Semester 1 Content Flashcards
Mainland Scandinavia
Norway, Sweden, Denmark
Insular Scandinavia
Scandinavian in a historical sense: Icelandic, Faroese, Greenlandic…
Abstandsprache
Language by distance
- a variety of a language that is different to another language in terms of linguistic distance.
- no mutual intelligibility?
(Heinz Kloss)
Ausbausprache
Language by development
- autonomous and different from other languages due to standardisation and codification
- has a social function: taught in schools, used as an official language
- not just about intelligibility but about identity
(Heinz Kloss)
North Germanic
The Scandinavian languages are all derived from North Germanic which means they have common features typical of a Germanic language:
> stress on first syllable
> regular and irregular verbs
Distinct from other Germanic languages, they also have features that make them distinctively North Germanic/Scandinavian:
> loss of initial j- (ung, år)
> loss of final -n (i)
> loss of initial w- before o and u (ord, ull/uld)
Runes
- angular characters that were designed to carved into durable material
- synthetic language with a developed inflectional morphology
- inspired by alphabets from Southern Europe (Greek, Roman)
- first inscriptions recorded are in Denmark (possible that they were invented there by someone who had been in touch with Southern European civilisation)
- continued use of runes into the Middle Ages as they were cost effective (cheaper than parchment), practical and easy to send (by both townspeople and learned people)
Syncope Period
500-750AD
- transition between Ancient and Old Scandinavian
- loss of unstressed vowels
- new vowel mutations : ø, æ, y (led to complications in the vowel system and morphology)
Common Scandinavian
750-1050AD
Led to a split between varieties:
> East Scandinavian (Denmark, Sweden): diphthongs turned to monophthongs, nominal declension: two genders, ‘jeg, jäg’
> West Scandinavian (Norway): diphthongs are preserved, 3 genders, ‘eg’
Viking Age
800-1066AD Geographical expansion of the Scandinavian language - place names due to settlement in the UK: > -by (Derby, Whitby) > -fjord (Wexford, Waterford > Danelaw
Danelaw
Historical name given to the part of England where the law of the Danes dominated.
Heavy settlement = many place names:
> Selby, Linby, Kirkby
- Bishopthorp
Old Scandinavian
1050-1350AD
- arrival of Christianity
- appearance of writing traditions on parchment and in the Latin alphabet
Danish around 1300
Phonology begins to change:
- weakening of unstressed vowels (results in a simplification of morphology - definite or infinitive?)
- voiceless stops -> voiced stops
- contrastive glottal stops (stød) instead of tonemes (unfamiliar to other Scandinavians)
The Kalmar Union
1397-1523
Union in Scandinavia that joined the three kingdoms under a single monarch - although they remained single sovereign states, they had their domestic and foreign policies directed by a single monarch
Intended to counter the influence of the Hanseatic League (a low German union aimed at protecting merchants’ economic interests and diplomatic privileges)
End of Norwegian Aristocracy
Economic collapse and black death means that Norwegian loses its monarchy and becomes the weak part of the Kalmar Union.
Middle Scandinavian
1350-1550
- Norwegian dies out as a written language, written Danish takes over
- Danish is undergoing changes in pronunciation
Modern Scandinavian
1550-present
- printing press, mass production of texts
- Martin Luther and the Reformation (translated the Bible into High German which influenced the Scandinavian languages)
Gustav Vasa’s Bible
1541
- based on the dialect of the upperclass in Stockholm
- avoided Danish and German features (assertion of Swedish language - purism)
Gustav III
the Swedish Academy: “purity, strength, sublimity of Swedish language”
became ultimate authority over the Swedish language
Changes to Written Swedish
1906 spelling of /v/ and /t/: becomes -- vem, vad becomes -- hava, lova <dt> becomes -- rött, känt</dt>
Changes to Written Danish
Loss of initial palatal affricate , or <i>:
giøre > gøre
Gjentofte > Gentofte</i>
Loss of gemination - aa > å:
Aarhus > Århus
No initial capitals in nouns (anti-German)
et Hus > et hus
Danske Lov 1683</i>