian Language Planning and Policy 7KHRUHWLFDO,PSOLFDWLRQVDQG/HVVRQV/HDUQW (UQVW+nNRQ-DKU HGLWRU 8336$/$ .XQJO*XVWDY$GROIV$NDGHPLHQ I|UVYHQVNIRONNXOWXU 1 ACTA ACADEMIAE REGIAE GUSTAVI ADOLPHI 152 2 sid2 3 ACTA ACADEMIAE REGIAE GUSTAVI ADOLPHI CLII Perspectives on Two Centuries of Norwegian Language Planning and Policy Theoretical Implications and Lessons Learnt Ernst Håkon Jahr (editor) UPPSALA 2018 Kungl. Gustav Adolfs Akademien för svensk folkkultur 4 Abstract Ernst Håkon Jahr (ed.), Perspectives on Two Centuries of Norwegian Language Planning and Pol- icy. Theoretical Implications and Lessons Learnt. Acta Academiae Regiae Gustavi Adolphi 152. Uppsala, 2018. 197 pp. ISSN 0065-0897, ISBN 978-91.87403-30-9. Within Scandinavian linguistics, two specific fields of study have aroused particular interest among linguistic scientists world wide: Old Norse and Norwegian language planning and policy. For a long time, there have been conferences on Old Norse studies. However, until now, no con- ference or symposium has been dedicated specifically to the second field: Language planning and policy in modern Norway. The reason why Norwegian language planning and policy have received so much international attention is primarily due to the works and contributions of Einar Haugen (1906–1994). His influ- ential theoretical model of language planning activities was based on empirical data from the de- velopment of modern Norwegian. His seminal 1966 book Language planning and language con- flict: the case of modern Norwegian as well as other works laid the foundation for the study and research of Language Planning as a separate area within the broad subject of linguistic studies. At the University of Agder, Kristiansand, the First International Symposium on Norwegian Lan- guage Planning and Policy was held in September 2016. This volume is based on the papers pre- sented at the Kristiansand symposium. It presents a wide range of perspectives on nearly two cen- turies of language planning and policy in modern Norway. Keywords: language planning, language conflict, language policy, language history, language standard, Modern Norwegian, Bokmål, Nynorsk, Dano-Norwegian, Sami, Johan Storm. © The authors and Kungl. Gustav Adolfs Akademien för svensk folkkultur 2018 ISSN 0065-0897 ISBN 978-91-87403-30-9 Printed in Sweden 2018 Textgruppen i Uppsala AB 5 Contents Preface . 7 Ernst Håkon Jahr: Two centuries of Norwegian language planning and policy: why and how it all started, and how it is divided into three different periods . 9 Lars S. Vikør: The Norwegian language situation. An overview . 15 * * * * Eli Bjørhusdal: Norway’s language policy: universalism under pressure . 29 Kurt Braunmüller: Creating a creoloid as a national language: the case of Dano-Norwegian . 43 Jeroen Darquennes: Language conflict research: a synopsis and some ideas on how to advance it . 61 Olle Josephson: Two standards, reversed hierarchies, explicit indexi- calities – does it matter? A Swedish perspective on Norwegian lan- guage policy 1814–2017 . 81 Andrew Linn: The significance of a historical perspective on language planning and language policy-making – Listening to past voices to inform future policy: the voice of Johan Storm . 103 Sylfest Lomheim: Language policy, dialects and spoken standard in Norway . 115 Gro-Renée Rambø: 1905–1945 – a substantive period in Norwegian language history? . 123 Gunnar Skirbekk: Language history and the power of symbols . 141 Peter Trudgill: “The best-laid schemes o’ mice an’ men gang aft agley”: unintended consequences of language planning . 155 Alastair Walker: To what extent can Nynorsk be considered a Euro- pean minority language? . 167 6 The participants at the First International Symposium on Norwegian language planning and policy, at the University of Agder, Kristiansand, 22–23 September 2016. In the first row (from the left): Gudlaug Nedrelid (Agder), Allison Wetterlin (Agder), Marit Aa- modt Nielsen (Agder). Second row: Wim Vandenbussche (Brussels), Andrew Linn (Westminster), Gro-Renée Rambø (Agder). Third row: Olle Josephson (Stockholm), Sylfest Lomheim (Agder), Eli Bjørhusdal (Western Norway). Fourth row: Martin Skjekkeland (Agder), Kurt Braunmüller (Hamburg), Jeroen Darquennes (Namur), Alastair Walker (Kiel). Fifth row: Peter Trudgill (Agder/ Fribourg), Ernst Håkon Jahr (Agder). 