Modern Scandinavian Research Articles

A Case for Old Frisian Vowel Balance as Prosodically-driven Vowel Reduction

Abstract Drawing on data from the Old Frisian Riustring manuscripts, modern Frisian dialects, as well as older and more modern Scandinavian dialects and languages, this article argues for two points: first, that Vowel Balance is ultimately a reduction process, and second, that a foot-based analysis can account for Vowel Balance. In Old Frisian, i and u appear after light stems while e and o are found after heavy and polysyllabic stems; in some other languages and dialects, vowels after heavy and polysyllabic stems are reduced supporting an interpretation of e and o as reduced allophonic variants of i and u respectively. Two caveats can be made for arguments in favour of interpreting Vowel Balance as a reduction process, namely the case of trimoraic Vowel Balance in disyllabic words, and the reinterpretation of the contrast between i~e in Old Frisian as a means of marking the prosodic contrast between stem size. These caveats help clarify how prosody can shape stems both in terms of additional manifestations of Vowel Balance, and extending the vowel alternations based on light-heavy stem contrast to words which would not have otherwise undergone Vowel Balance.

Seaxes and skalms: Single-edged weapon in the Old Icelandic texts

The article examines the problem of the use in combat conditions and classification of single-edged short-bladed weapons of the Germanic and neighboring peoples of Europe in the early Middle Ages — combat knives seaxes. The authors consider the numerous existing archaeological finds in the context of terms used in modern Scandinavian languages, and also turn to the analysis of options for using the terms “seax” and “skalm” in archaic texts. A contextual analysis of the use of these terms in the poetic texts of songs from the Elder Edda and the prose of Icelandic sagas belonging to various subtypes is presented. According to the authors, the term “skalm” had a very specific purpose and fell out of everyday use — as a designation for a real type of weapon — long before the Viking Age. In the texts describing the Viking Age, it is not people who are consistently armed with skalms, but the dark and negative characters opposing them — trolls, jotuns, etc. However, in the heroic epic tradition, skalms, on the contrary, are used by heroes; It was the skalms that became part of the poetic formulas describing the equipment of the heroes of the epic. There is reason to believe that this term comes from ancient times and by the Viking Age it became an anachronism, acquiring new connotations and negative meaning.

Weak and Strong Adjectives in Old Norse: an Examination of Konungs Skuggsjá

"Weak and Strong Adjectives in Old Norse: An Examination of Konungs skuggsjá. All early Germanic languages distinguish between a weak and a strong adjectival declension. This contrast is traditionally described in terms of definiteness, the strong declension expressing indefinite reference and the weak one definite reference. Such a description, however, might be more suitable with regard to Modern Scandinavian languages than to Old Norse (and other early Germanic languages), where the strong declension is found in a number of contexts where in Modern Norwegian only the weak one is acceptable, for instance with certain demonstratives and in noun phrases with possessives. This article takes a look at the Old Norse didactic work Konungs skuggsjá and examines various contexts that unambiguously require the weak declension in Modern Norwegian: demonstratives, possessives, proper nouns, vocatives and others. The role and referential properties of the determiners sá and hinn are given special focus. Keywords: weak adjectives, strong adjectives, Old Norse, Konungs skuggsjá, determiners "

MODERN SCANDINAVIAN STYLE CONCEPT IN APPLICATION OF INTERIOR ELEMENTS FOR CHILDREN'S STUDY ROOM

By presenting a children's study room with a comfortable and conducive learning environment, it will support the learning process and increase motivation and concentration of children. Interior elements with Modern Scandinavian style will affects the interior atmosphere in the children's study room. To support the children's learning process, the processing of interior elements in the children's study room must be in accordance with the standards. This study aims to implement the Modern Scandinavian style concept in the application of interior elements of children's study rooms to provide a comfortable and conducive learning atmosphere for children. Research related to the discussion of the Modern Scandinavian style concept in the application of interior elements has never been studied by various parties, so the author brings up this discussion in the article. The design method uses 8 stages of the design process with qualitative and descriptive research techniques. This design shows that the modern Scandinavian style concept in the application of interior elements for children's study rooms can create a comfortable, safe, and conducive learning environment for children. This article is intended for students who are doing interior design, students who are doing internships, and designers who are doing research/projects related to children's study rooms.

