Insular Nordic SAS 1 April 22 nd 2016

Insular Nordic SAS 1. April 22 nd, 2016

Classification of modern Nordic languages on the basis of oral similarity Model by Arne Torp

Brief history Iceland 874– 930: Landnám (Viking settlement) 1200– 1350: Icelandic sagas are written 1380: Norway w/colonies falls under Danish rule 1540: translation of the new testament into Icelandic (printed in 1584) 1816: Hið íslenzka bókmentafelag 1904: Home rule 1911: University of Iceland 1918: Icelandic sovereignty 1944: Icelandic republic 1964: Icelandic language council Population 2016: 332. 529 Land size: 103 000 km² The Faroe Islands Early 9 th century: Viking settlement 1380: Norway w/colonies falls under Danish rule 1823: First (partial) Faroese Bible translation 1845: school law (with Danish as educational language) 1846: Faroese orthography (Hammershaimb) 1938: Faroese allowed as school language 1939: Faroese allowed as church language 1948: Home rule. Faroese is recognized as the main language of the Faroe islands 1952: Føroya Fróðskaparfelag 1965: University of the Faroe Islands 1985: Faroese language council Population 2014: 49 947 Land size: 1396 km²

The sound of Faroese: http: //www. stidin. fo/Faroese. Course/mp 3/003%20 p 001%20 Samr%C 3%B 8%C 3%B 0 a%201%20%C 3 %8 D%20 bussinum%20 av%20 flogv%C 3%B 8 llinum%20 til%20 Havnar%20(1). mp 3 The sound of Icelandic: http: //icelandiconline. is/index. php

Mainland Scandianavian vs. Insular Nordic Morphology: • loss of case system in Mainland Scandianavian Othography: • Insular Nordic: etymologically based orthography gives impression of insular linguistic ”unity” Vocabulary • Stronger Low German influence on Mainland Scandinavian in the Hanseatic period • Stronger lexical purism in Insular Nordic language planning, ecp. the last 150 years

Low German influence in Modern Norwegian and Icelandic: Skredderen tenkte at trøya passet fortreffelig, men kunden klaget og mente at plagget var kort og tøyet simpelt og grovt. De schrâder dachte dat die trôie vortreffelik paste, men de kunde klâgde und mênde dat die plagge kort was und dat tüg simpel und grof. Klæðskerinn hélt að skyrtan passaði fullkomlega, en viðskiptavinurinn kvartaði og taldi að flíkin væri stutt og efnið einfalt og gróft.

Can you see features that Faroese and Icelandic share – or distinguish one from the other? Faroese: Sviar, norðmenn og danir skilja heilt væl hvønnannan. Teir hava størri trupulleikar við íslendskum, hóast íslendskt líkist tí skandinaviska málinum, ið varð tosað fyri túsund árum síðan. Næstringur hjá íslendskum er føroyskt, men málini eru ikki so lík, at ein íslendingur skilir ein føroying uttan trupulleikar. Icelandic parallel text: Svíar, Norðmenn og Danir skilja hver annan nokkuð auðveldlega. Þeir eiga í meiri vandræðum með íslensku þrátt fyrir að íslenskan líkist skandinavíska málinu sem talað var fyrir þúsund árum síðan. Nánasti ættingi íslenskunnar er færeyskan en tungumálin líkjast þó hvort öðru ekki svo mjög að Íslendingur geti skilið Færeying án vandræða. Rough translation: Swedes, Norwegians and Danes understand each other quite easily. They have more difficulties with Icelandic even though Icelandic resembles the Scandinavian language spoken a 1000 years ago. The closest relative to Icelandic is Faroese, but they are not so similar that Icelanders understand Faroese without difficulties.

