Changes in the written Norwegian language and their reflection in the newspapers in the US during the 19th and 20th century
Abstract
The aim of the paper is to study the changes of the written Norwegian in the US during the 19th and 20th century. The research focuses on two main aspects of changes.
It compares the written Norwegian language in the US during the 19th and 20th century. The research focuses on two main aspects of changes.
It compares the written Norwegian language in Norway and the language used in the US after the orthographic reforms accepted in Norway. The research also evaluates the influence of English on Norwegian in the United States.
Moreover, the significance of the immigrant press among the immigrant groups in the Northern America is discussed. The research is based on the analysis of Norwegian written newspapers published in the US.The volume of newspapers printed by the immigrants in the US in the Norwegian language was large.
In the period between 1847 when the first journal "Nordlyset" was issued until 1972 when the newspaper "Decorah-Posten" was stopped, several hundred periodicals were published by the Norwegian immigrant community in the US. For the purposes of the research, the three leading Norwegian written newspapers in the Midwest (Skandinaven, Decorah-Posten, Minneapolis Tidende, known as The Big Three) were chosen as the source material.
The selection was motivated by several factors.The duration of the issuing of these and their character of the national Norwegian press in the Northern America were the prime ones. Besides, the mentioned papers partly overlapped in their geographical distribution.The period of their publishing covers the time from the beginning of the extensive immigration from Norway in 1860s till the 20th century (1935, 1941 and 1972 for respectively Minneapolis Tidende, Skandinaven and Decorah-Posten).The selected newspapers were followed during the whole period of their existence and all kinds of published texts were included.
Both the extern influence of English on Norwegian and the changes of the Norwegian language self were studied.