Online Encyclopedia

Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.

SCANDINAVIAN DIALECTS

Online Encyclopedia
Originally appearing in Volume V24, Page 298 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
» Make a correction to this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Spread the word: del.icio.us del.icio.us it!

SCANDINAVIAN DIALECTS .—As above remarked, the Scandinavian dialects are not grouped, so far as their relationship is concerned, Dialects. as might be expected judging from the See also:

literary See also:languages. Leaving out of See also:account the Icelandic dialects and those of the Faeroes, each of which constitutes a See also:separate See also:group, the See also:remainder may be thus classified: I. See also:West See also:Norwegian Dialects—spoken on the western See also:coast of See also:Norway between Langesund and See also:Molde. 2. See also:North Scandinavian—the remaining Norwegian and the See also:Swedish dialects of Uppland, Vastmanland, Dalarna, Norrland, See also:Finland and See also:Russia. 3. The dialects on the See also:island of See also:Gotland. 4. See also:Middle Swedish—spoken in the See also:rest of See also:Sweden, except the southernmost parts (No. 5). 5. See also:South Scandinavian—spoken in the greater See also:part of Smaland and Halland, the whole of Skane, Blekinge and See also:Denmark, and the • Danish-speaking part of See also:Schleswig.

This group is distinctly divided into three smaller See also:

groups—the dialects of See also:southern Sweden (with the 1 See A. Western, " Kurze Darstellung See also:des norwegischen Lautsystems " in Phonebische Studien II.; I. C. Poestion, Lehrbuck der norwegischen Sprache (2. Aufl., 1900).island of See also:Bornholm), of the Danish islands and of See also:Jutland (and Schleswig). The study of the See also:Modern Scandinavian dialects 2 has been very unequally prosecuted. Hardly anything has been done towards the investigation of the Icelandic dialects, while those of the Faeroes have been studied chiefly by V. U. Hammershaimb, J. Jakobsen, and A. C. Evensen.

The Norwegian dialects have been thoroughly examined, first by See also:

Aasen, whose See also:works give a See also:general account of them; then by J. See also:Storm, who has displayed an unwearying activity, especially in the See also:minute investigation of their phonetic constitution, to which Aasen had paid but . scant See also:attention; in our own days by H. See also:Ross and A. B. Larsen.' For the study of Danish dialects less has been done. Molbech''s See also:Dialect-See also:Lexicon of 1841 is very deficient. The Schleswig dialect has been admirably treated of by E. Hagerup (1854), K. J. Lyngby (1858) and others. H. F.

Feilberg's See also:

great See also:dictionary (1886 seq.) of the dialect of Jutland is in every respect an excellent See also:work. A dialect See also:map on a large See also:scale, and containing the whole territory, is (since 1898) being edited by V. Bennike and M. Kristensen. Finally, several dialect monographs by P. K. Thorsen may be mentioned as being especially valuable. A phonetic See also:alphabet for the purpose of dialectal investigations is worked out by 0. Jespersen and published in the See also:journal Dania, vol. i. (189o). There is, however, no See also:country in which the dialects have been and are studied with greater zeal and more fruitful results than in Sweden during the last See also:hundred and'fifty years. See also:Archbishop E.

Benzelius the younger (d. 1743) made collections of dialect words, and on his work is based the dialectical dictionary of Ihre of 1766. An excellent work considering its See also:

age is S. See also:Hof's Dialectus Vestrogothica (1772). The See also:energy and zeal of C. See also:Save (d. 1876; essays on the dialects of Gotland and Dalarna) inspired these studies with extra-See also:ordinary animation at the middle of the 19th See also:century; in 1867 J. E. Rietz (d. 1868) published a voluminous dialect dictionary; the number of See also:special essays, too, increased yearly. From 1872 so-called " landsmalsforeniggar " (dialect See also:societies) were founded among the students at the See also:universities of See also:Upsala, See also:Lund and See also:Helsingfors (thirteen at Upsala alone) for a systematic and thorough investigation of dialects. We find remarkable progress in scientific method—especially with regard to See also:phonetics—in the constantly increasing literature; special mention may be made of the detailed descriptions of the dialects of Varmland, Gotland and Dalarna by A.

Noreen (1877 seq.), A. F. Freudenthal's and H. Vendell's mono-graphs of the Finnish and Esthonian-Swedish dialects, as well as O. F Hultman's (1894) and B. Hesselman's (1902 seq.) excellent See also:

comparative treatment of certain dialect groups. Since 1879 the Swedish dialect societies have published a See also:magazine on a comprehensive See also:plan, De Svenska Landsmklen, edited by J. A. Lundell, who has invented for this purpose an excellent phonetic alphabet (partially based on C. J. Sundevall's work, Om phonetiska bokstafver, 1855). (A.

End of Article: SCANDINAVIAN DIALECTS

Additional information and Comments

There are no comments yet for this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click, and select "copy." Then paste it into your website, email, or other HTML.
Site content, images, and layout Copyright © 2006 - Net Industries, worldwide.
Do not copy, download, transfer, or otherwise replicate the site content in whole or in part.

Links to articles and home page are always encouraged.

[back]
SCANDINAVIAN CIVILIZATION 		[next]
SCANDINAVIAN LANGUAGES

Site © 2006 - Net Industries