High Icelandic

High Icelandic or Hyper-Icelandic ("Háíslenska" or "Háfrónska") is an artificial language started by the Belgian Jozef Braekmans, aimed at removing loan words from the modern Icelandic language. Its vocabulary is described by its creator as an "ultra-purist" compilation of already existing Icelandic neologisms, and other neologisms created by Braekmans himself. Despite having no official standing and being essentially a project of a small group of people attempting to create a form of Icelandic free from foreign influence, it has received some attention from the Icelandic public through media coverage. The language has no official status in Iceland.

Name and symbolism

The language was named after "høgnorsk" (High Norwegian), a conservative form of Nynorsk (Modern Norwegian). The second element "frónska" is derived from "frón", the poetic name of Iceland, which was one of the names of Earth mentioned in the Prose Edda. Braekmans first made mention of the name on November 23, 2003 on the newsgroup is.islenska. Before that date he used to refer to it as 'frónska' or 'Hyper-Icelandic'.Braekmans has created a lot of symbolism around the language, as is popular in conlangs. The main facets of the symbolism are the armored egg of vitality ("Brynfjöregg"), the lexically immaculate mountain child ("hið slettulausa fjallbarn") [cite web|title=Fjallbarn|work=Website Fjallbarn|url=http://users.telenet.be/Hafronska/fjallbarn/] , the Thor's country-flag ("Þórfrónsvé") and the cap of the Neologisctic skalds ("nýyrðaskáldshúfa"). The Brynfjöregg is equivalent to a ‘life-thread’ in Icelandic symbolism. It is a familiar motif in Icelandic folklore, where one can destroy trolls, giants, etc., by finding where their "life-egg" (fjöregg) is hidden and hurling it at them so that it hits them in the head. Many Icelanders consider their language as the ‘vital egg’ of their culture affectionately calling it "ástkæra ylhýra" ("beloved warmth"). The mountain child is a reference to the woman of the mountains ("Fjallkonan"), the female incarnation of the Icelandic nation who is often portrayed on national holidays. The Þórsfrónvé is an alternate Icelandic flag with the same division of the three colours but with a stylized ‘hammer of Thor’ replacing the Crusaders’ cross. The "nýyrðaskáldshúfa" symbolizes the protection of the language against foreign influence.

Development

The project originated as a one-man project by Jozef Braekmans from Lier, Belgium, alias "Timbur-Helgi Hermannsson" meaning "carpenter-saint, son of Hermann", a reference to the biblical Joseph. He started his experiment in 1992, when he started creating native replacements for those adapted loanwords that are considered as integrated parts of the Icelandic language and for which no purely Icelandic word existed. By 1998 he started to make extensive use of internet and usenet to promote his work [cite web|title=Language Hat|work=Discussion on language site Language Hat|url=http://www.languagehat.com/archives/001879.php] cite web| title=is.islenska|work=is.islenska posts| url=http://groups.google.com/groups?q=braekmans] , and in the year 2000 he created the website "Nýyrðasmiðja Málþvottahús" (neologistic factory 'The Language Laundry'). Because he feared that none of his neologisms would be accepted by the general public, he decided to create a strain of the language in which foreign influence would be minimalized, under the name 'Miðstöð Háfrónska Tungumálsins' or 'High Icelandic language centre' (2005) [cite web|title=High Icelandic Language Centre|work=High Icelandic Language Centre website|url=http://d8486.u24.triplus.be/online/default.php] . Timbur-Helgi had made himself and his life's work very unpopular on the newsgroup "is.islenska", and gave it to his successor, Pétur Þorsteinsson, priest of the "Óháði Söfnuðurinn" (Independent Parish) in Reykjavík and a few other "nýyrðaskáld" (neologistic poets). Pétur Þorsteinsson is now "chief neologistic skald" (allsherjarnýyrðaskáld) of the High Icelandic language movement.

At the beginning of the 21st century, the project received some minor media attention in Iceland, but only a few people continue Braekmans' work. No reference is found in scientific publications, however.