Faroese: Finskt minnir um estiskt, men har er eisini skilskapur við sámisku málini. Í bæði finskum og sámiskum kann en til dømis skapa long orð við at leggja bendingar aftrat stovninum. Men viðvíkjandi longum orðum er grønlendskt heilt serstakt. Har øðrum málum tørvar eina heila meining, er ofta nóg mikið við einum einasta grønlendska orði. Icelandic: Finnskan minnir á eistnesku en á einnig ýmislegt sameiginlegt með samísku. Í bæði finnsku og samísku getur maður til dæmis myndað löng orð með því að bæta beygingarendingum við rót orðsins. Það er samt grænlenskan sem er í sérflokki hvað varðar löng orð. Meðan önnur tungumál nota heila setningu nægir stundum eitt grænlenskt orð. Rough translation: Finnish has many similarities with Estonian, but has at the same time many things in common with Sami languages. In both Finnish and Sami you can make long word by adding morphological endings to the root of the word. At the same time it is Greenlandic that stands out regarding long words. When other languages need a whole sentence, it is often enough with one single Greenlandic word.

Just an example of Greenlandic word formation aagussaq noun en ting der kommer til syne efter at sneen er smeltet ‘a thing that appears after the snow has melted’ Download free app: oqaasileriffik

Early influences on Icelandic and Faroese • Celtic: Kjartan, Njáll, Dímon and slafak (‘watercotton’ = seaweed)(Ice. ); Dímun (Fo) and dunna (Anas platyrhynchos)(Fo). • Christianity brings new words: kirkja, prestur, biskup (of Latin and Greek origin) – Also English words: synd (sin) and guðspjall (gospel) – Translations of the Bible bring in new words (NT 1540), (Icelandic Bible 1584) • French words on court and knightship – kurteis (Ice. courteous), silki (silk)

Low German and Danish loanwords Low German loanwords in Icelandic – through trade connections and Danish through governmental language – blífa (bleiben, blive) – þenkja (denken, tænke) – bífala (befehlen, befale) – makt (Macht, magt) → verða → hugsa → skipa → vald

The Faroes

Faroese population • 1801: 5300 inhabitants • 1901: 15. 200 • 1945: 29. 200 • 1960: 34. 600 • 1989: 47. 900 • 1990– 1995: economic crisis and 10% emigrated • 2010: 49. 050 • 2014: 49. 947: 19. 300 in Tórshavn Number of speakers: 75. 000

Faroese - summary • Faroese is the closest relative to Icelandic, and like Icelandic, it has developed from Old West Norse (West Scandinavian), which Norwegian settlers brought with them during the Viking Age • Very few documents exist that were written in the Faroe Islands in the Old Norse period, but the few that have been found show that the language was quite close to the literary language in Norway at the time • We still see similarities between Norwegian (esp. southwestern Norwegian dialects) and Faroese • Similar vocabulary to Norwegian

• Celtic languages also influenced Faroese – some of the settlers were descendants of Norwegian settlers from the Irish Sea, and some had taken wives from Norse Ireland, Orkney or Shetland before coming to the Faroes. • Words of Celtic origin are still found in the language. For example, there are two Faroese words for duck, one from Norse and one from Gaelic.

• The Faroe Islands became a part of the Kingdom of Norway in 1035, and when Norway and Denmark entered into a union, the Danes took over the administration and used their own language, both spoken and written • After the Denmark-Norway union dissolved in 1814, The Faroe Islands were ceded to Denmark, and are still a part of the Kingdom of Denmark. • The Danes outlawed the use of Faroese in schools, churches and official documents – eventually the written language died out, yet there was still a rich spoken tradition and the language survived as a collection of spoken dialects, just like Norwegian did • In the decades around 1800, Faroese ballads started being written down, which was the beginning of the revival of written Faroese

• Since the language had not been written in almost three centuries, there was a need for a Faroese orthography (standardized spelling). • In 1854, a written standard for Modern Faroese was written, and it still exists today. The spelling was brought as close to Old Norse and Icelandic as possible, even though oral Faroese had gone through several changes since medieval times and was not as similar to Old Norse as it had been the last time a written language had been in use. Because of this, there were (and still are – this orthography is still used today) differences between the written and the oral language which highlight the changes that have taken place in oral Faroese, and which also make it difficult to learn Faroese spelling, even for the Faroese themselves. Even so, the Faroese do not want to change their orthography to make it more phonetic/similar to the spoken language – there have been reform proposals, but they've never won public approval. They still want to keep this orthography which is similar to Icelandic and Old Norse