7 Preface Ten of the twelve papers included in the present volume were first presented at the First International Symposium on Norwegian Language Planning and Po- licy, held at the University of Agder, Kristiansand, 22–23 September 2016. The theme of the symposium was “Perspectives on two centuries of Norwegian language planning and policy: theoretical implications and lessons learnt”. The papers by Gunnar Skirbekk and Lars S. Vikør were not discussed at the symposium. Skirbekk’s paper has been translated from Norwegian for this volume. Allison Wetterlin made a draft translation of the Skirbekk paper. The symposium received financial support from the Faculty of Humanities and Education at the University of Agder, and the Royal Gustavus Adolphus Academy, Uppsala. Kristiansand, August 2018 Ernst Håkon Jahr 8 Two centuries of Norwegian language planning and policy 9 Two centuries of Norwegian language planning and policy: why and how it all started, and how it is divided into three different periods Ernst Håkon Jahr, University of Agder Many linguistic scholars consider Norway special linguistically or, rather, so- ciolinguistically. One important aspect is the fact that written Norwegian comes in two separate official standards. Another unique feature is the wide- spread and almost universal use of local dialects in all walks of life and at all levels of society. These two aspects make the country stand out linguistically. Since this situation was brought about by close to 200 years of official and private language planning, there might be lessons to be learnt from the Nor- wegian case for language planning in general (Haugen 1966). The Norwegian situation seems to offer an alternative sociolinguistic model to the situation we find in most European countries and beyond, including the neighbouring coun- tries of Sweden and Denmark. In Sweden and Denmark dialects have a far lower social status than in con- temporary Norway, where e.g. pupils and students speak their local dialects in school. Even the School Act states that they have the right to do so. Although not yet investigated enough, it seems that electronic text messages among young people are also written in dialect more often than not. The country’s School Act states that teachers should pay due attention to the local dialects used by their pupils, and that they should not attempt to make their students abandon their home dialect. The frequent use of local dialects in modern Norway – from kindergarten to university and from local municipalities to Par- liament and government – shows a unique position of local dialects in society at large, and a sociolinguistic situation probably unparalleled in Europe, to which perhaps only the German speaking parts of Switzerland come close. The sociolinguistic situation that triggered the language struggle In one respect – sociolinguistically – the situation in 1814 (with Norwegian in- dependence after 400 years of Danish rule) was quite “normal”: a spoken, high 10 Ernst Håkon Jahr status variety used among the upper-middle classes all over the country was closely connected to a written standard (Danish), and all the different local dia- lects of the peasants and fishermen (used by about 95 % of the population) had low status and were used only locally. This sociolinguistic situation parallels what we find in many countries and societies, and could easily have continued without being seriously questioned – had it not been for three important cir- cumstances: (1) the rise of National Romanticism as an influential philosophical move- ment during the period, (2) the fact that the written standard was Danish, and as such – after 1814 – belonged to a foreign country, and (3) the fact that the prestigious spoken variety of the upper-middle classes was an idiom resulting from language contact during the Dano-Norwegian union. It had developed during the 18th century in the speech of officials and the upper-middle classes as a result of language contact. Spoken Norwegian and written Danish were mixed, yielding a new, grammatically simplified