Utnordur: Western Nordic Standardisation and Variation

Book Description
The focus of this book is on the West Nordic linguistic area: Norway, the Faroes and Iceland, at different stages in their history. In the Middle Ages these countries were the home of the Old Norse literary language in which the Icelandic sagas were written, and for a while Greenland and the Scottish Isles were included in the domain. This cultural union collapsed around 1400. The articles are based on lectures given at a symposium in Stockholm on October 7th 2001, supported by a generous grant from the Vera och Greta Oldbergs stiftelse. Scholars from Iceland, the Faroes, Sweden, Norway, Germany and England discussed standardisation and variation from a general perspective and described in some detail aspects of the linguistic situation in the West Nordic area, from the Viking age to the present time.


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The underlying notion is that there existed a language community from Norway through the Scottish Isles and the Faroes all the way to Iceland, which abruptly vanished after Norway came under Danish sway in 1400. Writing in any of the Nordic languages or English, scholars explore the linguistic situation in this West Nordic area and the West Nordic dialects at different periods. Four of the 10 essays are in English. There is no index. Distributed in the US by the David Brown Book Company. Annotation ©2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR


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