The language history of Norwegian Jews – a neglected part of Nordic multilingualism

Authors

• Stian Hårstad Norges teknisk-naturvitenskapelige universitet (NTNU) https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1219-9718

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.30752/nj.157502

Keywords:

Yiddish, Language history, History of Yiddish language, Norwegian language history

Abstract

Over the past few decades, the history of Norwegian Jews has received increasing atten- tion from various academic disciplines, yet little has been done to explore the language practices of the group,which has held national minority status since 1999.The Jewish migrants that settled in Norway in the latter half of the nineteenth century brought with them a rich tapestry of multilingualism.This complexity – and its development throughout the twentieth century – has been briefly addressed in both scholarly and popular works, but systematic efforts to investigate these issues within a linguistic framework have only emerged in recent years.This paper synthesizes the preliminary findings on the linguistics aspects of the cultural history of Norwegian Jews and suggests viable avenues for further research.