oral variety. If it had not been for the national romantic ideology of the time, it would have been quite conceivable to continue using the Danish standard, since the spoken variety of the upper-middle classes was so close to written standard Danish. However, the romantic idea of the period focused on the issue of “true” Norse- dom and the development of a national language for Norway. The only recog- nized Scandinavian languages in the first half of the 19th century were Danish, Swedish and Icelandic (not yet Faroese); and now Norwegian was to be estab- lished. A Norwegian language could, however, only be considered distinct from Danish and Swedish from an Ausbau sociolinguistic point of view, and here the upper-middle classes – still with their primary linguistic and overall cultural ties to Copenhagen and Denmark – could not in any way compete with what the peasants had to offer in terms of language and culture. In this process, linguists and linguistic research played an important role.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Språknytt 4/2017
    TEMA: 1917-rettskrivingen 100 år 45. ÅRGANG 4 I 2017 18 Språknytt Kari bisp side 6 Leder Innhold 4 I 2017 3 Nye navn i nye kommuner Språkprosjektet 5 Språkbrukeren som sette spor 6 Intervjuet I år er det 100 år sidan tilnærminga mellom dei to nor­ ske målformene for alvor starta, med rettskrivings­ reforma av 1917. I den nasjonale bølgja som prega landet den gongen, låg mykje til rette for at Noreg skulle få eit fellesnorsk skriftspråk. Både i riksmålsrørsla og blant målfolk var det mange som var positivt innstilte til å møtast «på midten». Men slik kom det ikkje til å gå. 10 Ord i grenseland 1917­reforma la opp til ei forsiktig og gradvis til­ nærming mellom målformene. Som de kan lesa om i 12 Ordbøkene rett i lomma dette bladet, står ho i ettertida fram som ei på mange 13 Revisjon av ordbøkene måtar svært vellukka reform. Folket tok imot mange av 14 En verden av klarspråk til Norge dei lite radikale endringane med opne armar. Når det 15 Djuptloddande prisvinnar gjeld dei meir radikale forandringane, var saka ei anna. 16 Løype! Då desse vart obligatoriske med 1938­reforma, vart 17 Med andre ord motstanden større enn ein trudde. Det er fleire grunnar til at samnorskprosjektet kol­ 18 Reformen som satte spor lapsa enn 1938­reforma i seg sjølv. Likevel kan me læra 22 Intervjuer med Torp, for ettertida at grunnleggande og småe rettskrivings­ Guttu, Hoel og Munkvold endringar blir tekne betre imot enn store og radikale. I så måte er 1917­reforma eit godt føredøme.
    [Show full text]
  • Using 'North Wind and the Sun' Texts to Sample Phoneme Inventories
    Blowing in the wind: Using ‘North Wind and the Sun’ texts to sample phoneme inventories Louise Baird ARC Centre of Excellence for the Dynamics of Language, The Australian National University [email protected] Nicholas Evans ARC Centre of Excellence for the Dynamics of Language, The Australian National University [email protected] Simon J. Greenhill ARC Centre of Excellence for the Dynamics of Language, The Australian National University & Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History [email protected] Language documentation faces a persistent and pervasive problem: How much material is enough to represent a language fully? How much text would we need to sample the full phoneme inventory of a language? In the phonetic/phonemic domain, what proportion of the phoneme inventory can we expect to sample in a text of a given length? Answering these questions in a quantifiable way is tricky, but asking them is necessary. The cumulative col- lection of Illustrative Texts published in the Illustration series in this journal over more than four decades (mostly renditions of the ‘North Wind and the Sun’) gives us an ideal dataset for pursuing these questions. Here we investigate a tractable subset of the above questions, namely: What proportion of a language’s phoneme inventory do these texts enable us to recover, in the minimal sense of having at least one allophone of each phoneme? We find that, even with this low bar, only three languages (Modern Greek, Shipibo and the Treger dialect of Breton) attest all phonemes in these texts.
