Russenorsk

1
Russenorsk
Presentation for LING 455 prepared by Jane
Heinze Matthew Keeton Lysne Torgerson

• Pidgins migrate north in the
  summer

2
Introduction

• Location
• Murmansk Russia to Tromsø Norway
• Speakers
• Norwegian and Russian Fishermen and Tradesmen
• When
• Mid 18th Century until closing of border
  following October Revolution of 1917
• Other Names
• Moja po tvoja
• Kakspreck

3
Classification

• Dialect?
• Norwegian (Kortlandt, 2000)
• Pigeon?
• Jargon

4
Classification

• Dialect?
• Norwegian (Kortlandt, 2000)
• Pigeon?
• Jargon?
• Nautical? (Bakker, 1994)

5
Classification

• Dialect?
• Norwegian (Kortlandt, 2000)
• Pigeon?
• Jargon?
• Nautical? (Bakker, 1994)
• Stable? (Jahr, 2003)

6
Classification

• Dialect?
• Norwegian (Kortlandt, 2000)
• Pigeon?
• Jargon?
• Nautical? (Bakker, 1994)
• Stable? (Jahr, 2003)
• Expanded? (Muehlhaeusler, 1997)

7
Classification

• Dialect?
• Norwegian (Kortlandt, 2000)
• PIDGIN?
• Jargon?
• Nautical? (Bakker, 1994)
• Stable? (Jahr, 2003)
• Expanded? (Muehlhaeusler, 1997)
• Creole?
• Wouldnt you like to know

8
Characteristics - Pidgin

• Similarities
• Use of possessive for person, possession and
  demonstration (mojaR / tvojaR)
• (very) limited morphology / inflection
• No case (cf. Keeton, 2005?)
• verbal marker (-omS)
• No copula (Russian influence?)
• Universal preposition po
• SVO word order (universal grammar or Norwegian
  influence?)
• Circumlocutions

• Differences
• Lexicon
• Socioculturally equal parents
• Genetically related parents
• Diglossia
• Limited domain (trade, fishing)
• Frequency of usage
• Summer months only
• TMA preverbal marker po- (Russian influence, cf.
  Jahr, 2003)

9
Lexicon

• Input

Lexical Input by Parent Language
10
Lexicon

• Input
• Norwegian 47

11
Lexicon

• Input
• Norwegian 47
• Russian 39

12
Lexicon

• Input
• Norwegian 47
• Russian 39
• Other 14
• Dutch
• English
• Swedish
• Low German
• French
• Sami
• Finnish

13
Lexicon

• Input
• Norwegian 47
• Russian 39
• Other 14
• Dutch
• English
• Swedish
• Low German
• French
• Sami
• Finnish
• Limited usage
• Seasonal - summer
• Limited domain
• Trade, fishing
• Never expands
• Russian goods Russian word
• Norwegian goods Norwegian word
• Diglossia

14
Phonology Variation on a Theme
Norwegian
Russian
Norwegian Russenorsk
Russian Russenorsk
15
Phonology (contd)

• Consonant Inventory Reduction
• If a phoneme only exists in one parent language,
  it is usually not present in contact language or
  it is assimilated
• h ? g or x
• havN ? gavRN (sea)
• harN,RN(N) ? xarRN(R) (have)
• x ? k
• xl?pR ? klæbaRN (bread)
• muxaR ? mokkaRN (flour)
• ? and t? ? s
• vro?R ? vrosRN (you lie)
• pr??ajR ? prosajRN (farewell)
• t??t?r?R ? s?tiriRN(R) (four)
• nit??voR ? niets?voRN (nothing, never mind)
• Simplification of some vowel clusters
• mnog?R ? mang?liRN (much, a lot, many)

16
Morphology Verbs

• Verbal marker om
• Possible Influences
• Russian 1pl. and lets constructions
• Norwegian/Swedish hortative (strong
  encouragement)
• Russian and Norwegian inputs

17
Morphology Verbs (contd)

• BEHOLD THE POWER OF PO
• Multifunctional and homophonous for both Russian
  and Norwegian
• TMA Markers are usually indicative of creoles
  (the lack thereof is considered one of the main
  characteristics for distinguishing a pidgin
  (Jahr, 2003)
• According to Jahr (2003), Russenorsk has TMA
• Preverbal po as future tense marker
• mojaR po morradagN komN (Ill arrive tomorrow)
• as purposive modality
• davajR poproberomR (Please, lets try)
• vrsogoN liteE klbaR po presentomE (Please
  pass me some bread)
• as durative (imperfective) aspect
• jesE, po slipomN (Yes, he is sleeping)

18
Morphology - Nouns

• Nominal marker a
• (questionable)
• Influence
• Russian feminine and unstressed neuter endings?
• Also, possessive adjective moja/tvoja useonly
  with feminine nouns
• Not always used and used non-systematically

19
Syntax / Semantics

• SVO word order
• Negation
• Different from Norwegian (post-verbal) and
  Russian (pre-verbal)
• Generally second word in sentence
• Uses both Norwegian ikke and Russian njet
• Circumlocutions
• prinsipal po Kristos reisa (The Captain died,
  lit The Captain has gone to Christ)
• lille junka på kjerka vaskom (The little boy
  was baptized, lit Little boy at church washed)
• i kahyt vaskom (paint, lit in the cabin wash)

20
Classification

• Still wondering?
• Review
• Dialect
• Pidgin
• Jargon
• Nautical
• Stabilized
• Expanded
• Creole
• It is still uncertain under which of these
  categories to classify Russenorsk

21
Classification

• But one thing IS for sure
• Its a DEAD pidgin

22
Bibliography

• Broch, Ingvild and Ernst Jahr (1982).
  Russenorsk The Russo-Norwegian Pidgin. New
  Findings. New York Modern Language Association
  of America.
• Jahr, Ernst (2003). Short Note - The Emergence
  of a TMA Grammatical Device in a Stable Pidgin
  The Russenorsk Preverbal Po Construction.
  Journal of Pidgins and Creoles. (181. 121-130).
  Amsterdam John Benjamins B.V.
• Jahr, Ernst and Ingvild Broch (Eds.) (1996).
  Language Contact in the Arctic Northern Pidgins
  and Contact Languages. Berlin Mouton de Gruyter.
  
• Kortlandt, Frederick (2000). On Russenorsk.
  Linguistics and Language Behavior Abstracts.
• Lunden, Siri Sverdrup (1978). Russenorsk
  Revisited. Meddelelser. Oslo University of Oslo.
• Peterson, Ronald E. (1980). Russenorsk A Little
  Known Aspect of Russian-Norwegian Relations.
  Studies in Language International Journal
  Sponsored by the Foundation Foundations of
  Language. (249-56). New York Modern Language
  Association of America.