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>
Bokmål
Also called Riksmål
Knud Knudsen attempted to Norwegianize written Danish
- 3 or 2 genders
- optional diphthongs
- initial hv-
- no postvocalic -gj, -kj, -tj
Nynorsk
Also called Landsmål
Ivar Aasen visited Norwegian towns etc and compiled a grammar and dictionary that was based on dialects
- 3 genders
- more diphthongs
- initial kv-
- postvocalic -gj, -kj, -tj
Samnorsk
Attempts to reform written Norwegian and combine the two standards - abandoned post war
Scandinavian Post-War
Official languages become more casual:
- official letters = informal
- loss of polite forms
- family names -> first names
- influence from English
Low German Influence
- became the prestige language in leading Scandinavian towns due to colonies of powerful German merchants establishing themselves in Scandinavian towns
- led to an integration of derivational affixes that remain productive:
> för- (första)
> -het (kjærlighet, frihet)
> -era (studera)
Recent Changes in Scandinavian Sentences
- less formal rules surrounding commas
- word length = increasing, sentence length = decreasing
Recent Changes in Scandinavian Syntax
- unwrapping of complex syntactic structures
- less use of subordinate clauses
- written language approaching the syntax of spoken language
Recent Changes in Scandinavian Vocabulary
Towards gender neutrality in two ways:
- Making visible: formann > formann/-kvinne
- Making neutral: lærerinne > lærer
Rinkebysvenska
uses SVO after an adverb or adverbial phrase, like English:
“idag jag tog bussen” instead of “idag tog jag bussen”
forgiving melody
contains loans from Turkish, Arabic, Kurdish…
Kebabnorsk
mainly used by immigrant youth in Oslo
same word order as English:
“Da jeg var ferdig, jeg gikk hjem”
Perkerdansk
used in major cities - reflects raw masculinity and working class attitudes. More and more young people in Denmark are using this, that do not come from the same background - it is breaking out of it’s subculture
Anglo-American Influence
media, cultural contact
leads to borrowing of words:
> translated borrowings - brevvän (pen pal), hænge ud (hang out)
> concept borrowing - høg (intoxicated - from English high)
> direct borrowing - radio
Treatment of Loan Words
- Swedish Academy dictates which words can be brought into the Swedish language and how they should be written
- ‘Scandified’ loans - visjon, jobb etc.
- Newer English words usually left with original spelling
- Some loans prove difficult because they lead to awkward inflections: partner - partners - partnersama (Swedish)
Loss of Domain
Scandinavian languages in an academic/research environment are diminishing - therefore, academics are losing the ability to talk about their subjects in their own language as the terminology exists in English instead.
Situation of diglossia (English used in academia, Swedish used in lower levels of education)
English used in business
Parallel Lingualism - aims to use more than one language simultaneously, particularly in higher education. Not about getting rid of one language, but the application of several.
Danish - other things to know about
- Became it’s own field of study and orthographic standardisation was complete by 1800
- Standard variety was based on upperclass Copenhagen speech
- Due to urbanisation, most Danish dialects have disappeared
- Danish numeric system differs from rest of Scandinavia (often seen as a hindrance to intercommunication) - based on a system of 20s
Danish = Difficult?
- uneven relationship between orthography and pronunciation (conservative orthography vs progressive pronunciation)
- Danish meaning derives from context, not structure
- Danes speak 40% faster than Swedes
- Can drop 1/4 phonetic symbols
Patterns of Danish Pronunciation
‘det bløde d’
- soft semi-vocalic pronunciation of medial and final ‘d’
‘det flade a’
- flat pronunciation of many short and long ‘a’ sounds
‘vocalisation’ of ‘g’ and ‘v’ in medial and final positions
weakened pronunciation of medial and final ‘r’
- makes it difficult to distinguish between the present tense and infinitive forms
weakened pronunciation of schwa
- results in near identical pronunciations of different forms of the same word (infinitive vs present tense)
many vocalic sounds
- 9 written, 30 spoken (plus vocoids)
contrastive glottal stops
Danske Lov (1683)
- final into : lif > liv, tolf > tolv
- in medial position into : Gafve > Gave
- got rid of double representation of long vowel: Huus > Hus
- simplified to
- abolished the capitalisation of nouns
- aa was replaced by å
Norwegian - other things to know about
- written Danish existed in a Norwegian sound system
- Romantic Age: led to a greater appreciation of the relationship between a nation and it’s language, greater demand for a written language, greater focus on the natural, genuine things that made Norway unique (nature, farming…)
- celebration of dialects - common to use your dialect in all situation and embrace the difference. Spoken language becomes closer to written language.
Patterns of Norwegian Pronunciation
Intonation: Oslo lågtone (sounds like you’re asking a question; can never sound depressed)
tonemes (contastive)
diphthongisation
thick /l/’ - retroflex flap
palatal consonants (/j/ pronunciation of /n, m/)
uvular/guttural/French /r/
- prestigious, spread from France
- easier than the rolling /r/
merger of fricatives
- loss of palatal fricative which is merging with the palatal alveolar fricative (loss of contrast)
Much variation in pronunciation due to spread of dialects
Swedish - other things to know about
- Swedish was used for popular literature in the fourteenth century but was heavily influenced by Danish and Norwegian, so was more like a Scandinavian interlanguage
- written language aimed to be as different from Danish as possible (use of a in inflectional endings where Danish used a schwa)
Swedish Language Policy (Law of 2009)
- Swedish should be the main language
- Should be a complete and comprehensive language that supports all aspects of society
- Should be free of profanity, slang and should be simple and understandable for everyone
- Everyone has the right to language:
> to learn Swedish
> to develop their mother tongue if it differs
> entitled to learning a foreign language
Älvdalsmål
Swedish dialect, not understood by Swedes in general due to it’s isolation (and thus separate development)
Swedish Power Over Norms and Rules
- Swedish Academy (dictate the norms and rules)
- media and publishing ‘big names’ - codify the language
- Swedish teachers and language planners have authority because of their profession
What to Look For With Written Danish
- changes in plural that do not occur in Norwegian (huse instead of hus)
- post vocalic voiced consonants
- infinitive marker ‘at’
- either loss of ‘r’ in plural, or it carries it into the definite plural
- no geminates at the end of a word
- common gender and neuter gender (en, et)
- hv words
- common use of æ
What to Look For With Bokmål
- 3 genders (1 optional) (en, ei, et)
- infinitive marker ‘å’ (=Norwegian)
- can use the feminine ‘a’ ending in the neuter plural definite
- consonant clusters skj, gj, kj
- loan words containing /j/: visjon
- hv words
What to Look For With Nynorsk
- no choice between 3 genders (ein, ei, eit)
- diphthongised articles
- more choice in infinitival endings (-a, -e)
- pronoun = eg, instead of jeg
- infinitive marker ‘å’ (=Norwegian)
- different plural endings depending on gender
- consonant clusters skj, gj, kj
- loan words containing /j/: visjon
- kv words
What to Look For With Written Swedish
- common and neuter gender (en, ett)
- carries /r/ into definite plural
- variety in plural (-ar, -or, -er)
- ‘att’ infinitive marker
- no double k -> shows up as ‘ck’
- v words
- x instead of ks
- umlauts ä,ö
Code Noise
Einer Haugen
- taking the words you know to make sense of the entire sentence
Lingua Receptiva
Communication between speakers of closely related languages, where the individuals can speak in their own language and be understood by each other (also in Slavic, Romance languages)