    [Show full text]
  • Is Spoken Danish Less Intelligible Than Swedish? Charlotte Gooskens, Vincent J
    Is spoken Danish less intelligible than Swedish? Charlotte Gooskens, Vincent J. van Heuven, Renée van Bezooijen, Jos J.A. Pacilly To cite this version: Charlotte Gooskens, Vincent J. van Heuven, Renée van Bezooijen, Jos J.A. Pacilly. Is spoken Danish less intelligible than Swedish?. Speech Communication, Elsevier : North-Holland, 2010, 52 (11-12), pp.1022. 10.1016/j.specom.2010.06.005. hal-00698848 HAL Id: hal-00698848 https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00698848 Submitted on 18 May 2012 HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access L’archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est archive for the deposit and dissemination of sci- destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents entific research documents, whether they are pub- scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, lished or not. The documents may come from émanant des établissements d’enseignement et de teaching and research institutions in France or recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires abroad, or from public or private research centers. publics ou privés. Accepted Manuscript Is spoken Danish less intelligible than Swedish? Charlotte Gooskens, Vincent J. van Heuven, Renée van Bezooijen, Jos J.A. Pacilly PII: S0167-6393(10)00109-3 DOI: 10.1016/j.specom.2010.06.005 Reference: SPECOM 1901 To appear in: Speech Communication Received Date: 3 August 2009 Revised Date: 31 May 2010 Accepted Date: 11 June 2010 Please cite this article as: Gooskens, C., van Heuven, V.J., van Bezooijen, R., Pacilly, J.J.A., Is spoken Danish less intelligible than Swedish?, Speech Communication (2010), doi: 10.1016/j.specom.2010.06.005 This is a PDF file of an unedited manuscript that has been accepted for publication.
    [Show full text]
  • 6 Second Periodical Report Presented to the Secretary General Of
    Strasbourg, 26 May 2003 MIN-LANG/PR (2003) 6 EUROPEAN CHARTER FOR REGIONAL OR MINORITY LANGUAGES Second Periodical Report presented to the Secretary General of the Council of Europe in accordance with Article 15 of the Charter NETHERLANDS 1 CONTENTS Volume I: Second report on the measures taken by the Netherlands with regard to the Frisian language and culture (1999-2000-2001)............................................4 1 Foreword........................................................................................................4 2 Introduction...................................................................................................5 3 Preliminary Section.....................................................................................10 PART I .....................................................................................................................25 4 General measures.........................................................................................25 PART II .....................................................................................................................28 5 Objectives and principles.............................................................................28 PART III 31 6 Article 8: Education.....................................................................................31 7 Article 9: Judicial authorities.......................................................................79 8 Article 10: Administrative authorities and public services..........................90 10 Article
    [Show full text]
  • Modeling Regional Variation in Voice Onset Time of Jutlandic Varieties of Danish
    Chapter 4 Modeling regional variation in voice onset time of Jutlandic varieties of Danish Rasmus Puggaard Universiteit Leiden It is a well-known overt feature of the Northern Jutlandic variety of Danish that /t/ is pronounced with short voice onset time and no affrication. This is not lim- ited to Northern Jutland, but shows up across the peninsula. This paper expands on this research, using a large corpus to show that complex geographical pat- terns of variation in voice onset time is found in all fortis stops, but not in lenis stops. Modeling the data using generalized additive mixed modeling both allows us to explore these geographical patterns in detail, as well as test a number of hypotheses about how a number of environmental and social factors affect voice onset time. Keywords: Danish, Jutlandic, phonetics, microvariation, regional variation, stop realization, voice onset time, aspiration, generalized additive mixed modeling 1. Introduction A well-known feature of northern Jutlandic varieties of Danish is the use of a variant of /t/ known colloquially as the ‘dry t’. While the Standard Danish variant of /t/ has a highly affricated release, the ‘dry t’ does not. Puggaard (2018) showed that variation in this respect goes beyond just that particular phonetic feature and dialect area: the ‘dry t’ also has shorter voice onset time (VOT) than affricated variants, and a less affricated, shorter variant of /t/ is also found in the center of Jutland. This paper expands on Puggaard (2018) with the primary goals of providing a sounder basis for investigating the geographic spread of the variation, and to test whether the observed variation is limited to /t/ or reflects general patterns in plosive realization.
