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== History == {{Main|History of Danish}} The Danish philologist Johannes Brøndum-Nielsen divided the history of Danish into a period from 800 AD to 1525 to be "Old Danish", which he subdivided into "Runic Danish" (800–1100), Early Middle Danish (1100–1350) and Late Middle Danish (1350–1525).{{sfn|Howe|1996}} {{Anchor|Runic Danish: Dǫnsk tunga}} === Runic Danish === {{Main|Old Norse}}{{Old Norse language map}} {{Quote box |align=left|quoted=true | |salign=right |quote= {{lang|non|Móðir Dyggva var Drótt, dóttir Danps konungs, sonar Rígs er fyrstr var konungr kallaðr á danska tungu}}.<br /> "[[Dyggvi]]'s mother was Drott, the daughter of king Danp, [[Rígsþula|Ríg]]'s son, who was the first to be called king in the Danish tongue." |source= {{lang|non|[[Heimskringla]]}} by [[Snorri Sturluson]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.heimskringla.no/wiki/Ynglinga_saga|title=Ynglinga saga |website=heimskringla.no |url-status=live |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120802093936/http://www.heimskringla.no/wiki/Ynglinga_saga |archive-date= 2 Aug 2012 }}</ref> }} By the eighth century, the common Germanic language of Scandinavia, [[Proto-Norse]], had undergone some changes and evolved into [[Old Norse]]. This language was generally called the "Danish tongue" ({{lang|non|Dǫnsk tunga}}), or "Norse language" ({{lang|non|Norrœnt mál}}). Norse was written in the [[runic alphabet]], first with the [[elder futhark]] and from the 9th century with the [[younger futhark]].{{sfn|Faarlund|1994|pp=38–41}} Possibly as far back as the seventh century, the common Norse language began to undergo changes that did not spread to all of Scandinavia, resulting in the appearance of two dialect areas, Old West Norse ([[Norway]] and [[Iceland]]) and Old East Norse ([[Denmark]] and [[Sweden]]). Most of the changes separating East Norse from West Norse started as innovations in Denmark, that spread through Scania into Sweden and by maritime contact to southern Norway.{{sfn|Faarlund|1994|p=38-39}} A change that separated Old East Norse (Runic Swedish/Danish) from Old West Norse was the change of the [[diphthong]] ''æi'' (Old West Norse ''ei'') to the [[monophthong]] ''e'', as in {{lang|non|stæin}} to {{lang|non|sten}}. This is reflected in runic inscriptions where the older read {{lang|non|stain}} and the later {{lang|non|stin}}. Also, a change of ''au'' as in {{lang|non|dauðr}} into ''ø'' as in {{lang|non|døðr}} occurred. This change is shown in runic inscriptions as a change from {{lang|non|tauþr}} into {{lang|non|tuþr}}. Moreover, the {{lang|non|øy}} (Old West Norse {{lang|non|ey}}) diphthong changed into {{lang|da|ø}}, as well, as in the Old Norse word for "island". This monophthongization started in Jutland and spread eastward, having spread throughout Denmark and most of Sweden by 1100.{{sfn|Faarlund|1994|p=41}} Through Danish conquest, Old East Norse was once widely spoken in the [[Danelaw|northeast counties of England]]. Many words derived from Norse, such as "gate" ({{Wikt-lang|da|gade}}) for street, still survive in [[Yorkshire]], the East Midlands and East Anglia, and [[Danelaw|parts of eastern England]] colonized by Danish [[Vikings]]. The city of [[York]] was once the Viking settlement of Jorvik. Several other English words derive from Old East Norse, for example "knife" ({{Wikt-lang|da|kniv}}), "husband" ({{Wikt-lang|da|husbond}}), and "egg" ({{Wikt-lang|da|æg}}). The suffix "-by" for 'town' is common in place names in Yorkshire and the east Midlands, for example Selby, Whitby, Derby, and Grimsby. The word "dale" meaning valley is common in Yorkshire and Derbyshire placenames.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.viking.no/e/england/e-pl-england.htm |title=Viking place names and language in England |publisher=Viking.no |access-date=2013-09-22 |archive-date=18 December 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101218150807/http://www.viking.no/e/england/e-pl-england.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> {{Anchor|Old/Middle Danish|Old and Middle Danish}} === Old and Middle dialects === {{Quote box |align=right|quoted=true | |salign=right |quote={{lang|non|Fangær man saar i hor seng mæth annæns mansz kunæ. oc kumær han burt liuænd...}}.<br /> "If one catches someone in the whore-bed with another man's wife and he comes away alive..." |source= Jutlandic Law, 1241{{sfn|Pedersen|1996|page=220}} }} In the medieval period, Danish emerged as a separate language from Swedish. The main written language was Latin, and the few Danish-language texts preserved from this period are written in the Latin alphabet, although the runic alphabet seems to have lingered in popular usage in some areas. The main text types written in this period are laws, which were formulated in the vernacular language to be accessible also to those who were not Latinate. The [[Codex Holmiensis|Jutlandic Law]] and [[Scanian Law]] were written in vernacular Danish in the early 13th century. Beginning in 1350, Danish began to be used as a language of administration, and new types of literature began to be written in the language, such as royal letters and testaments. The orthography in this period was not standardized nor was the spoken language, and the regional laws demonstrate the dialectal differences between the regions in which they were written.