Coming to terms with English in Denmark Jacob Thøgersen Associate professor, University of Iceland PhD student, The Danish Language Counsel / University.

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1 Coming to terms with English in Denmark Jacob Thøgersen Associate professor, University of Iceland PhD student, The Danish Language Counsel / University of Copenhagen

2 Part of a comparative Nordic project Similar influences from (American)English –Morphology (plur –s) (spreading?) –Syntax (imperative with adv-first) –Phonology (in loan words) (w-, æi-) –Orthography (genitive-’s) –Loanwords According to Jarvad some 30 % of the new Danish words from 1945-1998 contain English elements, According to another part of the Nordic Project, around 1 % of the word tokens in a Danish newspaper have English elements –Domains –Youth language –English as first foreign language Similar cultural and political backgrounds Different language policies (due to different histories of independence?)

3 Different language policies New words should be created to substitute for the English words entering into the language The Faeroes Iceland Norway Swe-Finland Finland Sweden Denmark Far too many English words are being used in [language] these days Norway Iceland Sweden Finland Swe-Finland The Faeroes Denmark Jørn Lund 1986’s hypothesis of linguistic awareness: (Iceland?) The Faeroes Norway Swedish-Finland Finland Sweden Denmark More linguistically aware/puristic Less linguistically aware/puristic

4 My approach Aim To understand why respondents answer the way they do Design 50 informants, 4 life styles, 45 mins. - 2 hours, questionnaires + tape recordings of discussions during the filling in of the questionnaires Analysis 1.To go behind the investigation and explore what questions people ”really” respond to / to investigate their use of the questionnaire / to wonder with them 2.To look at presuppositions underlying their arguments, and the rationale for answering the way they do

5 English as World language - the puzzle It would be better if everybody in the World spoke English as their mother tongue Agree completely13.2 % Agree somewhat8.9 % Neither agree nor disagree4.9 % Disagree somewhat12.3 % Disagree completely58.9 % Don’t know1.8 % 22.1 %

6 Mother tongue? [Jeg er enig] fordi jeg synes engelsk er et godt sprog - og jeg synes… bedre end tysk i hvert fald og også lidt lettere at lære. […] Og det er også det jeg bruger mest i dagligdagen for eksempel - for i telefonekspedition er det jo… altså [med] svenskere slår jeg over i engelsk for eksempel fordi - at jeg er jyde, ikke, så derfor forstår jeg ikke [svensk] så godt. Og så synes jeg faktisk det er det bedste sprog. […] Tysk bryder jeg mig ikke så meget om, det lyder sådan lidt underligt [41;3.05]. I agree because I think English is a good language… better than German anyway, and also easier to learn. And it is also what I use most in my everyday life, for example here in the costumer support. With Swedes I always speak English because I’m from Jutland, and I don’t understand Swedish very well. And I think it is the best language actually, German I am not very keen on, it sounds a little weird. What is the question?

7 Three trends – The boring, the wish for status quo Jeg [er] i virkeligheden fortaler for - at man skal prøve at bibevare det danske ikke, og […] opfinde nye ord til det ikke. Men jeg vil slet ikke sige mig selv undtaget, for jeg bruger desværre alt for mange engelske udtryk [2;4.35]. I’m in favor of us maintaining the Danish and trying to invent new words for it, but unfortunately I use far to many English words my self. Det er også lidt ud fra filosofien at jeg ikke mener at vi behøver at lave nogle – opfinde nogle ord som virker fuldstændigt - malplacerede når – når andre bruger de her [engelske] ord [25;5.54]. I don’t think we need to invent words which seem completely out of place when others use these [English] words Markedness? A consequence of the method?

