Language Planning as a Sociolinguistic Experiment

A study of language planning using Norwegian as a case study.

In my view, Jahr has succeeded well with his project: to describe how modern Norwegian language history is closely combined with political history, and how language planning was a political project... First and foremost Language Planning as a Sociolinguistic Experiment is a book that makes the special Norwegian language situation accessible for foreign scientists engaged with language policy and language planning. Translated from Norwegian

The sociolinguistic situation in Norway today is testimony to the maturity of this tolerant and egalitarian nation: local dialects have very high status, and Standard Norwegian comes in two significantly different varieties. How this situation developed over the last two centuries is a fascinating story – which Ernst Håkon Jahr tells brilliantly, with enormous erudition, insight and verve.

Ernst Håkon Jahr is Professor of Scandinavian Linguistics, Department of Nordic and Media Studies and Dean, Faculty of Humanities and Education, at the University of Agder, Kristiansand, Norway