Faroese language conflict

The Faroese language conflict is a phase in the history of the Faroe Islands in the first half 20th century (approx. 1908 to 1938). It was the political and cultural argument between the requirements of the Faroese language in general use, and the Danish language as the official language of the Faroe Islands.

Beginning in the 20th century the initial position was as follows: The language of the church, public education, the government, and the law was Danish. Faroese, however was the language of the people, since the orthography of the written language was set forth by Venceslaus Hammershaimb beginning in the middle of the 19th century and arousing Faroese nationalism since the "Jólafundurin" (Christmas Meeting) of 1888.

The conflict was chiefly not a struggle between the Faroese people and the Danes, but rather among the Faroese people themselves, and the positions were evolving with time.

Political camps

The two political parties staking out positions on the language conflict were the "Sambandsflokkurin" "(Samband)" (Unionist Party), which wanted continued union with Denmark; and the "Sjálvstýrisflokkurin" "(Sjálvstyri)" (Separatist Party or Home Rule Party), which desired independence from Denmark.

Position of the "Samband"

The view of the "Samband" (unionists) was that the Faroese language should be developed and used in the literary field. However, the Danish language should continue to be the official language of education, which all Faroese should speak and understand. At the same time the unionists were opposed to the comprehensive introduction of Faroese for the catechism, which they accused "Sjálvstyri" of wanting.

"Samband" had two major arguments: Advanced education is possible only if the Faroese students comprehend Danish well enough that they can study in Denmark without misunderstandings. Moreover, there were too few Faroese-language school books for the people of the small islands.

Position of the "Sjálvstyri"

The "Sjálvstyri" (separatists) however had the national sentiment on its side. The "Sjálvstyri" regarded it as untenable that the official language could be other than the native language. The party program formulated a core demand that the Faroese language should become language of instruction in all subjects. At the same time the party tried to use the language conflict for its separatist goals.

For Faroese as the language of instruction, the separatists had a sound argument: In the other parts of the Danish kingdom education was conducted in the respective native language: Icelandic in Iceland, Kalaallisut in Greenland, and English in the Danish West Indies (today the United States Virgin Islands). It was thus a question of equal treatment for all areas under the Danish crown.

Revival as the language of instruction

History worked for the demands of "Sjálvstyri". 1908 is considered to be the actual at the beginning of the conflict, which persisted to 1938. In 1908 the teachers of the six-form high school in Tórshavn (the capital) petitioned the school administration to be allowed to use Faroese in teaching. The administration reacted with partial refusal: Faroese could be used outside of the pure Faroese language instruction only as an aid, in order to explain certain things. Jákup Dahl, who later became the Provost, was opposed to the administration’s ruling and refused to teach in Danish; he taught from then in Faroese. The school administration passed the issue on to the Danish education ministry, which passed the matter on to the "Løgting", the Faroese parliament.

There the camps were split. They came to no agreement and therefore in 1910 to two sides, a majority opinion and a minority opinion. The majority opinion was represented by "Samband": Danish was more important as a foreign language than others such as German or English, and the pupils are to hear and speak Danish in all subjects. An important argument for this was that Danish was a key to the higher education in Denmark, and thus was important for the vocational progress of the youth.

The "Sjálvstyri" maintained the position supported previously: That it was natural and understandable that a people should be taught in their native language. On the other hand the party did not dispute the fact that there were no appropriate teaching materials in Faroese. So "Sjálvstyri" suggested that it should be left to each teacher, in which language he taught apart from the argument of higher education.

As a compromise, it was planned that Faroese was to be used as the language of instruction for the younger children. For the older students, fundamental instruction would be in Danish with Faroese permitted as an aid to instruction. On January 16, 1912, this regulation was passed by the Danish government as §7 of Faroese school regulations

Although it could be rated as a partial success of "Sjálvstyri", their demands remained on the agenda of the party after passage of the §7 regulation. Louis Zachariasen in Velbastaður was the first teacher to openly oppose the rule, and he refused to teach further on Danish. Thus a taboo was broken, because under the regulation “Faroese was to be used as an aiding language.” Zachariasen quit publicly as a teacher and became one of the “martyrs so to the separatists”.

The language conflict entered a new phase in 1918, when the question was raised: why there was still no compulsory subject in the schools in Faroese orthography. In the previously mentioned school regulations of 1912, this question had been consciously excluded, since many Faroese teachers did not have sufficient knowledge in the orthography of their native language. However there were already efforts underway to address this problem, as summer vacation courses in Faroese orthography were being conducted. Since the time seemed ripe now, the "Løgting" contacted the Danish government with the request to introduce the Faroese orthography as compulsory subject. The Danish education ministry immediately agreed, but §7 remained unchanged.

The language conflict became more abstract and it became a matter of a finding suitable formulation for instruction. Efforts were made to determine the means by which Faroese could be taught well, so that the Faroese students would learn their native language, yet still guaranteeing that the students would have an appropriate knowledge of Danish to further their higher education. The Ministry of Education in Copenhagen suggested in 1925 that Faroese should become the language of general instruction, but Danish should be the language of instruction in geography and history. At that time the party of the "Samband" rebelled because they believed that the new rules went too far in separating the Faroese from the Danish. Therefore the majority in the "Løgting" rejected the new regulations.

