Elites, Language, and the Politics of Identity

Gregg Bucken-Knapp

Description

Why and when do linguistic cleavages within a nation become politicized? Using Norway—where language has played a particularly salient role in the nation's history—as a case study, Gregg Bucken-Knapp explores these questions and challenges the notion that the politicization of language conflict is a response to language problems. He shows that political elites often view language conflict as a political opportunity, placing it on the policy agenda as an effective mobilizing tool to serve their own nonlinguistic political ends. Although language-oriented interest groups may fight to achieve desired language policies, they are generally unsuccessful when their preferences clash with the broader objectives of political elites. This book focuses on understanding just how language policies emerge.

List of Tables

Acknowledgements

1. Language, Politics, and Modern Norway

2. National Identity, Party Identity, and the Role of Nynorsk in the New Norwegian State

3. Language and Social Democracy in Twentieth-Century Norway

4. The Shifting Fate of the Sámi Languages in Modern Norway

5. Norway Compared: The Case of Belgian Language Politics

6. Conclusion

Notes

Bibliography

Index

Sujets

• Linguistics
• Northern Europe
• Scandinavia
• History of Europe
• Scandinavie

Informations

• Publié par: State University of New York Press
• Date de parution: 01 février 2012
• Nombre de lectures: 4
• EAN13: 9780791487204
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

E LITES , L ANGUAGE , AND THE  P OLITICS OF  I DENTITY

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E LITES , L ANGUAGE , AND THE  P OLITICS OF  I DENTITY

The Norwegian Case in Comparative Perspective

G REGG  B UCKEN -K NAPP

State University of New York Press

Cover photo: David Hogsholt, Tine Milk Cartons.

Published by State University of New York Press, Albany

© 2003 State University of New York

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Bucken-Knapp, Gregg. Elites, language, and the politics of identity : the Norwegian case in comparative perspective / Gregg Bucken-Knapp. p. cm. — (SUNY series in national identities) ISBN 0-7914-5655-2 (alk. paper) — ISBN 0-7914-5656-0 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Norwegian language (Nynorsk)—History—19th century. 2. Norwegian language—Social aspects—19th century. 3. Norwegian language—Social aspects—20th century. 4. Sami language. 5. Nationalism—Norway— History. I. Title. II. Series.

PD2915.B83 2003 306.44'09481—dc21

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

2002042641

For my parents, and for Lisa

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List of Tables

Acknowledgements

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Notes

Bibliography

Index

Contents

Language, Politics, and Modern Norway

National Identity, Party Identity, and the Role of Nynorsk in the New Norwegian State

Language and Social Democracy in Twentieth-Century Norway

The Shifting Fate of the Sámi Languages in Modern Norway

Norway Compared: The Case of Belgian Language Politics

Conclusion

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viii

ix

1

33

65

99

125

145

157

179

189

Table 3.1 Table 3.2

Table 3.3 Table 3.4

Table 3.5

Table 3.6

Table 3.7

Table 3.8

Table 4.1 Table 4.2 Table 5.1

Table 5.2

Table 6.1

Tables

Norwegian Language usage across region, 1957. Party choice in the 1957 Norwegian parliamentary election. Bokmål/Riksmål users only. Use of the written Norwegian languages in 1965. Use of the written Norwegian languages in 1965 by geographic region. Interest in the Norwegian language question and whether respondent sees any parties as sharing his/her view on language. 1965. Respondents’ membership in organizations by type, 1965. Parliamentary party choice by region, 1965 election. Parliamentary party choice by region for respondents that wrote in Bokmål/Riksmål and expressed an interest in the language question, 1965 election. Sámi Population in Norway, 1850–1970. Norwegian Policies Toward the Sámi Languages Electoral Support for Flemish Maximalist Parties, 1919–1929 Percent of parliamentary vote for Belgian parties by region, 1958–71 The Relationship between Language and Norwegian Political Parties

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84

84 93

9

3

94

9

4

95

96 101 106

135

139

148

Acknowledgements

This book began as a paper in one of Harvey Feigenbaum’s gradu- ate political science seminars on European politics at the George Washington University in the fall of 1994. He didn’t profess to have any familiarity with Norwegian language policy, but he was willing to trust that I had a puzzle that merited further investigation. Over the next few years, as this project moved from paper, to proposal, to fieldwork, and eventually became a completed dissertation, his guidance was invaluable. Few graduate students could ask for an advisor that was more committed to the process of shaping a raw research question into a polished, finished product. I am enor- mously grateful for the skillful way he managed to push me in the right direction while always acting as a source of encouragement for this and other endeavors. I have also benefited from Jeff Henig’s and Jack Wright’s will- ingness to step outside the fields of American politics and public policy to serve as committee members for a project on a distant and peripheral European state. Their careful reading, and constructive criticism, of earlier drafts has been of great value in helping me to target this book to a significantly wider audience. While I have clearly learned more from them than they have from me, I should also say that their Norwegian pronunciation improved considerably over the course of this research. My stay in Norway during 1996–1997 was partially funded by a U.S. Fulbright Grant. In Oslo, I was fortunate enough to be a visiting scholar at the Department of Scandinavian Studies at the University of Oslo. Both Dagfinn Worren and Lars S. Vikør were, repeatedly, of great assistance during this year of fieldwork, and never hesitated in helping me to locate information, to make

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