Should Norn be revived?

[DePooperit]

You'll find that I eventually noticed and replied to your PM!

[Sanchez]

Shetland Norn: Language Death and Reconstruction

 

In 1774, George Low, a young Scottish clergyman, visited the Shetland Islands in pursuit of philological and scientific knowledge. His subsequent book, A Tour through Orkney and Schetland, discusses his finds, among them the last traces of an antique and curious dialect spoken by farmers on some of the more remote islands. This language, known as Norn, was a North Germanic language, brought by the Vikings a millennium before to Shetland and Orkney. It was, however, made obsolete by the growing use of Scots throughout the islands. Originally spoken throughout Orkney and Shetland (Jakobsen 1), by Low’s time the language was spoken only by elderly or isolated Shetlanders, such that he had to travel to the remote island of Foula to find even a few speakers; it was, as Low observed, “the language of the last age, but will be entirely lost by the next†(Low 105). Fortunately for modern linguists, however, Low did manage to compile a modest word list, as well as transcribe a song as related by an elderly Norn speaker. During the next century Shetland Norn was swallowed up entirely by Scots; however, it still retains a significant influence on Shetland Scots, and several online groups have recently formed with the purpose of reconstruction and revitalization. The development of a genuine revival is still in its infancy, maintained generally by only a few enthusiasts. Myriad issues are faced when one considers Norn revival; among them low prestige, a small literature, and heavy corruption from Scots at the time of its extinction. Therefore, I argue that while Norn cannot be revived in its original form, it is entirely feasible to reconstruct the language in a manner that borrows heavily from Faroese, Norn’s closest living relative. In the context of this paper, I will refer generally to Shetland Norn, which was longer-lived and had a greater influence than the Orkney variety.

 

The 19th-century Faroese linguist Jakob Jakobsen, in his lecture The Old Shetland Dialect, provides a background on the circumstances leading to the rise and fall of Norn: Vikings settled the Northern Isles in the 800s, bringing with them the Old Norse language. There they displaced the Pictish culture that had previously existed (Jakobsen 2), and brought the islands under the Norwegian kingdom, where it would remain until the 14th century. At that time, Norway came under the Danish crown, “But hardly a century after the union was completed, the islands were handed over to Scotland, pledged for a certain sum of money, which formed the dowry of the Princess Margaret of Denmark, who was married to King James the Third of Scotland†(Low 3). The islands were thus under Scottish control by the late 1400s; this transaction ultimately proved a death sentence for Norn, albeit one that was not carried out until the 18th century.

 

In fact, it is clear that, for at least forty-one years after the 1468 betrothal, a Norse culture and language was dominant, at least on Shetland. A 1509 legal document from Shetland, currently held by the University of Bergen, reads thus:

 

Allum monnum them sem thetta breff see edher heyra heil-/ sum vy Thomass Rikardsson vppa Skatz ... dum Bryniolff Einarsson/ Eirikur Markusson ock Ion Iuarsson logretto menn i Voghim i Hiet-/ lande med guds kuedio ock vorom kunnigt giorande med thessu voro/ oppno breffe at ver vorum thar ihia a steffno i Medalbæ a Sandnese/ saum ock heyrdum vppa at heidarligin mann Gutthorm Nielsson log-/ mann i Berghen spurde at alla tha menn vnga ock gamla sem thar voro/ eff their hæffde nockurn tima heyrt eda vitad ath sira Gregorius Iuars-/ son haffde nockrar thær sakir giort i sina daga at fforneffnder sira Gre-/ gorius Iuarsson haffde fforbrotid sitt godzss laust ock ffast vid konung/ eda biscup. suarado tha allir bæde vnger og gam[ler at th]eir heyrdo/ din ffedur och fforelldre seiga at sira Gregorius Iuarsson var ein godur/ dande mann alla sina daga. ock han (fforbraut) ecki sina peninga huorke/ vid konung eda biscop ock alldre heyrdo their nockur klago maal eda/ akæro fforneffnd(h sira) Gregorius Iuarsson vara tiltalad suo lenge sem / hann liffde. ock till sanninda her vm heingiæ vy fforskriffade menn vor/ incigle ffyrir thetta breff sem giort var næsta dag ffyrir sancte Kate-/ rine virgins et martiris, dag anno domini mo. do. nono