8 Three trends – Discourses, English as default language Uanset hvor du tager [hen] i verden, der taler du engelsk - så er der altid nogle der kan - gøre et eller andet. Og så kan du komme videre [30;17.05]. No matter where you go in the World, if you speak English there is always someone who can help you, and then you can move on. Arabisk, det spiller en meget stor rolle som internationalt sprog. […] Der bor mange mennesker i den arabiske verden, og jeg tror det de færreste af dem der er rigtigt gode til engelsk [19;11.20]. Arabic plays a very large role as an international language. A lot of people live in the Arabic World, and I believe few of them are really good at English Alle de arabiske lande jeg har været i, der snakker de fantastisk godt engelsk. Så jeg vil sige at den - kommer ikke til at – spille… De er jo alle sammen engelske stater så…[25;17.18]. In all the Arabic countries I’ve been to, they speak English really well. So Arabic won’t play a very large role

9 Three trends – Discourses, English as a sign of modernity Judging the amount of English loan words in Swedish compared with Norwegian Svenskerne er også meget internationale i forhold til - nordmændene - i al almindelighed, synes jeg. De har jo de der store konglomerater -- kæmpestore firmaer over hele banden, og de - snakker jo alle sammen engelsk [32;44.00]. The Swedes are very international compared to the Norwegians. They have these giant companies, and there everyone speaks English Vs.

10 Three trends – Discourses, English as a sign of modernity Judging the amount of English loan words in Swedish and Norwegian De er ikke så internationale - i den retning. […] de vil have det mere i svensk oversættelse [25;49.35]. They are not as international, they want it in Swedish translation Jeg tror de er lidt mere - konservative sådan i den retning. […] Jeg tror de vil - gøre det for at holde fast i deres – svenske [26;45.25]. I think they are a little more conservative. I think they want to stick with their Swedish

11 Three trends – Discourses, English as a sign of modernity Judging the amount of loan words in different areas, e.g. ”the church” Kirken - der er ikke et eneste. (15 sekunders pause) Altså det er så konservativt som det næsten kan være, synes jeg [26;30.37]. The church, not a single one. It is as conservative as can be, I think Kirke - ingen tror jeg fordi […] den er så gammel og så forankret [1;27.20]. The Church, none I think. It is so old and rooted in the past Det må være meget lavt - for jeg synes de snakker meget kedeligt - næsten for kedeligt mange af præsterne [46;18.30]. It must be very very few, because I think they speak very boringly, almost too boringly, many of the priests.

12 The rhetorical context is everything You must define what is the opposite of English. –Often apparently similar questions, are not comparable due to different rhetorical contexts – everything is different from everything else –Often the same question posed to different informants is inscribed in different discussions (and rhetorical projects) and therefore not immediately comparable. –’English influence’ is far from a uni-dimensional entity that people are for or against. Rather they are against some aspects viewed from certain points (dependent on the immediate interactive project), i.e. in the case of purism…

13 Rhetorical context Det kommer meget an på ud fra hvilket synspunkt. Hvis det er ud fra sådan en nationalistisk synsvinkel så synes jeg nok det er meget negativt, ikke. (Interviewer: Mm - og hvis det er ud fra en demokratisk?). Så synes jeg det er noget andet. Det er nok det der ligger i det. Ja, hvis det er et ønske om at flest muligt skal inddrages, så synes jeg det er fint, hvis det er ud fra nogle forestillinger om noget ægte særegent dansk som man skal beskytte, så får jeg lidt kvalme af det, ikke. Ja det er simpelthen nok det. (Interviewer: Men er det ikke svært at se forskel?). Uhyre svært. Det [er] derfor det er så svært at forholde sig til de her ting, ikke, og man bliver så vaklende i det altså [28;83.00]. It depends very much on the point of view. If it is a nationalistic point of view, I think it is very negative. Interviewer: And if it is a democratic? Then it is something completely different. That’s it! If it is from a wish to include as many as possible, then it is great, if it is to protect something authentically, uniquely Danish, then it nauseates me. Interviewer: But isn’t it hard to tell the difference? Extremely hard. That’s why it is so hard to relate to these things, and you get so ambivalent.

14 New ventures What exactly happens when we ”just speak our mind”? –Close analysis of the attitude statements – here a monologue It would be better if everybody in the World spoke English as an international language? It depends where they are in the World, but in general I agree that they should learn English as an international language […] but, you know, if you live in a clay hut in Africa, then there are just so many things that come before learning to communicate in English. […] You know, I really think that people should hold on to their language, because a language equals a country’s culture. But I also think it is pretty important to be able to communicate with other people, and that is why if you come from some crazy little nation and speak some absurd language, it is pretty rational to be able to speak for example English, right. [Inf. 2] (Strongly agree).