The "Løgting" elections of 1936 brought a change into the legislation process. The "Javnaðarflokkurin" (Social Democratic Party), was resurgent and substantially increased their representation at expense of "Samband". Together with "Sjálvstyri" the Social Democrats passed a change in the law to replace the Danish language with the Faroese. On December 13, 1938 the Danish government agreed.

Revival as church language

Since the Reformation in the 16th century, Danish was the exclusive liturgical language on the Faroese archipelago. This was one of the main reasons that Faroese did not develop a written tradition over the centuries, because only Danish was spoken in the People's Church.

In 1903 Faroese became permitted under certain conditions for use in the church: The communion must take place in Danish, and Faroese could be preached only if all church authorities, the Provost and local council agreed. Beginning in 1912 the communion could be held in Faroese, but only if the bishop gave his consent beforehand.

It was the Faroese people themselves who achieved a general penetration of their mother tongue as the church language. A conservative basic attitude of most of the faithful attached the Danish language firmly with the liturgy, with the hymns, and not least with the Bible. Even today certain Faroese church songs are still sung gladly in the old Danish. In Tórshavn an opinion poll was taken, and the majority of the churchgoers expressed a desire for the retention of the Danish in the church.

Nevertheless, the question was discussed several times in the "Løgting", and again there were "Samband" politicians who made further pragmatic arguments for retention of Danish: Many of the priests are Danes, and if each priest may select freely in which language he preaches, then this would inevitably lead to a general confusion, if a community is accustomed to a church service in Faroese and then gets a Danish pastor.

As is the case for the language of instruction, the penetration of the native language in the church was only one matter of time and the available literature. As early as 1823 the Gospel of Matthew appeared in Faroese, but it met with no broad approval by the people because of the uncertainty of the Faroese orthography that prevailed before Hammershaimb’s time. In 1908 the Gospel of John in Faroese was given, but only because the minister Jákup Dahl aided in the revival of Faroese as the church language, when he presented a Faroese hymnbook in 1921 and completed a translation of the New Testament in 1937. Up to his death in 1944 Dahl continued to work on a translation of the Old Testament, and it was then completed by Kristian Osvald Viderø in 1961.

The Evangelical-Lutheran national church authorized Dahl’s works immediately in each case after their appearance. Dahl also translated the catechism and a religious history. Dahl’s collection of sermons in book form became important for the Faroese. In the remote areas of the islands it was normal that a pastor had up to six churches had his charge, which he visited in sequence. When the pastor could not be present the services in the churches were conducted by the laymen, who used sermons from Dahl’s printed collection.

March 13, 1939 is the day on which Faroese became authorized as church language to the full extent. Today the native clergy use Faroese almost exclusively.

Equalization in legal proceedings

Starting in 1920 the question was raised, how it looks with the use of Faroese in legal proceedings. That resulted from a reform in Denmark, that applies now in court, whereas previously it applied only to written legal documents. On April 11, 1924, a regulation came into force in the Faroes that the legal language is Danish, but Faroese-speaking judges may hold their proceedings in Faroese if the parties to the legal action speak Faroese. The legal documents could also be drawn up in Faroese, providing that a certified translation into Danish also be made, if it is prescribed the law, or if the defense required it. These Danish documents were important if proceeding was to take place in Denmark.

In 1931 further demands were made to expand the use of Faroese in legal proceedings. Again this argument this was resisted by the "Samband" with the aforementioned arguments, that Danish documents are indispensable for further negotiations in Danish courts.

On January 4, 1944 the "Løgting" legislated the full equalization of Faroese in legal proceedings. That happened, however, because of the special situation of the Faroe Islands in the World War II, when Denmark was occupied by Germany and all connections with the government in Copenhagen were severed. However, after the war this regulation remained into force.

Faroese in other areas

The process of the introduction of Faroese as the business language took place over a longer period of time. Starting in 1920 the Faroese telephone directory appeared in the national language. Starting in 1925 it was the secondary language in the postal service, and starting in 1927 the minutes of the Løgting were recorded in Faroese.

With the autonomy (home-rule) law of 1948, Faroese was finally the language used in all affairs, provided that Danish be always taught in school to the extent that all can use Danish for communication with other Scandinavians.

ummary

In retrospect it can be said about the Faroese language conflict, that it resulted less from the political factional fights of the "Sjálvstyri" than from the revival of the Faroese language due to the extraordinary achievements of the Bible translator Jákup Dahl and Faroese writers such as J.H.O. Djurhuus, Hans Andrias Djurhuus, Heðin Brú, Jóannes Patursson, and others.

ource

*German Wikipedia

Literature

* Jóansson, Tórður. "English Loanwords in Faroese". [Tórshavn, Faroe Islands] : Fannir, 1997. ISBN 9991849149
*Nauerby, Tom. "No Nation Is an Island Language, Culture and National Identity in the Faroe Islands". North Atlantic monographs, 3. Arhus, Denmark: SNAI-North Atlantic Publications, 1996. ISBN 8798342452
*West, John F.: "Faroe. Emergence of a Nation", 1972