--Universitet i Bergen, Dimplom fra Shetland datert 24.november 1509

 

The English translation is as follows:

 

To all the men who see or hear this letter, we Thomass Rikardsson of Skatztader, Bryniolff Einarsson, Eirikur Markusson and Ion Iuarsson, lawrightmen in Voghar in Hietland, send God’s greeting and our own. We make known with this our letter patent that we were present at a meeting in Medalbœ in Sandnes, and saw and heard that the honourable man Gutthorm Niellsson, lawman in Berghen, asked all the men, young and old, who were there, if they had at any time heard or known that ‘sira’ Gregorius Iuarsson had committed any offences in his time, such that the aforementioned ‘sira’ Gregorius Iuarsson had forfeited his property, moveable and fixed, to the king or bishop. Then all, both young and old, answered that they had heard their fathers and ancestors say that ‘sira’ Gregorius Iuarsson was a good and worthy man all his days, and had not forfeited his possessions to either king or bishop, and that they had never heard that any charges or accusations had been brought against the aforementioned ‘sira’ Gregorius Iuarsson so long as he lived. And in confirmation hereof we the aforesaid men hang our seals on this letter, which was made the last day before the feast of St Katherine, virgin and martyr, in the year of our Lord 1509.

--http://shetlopedia.com/The_last_known_document_from _Shetland_written_in_Norse, The last known document from Shetland written in Norse

 

The above document can tell us, firstly, that the Norwegian language was still being used to record events in a court of law in 1509, forty years after the islands were pawned to Scotland. This signifies a continuing high prestige of the language, and hence little linguistic interference from the Scottish. Also worth mentioning is that the above document contains few if any Scots loanwords, indicating the language was still in its prime. Culturally, the Scottish seemed to have interfered but little; two generations after Scotland’s takeover, Norse patronymics were still used, as well as a large, democratic assembly in which legal decisions were made (Norn ting, from Old Norse Þing “assembly, councilâ€). On the other hand, the content discussed within the document suggests a growing Scottish presence; it appears to be a grievance against the local government for confiscating the property of a man unanimously seen as innocent. It is not unreasonable to wonder if this seizure is representative of consolidation of power by the Scottish crown; property confiscation is one of the easiest ways to disenfranchise any group. This letter may perhaps shed some light as to the methods employed by the Scottish government in bringing the people of the Northern Isles under their control. In any case, however, a North Germanic culture and language was allowed to survive on Shetland, at least for the time being.

Between the 1509 document and George Low’s account, the Norn language appears to have gradually lost its prestige, and was spoken by fewer and fewer people. Determining the exact date of extinction is difficult, given the lack of literature on the subject. While Low claims that the language was all but lost even in isolated communities, Jakobsen claimed that “the amount of Norn remains still to be found in Shetland is truly astonishing, considering the fact, that the proper old dialect became extinct during the latter half of the last century†(53). More recently, Remco Knooihuizen of the University of Edinburgh suggested, in the 2008 paper Fishing for Words: the Taboo Language of Shetland Fisherman and the Dating of Norn Language Death, that “In the early part of the eighteenth century, Norn is already said to have been in decline, with Scots being the main language of the islands. From the middle of the century, Norn is described as a thing of the past, being spoken only by old people†(Knoohuizen 102). Also significant is that Low’s informant, an “old man†who spoke supposedly the best Norn on the island (Low 107), was in fact a non-fluent speaker who inaccurately translated a ballad he performed for Low (Knooihuizen 103). If, during Low’s time, the last elderly speakers were non-fluent, the shift from Norn to Scots can be tentatively placed in the early 1700s.