{{sfn|Pedersen|1996|pages=219–221}} Throughout this period, Danish was in contact with [[Low German language|Low German]], and many Low German loan words were introduced in this period.{{sfn|Pedersen|1996|pages=221–224}} With the [[Protestant Reformation in Denmark|Protestant Reformation]] in 1536, Danish also became the language of religion, which sparked a new interest in using Danish as a literary language. Also in this period, Danish began to take on the linguistic traits that differentiate it from Swedish and Norwegian, such as the {{lang|da|[[stød]]}}, the voicing of many stop consonants, and the weakening of many final vowels to /e/.{{sfn|Torp|2006|pp=57–58}} The first printed book in Danish dates from 1495, the {{lang|da|Rimkrøniken}} (''Rhyming Chronicle''), a history book told in rhymed verses.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.kb.dk/da/kb/nb/ha/virtuelt_bogmuseum/bogmuseum_danmark.html|publisher=Royal Danish Library|title=Bog Museum (Book Museum)|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141221182726/http://www.kb.dk/da/kb/nb/ha/virtuelt_bogmuseum/bogmuseum_danmark.html|archive-date=21 December 2014}}</ref> The first complete translation of the [[Bible]] in Danish, the Bible of Christian II translated by [[Christiern Pedersen]], was published in 1550. Pedersen's orthographic choices set the ''de facto'' standard for subsequent writing in Danish.{{sfn|Pedersen|1996|page=225}} From around 1500, several printing presses were in operation in Denmark publishing in Danish and other languages. In the period after 1550, presses in Copenhagen dominated the publication of material in the Danish language.{{sfn|Dal|1991}} {{Anchor|Early Modern Danish}} === Early Modern === {{Quote box |align=right|quoted=true | |salign=right |quote={{lang|da|Herrer og Narre have frit Sprog}}.<br /> "Lords and jesters have free speech." |source= [[Peder Syv]], proverbs }} Following the first Bible translation, the development of Danish as a [[written language]], as a language of religion, administration, and public discourse accelerated. In the second half of the 17th century, grammarians elaborated grammars of Danish, first among them [[Rasmus Bartholin]]'s 1657 Latin grammar {{lang|la|De studio lingvæ danicæ}}; then [[Laurids Olufsen Kock]]'s 1660 grammar of the [[Zealand]] dialect {{lang|la|Introductio ad lingvam Danicam puta selandicam}}; and in 1685 the first Danish grammar written in Danish, {{lang|da|Den Danske Sprog-Kunst}} ("The Art of the Danish Language") by [[Peder Syv]]. Major authors from this period are [[Thomas Kingo]], poet and psalmist, and [[Leonora Christina Ulfeldt]], whose novel {{lang|da|Jammersminde}} (''Remembered Woes'') is considered a literary masterpiece by scholars. [[Orthography]] was still not standardized and the principles for doing so were vigorously discussed among Danish philologists. The grammar of [[Jens Pedersen Høysgaard]] was the first to give a detailed analysis of Danish phonology and prosody, including a description of the {{lang|da|stød}}. In this period, scholars were also discussing whether it was best to "write as one speaks" or to "speak as one writes", including whether archaic grammatical forms that had fallen out of use in the vernacular, such as the plural form of verbs, should be conserved in writing (i.e. {{lang|da|han er}} "he is" vs. {{lang|da|de ere}} "they are").{{sfn|Pedersen|1996}} The East Danish provinces were lost to Sweden after the [[Second Treaty of Brömsebro (1645)]] after which they were gradually Swedified; just as Norway was politically severed from Denmark, beginning also a gradual end of Danish influence on Norwegian (influence through the shared written standard language remained). With the [[History of Denmark#Absolutism|introduction of absolutism]] in 1660, the Danish state was further integrated, and the language of the Danish chancellery, a Zealandic variety with German and French influence, became the ''de facto'' [[Lingua franca|official standard language]], especially in writing—this was the original so-called {{lang|da|rigsdansk}} ("Danish of the Realm"). Also, beginning in the mid-18th century, the {{lang|da|skarre-R}}, the [[Guttural R|uvular R]] sound ({{IPA|[ʁ]}}), began spreading through Denmark, likely through influence from [[Parisian French]] and German. It affected all of the areas where Danish had been influential, including all of Denmark, Southern Sweden, and coastal southern Norway.