Russenorsk

Russenorsk (Norwegian pronunciation: [ˈrʉ̂sːəˌnɔʂk]; Russian: Руссено́рск, [rʊsʲɪˈnorsk]; English: Russo-Norwegian) is an extinct dual-source pidgin language formerly used in the Arctic, which combined elements of Russian and Norwegian, and which was created by Russian traders and Norwegian fishermen from northern Norway and the Russian Kola Peninsula. It was used extensively in Northern Norway for about 150 years in the Pomor trade. Russenorsk is important as a test case for theories concerning pidgin languages since it was used far away from most of the other documented pidgins of the world.

Russenorsk
Russonorsk
RegionNorthern Norway
Era18th–19th centuries
Language codes
ISO 639-3None (mis)
qcu
Glottologruss1267[1]

As is common in the development of pidgins and trade languages, the interaction of fishermen and traders with no common language necessitated the creation of some minimal form of communication. Like all pidgins, Russenorsk had a rudimentary grammar and a restricted vocabulary, mostly composed of words essential to Arctic fishing and trade (fish, weather, etc.) and did not particularly deal with unrelated issues (music, politics, etc.).

History

Barter existed between Russians and Norwegians for 150 years in Troms and Finnmark counties. This barter was supported by the Norwegian government, and King Christian VII conferred city status to several settlements, such as Tromsø, to facilitate it.[2] Norwegians mainly traded fish for flour and wheat from Russians. The trading went on throughout the sunny months of the year and was beneficial to both sides; Norwegians had access to cheap fish in the summer, whilst Russians had surplus wheat.[3] Traders came from the areas near Murmansk and the White Sea, most often to Vardø, Hammerfest, and Tromsø, sometimes reaching as far south as Lofoten.[3][4]

The earliest recorded instance of Russenorsk was in 1785.[5] It is one of the most studied northern pidgins; many linguists, for example, Olaf Broch, studied it. Unlike equatorial pidgins, it was formed from only two languages: Norwegian and Russian. Furthermore, these languages are not from the same branch of Indo-European languages. Also unlike equatorial pidgins, Russenorsk was formed from one social class.[6]

Until 1850, Russenorsk was socially acceptable for all social classes. In 1850, Russenorsk became more limited to Norwegian fishermen, whereas Norwegian traders spent more time in Russia, often formally studying the language to the extent that they could communicate in rudimentary Russian.[3] This caused Russenorsk to lose some of its prestige.[7]

In 1917, Finland's declaration of independence from Russia caused the Russian–Norwegian border to decrease significantly. In 1919, the border disappeared completely.[5] Furthermore, the Soviet Union limited international contact significantly, decreasing the need for the common language between Norwegians and Russians. The last such Norwegian–Russian trade occurred in 1923.[5]

Phonology

Russenorsk uses many of the phonemes mutual to Norwegian and Russian, altering phonemes only used in one.[5][8][9]

  • /h/, absent in Russian, became /g/: hav (sea) → gav.
  • /x/, absent in Norwegian, became /k/: хорошо (khorosho, good) → korosho.
  • /mn/, absent in Norwegian, became /n/: много ли (mnogo li, many?) → nogoli.
Consonants
Bilabial Labiodental Dental/
Alveolar		 Retroflex Palatal Velar
Nasal m n
Stop p b t d k ɡ
Fricative f s ʂ
Approximant l j
Flap ɾ
Vowels
 FrontCentralBack
Close iu
Mid eəo
Open a

Grammar

One of the characteristics differentiating the pidgin from jargon is its grammar.[3] Russenorsk is mainly influenced by Norwegian grammar, leading some to conclude that it is a variant of Norwegian with some Russian influence.[10]

There are no clear verb conjugations. The main indication of a verb is the suffix -om, for example, kapitan på kajuta slipom (the captain is asleep in his cabin). Nominative nouns usually end with -a.[10] Conjunctions used to make compound sentences or dependent clauses are ja, i, and jes. Kak is used as an interrogative word. The general word order is SVO, with some alterations for questions and sentences with adverbs.[8]

På is used as the only preposition for the oblique case:[5]

  • For possession: klokka på ju (your watch)
  • For location: mala penge på lamma (little money in the pocket), and principal på sjib? (Is the captain aboard the ship?)
  • For temporal relation: på morradag (tomorrow), på gammel ras (last year).
  • For direction: moja tvoja på vater kasstom (I will throw you in the water), nogoli dag tvoja reisa på Arkangel otsuda? (How many days did you travel from here [to get] to Arkhangelsk?), på Arkangel reisom (go to Arkhangelsk).