 

With respect to reconstruction, Norn presents a challenge in that unlike other revived languages like Hebrew, few texts survive to the present, and Norn to this day retains a very low prestige in Shetland. To examine Shetlanders’ views on Norn revival, I opened a thread on the internet forum www.shetlink.com/forum.viewforum.php?f=31, part of a website aimed at the Shetland community, including the fairly open-ended question “Should Norn be revived?â€. In the thread were discussed various definitions of “revivalâ€; among linguists, as a literary language, or as a language taught in schools. The responses were generally negative or indifferent: thirteen of twenty-two polled responded “No†or “No opinionâ€. While certain enthusiasts were eager to discuss revival, the majority of those polled questioned the validity of the language in the modern world. As one of my informants said, “It died for a reason(s)… 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 [sic] 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†(personal communication). In other areas of the United Kingdom, such as Wales and Cornwall, dead language revival has become an expression of regional or ethnic pride, modern Shetlanders see no reason to dust off what they consider an obsolete, and mostly forgotten, tool. Interestingly, however, there is a considerable degree of pride in Shetland Scots, locally known as Shaetlan. While Shetlink, built and maintained by the Shetlander community, has an active “Shaetlan wird o’ da Day†thread, the general consensus of Norn revival appears to be exemplified in one participant’s opinion: “To try and force this reinvented language on Shetlanders today is a rather peculiar and slightly sinister idea†(personal communication).

 

Still, I feel that, from a scholarly standpoint, Norn reconstruction is a worthy pursuit. It is the right of interested islanders to learn their ancestral language. To advance this goal, I have below taken Low’s translation of the Lord’s Prayer, and compared it with Faroese and Old Norse versions:

 

Norn (Low 105):

http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y370/busheys89/nornlordsprayer.jpg

 

Faroese:

Faðir vár, Tú, sum ert í Himli.

Heilagt verði navn Títt.

Komi ríki Títt.

Verði vilji Tín, sum í Himli, so á jørð.

Gev okkum í dag okkara dagliga breyð.

Og fyrigev okkum syndir okkara, so sum vit eisini fyrigeva teimum, ið móti okkum synda.

Leið okkum ikki í frestingar, men frels okkum frá tí illa.

Tí at títt er ríkið, valdið og heiðurin um allar ævir.

Amen.

 

Old Norse

Faþer vár es ert í himenríki, verði nafn þitt hæilagt

Til kome ríke þitt, værði vili þin

sva a iarðu sem í himnum.

Gef oss í dag brauð vort dagligt

Ok fyr gefþu oss synþer órar,

sem vér fyr gefom þeim er viþ oss hafa misgert

Leiðd oss eigi í freistni, heldr leys þv oss frá öllu illu.

 

While all three texts are quite similar, even a cursory glance reveals that the former two are more closely related than the third, and suggest that Faroese would be a more appropriate basis for Norn reconstruction than Old Norse. Specifically, I present the following as evidence that Faroese more closely approximates Norn than Old Norse.

 

Syntactically, Faroese and Norn share more similarities than either appears to have with Old Norse. Take, for example, the simple Norn sentence Halaght vara nam dit “Hallowed be thy nameâ€; or, more literally, “Hallowed be name thineâ€. The Faroese word order is exactly the same with Faroese Heilagt verði navn Títt, showing a similar placement rule for possessive pronouns and adjectives, as opposed to Old Norse Verði nafn þitt hæilagt, literally “Be name thine hallowedâ€, which places the adjective at a sentence-final position, rather than initial. This very basic similarity in word order suggests that a Faroese, rather than Old Norse, model ought to produce more accurate results when reconstructing Norn sentences and clauses.

 

With respect to lexicon, it can be suggested that Norn take generally from Faroese, but with certain phonological shifts applied, as discussed below. Indeed, upon examination of the prayer samples, one may easily conclude that Faroese and Norn were mutually intelligible; or nearly so, were it not for a considerable number of Scots and English loanwords in the language recorded by Low. For instance, La konningdum din kumma “thy kingdom come†is composed almost entirely of loanwords from English, along with a French definite article. This borrowing suggests that, instead of coining neologisms, Norn speakers simply took what they needed from the languages around them. Should Norn be revived as a spoken language, it may be prudent for accuracy’s sake to “Nornicize†words from Scots, as opposed to creating entirely new terms.

