The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1903-10-28


at Bergen agreed that their respective
countries were to be forever united un-
der one king, nominally upon equal terms,
but really with Danish supremacy. In
1883 there was an abdica ton with res
gard to nationality. In that year mem-
bers OF the council of the kingdom Of
Norway agreed, together with Danish and
Swedish magnates, that q university was
Ian excellent thing for each of the two
countries, Sweden and Denmark. but 1t
did not SEEM to occur to them that a
university would have been a good thing
for Norway also.
When the Lutheran reformation was.
introduced into Norway there was an alb
dication in regard to language. Altho
n ega IS ang e d ths, MOI
tish and, Danish, 1t did not occur to9any-
one at that time that the Norwegians..
| like the Danes and Swedes, ought to
write their own language.
| A Slumberlna Nation.
To sum 1t all up in one sentence: The
underlying cause ofathe political, national
and linguistic abdication Of the 9Norwe-
gians, was their utter want of national and
public spirit at,sthe time, The people Of
Norway, among whom for centuries the,
greatest political, religious, and literary
activity had prevailed, had now sunk into
slumber-a most profound slumber. They
We're wide awake only in one particular,
and that with regardsto their private, per-
sonal rights.
Gradually. as result OF Swedish inva-
sions and wars with Sweden, the national
spirit was again aroused, but after CEN
turtles OF slow growth and nearly a cen-
tury OF regained national independence,
there are still people in Norway, who are
willing to trade away a. part of their
country's rights, and a still greater num-
| Der, who think that the Danish language,
intermixed with q few Norwegian words,
is the proper thing for Norway, and that
the real Norwegian language has no right
to recognition sgl>
Ridiculous Ideas; Among the People.
The common people, and many others
too, used to think that their dialects were
corruptions Of the written language and
the idea has prevailed among them that
their spoken language Is inferior to the
written language, which has been forced
upon them. AS a woman in destitute cir
cumstances used to tell her ragged chill
dren to run and hide under the bed when
ne1ghbors or strangers called at the house,
so the common people of Norway had been
taught to hide their supposed linguistic
rags in the presence of persons speaking
the only orthodox, semi German Danish
language. In this way a certain want Of
| independence and want Of sef-respect has
been 1nstilled into the common people. and
| this is probably the reason why SO many,
! Norwegians coming to this country try.
l.
as possible, and they must needs "spikke
Inglis" even to their own countrymen, al
tho their ways Of speaking it Is 80 imper-
! feet that it reminds one of g. hen trying
to play the part Of a Growing rooster. Can
i you guess, gentle reader, what; expression
the Norwegians use, when they speak Of
acquiring the English language? They
do not say that they are going to learn
English, but that they are going to learn
'tto talk :. -. &: u ~ y -
Professor Breda's Ignorance Of the acts;
From the facts stated above, the reader
will be able to judge how much sense
!? there is in the assertion Of Professor
/ Breda, that the a.'Landsmaal,'' is a dead
FOR artificial language Why: the Nor
wegian language should be a 1'.construct-
.ed''SS ARTIFICIAL" any more than
/ the Danish, Swedish or any other Ian
guage when first taken into use as writ
dten languages must be a mystery to all
I persons viewing the matter from an I'M
tpartial standpoint Professor Breda seems
! to think that the dialectssIo Norway are
! dialects Of the written QoanisE1 aanguage
| At any rate, people unacquainted witt the
facts will get that impression from his ar
ticle. It is not the case that the Nor
wegians have a language (which in its
written form is essentially Identical with
! that Of Denmark, just as In America you
have the same language as they have IN
England Such a comparison cannot
brought their Language with them from
lEngland. But Norway is#snot al Danish
fcolony. Its people ares q separate nation
as old as the Danish, with their own lan-
Iguage sE.s ~ H, s,Ss$EEf.
i People in Norway are now doing what
ought to have been, done 800 years go:
writing the countrys own language. Pro-
fessor. Breda calls the useSzof this LAM
guage a fad Fortunately Sepithets like
fad !, land .ehauyInism, are / not ;arsu:
ments, and have no more effect thar
striking the: table with the fist, It fs not
the table that is hurt but the fst.s3 If iii
is tchauvinism'' when Ole# Olsen does not
, want to be Oscar. Lindquist. or ] ems iJer-
SEN then let us have as much as possible
3 of such chauvinisnn. -;
The work for the ''Landsnaal' dates al
: least fifty years back. A singularly long.
:. lived ,..fad," isn't it? Some Of the finest
!. of $Norway's modern poetry has beer
: written In it, and one. at least, of the
!. greatest of all poetica1 works Songs have
= been written lin it without number, anc
: the young people out in the: country sing
as they have never sung before: Isn't i
: strange that a dead or artificial Ian
: guage should find such favor?
A Last Desperate Effort.
: s It is the progress that the language
! has made that has, induced B. Rjornse1
and others. to make a last desperate eff
. fort against It. The 100000 signatures,
: which the professor writes about. amour
: treally to 81, 000 difference of a trif'
: of 5000 names. After working In tn
e sweat Of their brows for three years, and
a ass writer says, 'traking together al
= sorts, men and women, young and old
s lame and blind, the opponents of tn
!. .Landsmaal" havessgot the said numbe
7 of: $4,000, many Of whom are now dead
< The queerest thing about the signature
! is, that there are so many names tof ad
:! : herents Of the '''Landsmaal'' among them
=. especially in the list from $Christiania
5 The names seem to have been copie
9 from the city directories without con
: sulting their owners. Anothersqueer thin
= is, that often the same names appea
y over and over again.
Il Of course, it is chiefly the same arts
I tocratic clique that is willing politicall
Y to submit to Sweden, and intellectual
;: to Denmark that Is opposed to the rec