Norwegian language history in the 19th Century with the development of the two standard varieties in Norwegian

Norwegian language history in the 19th Century with the

development of the two standard varieties in Norwegian

SAS1. February 12, 2016

The study of language in the 1800s

Romanticism

Comparative philology

- new prestige to the study of language

- the never-ending quest for the origins of the present

Human sciences as the prime producers of nation state ideology. Ethnicity as a cultural and social construct: national language, national gallery, national museum, national....

1814 – the political awakening of the Norwegians

• Nationalism

• 1814 creates a

political and military void which the

Norwegians can use to make their own

constitution

• from “state” to nation”

• free from Danish rule (the Danes sided with Napoleon and lost – Norway was given to Sweden)

 “Original” language kept – Danish

• Law of public schools in 1739 (Norway and Denmark)

Linguistic situation in 1814

• Normality:

– a written, uniform standard

– a high status oral language in the cities (”the educated classes”)

– a low status oral language used by common people (80% peasants) i.e. dialects

• French

• German – in many domains

The question of ”norsk”

• The written language as ”norsk”?

• Danes: No, it’s Danish.

• Solution: ”Modersmaaleet” (”the mother

tongue”), ”det almindelige Bogsprog” (”the common book language”), ”Fællesproget”

(”the joint language”).

Five types of expression in oral language

1) Pure Danish – used by Danish state officials, merchants

2) Literary Standard – A Norwegian reading pronunciation of Danish on solemn

occations. Used by Norwegian born officials

3) Colloquial Standard – the daily speech of the educated classes.

4) Urban Substandard – spoken by city

people but with influence from surrounding rural areas.

5) Rural Dialect – spoken by people outside the city.

Different positions on the question of Norwegian language in the 19th Century

1830’s – the Norwegians start discussing

the question of language on the basis of ”a nation”.

Political autonomy

Linguistic autonomy?

Key questions

• What is the basis for Norwegian language?

• What are we to do with Danish language?

What is the basis of Norwegian language?

A) To use one dialect as a basis for the new language

I: Knud Knusen – ”the daily speech of the educated classes”)

II: P. A. Munch – ”the use of Old Norse”

B) To use ”all” dialects as a basis for that new language.

I: Ivar Aasen’s strategy

What are we to do with Danish language?

• Get rid of it

– P. A. Munch – Ivar Aasen

– Henrik Wergeland

• Keep it

– Knud Knudsen – Jonas Welhaven

1) Henrik Wergeland and

”Norskhedspartiet”

1808-45

Wergelands linguistic philosophy

’Norway’ is more than 1000 yrs. old

- a national continuity exists (especially in the peasants and their culture: folklore) - a major reform is necessary

- a new language founded on the dialects

must be found – in practice it turned out to be a question of norwegianizing the

Danish language

2) Johan S. Welhaven and

”Intelligentspartiet”

1807-73

The opinion of the ”Intelligentspartiet”

– Norway is a young nation – and needs to grow

– The educated classes is the cultural capital of the nation, the ”embetsmannsstand” – public servants.

– Dialects are not a language

– An autonomous nation doesn’t necessarily need its own language (USA, Switzerland, Belgium).

”Norskhedspartiet” vs. ”Intelligentspartiet”

• Came from the same class

• Both meant Norway was an old country

• Disagreed on what relevance the

educated classes and the peasants should play in the new nation.

P.A. Munch (1810-63)

– an ambivalent national romantic

• Historian

• The nation needs to (re)connect to its historical past: Old Norse,

norwegianization of names

• Wanted a morphology that was closely related to Old Norse

• Meant that ”Norskhedspartiet” would

”fumble our dialects into wild disorder”.

• Norwegianizing the Danish language would be a 400 year setback…

• The culture of common Norwegians (i.e.

peasants) would not prove itself strong enought to build a nation upon.

• Did not think of the democratic argument in language planning.

• Saw the new Norwegian language as symbol.

”Måltrollene rykker inn i Christiania”

–

Drawing by Olaf Gulbransson (1899) of the Landsmål writers Arne Garborg, Per Sivle and Ivar Aasen.

Ivar Aasen (1813-96)

Ivar Aasen

• Self taught scolar

• From poor background in rural Norway, Ørsta.

• School teacher in 1831

• College in 1833

Ivar Aasen (1813 – 1896)

• Critical of urban dialects due to

“contamination”

• Isolated rural dialects, more “pure”

• Like P. A. Munch, national romantic representative

• Language of farmers and peasants closer to original, genuine, national language

Aasen - Strategy

• Scholarship from Royal Society of

Scholars in Trondheim to travel and collect dialect samples

• Tried to find common denominator of rural Norwegian dialects

• Reconstruction of the common forms

served as a foundation for a new standard

• First manuscript, 1836: ”Om vort skriftsprog”

• 1842 - Scholarship from The Scientific Academy in Trondheim.