• Purism - they don't want a lot of foreign influence on the language, and they have a quite restrictive attitude towards loan words, although not to the degree that Icelanders do • Faroese became an official language in 1948, when the Faroe Islands became self-governing/ an autonomous province of the Kingdom of Denmark. • Today, Faroese is dominant in speech and in writing in the Faroe Islands, but Danish is still an official language there and everyone has to learn it

V. U. Hammershaimb • Danish written language, many dialects and folk songs written down with phonological spelling • 1846: V. U. Hammershaimb introduces a spelling norm and Faroese becomes a modern written language (not oral norm) • Cooperation with Jón Sigurðsson og C. C. Rafn • etymological orthography → great gap between speech and written form, but great consensus

Jakobsen (1864– 1918) • tried to introduce a more phonological spelling, but failed • mainly concerned by the vocabulary and all the “danismer” (loanwords from Danish). Many words with affixes like an-, be-, for-, -het and -else had Faroese equivalents, but with negative connotations • he was the first purist: new words in new domains → neologisms and many translation loans: eftirspurningur (‘etterspørsel’: demand), tollkrevjari (‘toller’: customs officer), bókamaður (‘litterat’: man of literature) fagrar bókmentir (‘skjønnlitteratur’: fiction) • this method is still in use, but not all the words Jakobsen invented

Hammershaimb 1891 Mikines hevur eftir manna søgn verið flotoyggj. Ein maður í Sørvági, sum javnliga róði út, ræddist illa stórhvalirnar úti á havi, og av tí at han ikki átti bævur at styggja teir við, hevði hann til tess tarvsmykju, sum hann kastaði í sjógvin, tá ið hvalir vóru nær staddir bátinum. Jakobsen Mikjenes hevur ættir manna sögn vere flotåiggj. Ain mävur y Sörváje, sum javnlia róe út, raddist idla störkvälenar úte á häve, og äv ty hann ikkje åtte bävur á stiggja tair vi, hæie hann til tæss tarvsmikjo, sum hann kastaje y sjægvin, tá y kvälir vóro när staddir bátenun. Roughly: According to the legend, Mikines used to be a floating island. A man in Sørvágur, who used to go fishing, was very much afraid of the big whales out in the ocean, and because he did not have the appropriate stinking material [as from a skunk or a related animal] to scare them away, he used bull’s dung instead and threw it into the ocean when whales were close to the boat.

Two competing orthographies • one based on language history (H. ) and another on oral language (J. ) • Hammershaimb’s etymological orthography won, leading to the current opinion that the written language was old fashioned even from the start. • Example: ð and g in written language, even though they are not pronounced, because of historical, not practical arguments

Result today Faroese children have difficulties learning how to read and write. Many young people prefer reading fiction in English or Danish, even though Faroese is the natural mother tongue for everybody growing up in the Faroese islands. They find the written language way to difficult, formal and hard to understand.

Christian Matras (1900– 1988) • the first and only permanently employed in the only department at the university (Fróðskaparsetur) in 1965 • followed in Jakobsen’s footstep; many neologisms • purism important because the language makes it possible, and etymological norm is important because it makes the formation of words easier • not all Icelandic words can be used directly: efnisbundin (material), gagnnýta (use) and støddfrøði (matematics)

J. H. W. Poulsen (1934–) • neologisms in terminology and everyday language • new words are formed on the basis of old (and unproductive) affixes and with Umlaut: (tyrla based on ’tyril’: helicopter) + compounds (talgildur: ‘digital’) and old words with new meaning (kerfi: ‘system’) • active lexicographer (like his predecessors: normative dictionaries) and a radio man • opens up for more import words than earlier, but is very restrictive

From the Wikipedia article: Mest kendu nýyrði hann er komin við eru: • Telda av tal og telva (vs. komputari) • Tyrla av tyril (vs. helikoptari) • Fløga av sama orði fyri tjúkka flís (CD) • Flogbóltur fyri volleyball http: //fo. wikipedia. org/wiki/J%C 3%B 3 han_Hendrik_Winther_Poulsen

Faroese compared to Icelandic • Faroese grammar has many similarities with Icelandic and Old Norse grammar: – The same case system – Gender inflections – The simplification of the Faroese grammar goes faster than that of the Icelandic grammar – The genitive case is rare in modern Faroese

• F. has been more open towards loan words than Icelandic, particularly from Danish, but also from English. • A person with knowledge of a Scandinavian language will understand more words in a Faroese text than in an Icelandic text • The biggest difference between F. and Icl. lies in the pronunciation rules.

