Old Norse Influence on the Language of Beowulf: A Reassessment

This article undertakes the first systematic examination of Frank’s (1979, 1981, 1987, 1990, 2007b, 2008) claim that Old Norse influence is discernible in the language of Beowulf. It tests this hypothesis first by scrutinizing each of the alleged Nordicisms in Beowulf, then by discussing various theoretical considerations bearing on its plausibility. We demonstrate that the syntactic, morphological, lexical, and semantic peculiarities that Frank would explain as manifestations of Old Norse influence are more economically and holistically explained as consequences of archaic composition. We then demonstrate that advances in the study of Anglo-Scandinavian language contact provide strong reasons to doubt that Old Norse could have influenced Beowulf in the manner that Frank has proposed. We conclude that Beowulf is entirely devoid of Old Norse influence and that it was probably composed ca. 700, long before the onset of the Viking Age.

The importance of formal grammar skills: Reflections on Polish students learning Norwegian

Norwegian and Scandinavian languages in general have grown quite popular among Polish students in recent years and more and more Polish universities are trying to offer Bachelor’s and even Master’s programmes in a Scandinavian language. Based on experience as a teacher of a Norwegian grammar course at the University of Szczecin and as a teacher of grammar at the Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences which in 2016/2017 hosted around twenty Erasmus+ students from Szczecin, some of the challenges for Polish students of academic Norwegian will be reflected upon, as well as some of the challenges for a teacher of Norwegian who has very little knowledge of Polish. The main purpose of this paper will be to argue for the importance of grammar skills in language education and especially in language teacher education. This study is a contribution to the Educational Role of Language network.

Norwegian studies at “Alexandru Ioan Cuza” University of Iaşi

Norwegian is considered an exotic language in Romania. However, starting with the 1990s it has been a constant interest in studying this Scandinavian language, be it for a future career, for further studies in Norway, for finding a better paid job or simply as a hobby. At the “Alexandru Ioan Cuza” University of Iaşi, the first Norwegian courses started in the academic year 2005-2006 when a language course was included in the Master’s program “German Culture in a European Context” and when Norwegian also started to be taught at the Centre of Foreign Languages of the university for anyone interested. Afterwards, the first elective courses of Norwegian were introduced for all the students of the university in 2011. Therefore, the present article is meant to show the development of Norwegian studies at the “Alexandru Ioan Cuza” University of Iaşi starting with the academic year 2011-2012 and up to 2017.

Nynorn: Die Rekonstruktion des Norn

The following article strives to present a project that was launched by language enthusiasts in an attempt to revive Norn, a Scandinavian language that used to be spoken on the Northern Isles but died out about 200 years ago. On that account, the reasons and mechanics of language endangerment and language death are examined in this paper as well as different approaches to language revival or revitalization. The importance of language as a means of preserving one’s identity is only one of the reasons why these kinds of projects deserve more attention than they have gotten so far. Although Norn is classified as a

Johann Adolph Scheibe (1708–76) and Copenhagen

Peter Hauge: J.A. Scheibe and Copenhagen Johann Adolph Scheibe (1708−1776), a German composer and theorist, settled in Denmark in 1740 employed as Christian VI’s new chapel master. He is, in particular, known for his periodical Critischer Musikus published during the years 1737−40 in which he includes a famous critique of J.S. Bach’s musical style. Though Scheibe was indeed a highly productive and popular composer in his day his works are rather unknown and the majority of them are only available in manuscript in the collections of The Royal Library, among other places. The first part of the article deals with Scheibe’s connections with members of the the circle of intellectual immigrants that settled in Copenhagen during the eighteenth century, which included J.E. Schlegel, F.G. Klopstock, H.W. Gerstenberg, J.A. Cramer and J.B. Basedow. The subjects in which they showed a great interest were for instance the relationship between text and music, but also subjects such as education, history (Scandinavian), language, religion and philology were given due attention. The second part of the article discusses the problems involved in establishing a complete list of Scheibe’s works, in particular his compositions. For instance, should the list only include works that have survived or should it also include those which are referred to in contemporary sources such as newspapers, journals and published booklets but have since been lost? And how may such a list reflect Scheibe’s importance for the musical environment in Copenhagen during the second half of the eighteenth century?

Majors and Minors in Europe's African Enterprise: Oyono's Une vie de boy in Danish and Swedish Translations

The publication of ferdinand oyono's anticolonial novel une vie de boy (1956) in three scandinavian-language translations—danish, Swedish, and Nynorsk Norwegian—in the 1960s and 1970s coincided with a surge of pan-Nordic interest in African culture and liberation movements. This outward turn was part of a major shift in the construction of national and regional identities in the Nordic region—particularly in Denmark and Sweden. Once minor European kingdoms with modest colonial holdings on several continents (including Africa), these considerably downsized modern nation-states were forced to reposition themselves on the world stage starting in the twentieth century. Africa's anticolonial movements presented an opportunity for the Nordic region to embrace a new global role: that of nations of conscience whose leadership on human rights issues granted them influence and authority far beyond the size of their military, population, gross domestic product, or cultural and linguistic presence in the world. While the importance of this leadership among Western nations—particularly in fighting apartheid—can hardly be disputed, it has, paradoxically, also made it possible for Scandinavians to distance themselves from their own colonial involvement in Africa and to focus instead on the more extensive, visible, and enduring colonial histories of other European nations, mainly France and England.

Unequal language rights in the Nordic language community

The aim of this paper is to show the implications of using the notion of ‘common culture’ as a basis for a communication policy across language boundaries. There are eight different national languages in the Nordic area, from Greenland in the west to Finland in the east, from Sápmi — the traditional territories of the Sami people in Northern Scandinavia — in the north to Denmark in the south. Additionally, a dozen traditional minority languages and some two hundred immigrant languages are spoken in the area. Despite this linguistic diversity, a ‘Declaration on a Nordic Language Policy,’ signed in 2006 by ministers of education in the Nordic countries, recommends using one of the three ‘Scandinavian’ languages (Danish, Norwegian, or Swedish) for communication across language boundaries throughout the Nordic area, rather than using translation and interpretation, or speaking in English — which is common practice despite official policies. Moreover, recent empirical research indicates that there is good reason to seriously doubt that using a Scandinavian language is a practical communication solution for the Nordic peoples. For example, Greenlanders have poor skills in understanding Swedish. Similarly, Finnish-speaking Finns have poor skills in understanding Danish. Official Nordic language policy is based on an ideology of a common culture rather than linguistic practice. Thus, it appears that communication problems are seen as less important than the prevailing ideas of perceived common Nordic (linguistic) culture.