Kråker i lufta / Stev [Virvelstevet]

Traduzione italiana / Oversettelse på italiensk / Italian translation / Traduction italienne / Italiankielinen käännös:
Riccardo Venturi, 19-03-2019 08:29

English translation / Oversettelse på engelsk / Traduzione inglese / Traduction anglaise / Englanninkielinen käännös:
Riccardo Venturi, 19-03-2018 08:31

Traduzione finlandese / Finnish translation / Traduction finnoise / Finsk oversettelse / Suomennos: Juha Rämö

I think this song is interesting also from a specifically linguistic view. It is written in a language form which is neither traditional bokmål, nor nynorsk. A language movement was developing in Norway in the 60s and 70s, trying to mix both traditional language forms into a “Common Norwegian” (Samnorsk) sharing the characteristics of both and, at the same time, reproducing the popular language of larger towns in South and West Norway (the most densely populated areas in the country). This had also political associations: the “Samnorsk” supporters were mostly associated with the Left, while conservatives kept on adhering strictly to traditional bokmål, the mixed Dano-Norwegian literary language prevailing in Oslo, and used in the media. A certain number of Samnorsk forms (e.g. the feminine gender of nouns with [-a] definite article or possessive adjectives placed after the noun, e.g. “jobben din”) are now generally accepted and used. All song lyrics by Frosk are written in Samnorsk.

I must admit that it's a bit hard for me to understand how Norway, a small nation of five million people, can afford to have several Norwegian languages, i.e. a potential source of so much confusion and misunderstanding. That, at least, cannot have anything to do with the North Sea oil.

I think all this has its remote origin in Norway's history. The centuries-long Danish domination brought the Danish language with it. Danish became the language of bureaucracy and supplanted Norwegian in Oslo and in the larger towns, perhaps except Bergen. Norwegians have always pronounced Danish with a strongly Norwegian accent, but, to say the truth, all masterpieces of 19th century Norwegian literature -including Ibsen's plays and Bjørnson's tales- are written in Danish, not in Norwegian (modern editions have been more or less “Norwegianized”, but if you read an old edition you can see it's good Danish what appears in the pages). A reaction took place before the country's home rule and independence, when the philologist and poet Ivar Aasen built a purely Norwegian literary language based upon the Western dialects, that had remained rather free from Danish influence: he called landsmål (country language) this “new” language hoping it would become Norway's new literary language, and it had considerable success in the Western part of the country; but Oslo and the greater part of Norway kept to the Dano-Norwegian language. However, especially after full independence was achieved, a strong movement arose to “Norwegianize” the language as much as possible: this is the so-called “bokmål” (“language of books”), formerly called “riksmål” (“state language”). Nowadays' bokmål is no longer Danish, even if both languages are very, very similar. At the same time, Ivar Aasen's old “landsmål” has been developing into “nynorsk” (“Neo-Norwegian”, a rather curious name for a language form which is based on the oldest and most conservative Norwegian dialects). I admit the Norwegian language lives in an eternal state of chaos: school children have to learn both language forms, both languages have equally official status and you may choose which form you like best and want to use in everyday life, often naturally mixing both forms (as in our Frosk song lyrics: that's the real way most Norwegians speak, and you have to get used to this). My personal experience: I got acquainted with a young man from Bergen some years ago in a “self-managed social centre” here in Florence, and when he realized I speak Norwegian, the first question he asked me was about what language form I wanted to talk with him in, even before asking my name. I looked at him and started talking in Swedish. I think he must still be laughing! At deep night, we were equally intoxicated with nynorsk wine, bokmål beer and Swedish rum-and-pear juice.