Several phonological shifts occurred in Norn and Faroese alike. First among them is that dental fricatives of Old Norse /þ/ and /ð/ have been dropped by both Norn and Faroese. Although the latter, known as Eth, survives in Faroese, it is only in a vestigial orthographic form; instead of a fricative, it now represents a spoken glide. For example, Faroese góð•ur “good†is in fact pronounced [É¡É”wwʌ ̈ɹ Ì], and bað “bath†pronounced [bea•], as collected by Paul Heggarty for the McDonald Institute for Archeological Research. Norn seems to have developed a similar phenomenon; although Low’s orthography can be called primitive at best, he appears to record no fricatives in brau and lia, meaning “bread†and “lead!†respectively. Faroese finishes both breyð and leið in glides, whereas Old Norse records brauð and leiðd as both having voiced dental fricatives. Therefore, Norn and Faroese appear to have followed the same trend in dropping dental fricatives, especially in word-final cases. In word-initial instances, such as Old Norse þitt “thineâ€, in both Faroese and Norn the dental fricative changes to an alveolar plosive, producing Faroese títt and Norn dit. Interestingly, the Norn version appears to have gained voicing, while in Faroese the stop remained voiceless.

 

It is worth mentioning, however, that two major change appears to have occurred in the Norn language, that was absent in Faroese. In Faroese, placing an accent marker over a vowel turns it into a diphthong; the words trý “three†and bít “bite!†are realized as [tʰɹʊiˑ] and [bʊiˑt] (Heggarty). Norn employs a further step: Faroese word-initial back vowels, generally, become rounded in Norn. Below are several words, as taken from Knooihuizen’s transcription of Low’s 1774 list.

 

English

Haddock

Boat

Ewe

Spoon

Cow

Mare

Shoe

 

Faroese

Hýssan

Bátin

Aerin

Spónin

Kyrin

Ryssa

Skógvin

 

Norn

Hoissan

Bodin

Oron

Sponin

Kurin

Russa

Skeugin

 

In every case, the initial back vowel takes its rounded equivalent. In the final instance, that of Norn skeugin “shoeâ€, it may be observed that /v/ has been dropped. Upon further examination, every entry containing /gv/ exhibited the same phenomenon; for example, Faroese húgvan becomes Norn ugan. This leads me to believe that /gv/, initially a pairing of a stop and a fricative, gradually lost the fricative in Norn, at which point it became a glide, as /g/ is used in Faroese today (Heggarty).

 

This in mind, then, the scholar can rely on three basic phonological and orthographical rules for reconstructing Norn:

 

1. Word-initial back vowels are generally to be rounded.

2. In the case of an Old Norse word-final /þ/ or /ð/, the fricative shifts to a glide. In word-initial and other instances, they should shift from dental fricatives to alveolar plosives.

3. Faroese /gv/ will drop /v/, and become a glide represented by /g/.

 

These proposals are by no means comprehensive or final; indeed, the generalizations I make are quite broad, and so will almost certainly have major flaws. Much work remains to be done on Norn; the language remains all but lost. As the language is further explored, however, the wheels of innovation may turn, just as they did for Hebrew, for Welsh, for Cornish. New, more specific, rules of language may well come to replace old ones. Norn is a language given little attention by linguists. As awareness of this tragically lost language grows, so will its scholarship; as scholarship grows, so will the possibility of, someday, Norn’s return as a spoken and living language.

 

 

Works Cited

1. "Diplom fra Shetland datert 24. november 1509." Universitet i Bergen. Universitet i Bergen, 13 Dec 1980. Web. 21 May 2010. .

2. Heggarty, Paul. "Faroese: standard." Languages and Origins in Europe. The McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, n.d. Web. 8 Jun 2010. .

3. Jakobsen, Jakob. The Dialect and Place Names of Shetland. Lerwick: T. & J. Manson, 1897. Print.

4. Knooihuizen, Remco. "Fishing for Words: the Taboo Language of Shetland Fishermen and the Dating of Norn Language Death." Transactions of the Philological Society. 106.1 (2008): 100-13. Print.

