If I speak Danish, you speak Norwegian.
And both of us speak German.
S�rlandsk (Norwegian from the south (coast)) has several dialects, none of
which are excactly the same as Danish, norsk bokm�l, nynorsk, or old norse
for that matter. It's a dialect. Or to be more precise, a bunch of dialects,
a dialectal area. S�rlandsk is no more danish than the other norwegian
dialects just because the pronounciation is different. Where I come from,
Lillesand, we have plenty of words more commonly assosiated with nynorsk or
old norse, but not danish. For example, we say 'au' (ON ok/auk) instead of
'ogs�'. Anyway, my point is that norwegian has been severly crippled by
other languages like german, danish and english (or rather latin-based
words), yet it's still norwegian. The people didn't stop speaking norsk, but
it changed. Sad, but true.

>From: "konrad_oddsson" <konrad_oddsson@...>
>Reply-To: norse_course@yahoogroups.com
>To: norse_course@yahoogroups.com
>Subject: [norse_course] Re: 'Ek em fr� Aust-�g�um' - Oddur Gottsk�lksson
>��ddi
>Date: Wed, 19 Mar 2003 03:32:15 -0000
>
>S�ll Terje!
>
>--- In norse_course@yahoogroups.com, "Terje Ellefsen"
><radiorabia@...> wrote:
> >
> > "With sout Norwegian I mean the dialects spoken not in the south
>east, but rather in the extreme south and south west. In this area
>people speak with a very strong Danish accent, which makes the
>classifications quite difficult."
> >
> > I come from a small town near Kristiansand in Aust-Agder, so I
>speak south norwegian. Yet to me, it's not that much Danish. True,
>many of us use soft consonants rather than hard (e.g. d instead of
>t), but I think there's a common misconception that down south, we
>speak almost Danish.
>
>You speak Danish. I have relatives from Aust-�g�um and have visited
>and stayed in the area. I also inherited a lot of books published in
>southern Norway during roughly the 17th - 19th centuries. Prior the
>Norwegian independence, the published language of southern Norway
>(usually called 'Bokm�l') was actually called Danish (which is the
>'correct' term for the language). The name 'Bokm�l' was chosen after
>independence, largely for political reasons. Originally, 'Bokm�l'
>was a term used by Norwegians to refer to the Danish language as it
>appeared in books - this was before most Norwegians had learned to
>read or speak this new 'Bokm�l', in the aftermath of the protestant
>reformation. The Danish-speaking merchant class in southern Norway
>had grown tremendously in power and prestige since the Black Death
>nearly destroyed Norway roughly two centuries earlier. West Norse
>(the original language) as a living language was dead in most of
>southern Norway by the reformation. Those who still spoke it were
>looked down on by the gentile 'upper' classes, who spoke the 'educa-
>ted' 'book'-language of the Danes, who were then in charge of the
>country. There were few schools, especially in the poorer outlying
>areas where the language was still descended from Norse rather than
>Modern Danish. While the Black Death left Norway reeling and close
>to linguistic extinction, it was the reformation that delivered the
>death-blow to Norse in Norway. The fatal decision was made by the
>wealthy ruling elite in the south of the country - it was a decision
>made purely in their own self-interest (they could not understand
>the Norse language), a decision which would later greatly anger the
>rural population of their country after indepence, a decision which
>would damn their own country to linguistic extinction - the Danish
>Bible. Yes, that�s right - the Danish Bible and the thousands of
>Biblical tracts and commentaries printed and disributed to every
>home in the Danish language. The Danish Bible - read every Sunday at
>church, every day at home. Did they have a choice? Yes, they did.
>They had a choice and they made the wrong decision - they chose the
>Bible only they could read (the fancy 'bokm�l' one) over the one the
>rest of their impoverished countrymen would be able to understand.
>They rejected the excellent New Testament translation made by Oddur
>Gottsk�lsson into Norse, which became the basis for all of the later
>Icelandic versions. Oddur was 1/2 Norwegian and 1/2 Icelandic - and,
>most importantly, he offered both countries his translation (more
>correctly, others did his bidding for him). Oddur translated the New
>Testament into Norse secretly as he laboured away secretly night
>after night in a 'fj�s' (Norse for 'cow-house', older 'f�h�s'). He
>had to hide his work from the Bishop of Sk�lholt - fourtunately for
>Oddur, the bishop was old and going blind. To this day, Norway is
>the only Scandinavian country not to have a Bible in its language -
>for this we have the Danish-speaking ruling class to thank, a class
>which did not care for the welfare and education of their countrymen
>until long after independence from Denmark. Truely, they still don�t
>care - they never have. Only Ireland lost a higher percetage of its
>native population than Norway to the United States and Canada. Why?
>Need we ask? Their ARE real West Norse words for what was happing in
>Norway from the Black Death (svarti dau�inn) down to our times - a
>few are 'l�nsmennska', 'l�nsr�ki' and 'l�nssj�rn'. There is a class
>of cold and cruel robber-barons in every Scandinavian country (there
>is no exception to this rule), but in no Scandinavian country have
>they committed worse crimes against their own countrymen than in Nor-
>way. I have heard it said 'they should have been hung for treason'.
>Without taking sides on the issue of capital punishment, I will say
>that I am firmly opposed to their plans for the 'Norwegian' language.
>
>Oddur Gottsk�lksson ��ddi - en honum enginn hl�ddi
>
>Kve�ja,
>Konr��.
>
>P.S. I once recall hearing a rather well-educated Norwegian woman
>complain about all of the mideaval Norwegian art and valuables now
>sitting in Danish Museums. I told her, 'One can take a ferry and
>visit friends and museums in Denmark - one cannot take a ferry to
>visit the language of Norway'. As she obviously had no clue what I
>was even talking about, I informed her that Norwegians can now stop
>blaming the Danes - nothing happened without the full co-operation
>of the self-interested and guilty in back home in Norway.
>
>Ask any educated Icelander and you will likely receive a similar
>answer about what went on in Iceland during the long years leading
>up to independence - 'you know, connections, money to be made, etc.'
>
>May we have happier Nordic tides in years to come.
>
>Regards,
>Konrad.
>
>
>

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