English: The High Variety of
Norway?
By Ragnhild Ljosland
Politics
• Divergent
• §7:”The language of instruction is normally
Norwegian” was deleted from the
Universities and Colleges Act in 2002
• Implementation of the Bologna Declaration
• Language Council working to to protect
Norwegian (status planning)
• Linguistic parallelism
Policies
• Universities/colleges do not have any approved
language policy
• Language policy implied in other types of regulations
• Students read set books in English
• Most lectures are in Norwegian, some are in English
• PhD theses in English compulsory in some subject fields
• Funding indirectly depends upon publishing in English
• No/few translation services
Attitudes
• Interviewee 1: If it were decided
that we should write in English, I
would see many positive reasons
for that, but if it were said that we
should write in Norwegian, then ...
No, I would ... Confining, like.
Backward.
Attitudes
• Interviewer: Can you tell me, what made you choose to
write [your PhD thesis] in English?
• Interviewee 2: It was never really a ... I think I never
even considered writing [it] in Norwegian.
• Interviewer: You mean, you didn’t spend time wondering
about it: “Should I write my thesis in English or
Norwegian?”
• Interviewee 2: It was never ... It was altogether no ... I
don’t think I ever made any conscious decision about it,
seeing that it was rather self-evident.
Will English become the High
variety of Norway?
• Tyrannosaurus Rex imagery not
always helpful
• No language has a will of its own
• The individual speaker’s role
Adapted from Keller, R. (1994): On language change. The invisible hand in language
Adapted from Keller, R. (1994): On language change. The invisible hand in language
Will English become the High
Variety of Norway?
• Features similar to diglossia:
– Feeling of superiority/inferiority
– English used in some high prestige areas of society
• Features different from diglossia:
– Written language, literature
– Norwegian is used in some high prestige areas of
society, as well as in informal situations
Bibliography
•
•
•
•
•
•
Ministry of Education, Research and Church Affairs (2001): “Do your duty –
Demand your rights. Reform of the quality of higher education.” Fact sheet
by the Ministry of Education, Research and Church Affairs.
http://www.dep.no/ufd/engelsk/publ/stmeld/014071-120002/index-dok000-bn-a.html
Ferguson, C. A. (1972 [1959]): ”Diglossia”. In: Giglioli, P. P. (ed.): Language
and Social Context. Penguin Modern Sociology Readings.
Keller, R. (1994): On language change. The invisible hand in language.
London/New York: Routledge.
Kyvik, S. (2001):”Publiseringsvirksomheten ved universiteter og
vitenskapelige høgskoler.” Oslo: NIFU skriftserie 15/2001. This is the source
of the publication language statistics for University/college staff
Ljosland, R. (2003): Engelsk som akademisk språk i Norge. En
domenetapsstudie. Norwegian University of Science and Technology. MA
thesis.
Ministry of Education and Research (2003): Stortingsproposisjon nr. 1
2002/2003. http://www.odin.dep.no/ufd/norsk/publ/stprp/045001030004/dok-bn.html
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Norway. Implementation of the Elements of the Bologna Process.
http://www.bologna-berlin2003.de/pdf/Norway1.pdf
Norwegian University of Science and Technology (2004): “Justert
inntektsfordelingsmodell”. Intranet news 08.06.2004.
https://innsida.ntnu.no/ua_lesmer_fra_innsida.php?kategori=nyheter&dokid
=40c5d5a6eac295.22707496
Norsk språkråd (2001): “Plan for styrking av norsk språk” (Plan for
strengthening the Norwegian language).
http://www.sprakrad.no/spraksty.htm
Smith, A. (1991 [1776]): The Wealth of Nations. Everyman’s Library.
London: David Campbell Publishers Ltd.
Swales, J. M. (1997): “English as Tyrannosaurus Rex”. In: World Englishes
16/3.
The Universities and Colleges Act: http://www.ub.uio.no/ujur/ulovdata/lov19950512-022-eng.pdf
Universitets- og høgskolerådet (2002): Evaluering av norsk
forskerutdanning. http://www.uhr.no/sentraledokument/evforskerutd.htm
This is the source for the language statistics for PhD theses