Language Planning as a Sociolinguistic Experiment

Ernst Håkon Jahr is Professor of Scandinavian Linguistics, Department of Nordic and Media Studies and Dean, Faculty of Humanities and Education, at the University of Agder, Kristiansand, Norway

• PrefaceLand and people, language and language planningPart I: The Nationalist Period, 1814-1917Before the start of language planning: 1814-1845A language based on upper-middle-class speech or peasant dialects? The programmes proposed by Knud Knudsen and Ivar AasenThe language question becomes a major political issue: 1860-1907Two Norwegian written standards – is linguistic reconciliation possible? Early 20th century up to the 1917 language reformsPart II: The Sociopolitical Period, 1917-1966The post-war language struggle (1945-1966) to counter the sociolinguistic experiment of 1938Part III: From a Single-Standard to a Two-Standard StrategyThe end of the single-standard policy (1966-2002): reforms in 1981 and 2005 (for Bokmål) and 2012 (for Nynorsk)Summary and concluding remarksReferencesList of terms for language varieties discussed in this bookTimeline for the important terms in this book and the different written varietiesTimetable of important events for language planning and conflict in modern Norway

In my view, Jahr has succeeded well with his project: to describe how modern Norwegian language history is closely combined with political history, and how language planning was a political project... First and foremost Language Planning as a Sociolinguistic Experiment is a book that makes the special Norwegian language situation accessible for foreign scientists engaged with language policy and language planning. Translated from Norwegian