![Adolf Noreen 1917](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d9/Adolf_Noreen_1917.jpg)
Adolf Gotthard Noreen (13 March 1854, in Östra Ämtervik,
Sunne Municipality – 13 June 1925, in
Uppsala
Uppsala (, or all ending in , ; archaically spelled ''Upsala'') is the county seat of Uppsala County and the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, fourth-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm, Gothenburg, and Malmö. It had 177,074 inha ...
) was a
Swedish
Swedish or ' may refer to:
Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically:
* Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland
** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...
linguist
Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure. Linguis ...
who served as a member of the
Swedish Academy
The Swedish Academy ( sv, Svenska Akademien), founded in 1786 by King Gustav III of Sweden, Gustav III, is one of the Swedish Royal Academies, Royal Academies of Sweden. Its 18 members, who are elected for life, comprise the highest Swedish lang ...
from 1919 until his death.
Noreen studied at
Uppsala University
Uppsala University ( sv, Uppsala universitet) is a public university, public research university in Uppsala, Sweden. Founded in 1477, it is the List of universities in Sweden, oldest university in Sweden and the Nordic countries still in opera ...
and focused on
Swedish dialectology in his earlier works, later shifting to the wider field of
historical linguistics
Historical linguistics, also termed diachronic linguistics, is the scientific study of language change over time. Principal concerns of historical linguistics include:
# to describe and account for observed changes in particular languages
# ...
. He was a
Neogrammarian
The Neogrammarians (German: ''Junggrammatiker'', 'young grammarians') were a German school of linguists, originally at the University of Leipzig, in the late 19th century who proposed the Neogrammarian hypothesis of the regularity of sound change ...
and supported
spelling reform
A spelling reform is a deliberate, often authoritatively sanctioned or mandated change to spelling rules. Proposals for such reform are fairly common, and over the years, many languages have undergone such reforms. Recent high-profile examples ar ...
.
Biography
Noreen was born in
Värmland
Värmland () also known as Wermeland, is a '' landskap'' (historical province) in west-central Sweden. It borders Västergötland, Dalsland, Dalarna, Västmanland, and Närke, and is bounded by Norway in the west. Latin name versions are ''Va ...
. He became a student at Uppsala University in 1871 and went on to complete his
doctorate
A doctorate (from Latin ''docere'', "to teach"), doctor's degree (from Latin ''doctor'', "teacher"), or doctoral degree is an academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism ''l ...
there in 1877; he became a lecturer at the university in the same year. Noreen spent most of 1879 at the
University of Leipzig
Leipzig University (german: Universität Leipzig), in Leipzig in Saxony, Germany, is one of the world's oldest universities and the second-oldest university (by consecutive years of existence) in Germany. The university was founded on 2 Decemb ...
, the home of the Neogrammarian school of linguistics – a school to which Noreen belonged for his entire literary life. Whilst in Leipzig, Noreen was taught
Lithuanian by
August Leskien
August Leskien (; 8 July 1840 – 20 September 1916) was a German linguist active in the field of comparative linguistics, particularly relating to the Baltic and Slavic languages.
Biography
Leskien was born in Kiel. He studied philology at the ...
, a pioneer of research into
sound laws
A sound change, in historical linguistics, is a change in the pronunciation of a language. A sound change can involve the replacement of one speech sound (or, more generally, one phonetic feature value) by a different one (called phonetic chang ...
.
Much of Noreen's early output was focused on Swedish dialectology, primarily in his home province of Värmland and the neighbouring province of
Dalarna
Dalarna () is a '' landskap'' (historical province) in central Sweden. English exonyms for it are Dalecarlia () and the Dales.
Dalarna adjoins Härjedalen, Hälsingland, Gästrikland, Västmanland and Värmland
Värmland () also known a ...
. His work, which was the first in Sweden to utilise the findings of the Neogrammarians, remained influential in the field well into the 20th century. Noreen's academic focus in the 1880s shifted to the field of historical linguistics, primarily centred on the
Germanic languages
The Germanic languages are a branch of the Indo-European language family spoken natively by a population of about 515 million people mainly in Europe, North America, Oceania and Southern Africa. The most widely spoken Germanic language, Engli ...
