The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1907-06-16
MAKING 4 NEW LANGUAGE.
Norway Would Like Something Better
Than Made Over Danish.

Norway has a new King. That is, he is
comparatively ew. Some Of the varnish
may have rubbed off by this time; but to all
intents and purposes the King is new.
Norway now wants a new language, says
a writer in the Boston Transcript. The
national Parliament passed a bill authoriz-
ing the change. though it has not yet ad-
vertised. for bids or let the contract. In
deed, there seems to be a disposition to
make the new language out of old ma
terials. This will be a great saving, which
means some little to a country with the
slender purse of Norway.
1t seems that the present written and
spoken tongue of the country is a made
over Danish. There nave been some very
slight notifications in the pronunciation
and the grammar, but Danes and Norwe-
gians understand each other at once, and
the literature Of the two countries are really
a unit. But from time immemorial there
nave lurked in Norway many peasant
dialects, dialects that vary so much that
peasants from one end Of the country talk
Greek to peasants in another md. These
tongues are rich and racy. they are alive,
thew smell Of the soil and they throb with
the heart.
Fifty years or more ago there came into
fashion an effort to preserve these tongues
in the country's literature. The written
language began to gather up quantities
of these expressive spoken terms. Bjorn-
son headed the movement and started
the fashion, and his books borrow some
of their remarkable qualities from this
broadening of his vocabulary. That broad
ening carried with it broadening OF
interests and sympathies.
From these healthy beginnings there
grew I'D a widespread endeavor that soc
overshot itself. became an ~exaggeration
and received its proper epithet in "maal-
strAveri." From innocent enrichment of
the language the enthusiasts passed to the
point OF attempting an entire urheaval
Of the language. Bjornson suddenly be-
came a purist and set himself against this
tide of wholesale iconoclasm.
Now il is quite possible that some change
NAV actually appear in the Norwegian
tonRue. Parliament has voted that
nations in the Norwegian vernacular shall
be imposed vol pupils in the schools
along with study of the existing forms of
speech. The peasants really forced this
measure through. They hold a large hand
in the national assembly, and their vanity
had been reached when il seemed that they
had been called upon to supply their land
with a language. First, the "Landsmaal'
was recommended" as a study. hen il
was made optional. Soo teachers were
required TO possess avery good knowledge
of il, Now the last step in this act, which
compels the pupils in the secondary schools
to learn two Observation-Disclosures, one with
a literature and good for every day use, the
other a product of pedantic .philologists
for by now the so-called "Landsmaal"
has dwindled into an artificial effort Of
the linguists. who. in their passion for
order and e%xactness, nave robbed the poor
thing Of it's original life and vigor.
There is in Norway an exaggeration Of
the na~tionalistic idea. There is a tendency
to exclude foreign capital and foreign
enterprise. This language deal seems
another ultra -nationalistio extravaganza.
Fortunately for the present il appears to be
nothing but a temporary ecstasy Of tenn
porarily predominant peasants. Tit whole
future Of Norway consists in its European
ization.