The BRO-project, a bridge in the wild, Norwegian linguistic landscape

By November 17, 2016,
Page 936-946
Author Ruth Vatvedt Fjeld, Petter Henriksen
Title The BRO-project, a bridge in the wild, Norwegian linguistic landscape
Abstract The Norwegian language falls into two main variants - bokmål and nynorsk. The majority's variant is bokmål, used by over 90 % of the population. Historically, bokmål again falls into several sub-variants, but now the two main sub-variants- riksmål and bokmål proper - are practically united in one common norm. This norm is being documented in the national dictionary project bearing the symbolically significant name BRO ('bridge'). The article presents the background for the BRO collaboration, and sketches a concrete and feasible plan for the lexicographical documentation of the common norm. A challenge lies in the choice of lemma sign form and the presentation of bokmål's wide variety of optional forms, where also style nuances play a role. The same applies to the choice of examples and collocations and other multi-word lemmas. Both challenges arise from the need for freedom of expression within the norm, which is typical of Norwegians' preference to mark identity through language.
Session Posters
Keywords national dictionary, xml, collaboration
BibTex
@InProceedings{ELX12-094,
author = {Ruth Vatvedt Fjeld and Petter Henriksen},
title = {The BRO-project, a bridge in the wild, Norwegian linguistic landscape},
pages = {936--946},
booktitle = {Proceedings of the 15th EURALEX International Congress},
year = {2012},
month = {aug},
date = {7-11},
address = {Oslo,Norway},
editor = {Ruth Vatvedt Fjeld and Julie Matilde Torjusen},
publisher = {Department of Linguistics and Scandinavian Studies, University of Oslo},
isbn = {978-82-303-2228-4},
}
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