{{sfn|Torp|2006|p=52}} In the 18th century, Danish philology was advanced by [[Rasmus Rask]], who pioneered the disciplines of [[Comparative linguistics|comparative]] and [[Historical linguistics|historical]] linguistics, and wrote the first English-language grammar of Danish. Literary Danish continued to develop with the works of [[Ludvig Holberg]], whose plays and historical and scientific works laid the foundation for the Danish literary canon. With the Danish colonization of Greenland by [[Hans Egede]], Danish became the administrative and religious language there, while Iceland and the Faroe Islands had the status of Danish colonies with Danish as an official language until the mid-20th century.{{sfn|Pedersen|1996}} === Standardized national language === {{Quote box |align=right|quoted=true | |salign=right |quote={{lang|da|Moders navn er vort Hjertesprog,<br /> kun løs er al fremmed Tale.<br /> Det alene i mund og bog,<br /> kan vække et folk af dvale.}}<br /> "Mother's name is our hearts' tongue,<br /> only idle is all foreign speech<br /> It alone, in mouth or in book,<br /> can rouse a people from sleep." |source= [[N.F.S. Grundtvig]], "Modersmaalet" }} Following the loss of Schleswig to Germany, a sharp influx of German speakers moved into the area, eventually outnumbering the Danish speakers. The political loss of territory sparked a period of intense nationalism in Denmark, coinciding with the so-called "[[Danish Golden Age|Golden Age]]" of Danish culture. Authors such as [[N.F.S. Grundtvig]] emphasized the role of language in creating national belonging. Some of the most cherished Danish-language authors of this period are [[existentialism|existential]] [[philosopher]] [[Søren Kierkegaard]] and prolific [[fairy tale]] author [[Hans Christian Andersen]].{{sfn|Rischel|2012|p=828}} The influence of popular literary role models, together with increased requirements of education did much to strengthen the Danish language, and also started a period of homogenization, whereby the Copenhagen standard language gradually displaced the regional vernacular languages. Throughout the 19th century, Danes emigrated, establishing small expatriate communities in the Americas, particularly in the United States, Canada, and Argentina, where memory and some use of Danish remains today. [[File:LinguisticSituationSchleswigSlesvig.png|thumb|right|[[Language shift]] in the 19th century in southern [[Schleswig]]]] After the [[Schleswig plebiscites, 1920|Schleswig referendum in 1920]], a number of Danes remained as a [[Danish minority of Southern Schleswig|minority within German territories]].{{sfn|Rischel|2012|p=831}} After the occupation of Denmark by Germany in World War II, the 1948 orthography reform dropped the German-influenced rule of capitalizing nouns, and introduced the letter {{vr|å}}. Three 20th-century Danish authors have become [[Nobel Prize]] laureates in [[Nobel Prize in Literature|Literature]]: [[Karl Adolph Gjellerup|Karl Gjellerup]] and [[Henrik Pontoppidan]] (joint recipients in 1917) and [[Johannes Vilhelm Jensen|Johannes V. Jensen]] (awarded 1944). With the exclusive use of {{lang|da|rigsdansk}}, the High Copenhagen Standard, in national broadcasting, the traditional dialects came under increased pressure. In the 20th century, they have all but disappeared, and the standard language has extended throughout the country.{{sfn|Pedersen|2003}} Minor regional pronunciation variation of the standard language, sometimes called {{lang|da|regionssprog}} ("regional languages") remain, and are in some cases vital. Today, the major varieties of Standard Danish are High Copenhagen Standard, associated with elderly, well to-do, and well educated people of the capital, and low Copenhagen speech traditionally associated with the working class, but today adopted as the prestige variety of the younger generations.{{sfn|Kristiansen|Jørgensen|2003}}<ref>{{cite web |last=Quist |first=P. |date=2006 |title=lavkøbenhavnsk |url=http://dialekt.ku.dk/sociolekter/lavkoebenhavnsk/ |website=dialekt.ku.dk |access-date=20 July 2015 |archive-date=22 July 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150722064014/http://dialekt.ku.dk/sociolekter/lavkoebenhavnsk/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Also, in the 21st century, the influence of immigration has had linguistic consequences, such as the emergence of a so-called [[multiethnolect]] in the urban areas, an immigrant Danish variety (also known as {{lang|da|[[Perkerdansk]]}}), combining elements of different immigrant languages such as Arabic, Turkish, and Kurdish, as well as English and Danish.{{sfn|Kristiansen|Jørgensen|2003}}
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