• 1843 – 46 journeys througout Norway collecting material

• 1848: Det norske Folkesprogs Grammatik

• 1850: Ordbog over det norske Folkesprog

• 1853: Prøver af Landsmaalet i Norge

• 1863: Symra – Tvo Tylfter med nya Visor

• 1864: Grammar

• 1873: Dictionary

• Of 1836 he was aware that the dialects could be used to create a new langugage

• Dialects represented a particular

Norwegian language – different from Swedish and Danish.

• The democratic argument of Aasen: the language of the common people was the best standard for a new one

Stephen Walton finds three stages in Aasen’s own ideology

1) Working uncritically under the conditions of the office holders (”embetsmannstanden”) – the

ideology of national romanticism

2) He develops a tactical strategy within this ideology

3) From 1858 and onward he took a more definite stand against the office holders (visible in his

”Tale fyr tome Stolar” from 1864)

The standardizaton of ”Landsmaal”

Aasens career is three folded:

A) scholar

B) language planner C) poet

The standardization of ”Landsmål”

• Early criticism of Aasens standard

– Oldfashioned

– Too close to Old Norse

– Too far from Old Norse (P.A. Munch) – Too sectional

”Protonorwegian”

• The dialects must all have a common origin.

• The reconstruction of the ”basic dialect” of Norwegian.

• The ”protonorwegian” is a model for

showing the system of a common origin.

• Protonorwegian = the basic dialect

Aasen’s conclusion:

The dialects closest to the basic form (i.e.

the ”protonorwegian”) should carry more weight

• Ex. when infinitive forms in dialects would vary...

– a ”springa”

– e ”springe”

– 0 ”spring”

... Aasen would go for the a-variant because it’s the one used in Old Norse.

Knud Knudsen (1812 - 1895)

Knud Knudsen

• High school teacher

• Advocated modification of written Danish used by the educated

• Norwegian elements of everyday speech form a basis for Norwegianization

• Language of the urban upper class, most modern use of language

• Reflects largest used dialect of Norway – Oslo

• Believed this to be the easiest way for people to learn new standard

• Aasens plan too complicated

Knudsen - Strategy

• Supported by Bjørnsen, Ibsen, literary community

• Two basic consepts:

2) Purification. Knudsen rejects foreign words and

makes substitutions based on dialects. Result: Puristic dictionaries.

1) Orthophony = the reform of spelling to agree with pronunciation. Knudsen wants to Norwegianize the Danish that is currently in use with a series of spelling reforms:

– Replace the soft Danish b, d, g with the hard Norwegian p, t, k

– Remove silent consonants

– Abbreviate spellings to coincide with speech patterns (e.g.

fader > far, lunch > lunsj)

– Replace v with g in many common words (hage, mage, torg)

Knudsen

• 1856 - Haandbog I Dansk-Norsk Sproglære

• 1862 – First spelling reform implemented at Knudsens suggestion

• 1867 – Published Det Norske Målstræv outlining his program and emphasising a gradual approach.

• 1879 – Unorsk og Norsk eller Fremmede Ords Avløsning outlined Norwegian vocabulary to be added to the

written form

• 1886 – Hvem Skal Vinne? Advocated changes that brought similarties between the two forms

• 1907 – Reforms made that reflect a large part of Knudsens work (after his death of course)

A timeline

1550 Christian III’s Bible in Danish

1604 Laws published in Danish (Christian IV’s law) 1643 first printing facility

1739 Law of public schools (in Norway and Denmark) 1814 The Norwegian Constitution

1832 P. A. Munch: ”Norsk Sprogreformation”

1835 Wergeland: ”Om norsk Sprogreformation”

1836 Ivar Aasen: ”Om vort Skriftsprog”

1841 Asbjørnsen and Moe: first issue of ”Norwegian folk tales”

1850 Knud Knudsen: ”Om Norskhed i vor Tale og Skrift”

1853 Ivar Aasen: ”Prøver af Landsmålet i Norge”

1858 A. O. Vinje: first issues of ”Dølen”

1878 Parliament decides that ”education shall be conducted in the childrens’

own language”

1885 Parliament decides that the two standard varieties (Landsmål and Riksmål) shall be considered equal*.

* “The Government is requested to take the necessary steps toward placing the

Norwegian folk language [det norske

Folkesprog] on an equal footing, as a school and official language, with the usual

language of books and writing.”