A Language Based on Upper-Middle-Class Speech or Peasant Dialects? The Programmes Proposed by knud knudsen and ivar Aasen
A Language Based on Upper-Middle-Class Speech or Peasant Dialects? The Programmes Proposed by knud knudsen and ivar Aasen
From the middle of the 19th century onwards, the school master and grammarian Knud Knudsen (1812-95) promoted a language planning programme whereby the written Danish standard used in Norway at the time would change gradually through language planning reforms in the direction of the upper-class creoloid, and thus, by degree, become a (Dano-)Norwegian written standard. This programme of language planning has, through several language reforms, resulted in the standard Bokmål of today. In the 1830s and 1840s, the linguist, language planner and poet Ivar Aasen (1813-96) dismissed completely the upper-class creoloid as a basis on which to establish a national standard. In his view, this idiom was too closely connected to Danish to be able to serve as a convincing linguistic symbol of the Norwegian nation. He launched a new written standard (Landsmaal) based on local peasant dialects. Aasen’s suggested standard has, through several language reforms, resulted in modern standard Nynorsk.
Keywords: Knud Knudsen, Ivar Aasen, upper-class creoloid, Dano-Norwegian, new written standard, Landsmaal, Bokmål, Nynorsk
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