Few speakers, but • • a living and well documented language rich Faroese literature extensive dictionaries and grammars dictionaries available online: http: //sprotin. fo/? l=fo • everybody can attend a summer school at the university in Tórshavn

Iceland

Icelandic population today • Population 2014: 325. 671 – 60% = 200. 000 in the capital area – 80% in the 10 most densely populated areas • Population 2016: 332. 529 – 311. 850 (94 %) in densely populated areas – 20. 679 (6 %) in scarcely populated areas https: //hagstofa. is/media/49385/icelandinfigures 2015. pdf

Hugleikur Dagsson Thanks to recent developments in genetic engineering we now only need one cow and one hen. Neologism: Erfða + tækni = inheritance + technology

Icelandic alphabet • 32 letters, not including c, q, z and w • most vowels (- æ and ö) are duplicated with acute accents > a, á, e, é, i, í, o, ó, u, ú, y, ý, æ and ö, and they are pronounced with their own sound: – á is the diphthong /au/: hár – ó is the diphthong /ou/: sól, rót – ú is close to the Norwegian o: hús, þúsund • two special characters: the runic letter þ (þorn) and ð (eð, a variant of d)

Icelandic is changing … slowly • is closest to Old Norse of all languages spoken in the Nordic region • Icelanders can read texts from the 13 th Century without to much difficulties • The grammar is more or less the same as in Old Norse (but not the pronunciation of the words) • Why is it so well preserved? – Isolation = less pressure and influence from other languages – The complex morphology makes it harder to adapt foreign words – Icelanders want to protect their language

Least changed from ON Morphology Icelandic Least changed from ON Norwegian Faroese Phonology Icelandic Norwegian Most changed from ON Faroese

Vowel changes in Icelandic Written modern leyna Icelandic launa lána lana Old Norse (Old løyna Icelandic) pronunciation laona lāna lăna Modern Icelandic pronunciation leina løyna laona lāna Modern Norwegian løyne (gjømme) lønne (gi lønn) låne sette i høystakk ‘pay’ ‘gather in a haystack’ Modern English ‘hide’ ‘borrow’/’loan’

Faroese pronunciation urt /ʊʃt/: plant (noun) írskt /ʊʃt/: Irish (adjective neuter singular) líta (v) /lʊɪ: ta/: to see lita (v) /lʊɪ: ta/: to dye Quality change in Faroese vowels when shortened: stórur / stɔʊrur/ (adjective masculine singular) stórt /stœrt”/ (adjective neuter singular) Icelandic: stór /stour/ (adjective masculine singular) stórt /stourt/ (adjective neuter singular)

Diphthongization of old long vowels

The effect of some fonological rules in Icelandic, Faroese and Norwegian vowel system Icelandic Faroese Norwegian Rule 1. Vowel length V short if followed by CC V long if followed by C in stressed syllabus except before [p, t, k, s] + [v, j, r] V short if followed by CC V lang foran C in stressed syllabus except before pr, pl, tj, tr, kj, kr, kl, sj 2. U-omlaut ice: a>ö/_u far: a>{ø, o}/_u jaxl-jöxlum danskur>dönskum jakslur>jøkslum/jakslum danskur>donskum dans>dönsum hvalur>hvölum dansur>dansum hvalur>hvalum/hvølum 3. svarabahkti vowel Ø>u/_r hestur but: stóll, steinn, hæll, skór, dans, fugl, student, prís, Ísak Hestur and: stólur, steinur, hælur skógvur, dansur, fuglur, studentur prísur, Ísakur V short if followed by CC V lang foran C in stressed syllabus except before Lexical u-umlaut osp, stong, trong (vs. Da asp, stang, trang) dialectal: Ø>e/_r ein heste