5. Low, George. A Tour Through the Islands of Orkney and Schetland. Kirkwall: William Peace & Son, 1879. Print.

6. "Shetland's written and spoken form." Shetlink Forums. Shetlink-Shetland, 08 Jun 2010. Web. 8 Jun 2010. .

7. "The last known document from Shetland written in Norse." Shetlopedia. Shetlopedia, 18 Feb 2008. Web. 21 May 2010. .

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[deardron]

Thanks Sanchez for an interesting essay, good job done! But let me correct you on a few items:

With respect to lexicon, it can be suggested that Norn take generally from Faroese, but with certain phonological shifts applied, as discussed below. Indeed, upon examination of the prayer samples, one may easily conclude that Faroese and Norn were mutually intelligible; or nearly so, were it not for a considerable number of Scots and English loanwords in the language recorded by Low. For instance, La konningdum din kumma “thy kingdom come†is composed almost entirely of loanwords from English, along with a French definite article.

La is certainly is not the French definite article, even though looking the same the word comes from Old Norse lát, also Faroese lat and means 'let'.

Several phonological shifts occurred in Norn and Faroese alike. First among them is that dental fricatives of Old Norse /þ/ and /ð/ have been dropped by both Norn and Faroese.

This is not quite true as far as Norn is concerned. The sounds partially are preserved in Orkney Norn and sporadically in South Shetland too.

 

Although the latter, known as Eth, survives in Faroese, it is only in a vestigial orthographic form; instead of a fricative, it now represents a spoken glide. For example, Faroese góð•ur “good†is in fact pronounced [É¡É”wwʌ ̈ɹ Ì], and bað “bath†pronounced [bea•], as collected by Paul Heggarty for the McDonald Institute for Archeological Research.

Faroese ð does not always represent a glide (j,w). See your example with bað - there's no glide, just zero sound. In words like maður [meavur], veður [vevur] there's no glide either, because v is a normal fricative.

It is worth mentioning, however, that two major change appears to have occurred in the Norn language, that was absent in Faroese. In Faroese, placing an accent marker over a vowel turns it into a diphthong; the words trý “three†and bít “bite!†are realized as [tʰɹʊiˑ] and [bʊiˑt] (Heggarty). Norn employs a further step: Faroese word-initial back vowels, generally, become rounded in Norn.

Well, it's true that the Old Norse long vowels (the ones with the accent marker) become diphtongized, but this rule has many exceptions in Faroese, there are monophtongs as well (mostly depending on length). I would expect you to write that in Norn all vowels are monophtongized. But to say that "Faroese word-initial back vowels become rounded in Norn"... what do you mean herewith? Back vowels are normally rounded in most languages, unless you consider a to be a back vowel. If you mean cases when Old Norse a- gave Norn o- or wo- (like almenn- > wolmen), then it's OK, although I'm still not getting why it's compared to the diphtongisation in Faroese.

In the final instance, that of Norn skeugin “shoeâ€, it may be observed that /v/ has been dropped. Upon further examination, every entry containing /gv/ exhibited the same phenomenon; for example, Faroese húgvan becomes Norn ugan. This leads me to believe that /gv/, initially a pairing of a stop and a fricative, gradually lost the fricative in Norn, at which point it became a glide, as /g/ is used in Faroese today (Heggarty).

Faroese -gv- (as well as -ggj-) is an innovation itself, it wasn't present in Old Norse at all, so it couldn't give anything in Norn (Norn doesn't originate from Faroese, does it?). We don't know how exactly it was developing in Faroese, but the existing older records show -g- where we have -gv- today (you can read more on that in "Færøymålet i tiden 1584-1750" by Håkon Hamre, if it's available in your library). It's quite possible though that the -v- part was disregarded by the scribes. On the other hands, there are examples of similar epentheses, f.ex. in some Swedish dialects of Estonia, where no -v- is present, only -g-. So your hypothesis that Norn had -gv- and then shortened it down to -g- seems to me very improbable.

 

P.S. The -g-epenthesis has only been registered in Foula, and doesn't occur in the rest of Shetland and Orkney (f.ex. Northmavine shu® 'see' - ON sjór, Faroese sjógvur).

