The Languages of Scandinavia

Seven Sisters of the North

The Languages of Scandinavia
Ruth H Sanders
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NZ$ 73.00
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NZ$ 58.40
Paperback
Not defined - 224pg
1 Feb 2021 US
International import eta 10-30 days
9780226759753
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From fjords to mountains, schools of herring to herds of reindeer, Scandinavia is rich in astonishing natural beauty. Less well known, however, is that it is also rich in languages. Home to seven languages, Scandinavia has traditionally been understood as linguistically bifurcated between its five Germanic languages (Danish, Norwegian, Swedish, Icelandic, and Faroese) and its two Finno-Ugric ones (Finnish and Sami). In The Languages of Scandinavia, Ruth H. Sanders takes a pioneering approach: she considers these Seven Sisters of the North together. While the two linguistic families that comprise Scandinavia' s languages ultimately have differing origins, the Seven Sisters have coexisted side by side for millennia. As Sanders reveals, a crisscrossing of names, territories, and even to some extent language genetics-intimate language contact-has created a body of shared culture, experience, and linguistic influences that is illuminated when the story of these seven languages is told as one. Exploring everything from the famed whalebone Lewis Chessmen of Norse origin to the interactions between the Black Death and the Norwegian language, The Languages of Scandinavia offers profound insight into languages with a cultural impact deep-rooted and far-reaching, from the Icelandic sagas to Swedish writer Stieg Larsson' s internationally popular Millennium trilogy. Sanders' s book is both an accessible work of linguistic scholarship and a fascinating intellectual history of language.
"For linguists and nonlinguists alike, The Languages of Scandinavia: Seven Sisters of the North. . . presents an engaging overview of language development, contact, and change in Scandinavian languages. "--Lara Schwarz "Journal of Germanic Linguistics" "A much-needed, comprehensive, and accessible overview of the interrelationship among these languages. . . . Throughout the book, Sanders makes a convincing argument about how languages, their perception, and even their definitions are simultaneously bound to multiple factors. Leaving out any one aspect from analysis--be it cultural or historical context, linguistic properties, the geographic or genealogical vicinity, or the mutual intelligibility between languages--would give a falsely simplified picture of the whole. . . . The Languages of Scandinavia is a welcome contribution. . . . Its strength lies in its inclusivity, and Sanders sees and describes contacts and encounters, whereas the scholarship has often focused on boundaries. "--Ilmari Ivaska, University of Bologna "Scandinavian Studies"
Ruth H. Sanders is professor emerita of German studies at Miami University of Ohio, where she taught Swedish language and German language, culture, and linguistics. She has traveled widely in Scandinavia, and has studied and worked in Sweden and Finland. She is the author of German: Biography of a Language. Sanders lives in Oxford, Ohio, with her husband.
Status: Active
ISBN-13: 9780226759753
Published: 1 Feb 2021
Published In: United States
Imprint: University of Chicago Press
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Format: Paperback
Pages: 224

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