    [Show full text]
  • Language Legislation and Identity in Finland Fennoswedes, the Saami and Signers in Finland’S Society
    View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Helsingin yliopiston digitaalinen arkisto UNIVERSITY OF HELSINKI Language Legislation and Identity in Finland Fennoswedes, the Saami and Signers in Finland’s Society Anna Hirvonen 24.4.2017 University of Helsinki Faculty of Law Public International Law Master’s Thesis Advisor: Sahib Singh April 2017 Tiedekunta/Osasto Fakultet/Sektion – Faculty Laitos/Institution– Department Oikeustieteellinen Helsingin yliopisto Tekijä/Författare – Author Anna Inkeri Hirvonen Työn nimi / Arbetets titel – Title Language Legislation and Identity in Finland: Fennoswedes, the Saami and Signers in Finland’s Society Oppiaine /Läroämne – Subject Public International Law Työn laji/Arbetets art – Level Aika/Datum – Month and year Sivumäärä/ Sidoantal – Number of pages Pro-Gradu Huhtikuu 2017 74 Tiivistelmä/Referat – Abstract Finland is known for its language legislation which deals with the right to use one’s own language in courts and with public officials. In order to examine just how well the right to use one’s own language actually manifests in Finnish society, I examined the developments of language related rights internationally and in Europe and how those developments manifested in Finland. I also went over Finland’s linguistic history, seeing the developments that have lead us to today when Finland has three separate language act to deal with three different language situations. I analyzed the relevant legislations and by examining the latest language barometer studies, I wanted to find out what the real situation of these language and their identities are. I was also interested in the overall linguistic situation in Finland, which is affected by rising xenophobia and the issues surrounding the ILO 169.
    [Show full text]
  • Swedish-Speaking Population As an Ethnic Group in Finland
    SWEDISH-SPEAKING POPULATION AS AN ETHNIC GROUP IN FINLAND Elli Karjalainen" POVZETEK ŠVEDSKO GOVOREČE PREBIVALSTVO KOT ETNIČNA SKUPNOST NA FINSKEM Prispevek obravnava švedsko govoreče prebivalstvo na Finskem, ki izkazuje kot manjši- na, sebi lastne zakonitosti v rasti, populacijski strukturi in geografski razporeditvi. Obra- vnava tudi učinke mešanih zakonov in vključuje tudi vedno aktualne razprave o uporabi finskega jezika na Finskem. Tako v absolutnem kot relativnem smislu upadata število in delež švedskega prebi- valstva na Finskem. Zadnji dostopni podatki govore o 296 840 prebivalcih oziroma 6% deležu Švedov v skupnem številu Finske narodnosti. Švedska poselitev je nadpovprečno zgoščena na jugu in zahodu države. Stalen upad števila članov švedske narodnostne skup- nosti gre pripisati emigraciji, internim migracijskim tokovom, mešanim zakonom in upadu fertilnosti prebivalstva. Tudi starostna struktura švedskega prebivalstva ne govori v prid lastni reprodukciji. Odločilnega pomena je tudi, da so pripadniki švedske narodnosti v povprečju bolj izobraženi kot Finci. Pred kratkim seje zastavilo vprašanje ali je potrebno v finskih šolah ohranjati švedščino kot obvezen učni predmet. Introduction Finland is a bilingual country, with Finnish and Swedish as the official languages of the republic. The Swedish-speaking population is defined as Finnish citizens who live in Finland and speak Swedish as their mother tongue, 'mothertongue' regarded as the language of which the person in question has the best command. Children still too young to speak are registered according to the native tongue of their parents, principally of the mother (Fougstedt 1981: 22). Finland's Swedish-speaking population is here discussed as a minority group: what kind of a population group they form, and how this group differs in population structure from the total population.