The genetic history of Scandinavia from the Roman Iron Age to the present

We investigate a 2,000-year genetic transect through Scandinavia spanning the Iron Age to the present, based on 48 new and 249 published ancient genomes and genotypes from 16,638 modern individuals. We find regional variation in the timing and magnitude of gene flow from three sources: the eastern Baltic, the British-Irish Isles, and southern Europe. British-Irish ancestry was widespread in Scandinavia from the Viking period, whereas eastern Baltic ancestry is more localized to Gotland and central Sweden. In some regions, a drop in current levels of external ancestry suggests that ancient immigrants contributed proportionately less to the modern Scandinavian gene pool than indicated by the ancestry of genomes from the Viking and Medieval periods. Finally, we show that a north-south genetic cline that characterizes modern Scandinavians is mainly due to the differential levels of Uralic ancestry and that this cline existed in the Viking Age and possibly earlier.

The typology of Old Norse revisited

Abstract Typologically, the Old and Middle Scandinavian languages preserve features lost in Modern Scandinavian (Danish, Norwegian and Swedish), especially zero arguments and inactive constructions. Both phenomena present difficulties for the analysis of the Old and Middle Scandinavian languages as configurational, and generative linguists often choose a reductionist strategy, claiming that at the level of deep structure, configurational structure persists. Based on Middle Danish, my claim will be that zero arguments are semantically different from – and therefore cannot be reduced to – pronouns, and secondly, that inactive constructions do not have oblique subjects, but oblique first arguments (A1s). The meanings of the case forms nominative and oblique differ, depending on their constructional context. Any functional theory must respect the relevant grammatical sign contrasts of the language analysed, not try to explain them away.

Through Scandinavia, Darkly: A Criminological Critique of Nordic Noir

AbstractNordic noir is a popular crime genre associated with a region (Scandinavia), a narrative style (unpretentious/socially critical) and a particular aesthetic look (dark/foreboding). Renowned for its psychologically complex characterization and gloomy Mise-en-scène, and spanning best-selling crime fiction, film, and globally successful television drama, Nordic noir has mushroomed from regional niche market to international phenomenon in little more than a decade. A review of both popular and academic accounts of the genre suggest that much of Nordic noir’s appeal comes from its supposed ‘gritty’ or ‘realist’ account of Scandinavian society. This paper, however, adopts a different perspective. Drawing on cultural criminology, ultra-realism and Lacanian psychoanalytic theory, we argue that, rather than accurately reflecting the complex social and political problems currently confronting late modern Scandinavian welfare societies, Nordic noir has lost its grip on realism and any meaningful association with actual/established Scandinavian values. Instead, Nordic noir is now functioning as a displacement narrative, a form of cultural expression that allows artists, producers and their audiences to push the region’s social problems outside the realm even of the Imaginary.

Inalienable Possession in Swedish and Danish – A Diachronic Perspective

Abstract In this paper we discuss the alienability splits in two Mainland Scandinavian languages, Swedish and Danish, in a diachronic context. Although it is not universally acknowledged that such splits exist in modern Scandinavian languages, many nouns typically included in inalienable structures such as kinship terms, body part nouns and nouns describing culturally important items show different behaviour from those considered alienable. The differences involve the use of (reflexive) possessive pronouns vs. the definite article, which differentiates the Scandinavian languages from e.g. English. As the definite article is a relatively new arrival in the Scandinavian languages, we look at when the modern pattern could have evolved by a close examination of possessive structures with potential inalienables in Old Swedish and Old Danish. Our results reveal that to begin with, inalienables are usually bare nouns and come to be marked with the definite article in the course of its grammaticalization.

RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT OF A STEPPED HEAT PUMP UNIT WITH A HYDRODYNAMIC CAVITATION DEVICE IN SYSTEMS COMPLEX

Modern European and Scandinavian countries have advanced very far in the development and application of alternative energy sources. The goal of all modern developments is quality improvement and reducing production costs. The precedent of increasing tariffs for utilities is one of the main problems, so there is a need to create non-volatile, autonomous systems that will be controlled and managed remotely. The creation of combined systems that can operate remotely and independently of direct energy resources will lead to a significant increase in the level of protection from the instability of temperature fluctuations and differences in the electrical network. The present invention relates to heat engineering, in particular to methods and apparatus for generating heat generated differently from combustion of fuel, and can be used in a heating and hot water supply system for residential and industrial premises, as well as for preheating and improving the rheological properties of oil and petroleum products. The presence of sensors in this system allows to monitor, regulate and signal its status, and also allows to set the necessary parameters

Burghers, Soldiers, and Widows: Social Building Blocks at Nya Lödöse

In this chapter, we will discuss the different actors in the Swedish town Nya Lodose (1473–1624), their interactions and conflicts, and the socio-economic topography of the town according to both archaeological and archival sources. There is reason to believe that there are some phenomena particular to this town while others point to more general conditions in early modern Scandinavian towns.

