K8: Variance in multilingualism on the Faroe Islands
Site in Faroese
Page in Danish
The object of our research is primarily the use of bilingual (spontaneous) oral language by the Faroese inhabitants. This is being analysed by means of samples from 60 test subjects, now coming from three generations, as opposed to the two generations investigated in the first promotion phase of the project. A sample analysis of written language development on the Faroese Islands is an additional aspect being taken up in the second promotion phase.
(a) a balanced bilingualism
(b) a – historically based – diglossal-functional distributed multilingualism
(c) Danish as a foreign language in addition to Faroese as the mother tongue.
The results of the first promotion phase have shown without doubt that possibility (b) does not apply (anymore) and that (c) does not apply, either. Until now, all data and the results of their analysis point towards hypothesis (a).
Page in Danish
Principal investigator: Prof. Dr. Kurt Braunmüller
Research assistant: Dr. Hjalmar P. Petersen, Dr. Karoline Kühl
Student assistants: Tine Stensbjerg (until 2007); Minja Rudolf, Jana Wittkugel, Helena Hansen, N.N.
Co-operation partners:
- Höskuldur Þráinsson (Háskóli Íslands, Reykjavík)
- Michael P. Barnes (University College London)
- Helge Sandøy (Universitetet i Bergen)
- Jógvan í Lon Jacobsen
- Zakaris Svabo Hansen (Fróðskaparsetur Føroyar, Tórshavn)
General abstract
This research project is the first to be concerned with multilingualism on the Faroese Islands, which belong to Denmark. It was started in 2005 and is currently promoted in the second and last phase.The object of our research is primarily the use of bilingual (spontaneous) oral language by the Faroese inhabitants. This is being analysed by means of samples from 60 test subjects, now coming from three generations, as opposed to the two generations investigated in the first promotion phase of the project. A sample analysis of written language development on the Faroese Islands is an additional aspect being taken up in the second promotion phase.
Research Topic
As before, morphosyntactical aspects of the Faroese-Danish multilingualism will be the main focus of the research project.Research question
The question: “What kind of bilingualism is the Faroese bilingualism?” already served as the starting point for the first application. The possibilities considered were:(a) a balanced bilingualism
(b) a – historically based – diglossal-functional distributed multilingualism
(c) Danish as a foreign language in addition to Faroese as the mother tongue.
The results of the first promotion phase have shown without doubt that possibility (b) does not apply (anymore) and that (c) does not apply, either. Until now, all data and the results of their analysis point towards hypothesis (a).