Relative linguistic homogeneity in a new society: The case of Iceland
Abstract The language of a speech community can only act as an identity marker for all of its speakers if linguistic norms are widely shared and if a minimal number of language varieties are spoken. This article examines briefly how a linguistic norm came to serve the whole of Iceland and how a situ...
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crcambridgeupr:10.1017/s0047404511000029 2024-04-28T08:25:18+00:00 Relative linguistic homogeneity in a new society: The case of Iceland Leonard, Stephen Pax 2011 http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0047404511000029 https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0047404511000029 en eng Cambridge University Press (CUP) https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms Language in Society volume 40, issue 2, page 169-186 ISSN 0047-4045 1469-8013 Linguistics and Language Sociology and Political Science Language and Linguistics journal-article 2011 crcambridgeupr https://doi.org/10.1017/s0047404511000029 2024-04-09T06:55:12Z Abstract The language of a speech community can only act as an identity marker for all of its speakers if linguistic norms are widely shared and if a minimal number of language varieties are spoken. This article examines briefly how a linguistic norm came to serve the whole of Iceland and how a situation of relative linguistic homogeneity was maintained for centuries. Sociolinguistic theory tells us that the speech community that we can reconstruct for early Iceland should lead to the establishment and maintenance of local norms. However, Iceland, arguably monodialectal, was certainly characterized by long-term linguistic homogeneity and remained a society where nucleated settlements barely formed over a thousand-year period. Scholars have argued that a mixture of dialects leveled shortly after the settlement of Iceland in the ninth century (Settlement). Studies show that dialect leveling requires dialect mixing, the convergence of people on one place, and sustained linguistic contact between the speakers. The settlement pattern of Iceland is indicative of population divergence (not convergence) and there is limited evidence of sustained contact. It is therefore proposed that the dialect leveling might be linked instead with significant population movements and social upheaval in mainland Scandinavia in the immediate pre-Viking period. The variety of Norse that was taken westward across the Atlantic might itself already have been the result of several earlier stages of mixing and koineization. It is only by combining linguistic, historical, and archaeological knowledge that this problem of how one linguistic norm came to serve the whole of Iceland can be understood. Article in Journal/Newspaper Iceland Cambridge University Press Language in Society 40 2 169 186 |
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Cambridge University Press |
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crcambridgeupr |
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English |
topic |
Linguistics and Language Sociology and Political Science Language and Linguistics |
spellingShingle |
Linguistics and Language Sociology and Political Science Language and Linguistics Leonard, Stephen Pax Relative linguistic homogeneity in a new society: The case of Iceland |
topic_facet |
Linguistics and Language Sociology and Political Science Language and Linguistics |
description |
Abstract The language of a speech community can only act as an identity marker for all of its speakers if linguistic norms are widely shared and if a minimal number of language varieties are spoken. This article examines briefly how a linguistic norm came to serve the whole of Iceland and how a situation of relative linguistic homogeneity was maintained for centuries. Sociolinguistic theory tells us that the speech community that we can reconstruct for early Iceland should lead to the establishment and maintenance of local norms. However, Iceland, arguably monodialectal, was certainly characterized by long-term linguistic homogeneity and remained a society where nucleated settlements barely formed over a thousand-year period. Scholars have argued that a mixture of dialects leveled shortly after the settlement of Iceland in the ninth century (Settlement). Studies show that dialect leveling requires dialect mixing, the convergence of people on one place, and sustained linguistic contact between the speakers. The settlement pattern of Iceland is indicative of population divergence (not convergence) and there is limited evidence of sustained contact. It is therefore proposed that the dialect leveling might be linked instead with significant population movements and social upheaval in mainland Scandinavia in the immediate pre-Viking period. The variety of Norse that was taken westward across the Atlantic might itself already have been the result of several earlier stages of mixing and koineization. It is only by combining linguistic, historical, and archaeological knowledge that this problem of how one linguistic norm came to serve the whole of Iceland can be understood. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Leonard, Stephen Pax |
author_facet |
Leonard, Stephen Pax |
author_sort |
Leonard, Stephen Pax |
title |
Relative linguistic homogeneity in a new society: The case of Iceland |
title_short |
Relative linguistic homogeneity in a new society: The case of Iceland |
title_full |
Relative linguistic homogeneity in a new society: The case of Iceland |
title_fullStr |
Relative linguistic homogeneity in a new society: The case of Iceland |
title_full_unstemmed |
Relative linguistic homogeneity in a new society: The case of Iceland |
title_sort |
relative linguistic homogeneity in a new society: the case of iceland |
publisher |
Cambridge University Press (CUP) |
publishDate |
2011 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0047404511000029 https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0047404511000029 |
genre |
Iceland |
genre_facet |
Iceland |
op_source |
Language in Society volume 40, issue 2, page 169-186 ISSN 0047-4045 1469-8013 |
op_rights |
https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1017/s0047404511000029 |
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Language in Society |
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40 |
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2 |
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169 |
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186 |
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