    [Show full text]
  • Germanic Standardizations: Past to Present (Impact: Studies in Language and Society)
    <DOCINFO AUTHOR ""TITLE "Germanic Standardizations: Past to Present"SUBJECT "Impact 18"KEYWORDS ""SIZE HEIGHT "220"WIDTH "150"VOFFSET "4"> Germanic Standardizations Impact: Studies in language and society impact publishes monographs, collective volumes, and text books on topics in sociolinguistics. The scope of the series is broad, with special emphasis on areas such as language planning and language policies; language conflict and language death; language standards and language change; dialectology; diglossia; discourse studies; language and social identity (gender, ethnicity, class, ideology); and history and methods of sociolinguistics. General Editor Associate Editor Annick De Houwer Elizabeth Lanza University of Antwerp University of Oslo Advisory Board Ulrich Ammon William Labov Gerhard Mercator University University of Pennsylvania Jan Blommaert Joseph Lo Bianco Ghent University The Australian National University Paul Drew Peter Nelde University of York Catholic University Brussels Anna Escobar Dennis Preston University of Illinois at Urbana Michigan State University Guus Extra Jeanine Treffers-Daller Tilburg University University of the West of England Margarita Hidalgo Vic Webb San Diego State University University of Pretoria Richard A. Hudson University College London Volume 18 Germanic Standardizations: Past to Present Edited by Ana Deumert and Wim Vandenbussche Germanic Standardizations Past to Present Edited by Ana Deumert Monash University Wim Vandenbussche Vrije Universiteit Brussel/FWO-Vlaanderen John Benjamins Publishing Company Amsterdam/Philadelphia TM The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements 8 of American National Standard for Information Sciences – Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ansi z39.48-1984. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Germanic standardizations : past to present / edited by Ana Deumert, Wim Vandenbussche.
    [Show full text]
  • Sprog I Norden
    Sprog i Norden Titel: Knud Knudsen (1812–1895): norsk skole- og språkreformator og skandinavist Forfatter: Arne Torp Kilde: Sprog i Norden, 2012, s. 1-19 [i hæftet: s. 119-138] URL: http://ojs.statsbiblioteket.dk/index.php/sin/issue/archive © Dansk Sprognævn Betingelser for brug af denne artikel Denne artikel er omfattet af ophavsretsloven, og der må citeres fra den. Følgende betingelser skal dog være opfyldt: • Citatet skal være i overensstemmelse med „god skik“ • Der må kun citeres „i det omfang, som betinges af formålet“ • Ophavsmanden til teksten skal krediteres, og kilden skal angives, jf. ovenstående bibliografiske oplysninger. Søgbarhed Artiklerne i de ældre numre af Sprog i Norden (1970-2004) er skannet og OCR-behandlet. OCR står for ’optical character recognition’ og kan ved tegngenkendelse konvertere et billede til tekst. Dermed kan man søge i teksten. Imidlertid kan der opstå fejl i tegngenkendelsen, og når man søger på fx navne, skal man være forberedt på at søgningen ikke er 100 % pålidelig. Knud Knudsen (1812–1895): norsk skole- og språkreformator og skandinavist Arne Torp Ivar Aasen (1813–1896) og Knud Knudsen (1813–1896) er de to store navna i norsk språkhistorie på 1800-tallet, men Aasen er nok vesentlig bedre kjent både i Norge og ellers i verden enn Knudsen. Dette er heller ikke så merkelig: Aasen grunnla nemlig den ene av de to offisielle norske målformene, lands- målet eller nynorsken, men Knudsens andel i bokmålet eller riksmålet består i at han var den ivrigste pådriveren for å fornorske dansken, som det ble kalt. Utgangspunktet hans var da den uttalen av dansk skriftspråk som var vanlig i den norske overklassa, den såkalte dannede dagligtale.