4. Vowel reduction V>Ø_C+V(C) Reduction before {l, n, r, s, ð} and ending starting with vowel: hefill>hefli hamar>hamri Not in personal names: Gunnari, Kjartani nakar>nakran lítil>lítlan Not in personal names: Gunnari, Kjartani 5. Changes before -ng and -nk Diphtongation a, e, ö>au, ei, öi langur lengi long 6. Changes before -gi a, ö, e, u, o>ai, öi, ei, ui, oi/_gi - - 7. Changes before –gvverschärfung - ó, ú > e, i/egv rógva búgva - 8. Assimilation of i and y, í and ý i and y> i í and ý> í i og y >i í og ý>ui i and y>i In some dialects, f. ex in Romsdal. Quality change a, ei >e, oi langur leingi dreven>drevne hamar>hamrane -

Segmentation

Differensiation and segmentation Old Norse korn karl steinarnir nafn Icelandic kɔdn kadl steinadnir nabn Faroese kɔdn kadl stainanir naun Vossamål kɔdn kadl stainane navn Hallingmål kødn kal steinadn nabn

Old Norse vollr kalla steinn finna Icelandic vødlur kadla steidn fin: a Faroese vødlur kadla stainur fin: a Norhordaland vodl kadla stei: n fidna Vossamål vodl kadla staidn fina

Høgni Hoydal In Faroese: • https: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=7 m. X_1 Vdl. Xa 4 In Faroese-Danish: • https: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=0 -p 5 BHTT 0 jo In Danish: • https: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=14 o. IUz. V 6 NC 8

Icelanders speaking foreign languages Björk speaks English with Icelandic accent: • https: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=g. WAHr 6 wu. By. U Steingrímur J. Steingrimsson speaks “Scandinavian” (a term exclusively used in Iceland) 1: 37 • https: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=IJ 7 D 86 l. JSTU

Least changed from ON Morphology Icelandic Least changed from ON Norwegian Faroese Phonology Icelandic Norwegian Most changed from ON Faroese

Morphology Icelandic Faroese Scandinavian Case a) in noun & adjective 4 3 0 b) in pronoun 4 3 2 gender in plural + + – persons in verb a) singular + + – b) plural + – –

Verbal inflection

Case (nouns): Nominative (N), Accusative (A), Dative (D) and Genitive (G)

In Icelandic even in proper nouns! Til Margunnar Frá Erni Til Arnar Frá Margunni Gleðileg jól!

Singular noun Singular Proper noun without article with article Nominative örninn Nf. Örn -- Accusative örninn Þf. Örn -- Dative erninum Þgf. Erni -- Genitive arnarins Ef. Arnar -- Singular Proper noun without article adaptation foreign name Nominative Jórunn > Margunn Accusative Jórunni > Margunn Dative Jórunni > Margunni Genitive Jórunnar > Margunnar

William comes ultimately from the given name Wilhelm (cf. Old German Wilhelm > German Wilhelm and Old Norse Vilhjálmr). Errin abbi Abbin, Charles prinsur, sigur seg vera bæði ernan og glaðan um at vera blivin abbi fyrstu ferð, veit BBC at siga. William, prinsur og Kate, prinsessa giftust í Westminster Abbey 29. apríl í 2011 eftir at hava kenst í tíggju ár. Nýggi prinsurin er nummar trý í arvarøðini til bretsku trúnuna - aftan á pápa sín, William prins, og abba sín, Charles, krúnprins. Langomman drotning Elizabeth hevur sitið á bretsku trúnuni í 61 ár.

Case (adjective) http: //bin. arnastofnun. is/leit/? id=409045 Singular Plural Masculine Feminine Neuter Nominative gulur gult Nominative gulir gular gul Accusative gulan gula gult Accusative gular gul Dative gulum gulri gulu Dative gulum Genitive guls gulrar guls Genitive gulra

Case (pronouns) Beygingarlýsing íslensks nútímamáls (BÍN): http: //bin. arnastofnun. is/forsida/

Learn Icelandic and Faroese? Online Icelandic course (free): http: //icelandic. hi. is/ Multilingual Icelandic dictionary (free): www. islex. is J. Adams and H. P. Petersen (2009): Faroese. A Language Course for Beginners (Textbook (+CD) and Grammar) Audio recordings (free): http: //www. stidin. fo/Faroese. Course/default. htm Monolingual Faroese dictionary (free): http: //sleipnir. fo/obg/fob. php