Introduction: Dead man talking -- Prologue to history -- Gemini, the twins: Faroese and Icelandic -- East is East: heralding the birth of Danish and Swedish -- The ties that bind: Finnish is visited by Swedish -- The black death comes for Norwegian: Danish makes a house call -- Faroese emerges -- Sámi, language of the far North: encounters with Norwegian, Swedish, and Finnish -- Epilogue: the seven sisters now and in the future.

Annotation This handbook is conceived as a comprehensive history of the North Germanic languages from the oldest times up to the present day. Whereas most of the traditional presentations of Nordic language history are confined to individual languages and often concentrate on purely linguistic data, the present work covers the history of all Nordic languages in its totality, embedded in a broad culture-historical context. The Nordic languages are described both individually and in their mutual dependence as well as in relation to the neighboring non-Nordic languages. The handbook is not tied to a particular methodology, but keeps in principle to a pronounced methodological pluralism, encompassing all aspects of actual methodology. Moreover it combines diachronic with synchronic-systematic aspects, longitudinal sections with cross-sections (periods such as Old Norse, transition from Old Norse to Early Modern Nordic, Early Modern Nordic 1550-1800 and so on). The description of Nordic language history is built upon a comprehensive collection of linguistic data; it consists of more than 200 articles, written by a multitude of authors from Scandinavian and German and English speaking countries. The organization of the handbook combines a central part on the detailed chronological developments and some chapters of a more general character: chapters on theory and methodology in the beginning, and on overlapping spatio-temporal topics in the end.

This handbook is conceived as a comprehensive history of the North Germanic languages from the oldest times up to the present day. Whereas most of the traditional presentations of Nordic language history are confined to individual languages and often concentrate on purely linguistic data, the present work covers the history of all Nordic languages in its totality, embedded in a broad culture-historical context. The Nordic languages are described both individually and in their mutual dependence as well as in relation to the neighboring non-Nordic languages. The handbook is not tied to a particular methodology, but keeps in principle to a pronounced methodological pluralism, encompassing all aspects of actual methodology. Moreover it combines diachronic with synchronic-systematic aspects, longitudinal sections with cross-sections (periods such as Old Norse, transition from Old Norse to Early Modern Nordic, Early Modern Nordic 1550-1800 and so on). The description of Nordic language history is built upon a comprehensive collection of linguistic data; it consists of more than 200 articles, written by a multitude of authors from Scandinavian and German and English speaking countries. The organization of the handbook combines a central part on the detailed chronological developments and some chapters of a more general character: chapters on theory and methodology in the beginning, and on overlapping spatio-temporal topics in the end. Key features: complete and comprehensive study of the Nordic languages all Nordic languages are treated individually and in their mutual dependence international handbook series two volumes offering the current state of research

The Handbook of Dialectology provides an authoritative, up-to-date and unusually broad account of the study of dialect, in one volume. Each chapter reviews essential research, and offers a critical discussion of the past, present and future development of the area. The volume is based on state-of-the-art research in dialectology around the world, providing the most current work available with an unusually broad scope of topics Provides a practical guide to the many methodological and statistical issues surrounding the collection and analysis of dialect data Offers summaries of dialect variation in the world's most widely spoken and commonly studied languages, including several non-European languages that have traditionally received less attention in general discussions of dialectology Reviews the intellectual development of the field, including its main theoretical schools of thought and research traditions, both academic and applied The editors are well known and highly respected, with a deep knowledge of this vast field of inquiry

Övdalian is spoken in central Sweden by about 2000 speakers. Traditionally categorized as a dialect of Swedish, it has not received much international attention. However, Övdalian is typologically closer to Faroese or Icelandic than it is to Swedish, and since it has been spoken in relative isolation for about 1000 years, a number of interesting linguistic archaisms have been preserved and innovations have developed. This volume provides seven papers about Övdalian morphology and syntax. The papers, all based on extensive fieldwork, cover topics such as verb movement, subject doubling, wh-words and case in Övdalian. Constituting the first comprehensive linguistic description of Övdalian in English, this volume is of interest for linguists in the fields of Scandinavian and Germanic linguistics, and also historical linguists will be thrilled by some of the presented data. The data and the analyses presented here furthermore challenge our view of the morphosyntax of the Scandinavian languages in some cases – as could be expected when a new language enters the linguistic arena.

This volume is a collection of essays based on papers given at the Nordic Translation Conference, which took place in London in March 2008. The purpose of the collection is twofold. First, it serves to place the Nordic languages firmly into the field of translation studies, where hitherto little research has focused on the Nordic region; the essays include many Nordic-specific studies and ideas. Second, the book presents research and conclusions which are relevant to translation studies in all languages and cultures. Therefore this volume, which covers a wide range of Nordic languages and both literary and non-literary topics, is unambiguously pertinent to the Nordic countries while also being universally valuable.

The handbook is not tied to a particular methodology but keeps in principle to a pronounced methodological pluralism, encompassing all aspects of actual methodology. Moreover it combines diachronic with synchronic-systematic aspects, longitudinal sections with cross-sections (periods such as Old Norse, transition from Old Norse to Early Modern Nordic, Early Modern Nordic 1550-1800 and so on). The description of Nordic language history is built upon a comprehensive collection of linguistic data; it consists of more than 200 articles written by a multitude of authors from Scandinavian and German and English speaking countries. The organization of the book combines a central part on the detailed chronological developments and some chapters of a more general character: chapters on theory and methodology in the beginning and on overlapping spatio-temporal topics in the end.

Thousands of years ago, seafront clans in Denmark began speaking the earliest form of Germanic language--the first of six "signal events" that Ruth Sanders highlights in this marvelous history of the German language. Blending linguistic, anthropological, and historical research, Sanders presents a brilliant biography of the language as it evolved across the millennia. She sheds light on the influence of such events as the bloody three-day Battle of Kalkriese, which permanently halted the incursion of both the Romans and the Latin language into northern Europe, and the publication of Martin Luther's German Bible translation, a "People's" Bible which in effect forged from a dozen spoken dialects a single German language. The narrative ranges through the turbulent Middle Ages, the spread of the printing press, the formation of the nineteenth-century German Empire which united the German-speaking territories north of the Alps, and Germany's twentieth-century military and cultural horrors. The book also covers topics such as the Gothic language (now extinct), the vast expansion of Germanic tribes during the Roman era, the role of the Vikings in spreading the Norse language, the branching off of Yiddish, the lasting impact of the Thirty Years War on the German psyche, the revolution of 1848, and much more. Ranging from prehistoric times to modern, post-war Germany, this engaging volume offers a fascinating account of the evolution of a major European language as well as a unique look at the history of the German people. It will appeal to everyone interested in German language, culture, or history.