[Smart]

I support Orkney and the Shetlands regaining their Norn language and heritage.

 

the Anglicization of the Isles is despicable. a demonstration of tyranny. The only way the people of Orkney and the Shetlands will truly attain independence-whether political or merely cultural- from Scotland is through the revival of Norn.

[EM]

I support Orkney and the Shetlands regaining their Norn language and heritage.

I would suggest that you begin by learning how to refer to Shetland using our current language. Shetland or Shetland Isles is fine, but The Shetlands is incorrect and widely disliked.

 

the Anglicization of the Isles is despicable. a demonstration of tyranny.

What about the americanisation of the word anglicisation ?

 

The only way the people of Orkney and the Shetlands will truly attain independence-whether political or merely cultural- from Scotland is through the revival of Norn.

[enkelt skapninger]

the Anglicization of the Isles is despicable. a demonstration of tyranny. The only way the people of Orkney and the Shetlands will truly attain independence-whether political or merely cultural- from Scotland is through the revival of Norn.

 

Being devil's advocate here, would you say that the same applies to North America? The only way the people of California will truly attain independence-whether political or merely cultural- from the USA is through the revival of the Chumashan languages.

 

Like I say, just being devil's advocate.

[Kavi Ugl]

Thanks for your support Smart.

 

What's happening in Shetland is akin to cultural ethnic cleansing.

 

Sorry to be picky, but EM is right about the name Shetland though!.

 

I don't care what the poo-pooers say it's time norn was revived and taught in the schools as our own Shetland language.

[crofter-amy]

Finally had a quick flick through this thread and thought I'd throw my lot in. I love to hear Shetland dialect, but speak only a little myself. I could learn more but it seems an utterly pointless endevor. It is right that the dialect should fade away and be allowed to die of natural causes. For the benefit of world harmony the sooner there is only one language the better IMHO.

 

There have been a few posts here which frankly I found worrying.

 

What's happening in Shetland is akin to cultural ethnic cleansing.

 

 

I don't care what the poo-pooers say it's time norn was revived and taught in the schools as our own Shetland language.

This one for example is OTT. To call the shift in language in Shetland ethnic cleansing is wildly inacurate. The free movement of people and their linguistic styles around the world is hardly ethnic cleansing.

 

Also to bring Norn into Shetlanders curriculum is only going to marginalise them, take time from more useful studies, cost more and do nothing to advance their chances of making this a better world for us all to live in. Just a thought.

I for one would have appreciated more focus on learning spelling and grammer at school and would not have thanked them for making me learn Norn or any other dead or dieing language.

[Smart]

I support Orkney and the Shetlands regaining their Norn language and heritage.

I would suggest that you begin by learning how to refer to Shetland using our current language. Shetland or Shetland Isles is fine, but The Shetlands is incorrect and widely disliked.

 

the Anglicization of the Isles is despicable. a demonstration of tyranny.

What about the americanisation of the word anglicisation ?

 

The only way the people of Orkney and the Shetlands will truly attain independence-whether political or merely cultural- from Scotland is through the revival of Norn.

1. Ah well at least i got it right on the Northern Isles bit, right? You will have to forgive my mistake there, perhaps the Torys have brainwashed me! And now i use the Anglo-centric way of referring to your lovely Isles.

 

2. The letter 'z' from my reckoning is more in line with the words than the letter 's'. Perhaps I am biased, but when i see "americanisation" - i automatically think "Either this person is a beginner at English, or he's in Europe and doesn't know the wonder of Z"

 

3. Yes. Indeed. Shock.

 

the Anglicization of the Isles is despicable. a demonstration of tyranny. The only way the people of Orkney and the Shetlands will truly attain independence-whether political or merely cultural- from Scotland is through the revival of Norn.

 

Being devil's advocate here, would you say that the same applies to North America? The only way the people of California will truly attain independence-whether political or merely cultural- from the USA is through the revival of the Chumashan languages.

 

Like I say, just being devil's advocate.

Actually no. It seems more fitting to me, for Californians to learn Spanish, than the native tongues. Considering these two points:

 

1. California was first discovered by the Spanish - Los Angeles, founded over 500 years ago, is a perfect example of this discovery and settlement.

