Sanchez Posted May 17, 2010 Report Share Posted May 17, 2010 I've been talking with a few Norn enthusiasts lately, and I was wondering what the general opinion of Shetlanders was on Norn revitalization. Is Norn a part of your heritage that you'd like to have back, or do you feel like it's unnecessary in the modern world? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kavi Ugl Posted May 17, 2010 Report Share Posted May 17, 2010 Yes, it should be revived and taught as our Shetland language, just as Gaelic is taught and promoted in the Western Isles and other parts of Scotland. Sadly, when it comes to culture and identity most "joe public" Shetlanders are lazy and haven't got a clue who or what they are so I'm not sure if there's much hope..... Again sadly your poll will probably show this....... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Malachy Posted May 17, 2010 Report Share Posted May 17, 2010 People are free to try and reinvent the language if they like, as some are obviously trying to do ('revive' is a misleading word, since there is no complete language available to revive. The job involves lots of assumptions and guesses.) To try and force this reinvented language on Shetlanders today is a rather peculiar and slightly sinister idea. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pleepsie Posted May 17, 2010 Report Share Posted May 17, 2010 Reviving an old language is definitely unnecessary in the modern world - languages evolve all the time; new words are created to fit the times we live in. If you try and keep a language 'pure' as the French do, then you have the prospect of a commitee taking 18 months to agree a word. In the mean time all the French people just use the english word and stick Le or La in front of it! How would Norn cope with all the new words and phrases that the modern world has? To translate the English term for computing resources that can be accessed on demand on the Internet, a group of French experts had spent 18 months coming up with "informatique en nuage," which literally means "computing in cloud." France's General Commission of Terminology and Neology -- a 17-member group of professors, linguists, scientists and a former ambassador -- was gathered in a building overlooking the Louvre to approve the term. Before a word such as "cloud computing" or "podcasting" ("diffusion pour baladeur") receives a certified French equivalent, it needs to be approved by three organizations and get a government minister's seal of approval, according to rules laid out by the state's General Delegation for the French Language and the Languages of France. The process can be a linguistic odyssey taking years. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125544523318682497.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EM Posted May 17, 2010 Report Share Posted May 17, 2010 ... just as Gaelic is taught and promoted in the Western Isles and other parts of Scotland.Well, that is enough of a justification in my opinion as to why Norn should be left alone. The whole pro-Gaelic movement makes me want to puke. There are many old cultural things which are worth preserving, and also reviving, but language is about efficient communication. Promoting the use of dead languages in everyday society is at best doomed to failure, and likely to merely piss people off. Study them and preserve them of course, but reintroduce them? Nah. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kavi Ugl Posted May 17, 2010 Report Share Posted May 17, 2010 I'd say language is about who you are and where you come from. The fact that most Shetlanders even have a disdain for the idea of reviving the norn language just proves that they don't know where they or wir history come from. I'm not saying we have to mimick what they've done and are doing with Gaelic, we should just do wir own thing in wir own way. What's enough to make you "puke" is the fake viking blurb that is Up-helly-aa and the "viking parades" at the various summer festivals. What an embarrassment Norn could cope by doing the same as Faroe i.e inventing new names either using the existing words/language or creating new ones. Where there's a will there's a way..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EM Posted May 17, 2010 Report Share Posted May 17, 2010 I'd say language is about who you are and where you come from.Partly so. But on that basis, the impression I would get from encountering people having a conversation in Norn today, would be that the individuals are living in a rose-tinted fantasy past. As interested as I am in where we come from (and the DNA conference on Saturday was very interesting concerning that), I think where we are going is much more relevant and important. Trying to get a society to start using a dead language is going back, not forward. The fact that most Shetlanders even have a disdain for the idea of reviving the norn language just proves that they don't know where they or wir history come from.Surely you jest? It may be an opinion but it certainly proves nothing of the sort. What's enough to make you "puke" is the fake viking blurb that is Up-helly-aa and the "viking parades" at the various summer festivals. What an embarrassment The key difference between UHA type activity and language revival is that participation in the former is a matter of individual choice, whereas the latter affects everyone. Norn could cope by doing the same as Faroe i.e inventing new names either using the existing words/language or creating new ones. Where there's a will there's a way.....But for what possible gain? Pride? It just seems silly to wish to go back to using an inferior language when we currently have a particularly good one. Not all languages are equally effective, quite appart from the benefits of the large user base. Indeed there is an interesting argument which proposes that one of the reasons why the English speaking empires became so dominant was because they used English, rather than the theory that English became dominant because of its use by those empires. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oddrun Posted May 17, 2010 Report Share Posted May 17, 2010 I just remember the struggle to try learning "Gammelnorsk", (Old Norwegian). when I was at school......have to admit that I've forgotten most of it....... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ghostrider Posted May 17, 2010 Report Share Posted May 17, 2010 I'm indifferent. Norn is dead, it died over two centuries ago, it died for a reason(s). What some of us older relics still speak is somewhat influenced by it, and some place names still remain that hold on to elements of it, but that's the sum total of what's left of it in Shetland today. What would we gain by recreating it, what are we losing, or will lose by consigning it to history, where numerous other aspects of our history and heritage have already gone (some arguably far more obviously beneficial than a form of communication we have proven, and continue to prove every day, that we no longer need)? Convince me it has practical use and benefit, and I'll find it difficult to argue recreating it is a bad thing, but if its just for novelty value "because we can", I'd say its best left up to those who have a genuine interest in it and believe in it to do with it as they see fit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oddrun Posted May 17, 2010 Report Share Posted May 17, 2010 As Ghostrider says, those old dead languages are just for people with special interests...., and the place names in Shetland, they are so twisted by those who have made the maps, that they are impossile to recognice...This would be as stupid as learning Norwegians "Gammelnorsk" ...a vaste of time and effort....We read Swedish and Danish too...far easier Better learn them to knit , that can come to use .......Thankfully we had knitting as a part of "Handicraft" among a lot of other things...it was not the worst, and I ended up as a rather good knitter, I think,,but I have not done it for 15 years...Maybe I should knit Auld Rasmie a traditional Norwegian "Lusekofte" OOOPS, now I have crossed topics again Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted May 17, 2010 Report Share Posted May 17, 2010 ..Maybe I should knit Auld Rasmie a traditional Norwegian "Lusekofte" I can't be bothered to ask her for a translation. I'd rather live in hope that a "Lusekofte" is a "Willie Warmer", considering the weather we've had today. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oddrun Posted May 17, 2010 Report Share Posted May 17, 2010 No it's not...........do you really need one ?????? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Longdog Posted May 17, 2010 Report Share Posted May 17, 2010 No it's a protector he needs for the maggot that swallow was after Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DePooperit Posted May 20, 2010 Report Share Posted May 20, 2010 Indeed there is an interesting argument which proposes that one of the reasons why the English speaking empires became so dominant was because they used English, rather than the theory that English became dominant because of its use by those empires. Reference? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kavi Ugl Posted May 20, 2010 Report Share Posted May 20, 2010 Well, I was told an absolutely shocking story today. A friend from work told me that the teacher(s) from his child's school(in Lerwick)had phoned his partner at work(because they couldn't get an answer at home)to tell her that their child was "using too many Shetland words at school" and "could they try to get it out of her/get her to stop". As my friend mentioned the bairn is 8 years old and doesn't even know the difference yet. Either way, if true, this is pure racism and discrimination. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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