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- Hannesdottir, Anna Helga, 1952
(författare)
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Ett skepp kommer lastat
- 2015
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Ingår i: Idun. - 0287-9042. ; 21, s. 67-76
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Tidskriftsartikel (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- My first acquaintance with the Japanese language was physical. It was forty years ago, and I was practicing karate. Although the martial arts were then – and still are – very popular in Sweden, their contributions to the Swedish lexicon has indeed been very modest. Not many of the terms one associates with the various budo disciplines have made their way out of the dojo. The first time the Swedes got into contact with the Japanese language was in the midst of the 17th century, when Swedish seafarers started to join the Dutch East India Company’s trading expeditions to the Far East. One of them was Olof Eriksson Willman. His travelogue from one of these expeditions was published in 1667. There he describes how he in 1652 arrives at Nagasaki and then travels to Jedo, the capital of the country. In his text, there are scattered remarks on the Japanese language. Those are mostly in the form of terms for specific Japanese phenomena or notions, to which he added Swedish equivalents or explanations. Just one of these Japanese words made its way into the Swedish lexicon to such a degree that it is listed in the comprehensive historical dictionary published by The Swedish Academy (SAOB) and attributed to Willman’s travelogue: the word saké. The second Swede to keep a travelogue of his journey to Japan was one of the disciples of the eminent Swedish botanist Carolus Linnaeus: Carl Peter Thunberg. With the accuracy of a scientist Thunberg describes his contact with the Japanese people and their language as well as the country itself and its nature. In spite of the severe restrictions to which at that time foreigners were subjects, Thunberg managed to learn and write down some 1 500 Japanese words and phrases, which he included in his travelogue. Hardly a single one of all of these words were incorporated into the Swedish language: only two words of Japanese origin in SAOB occur for the first time in Thunberg’s travelogue, viz samurai and Sinto. However important to the Swedish society in terms of wealth and knowledge, these long and often hazardous voyages did not contribute equally to the Swedish lexicon. Today, at the early 21st century, the martial arts are practiced by an ever-increasing number of Swedes. Also influences from modern Japanese popular culture are quite significant in the Swedish society and some of the Japanese concepts bring with them their original names. The youngsters who used to play with their Pokémon, later read manga magazines and watched animé, and now, as grown ups, struggle solving their Sudoku puzzles enjoying sushi. These popular Japanese elements in the everyday life of the Swedes were certainly not carried all the way from Japan to Sweden on board a ship.
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| 2. |
- Hannesdottir, Anna Helga, 1952
(författare)
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Svensk lexikografi, ordböcker och Internet
- 2013
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Ingår i: Idun. Journal of Nordic Studies. - 0287-9042. ; 20, s. 135-154
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Tidskriftsartikel (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This article has three objectives. First there is a brief overview of the history of Swedish lexicography, secondly there is a basic introduction to lexicographic theory and finally there is a short presentation of some of the Swedish dictionaries, which right now are available on Internet. The history of lexicography in Sweden can be divided into three periods. During the first period, from the late 15th century to the very beginning of the 18th century, Swedish lexicography is completely based on the Latin lexicography, which had developed on the European continent. During the second period, from the early 18th century to the middle of the 19th, a Swedish, bilingual lexicographic tradition is established, and an adequate lexical description of the Swedish language takes form. This development is completed in 1855, when the first monolingual Swedish dictionary is published. The third period, is the period of monolingual lexicography. During the 20th century, the monolingual Swedish lexicography became a field of study and included in the academic discipline of Nordic languages. The process of turning bilingual lexicography into an academic field was somewhat slower; bilingual dictionaries were by and large regarded as pedagogical tools in the studies of foreign languages. In the late 20th century, however, even this branch of lexicography developed a theory with respect to the needs of the target group and the intended function of the dictionary. The e-publication of dictionaries on Internet means new possibilities for the users of bilingual dictionaries with respect to searches in both languages. This does indeed challenge the theories of bilingual lexicography. The e-dictionaries presented in the last part of the article are for the time being available free of charge on the Internet. Special attention is paid to Lexin, the Swedish learner’s dictionaries, and ISLEX, an Icelandic-Danish/Norwegian/Swedish dictionary, which was recently opened on Internet.
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| 3. |
- Ralph, Bo, 1945
(författare)
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Språkhistorien och Svenska Akademiens språkarbete
- 2013
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Ingår i: Idun. Journal of Nordic Studies. - 0287-9042. ; 20, s. 155-180
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Tidskriftsartikel (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Summary The task imposed on the Swedish Academy is carefully regulated by the statutes laid down in 1786 by King Gustavus III. It is stated that »the foremost and most significant obligation of the Academy is to work upon the purity, strength and highness of the Swedish language» (§ 22), with a formulation characteristic of the period. The next paragraph (§ 23) contains the following addition: »Therefore, the Academy must also produce a Swedish dictionary and a grammar». In 1999, an up-to-date grammar in four volumes was published, followed in 2009 by a two-volume monolingual dictionary, both works elaborated by eminent scholars on behalf of the Swedish Academy. These achievements conclude a series of projects which had been carried out by the Academy over the years, in accordance with the founder’s instructions. It can now be argued that Swedish is one of the most thoroughly described and standardized languages in the world, and the Academy has played a central role in both processes. Since standardization is an important aspect of the recent development of the language, the Academy is consequently an integral part of the history of Swedish. However, a comprehensive account of the historical development of the Swedish language, from earliest time to the present day, is still sorely needed. Work on such a survey started towards the end of the 1990’s and is now approaching its completion. Apart from taking the latest scholarly findings into consideration and founding the description on modern theorical thinking, this Swedish language history is based on some fundamental preconditions. It is not addressing specialists exclusively, which means that it has to avoid far-reaching formalism. Furthermore, it is not constrained to describing a language system in change (»system» in the sense of possible structures of a phonological, morphological, syntactical nature etc.), as has often been the case in the Swedish tradition. Changes in the language usage as well as in the abstract system will be considered, and attention will be duly paid to the socio-cultural context of the language. Language history has made up a special scholarly genre in Scandinavian tradition since the Danish linguist Niels Matthias Petersen published the first survey of its kind in 1829–1830. He took all of the North Germanic languages into account, treating each national language separately, not as part of a whole and undivided language area, which could have been conceivable. Since the Swedish Academy is primarily a national concern, the main focus will be on the Swedish language in this treatment as well, but a general Nordic perspective will be adopted whenever well motivated. The most striking feature of this language history is probably the disposition and presentation of the matter. Texts of this kind usually have the form of structured narration and description, chronologically ordered, dealing with one period at a time, each period supposed to be held together by certain characteristics, which – at the same time – mark off the period in question from all the others. The relevance of such periods are denied in this survey. To emphasize this fact, centuries are the only structuring principle, and the history is turned upside down. Instead of taking a hypothical reconstructed language stage far back in history (or prehistory) as starting-point, the description takes off from the contemporary language, making its way through the historical background of Swedish, until the prehistoric lack of documentation draws the line. All discussions are amply illustrated with authentic texts. Since all observations should be based on written sources, the written language is the primary object of investigation. What little can be stated about spoken language is added with due cautiousness. This move can also be motivated by the fact that the work starts out with the standardized language of today, which is, to a great extent, dependent on the common written standard language rather than different spoken idiosyncratic varieties.
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