2. California, when admitted to the Union, was largely Spanish-speaking (some estimate 85%) so if we start from the founding of the concept of California, Spanish is more relevant and important for our heritage.

 

Thanks for your support Smart.

 

What's happening in Shetland is akin to cultural ethnic cleansing.

 

Sorry to be picky, but EM is right about the name Shetland though!.

 

I don't care what the poo-pooers say it's time norn was revived and taught in the schools as our own Shetland language.

Well, in the Anglosphere (which I'm part of and you technically shouldn't be), we tend to screw up names of places all the time. We never even come close sometimes.

 

Japan??? It's Nippon!

[deardron]

For the benefit of world harmony the sooner there is only one language the better IMHO.

Let me disagree with you. Imagine: you come to China or India, and instead of seeing their ancient monuments all you're getting is McDonalds, pubs and musicians playing but Scottish pipes. The locals have forgot their mother tongues and speak only English, they no longer know their literature, songs, old customs etc. It's not a harmony, because harmony is an interaction between different things, it's the death of the nations, loss of cultural heritage that might be of no less value than the English/British culture. It's a way to one track mind mentality, and it's pretty much bound with the language, which is the main carrier of a culture.

 

Of course this situation will never happen in reality. Because the truth is: the world will NEVER be speaking the same sort of a language, unless the whole humanity will consist of one little town of no more than some 30.000 inhabitants. There will always be variety, there will always be bigger and smaller languages, that will be changing and splitting in the course of time.

[crofter-amy]

^^^Everyone speaking one language does not make them all clones. They are still individuals who can interact harmoniously. It doesn't follow that speaking one language is going to lead to the demolition of ancient monuments to put up McDonalds.

[deardron]

^^^Everyone speaking one language does not make them all clones. They are still individuals who can interact harmoniously. It doesn't follow that speaking one language is going to lead to the demolition of ancient monuments to put up McDonalds.

Had there been only one language, these monuments might well have not existed.

[Kavi Ugl]

Finally had a quick flick through this thread and thought I'd throw my lot in. I love to hear Shetland dialect, but speak only a little myself. I could learn more but it seems an utterly pointless endevor. It is right that the dialect should fade away and be allowed to die of natural causes. For the benefit of world harmony the sooner there is only one language the better IMHO.

 

There have been a few posts here which frankly I found worrying.

 

What's happening in Shetland is akin to cultural ethnic cleansing.

 

 

I don't care what the poo-pooers say it's time norn was revived and taught in the schools as our own Shetland language.

This one for example is OTT. To call the shift in language in Shetland ethnic cleansing is wildly inacurate. The free movement of people and their linguistic styles around the world is hardly ethnic cleansing.

 

Also to bring Norn into Shetlanders curriculum is only going to marginalise them, take time from more useful studies, cost more and do nothing to advance their chances of making this a better world for us all to live in. Just a thought.

I for one would have appreciated more focus on learning spelling and grammer at school and would not have thanked them for making me learn Norn or any other dead or dieing language.

 

So the fact that for centuries Shetlanders have been forbidden from speaking Shetland in the schools/classroom and anyone who did was reprimanded and told to "speak proper" isn't cultural ethnic cleansing?.

 

In my book it is!.

[crofter-amy]

Well I was schooled in Shetland and I can't think of a single instance of someone being told not to speak the Shetland dialect. Obviously all papers had to be handed in in English but you could speak however you wanted. What I do remember is a lot of Shetland speaking bairns taking the piss out of me for my English dialect and my use of Shetland words. Is that the kind of thing you would like to see carry on? How is teaching Norn going to be anything but devisive between Shetland speakers and others?

[Kavi Ugl]

Well I'm afraid I've seen it with my own eyes in a history class(of all places) at the AHS.

 

Devisive?. How can teaching Shetland bairns about the history and heritage of their own islands be devisive?!. It also strengthens a sense of identity.

 

Just last week it was reported that the bairns from Gaelic speaking schools where the Gaelic language is promoted were achieving no less, if not better, grades than bairns from "normal" schools.