Erich von Mendelssohn, Autor und Früher Vermittler Nordischer Literatur

Abstract This contribution is to commemorate Erich von Mendelssohn (1887-1913), a gifted author and a translator of medieval and modern Scandinavian, especially Danish literature, who lamentably passed away at a very young age. It contains a short biography of von Mendelssohn and deals with his poetic (including a so far unknown poem) and prosaic works (Phantasten, Die Heimkehr, Nacht und Tag, Juliana) on one hand and his translations from Danish (works from J. P. Jacobsen, Thit Jensen, and Svend Fleuron) and Old (several sagas) and New Icelandic (Einar H. Kvaran) on the other.

20 years of Scandinavian studies at Vilnius University − feast, play and puzzles

The present review article has been re-published in this electronic journal with kind permission of the author of the article and the editors of the following book: Sausverde, Ērika and Ieva Steponavičiūtė (eds) 2014. Funs and Puzzles in Modern Scandinavian Studies. Vilnius University.

The visibility of divergence: Vicke Lindstrand – Swedishness, Scandinavianness and the “other”

SummaryDuring discussion of national identity, stereotypical characteristics inevitably emerge. In applied arts and design, the character or appearance of objects is commonly understood to express certain notions of national identity, yet this concept of a national “style” is inherently problematic. The Nordic region is arguably one of the most oft-cited exponents of national and regional design identity, or style, by way of the mid-twentieth-century marketing of Swedish and Scandinavian design. Stylistic stereotypes abound in mid-twentieth-century discourses on both Swedish and Scandinavian design and, indeed, ideas of Swedishness and Scandinavianness became somewhat homogenous and apparently resilient to divergent, non-Scandinavian influences. This paper discusses the construction of the narrative of modern Swedish Design and Scandinavian Design identity by way of an examination of divergent influences in the work of the Swedish artist and designer Viktor Emmanuel (Vicke) Lindstrand (1904–1983). The aim is to readdress Lindstrand's position in twentieth-century design history by problematising the historically unbalanced reading of his work as an artist and designer, constrained as it was by the construction of national and regional design identities and their mediation in discourse [see also the essay by Mark Ian Jones, “Vicke Lindstrand after Orrefors – In the Shadow of Streamlined Perfection”, in Ann-Christine Fogelberg (ed.), DESIGN: Vicke Lindstrand (1904–1983) Glas, keramik, textil, måleri och skulptur, Uppsala, 2013, pp. 4–23; Mark Ian Jones, On the Periphery. An Examination of Mid-twentieth Swedish Design and the Reception of Vicke Lindstrand, Sydney, 2011]. My position is that of a non-Swede, an outsider with a different vantage point, examining English language discourse of Swedish origin that was, in turn, intended for outsiders. As such, this paper considers how key mid-twentieth-century English language discourses and rhetoric, manifest in exhibitions and texts, represented Swedish and later Scandinavian design. Lindstrand is positioned as an exemplar and his work is utilised to illustrate and underscore the arguments proposed by this paper.

20 Years of Scandinavian Studies at Vilnius University – Feast, Play and Puzzles

The present review article has been re-published in this electronic journal with kind permission of the author of the article and the editors of the following book: Sausverde, Ērika and Ieva Steponaviciūtė (eds) 2014. Funs and Puzzles in Modern Scandinavian Studies. Vilnius University.

Attributive clauses in Danish – and the relative irrelevance of relative clauses

This paper discusses criteria for distinguishing attributive (also known as adjectival) clauses and relative clauses, and argues that traditional approaches to these subclause categories and their interrelation lack consistency as well as empirical justification, from a modern Scandinavian perspective. Relative clauses are traditionally and in current Scandinavian reference grammars treated as a formally defined clause type with the attributive function as their prototypical, but not their only, constituent function. In this paper it is argued that the traditional criteria for identifying relative clauses, especially in Danish, Norwegian and Swedish, are essentially not formal but functional criteria, more or less identical to those applied to identify attributive clauses. Indeed, the modern Scandinavian languages, it is argued, hardly offer the empirical basis for a coherent category of relative clauses to be consistently distinguished on formal criteria. Rather, to account for the heterogeneous inventory of subclauses traditionally associated with relative clauses, a general outline of the functional category of attributive clauses in Danish is proposed, based on authentic spoken and written Danish discourse. Traditional definitions of attributive clauses are discussed and refined, and are shown to apply to a different and wider range of Danish subclause forms than has traditionally been recognised.