    [Show full text]
  • F R Id T Jo F Nansens in St It U
    VOLOS -R" RECEIVED WO* 2 9 899 oari Olav Schram Stokke Subregional Cooperation and Protection of the Arctic Marine Environment: The Barents Sea INSTITUTT POLOS Report No. 5/1997 NANSENS Polar Oceans Reports FRIDTJOF 3 1-05 FRIDTJOF NANSENS INSTITUTE THE FRIDTJOF NANSEN INSTITUTE Olav Schram Stokke Subregional Cooperation and Protection of the Arctic Marine Environment: The Barents Sea POLOS Report No. 5/1997 ISBN 82-7613-235-9 ISSN 0808-3622 ---------- Polar Oceans Reports a publication series from Polar Oceans and the Law of the Sea Project (POLOS) Fridtjof Nansens vei 17, Postboks 326, N-1324 Lysaker, Norway Tel: 67111900 Fax: 67111910 E-mail: [email protected] Bankgiro: 6222.05.06741 Postgiro: 5 08 36 47 © The Fridtjof Nansen Institute Published by The Fridtjof Nansen Institute DISCLAIMER Portions of this document may be illegible in electronic image products. Images are produced from the best available original document. Polar Oceans and the Law of the Sea Project (POLOS) POLOS is a three-year (1996-98) international research project in international law and international relations, initiated and coordinated by the Fridtjof Nansen Institute (FNI). The main focus of POLOS is the changing conditions in the contemporary international community influencing the Arctic and the Antarctic. The primary aim of the project is to analyze global and regional solutions in the law of the sea and ocean policy as these relate to the Arctic and Southern Oceans, as well as to explore the possible mutual relevance of the regional polar solutions, taking into consideration both similarities and differences of the two polar regions.
    [Show full text]
  • The Icelandic Language at the Time of the Reformation: Some Reflections on Translations, Language and Foreign Influences
    THE ICELANDIC LANGUAGE AT THE TIME OF THE REFORMATION: SOME REFLECTIONS ON TRANSLATIONS, LANGUAGE AND FOREIGN INFLUENCES Veturliði Óskarsson (Uppsala University) Abstract The process of the Reformation in Iceland in its narrow sense is framed by the publication of the New Testament in 1540 and the whole Bible in 1584. It is sometimes believed that Icelandic language would have changed more than what it has, if these translations had not seen the day. During the 16th century, in all 51 books in Icelandic were printed. Almost all are translations, mostly from German. These books contain many loanwords, chiefly of German origin. These words are often a direct result of the Reformation, but some of them are considerably older. As an example, words with the German prefix be- were discussed to some length in the article. Some loanwords from the 16th century have lived on to our time, but many were either wiped out in the Icelandic language purism of the nineteenth and twentieth century, or never became an integrated part of the language, outside of religious and official texts. Some words even only show up in one or two books of the 16th century. The impact of the Reformation on the future development of the Icelandic language, other than a temporary one on the lexicon was limited, and influence on the (spoken) language of common people was probably little. Keywords The Icelandic Reformation, printed books, the New Testament, the Bible, loanwords, the German prefix be-. Introduction The Reformation in Iceland is dated to the year 1550, when the last Catholic bishop in Iceland, Jón Arason of the Hólar diocese in Northern Iceland, was executed.
    [Show full text]
  • Putting Frisian Names on the Map
    GEGN.2/2021/68/CRP.68 15 March 2021 English United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names Second session New York, 3 – 7 May 2021 Item 12 of the provisional agenda * Geographical names as culture, heritage and identity, including indigenous, minority and regional languages and multilingual issues Putting Frisian names on the map Submitted by the Netherlands** * GEGN.2/2021/1 ** Prepared by Jasper Hogerwerf, Kadaster GEGN.2/2021/68/CRP.68 Introduction Dutch is the national language of the Netherlands. It has official status throughout the Kingdom of the Netherlands. In addition, there are several other recognized languages. Papiamentu (or Papiamento) and English are formally used in the Caribbean parts of the Kingdom, while Low-Saxon and Limburgish are recognized as non-standardized regional languages, and Yiddish and Sinte Romani as non-territorial minority languages in the European part of the Kingdom. The Dutch Sign Language is formally recognized as well. The largest minority language is (West) Frisian or Frysk, an official language in the province of Friesland (Fryslân). Frisian is a West Germanic language closely related to the Saterland Frisian and North Frisian languages spoken in Germany. The Frisian languages as a group are closer related to English than to Dutch or German. Frisian is spoken as a mother tongue by about 55% of the population in the province of Friesland, which translates to some 350,000 native speakers. In many rural areas a large majority speaks Frisian, while most cities have a Dutch-speaking majority. A standardized Frisian orthography was established in 1879 and reformed in 1945, 1980 and 2015.
    [Show full text]