Ivar Aasen - a language builder "Ivar Aasen (1813 -1896) is one of the most central figures in Norwegian history. Born on a small farm in Ørsta, Møre og Romsdal county, he was a largely self-taught linguistic genius who was the first to provide a systematic grammatical description of the Norwegian popular dialects. At the time, Norway had recently gained a partial political independence, yet no Norwegian national language existed. The written language was Danish: the spoken language was either one of a myriad of dialects, or (among the upper classes) Danish with a Norwegian accent. In providing a scholarly description of of the Norwegian dialects, Aasen demonstrated that these were linked to each other and to the Old Norse language - that a Norwegian language did in fact exist. He also went one step further; he created a new written standard based on the language actually spoken in Norway. His linguistic genius is undisputed. His efforts as a language builder have been highly controversial, as many Norwegians favoured a more gradual Norwegianisation of the written language. Still, in large parts of Norway, particularly in Western Norway, most people feel a deep identification with his Nynorsk (New Norwegian) and use it as their daily written language. Yet it is primarily as a poet that Aasen can be said to be loved and revered by all Norwegians. Many of those who have little affection for the language he created, still treasure and know by heart the poems he wrote in this language." The text quoted is from "Introduction" to a pamphlet by Kjetil Myskja: Ivar Aasen's poetry. Published by The Norwegian Book Town - 2002. The Ivar Aasen Institute: http://www.hivolda.no/index.php?ID=11474 "From Old Norse to Middle Norwegian", an article by Stephen Walton: http://www.hivolda.no/index.php?ID=11686 The New Norwegian Culture Centre: http://www.aasentunet.no/ The Norwegian Book Town: http://www.bokbyen.no/ide_en.html |