Ultra-purism

The emphasis in High Icelandic mainly lies on "málgjörhreinsun" (ultrapurism), the most extreme form of linguistic purism. Again this is a personal term of the creator, signifying that everything that can be expressed by human speech is to be considered a target for puristic intervention, even proper names, geographical names, and names of chemicals. According to Braekmans the first signs of ultrapurism go back to the neologistic excesses of the 19th century Fjölnismenn. In their magazine "Skírnir", they translated personal names like 'Robert Peel' and 'John Russell' as "Hróbjartur Píll" and "Jón Hrísill" respectively. Also geographical names were translated: "Góðviðra" (Buenos Aires), "Sigurborg" (Cairo), "Slettumannaland" (Poland). In contrast to the existing Icelandic language policy, the removal of latinisms and germanisms in the old language is considered a top priority.

Criticism

Although some people claim to admire the idea, the project receives frequent criticism. It has been argued that the language is often phonologically challenging for prospective speakers and it's also criticised for being too extreme.

The elimination of Icelandic words that originate from other Scandinavian languages has been called "unrealistic". It has been said that denial of these words would also deny the history of Iceland. Norwegian and Irish settlers played an important role in the development of the culture of Iceland and critics of the High Icelandic language argue that removing these words would reject the entire culture upon which Iceland is based.

Braekman's character has been attacked on occasion, with claims of his insanity which he does not deny. He is known for periodically discontinuing internet communications for a number of months at a time.

Media coverage

The project has received some media attention in Iceland. Some Icelandic newspapers had an article about the language, the newspaper DV had a full page interview with Braekmans concerning his language in 1999. Icelandic television channel Stöð 2 had a small item on the project in November 2005 [cite web|title=Ísland í dag|work=A section on the Icelandic news 'Ísland í dag' (Iceland today)|url=http://veftivi.visir.is/veftivi/main.do?treeId=2003&startAt=51&progId=6647] . Icelandic radio station Rás 1 has a weekly radio show, "Orð skulu standa", which features uncommon Icelandic words, and has on occasion introduced High Icelandic words into the language by way of a game revolving around guessing the words' meaning.

Notes

ee also

*Language policy
*Language ideology
*Linguistic purism
*Linguistic purism in Icelandic

References

* Jóhannes Gísli Jónsson, "Íslensk beygingar og orðmyndunarfræði". A course about Icelandic morphology taught at the faculty of Icelandic (íslenskuskor) at the University of Iceland. It uses High Icelandic words as examples of word-formation.

External links

* [http://www.hafronska.org The High Icelandic Language Centre (Háfrónska málhreyfingin)]
* [http://users.telenet.be/Hafronska/ Icelandic equivalents of the English and Danish place-names (21.000 names)]
* [http://www.fjallbarn.net Website about the "Child of the Mountains" (Fjallbarnið), the incarnation of High Icelandic]
* [http://users.telenet.be/Hafronska/DV.article.january.30.1999.pdf Article about Braekmans neologistic work in DV (edition: January 30, 1999), one of the four newspapers of Iceland]
* [http://www.visir.is/article/20070128/LIFID01/101280004 Article about High Icelandic in the Fréttablaðið (eng. the newspaper), the Icelandic newspaper with the largest circulation]
* [http://veftivi.visir.is/veftivi/main.do?treeId=2003&startAt=51&progId=6647 A section about High Icelandic on the Icelandic news programme 'Ísland í dag' (Iceland today)]
* [http://www.languagehat.com/archives/001879.php Debate about High Icelandic on Language hat]
* [http://www.djoflaeyjan.com/gamalt/2005/06/hin_hreina_isle.php „Hin hreina íslenska kemur frá Belgíu!“ Article on the webzine 'djoflaeyjan.com']
* [http://simnet.is/birgirbaldursson/birtingur20040611.pdf An article about High Icelandic in Birtingur, the local paper of Akranes.]