. His grammars of
Old West Norse
Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and their overseas settlement ...
and
Old Swedish
Old Swedish (Swedish language, Modern Swedish: ) is the name for two distinct stages of the Swedish language that were spoken in the Middle Ages: Early Old Swedish (), spoken from about 1225 until about 1375, and Late Old Swedish (), spoken fro ...
remain in use by scholars to the present day. In 1887 Noreen was named as the third Professor of
Scandinavian languages
The North Germanic languages make up one of the three branches of the Germanic languages—a sub-family of the Indo-European languages—along with the West Germanic languages and the extinct East Germanic languages. The language group is also r ...
at Uppsala University. Noreen devoted the last twenty years of his life to writing ''Vårt språk'' (''Our Language''), an ultimately unfinished work in which he outlines his view of the
Swedish language
Swedish ( ) is a North Germanic language spoken predominantly in Sweden and in parts of Finland. It has at least 10 million native speakers, the fourth most spoken Germanic language and the first among any other of its type in the Nordic countr ...
, its
grammar
In linguistics, the grammar of a natural language is its set of structure, structural constraints on speakers' or writers' composition of clause (linguistics), clauses, phrases, and words. The term can also refer to the study of such constraint ...
,
phonology
Phonology is the branch of linguistics that studies how languages or dialects systematically organize their sounds or, for sign languages, their constituent parts of signs. The term can also refer specifically to the sound or sign system of a ...
and
morphology
Morphology, from the Greek and meaning "study of shape", may refer to:
Disciplines
* Morphology (archaeology), study of the shapes or forms of artifacts
* Morphology (astronomy), study of the shape of astronomical objects such as nebulae, galaxies ...
. Noreen was elected to Seat 12 of the Swedish Academy in 1919, following the death of
Gustaf Retzius
Prof Magnus Gustaf (or Gustav) Retzius FRSFor HFRSE MSA (17 October 1842 – 21 July 1919) was a Swedish physician and anatomist who dedicated a large part of his life to researching the histology of the sense organs and nervous system.
Life ...
.
Noreen was an advocate of spelling reform. He proposed consistently spelling the
''sj''-sound,
voiced palatal approximant
The voiced palatal approximant, or yod, is a type of consonant used in many spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is . The equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is j, and in the Americanist phonetic no ...
,
voiceless alveolo-palatal fricative
The voiceless alveolo-palatal sibilant fricative is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is ("c", plus the curl also found in its voiced counterp ...
, and (all of which continue to have several realisations in Swedish orthography) as "sj", "j", "tj", and "ks", respectively. He also considered "Börjer Jarl" to be an acceptable alternative spelling of
Birger Jarl
Birger Jarl, also known as ''Birger Magnusson'' (21 October 1266), was a Swedish statesman, ''jarl'', and a member of the House of Bjelbo, who played a pivotal role in the consolidation of Sweden. Birger also led the Second Swedish Crusade, w ...
.
Noreen is buried at
Uppsala gamla kyrkogård.
Works
* ''Fryksdalsmålets ljudlära'' (187
* ''Dalbymålet'' (1879)
* ''Fårömålet'' (1879)
* ''‘Sam. Columbus’ En svensk ordeskötsel'' (with G. Stjernström; 1881)
* ''Svensk språklära'' (with E. Schwartz; 1881)
* ''Dalmålen'' (1881–83)
* ''Altislandische und altnorwegische Grammatik'' (1884)
*''Om språkriktighet'' (1888)
[
* ''Utkast til föreläsningar i urgermansk ljudlära med huvudsakligt avseende på de nordiska språken'' (1888–90)
* ''Geschichte der germanischen Philologie'' (1891)
* ''Valda stycken af svenska författare 1526–1732'' (with E. Meyer; 1893)
* ''Altschwedisches Lesebuch'' (1892–94)
* ''Spridda studier'' (1895)
* ''Altschwedische Grammatik mit Einschluss des Altgutnischen'' (1897)Altschwedische Grammatik]
at www.ling.upenn.edu
* ''Vårt språk'' (1904–24)
References
*
* Bandle, Oskar et al. (2002). ''The Nordic Languages: An International Handbook of the History of the North Germanic Languages''. Berlin, Walter de Gruyter, . p. 77.
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Noreen, Adolf
1854 births
1925 deaths
People from Sunne Municipality
Linguists from Sweden
Germanic studies scholars
Old Norse studies scholars
Members of the Swedish Academy
Uppsala University alumni
Burials at Uppsala old cemetery