Le Nord : revue internationale des Pays de Nord - 01.06.1941, Qupperneq 235

THE SCAND. COMMUNITY OF LANGUAGE 229
cónfusion. The tendency to use spelling-pronunciations is thus
a laudable one from a Scandinavian point of view, and should
be encouraged in every possible way.1)
On the whole, it ought to be one of the objects of linguistic
Scandinavianism to promote a clear and distinct pronunciation.
This applies especially to Danish, whose soft and blurred pro-
nunciation of many sounds is a stumbling block to other Scan-
dinavians. In how far Swedes are able to understand e. g. a
Danish lecture depends very largely on the pronunciation af-
fected by the speaker. But it is obvious that a distinct pronun-
ciation is also desirable from the point of view of those con-
cerned about the future of the Danish language itself. What is
desirable from a purely Danish point of view thus coincides with
what is desirable from a Scandinavian standpoint. A systematic
instruction in distinct pronunciation in the schools would no
doubt produce beneficial results.2)
The vocabulary of any given language is in constant
process of change, owing to the influence of cultural develop-
ments: for new objects or ideas new words are coined or bor-
rowed from other languages. If we look back on the last cen-
tury we shall be struck by the enormous number of new words
which have been adopted in everyday speech to denote things
connected with railways, postage, aviation, motors, tramways,
electricity, sport, advertizing, industry, trade unionism, the wire-
less, housing and the furnishing of the home, dress, etc. There
is no reason to doubt that the coming century will bring a similar
*) As for Swedish spelling-pronunciations, see "Wessén: “De nordiska
spráken” (1941), p. 79 ff.
2) In the above, Norwegian has been left out of account. Norwegian
pronunciation is characterized by a very large range of variety, and is
at present in process of rapid change. What was said above about the
Swedish phonetic system applies on the whole to that of Norwegian too,
as compared with Danish. It may be regarded as certain that the influence
of spelling will also in the long run exert an increasing influence on Nor-
wegian pronunciation. From a Scandinavian point of view it is therefore
to be hoped that the Norwegian authorities will not adapt the spelling
to the pronunciation where it is not absolutely necessary, no matter how
widespread the pronunciation in question may be in urban and rural speech.
The “book language” forms: huset the house and taket the roof are better
than the neo-Norwegian: huse, take, and the “book language”: solen the
sun, and hoken the book are to be preferred to the neo-Norwegian: sola,
boka (or soli, boki), etc.