Gøtudanskt (pronounced , also Dano-Faroese) is a variety of Danish spoken in the

Faroe Islands The Faroe Islands ( ) (alt. the Faroes) are an archipelago in the North Atlantic Ocean and an autonomous territory of the Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark. Located between Iceland, Norway, and the United Kingdom, the islands have a populat ...

Faroe Islanders Faroese people or Faroe Islanders (; ) are an ethnic group native to the Faroe Islands. The Faroese are of mixed Norse and Gaelic origins. About 21,000 Faroese live in neighbouring countries, particularly in Denmark, Iceland and Norway. Most ...

. Its pronunciation is influenced by Faroese, the usual native language of Gøtudanskt speakers. Gøtudanskt arose as a product of compulsory Danish language instruction in education in the Faroe Islands; its speakers routinely code-switch between Faroese and Gøtudanskt depending on their interlocutor's knowledge of Faroese.

Etymology

Poulsen (1993) attributes the term ''Gøtudanskt'' to a teacher (1850–1930) from the small village of (Norðra)gøta on

Eysturoy Eysturoy (, meaning 'East Island') is a region and the second-largest of the Faroe Islands, both in size and population. Description Eysturoy is separated by a narrow sound from the main island of Streymoy. Eysturoy is extremely rugged, with som ...

who spoke Danish with a pronounced accent, representing many of the common features of Gøtudanskt. Most people agree with this explanation. The term has alternatively been interpreted as "street Danish" based on the similarity between ''gøtu-'' and Danish ''gade'' 'street', but Poulsen criticizes these as unlikely.

Definition

The term has been used to refer to different varieties in the literature, besides being used as a folk notion. Mitchinson (2012) considers ''Faroese Print-Danish'' as differing only from Standard Danish in terms of pronunciation, while ''Faroe-Danish'' furthermore incorporates elements of Faroese lexicon and grammar. The amount of Faroese influence differs between individuals.

Examples

An example of Gøtudanskt is the expression "" ‘Away from the road! The king is sledding’. The word comes from the Faroese verb ‘to sled’, but is not in use in Danish. Another example is , where corresponds to Faroese 'outside the skerry' and to Faroese ''fishing rods'', ‘The big ones (i.e. coalfish) outside the

skerry A skerry ( ) is a small rocky island, or islet, usually too small for human habitation. It may simply be a rocky reef. A skerry can also be called a low stack (geology), sea stack. A skerry may have vegetative life such as moss and small, ...

can break fishing rods’. The traditional Faroese way of singing hymns (the Kingo song) uses Gøtudanskt. The

metal A metal () is a material that, when polished or fractured, shows a lustrous appearance, and conducts electrical resistivity and conductivity, electricity and thermal conductivity, heat relatively well. These properties are all associated wit ...

band

Týr (; Old Norse: , ) is a god in Germanic mythology and member of the . In Norse mythology, which provides most of the surviving narratives about gods among the Germanic peoples, sacrifices his right hand to the monstrous wolf , who bites it off ...

's songs "Ramund Hin Unge" on the album '' Eric the Red'' and "Sinklars vísa" on the album ''

Land Land, also known as dry land, ground, or earth, is the solid terrestrial surface of Earth not submerged by the ocean or another body of water. It makes up 29.2% of Earth's surface and includes all continents and islands. Earth's land sur ...

'' are also sung in Gøtudanskt.

References

North Germanic languages Faroese language Danish language Danish dialects {{Nordic-lang-stub