Immigrant fertility in Sweden, 2000-2011: A descriptive note

Modern Scandinavian population registers provide excellent data sources that allow a user to quickly gain an impression of the level of fertility and its structure across subpopulations. This may also allow the analyst to check a feature of the much-cited

Winning a War with Words: oaths as means in military conflict in early modern Scandinavia

From a distance, the many wars that took place during the early modern period were fought by kings and armies, conquering territories and losing them, signing peace treaties and breaking them. Wars fought with armies were, however, costly and, if possible, the rulers did what they could to avoid them while still trying to acquire and protect territories. One strategy employed was to persuade the people of a disputed territory to surrender to the conquering state by swearing an oath of allegiance to its king. Seen in this perspective, territories could be acquired and lost by using the oaths as means in military conflict. The following article discusses the role of oaths in keeping and conquering territories in the early modern Scandinavian countries, with a special focus on Sweden and to some degree Sweden’s constant enemy during this period, Denmark-Norway. It also studies the same oaths from the people’s point of view, and what happened after an oath was sworn and the war ended. By taking examples from areas under dispute, the article investigates how oaths could be used by both authorities and subjects in warfare and after in the early modern context.

The Oxford History of Literary Translation in English. Vol. 4: 1790–1900. Edited by Peter France and Kenneth Haynes. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2006. Pp. xvi+595.

<i>The Oxford History of Literary Translation in English. Vol. 4: 1790–1900</i>. Edited by <i>Peter France</i> and <i> Kenneth Haynes</i>. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2006. Pp. xvi+595.

Climate change in the North – past, present and future

The Nordic countries have produced famous polar explorers and researchers who have generated climate research schools at a variety of locations. The dependence of these countries with respect to the lifelihood of their societies, of their use of lands and seas, the exploitation of marine living and non-living resources have made climate research an eminent topic, and many outstanding discoveries of long- and short-term climate change have been made for the first time in Scandinavia. These include early contributions to our understanding of the geological effects of continent-wide glaciations during the ice ages, the complex postglacial history of the Baltic Sea and the varved sediment sequences preserved from lakes with an extraordinary seasonality in their sediment input, as well as the detailed records of temperature, ice texture and impurities and greenhouse gas variations of the last Glacial and of the Holocene preserved in the ice cores from Greenland. Iceland with its volcanic sequences and intercalated sediment layers not only preserved the history of this subaerial segment of the mid-Atlantic Ridge, but also easily datable paleoclimate records. The fate of the Vikings, who settled during the Medieval climate optimum on Iceland and later on Greenland and who lost their habitat on Greenland at the beginning of the Little Ice Age, illustrates vividly the climate-dependent subsistence of the indigenous and non-indigenous Scandinavian populations. Modern Scandinavian climate research institutions also include sophisticated modelling groups.

A sign of the times: scandinavian town directories as sources for urban historical geography

The position of town and trade directories as sources for the reconstruction of former urban geographies of Scandinavia is discussed. Scandinavian directories have a long history which, in the case of major urban centres, can be traced back to the eighteenth century. They contain valuable information with respect to the social, economic, political and demographic organization of modern Scandinavian urban environments through extensive listings of names and addresses. Despite the wealth of information contained therein, directories remain an underused and unresearched data source due mainly to their perceived incompatibility with the themes pursued by research in urban historical geography and the diversity of alternative high quality sources available. Admittedly, the use of directories is not without problems and an assessment of the accuracy, availability and reliability of directory information is presented in this paper. Nevertheless, to dismiss directories represents a serious oversight: the continued history, rapid rate of update and spatial ubiquity of publication across the region after the onset of industrialization make directories a powerful source for comparative urban historical geography research in Scandinavia. Moreover, directories are highly versatile data sources and represent powerful artefacts of modernity insofar as they function as mirrors of cultural change and consumption.