Vocabulary

Corpora of Russenorsk consist of lists of individual words and phrases as well as records of dialogues compiled by linguists such as Just Knut Qvigstad. The corpora include c. 400 words, about half of those only appear once in the records (so-called hapax legomena).[3][11]

The origin of its vocabulary is generally held to be approximately 40% Russian and 50% Norwegian, with the remaining 10% from Dutch, Low German, French, English, Sami, and Swedish. [5][7]

Many words in Russenorsk have a synonym from the other primary language.[8]

  • Balduska, kvejta (halibut)
  • Muzhik, man (man)
  • Eta, den (this)
  • Njet, ikke (not)

Some words can be etymologically traced to both Norwegian and Russian, for example, vin (Norwegian) and вино (Russian). Some words have an unclear etymology, for example, tovara or vara can come from Russian, Swedish, or Finnish.[8]

Some Russenorsk words survive in the dialect of Vardø:[3]

  • kralle (Russenorsk: krallom, Russian: красть, tr. krast', to steal)
  • klæba (Russian: хлеб, tr. khleb, bread)

Morphology

Russenorsk does not have extensive morphology, but has some unique characteristics. The ending -om does not come from Russian nor Norwegian, but it may come from Solombala English.[3] The ending -mann, from Norwegian, is used to indicate nationality or profession, for example russmann (Russian), burmann (Norwegian), or kukmann (trader). Other morphological features are reduplication, such as morra-morradag (after tomorrow), and compounding, such as kua (cow) and sjorta (shirt) to kuasjorta (cowhide).[5]

Syntax

One characteristic syntactical attribute of Russenorsk is the tendency to move the verb to the final position when the sentence has adverbs. This is found in neither Russian nor Norwegian.[3] Another is that the negator (ikke, njet) precedes the verb, but can be separated from the verb. This is unlike negation in either Russian or Norwegian, but it may have come from Finnish, in which this syntax was probable.[8]

A lack of metalinguistic awareness amongst Russenorsk speakers may have led them to believe they were speaking the language of their interlocutor; that is, that Russians believed they were speaking Norwegian and vice versa.[10]

Examples

R marks Russian origin, N marks Norwegian.

Mojapåtvoja.
моя́RpåN
поR[lower-alpha 1]		твоя́R
myinyour
I speak in your language.
Kaksprek?Mojanjetforsto.
какRspråkNмоя́RнетRforståN
howspeak?mynounderstand
What are you saying? I don't understand.

Sentences
Moja på tvoja.I'm talking in your language.
Kak sprek? Moja njet forsto.What are you talking about? I don't understand.
å råbbåtework
klebabread
Ju sprek på moja kantor komYou said that you would come to my office.
Tvoja fisk kopom?Will you buy fish?
Saika kopom i på Arkangelsk på gaf spaseromI'll buy pollack and we'll swim in Arkhangelsk.
Kak pris? Mangeli kosta?What is the price? How much?
Eta grot dyr. Værsegod, på minder prodaj!It is very expensive. Please lower the price!

See also

Notes and references

Notes
  1. /po/ in both languages happens to mean 'in' when referring to speaking in a language, though they are pronounced slightly differently.

References
  1. Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds. (2017). "Russenorsk". Glottolog 3.0. Jena, Germany: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.
  2. "Port of Tromso". Retrieved 2014-11-08.
  3. Bandle, Oskar; Braunmüller, Kurt; Jahr, Ernst Håkon; Naumann, Allan Karker Hans-Peter; Teleman, Ulf (2005). The Nordic Languages: An International Handbook of the History of the North Germanic Languages. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter GmbH. p. 1538. ISBN 3 11 017149 X.
  4. "Pomor trade". Retrieved 2011-11-01.
  5. "Russenorsk – A Language Sketch" (PDF). Retrieved 2011-11-02.
  6. Broch, Ingvild; Jahr, Ernst Håkon. "Russenorsk". Archived from the original on 2011-06-05. Retrieved 2011-11-02.
  7. Serk-Hansen, Karoline. "Руссенорск". Retrieved 2011-11-01.
  8. Belikov, Vladimir. "Some Fragments of Russenorsk Grammar". Retrieved 2011-11-01.
  9. "Pidgin – Russisch – Am Beispiel von Russenorsk". Archived from the original on 2012-11-27. Retrieved 2011-11-01.
  10. Kortlandt, Frederik. "On Russenorsk" (PDF). Retrieved 2011-11-01.
  11. Atlas języków: Pochodzenie i rozwój języków świata. Poznań: Oficyna Wydawnicza Atena. 1998. p. 146. ISBN 83-85414-31-2.

Bibliography
  • Broch, I. & Jahr, E. H. 1984. Russenorsk: Et pidginspråk i Norge (2. utgave), Oslo: Novus.
  • Broch, I. & Jahr, E. H. 1984. "Russenorsk: a new look at the Russo-Norwegian pidgin in northern Norway." In: P. Sture Ureland & I. Clarkson (eds.): Scandinavian Language Contacts, Cambridge: C.U.P., pp. 21–65.
  • Jahr, E. H. 1996. "On the pidgin status of Russenorsk", in: E. H. Jahr and I. Broch (eds.): Language contact in the Arctic: Northern pidgins and contact languages, Berlin-New York: Mouton de Gruyter, 107-122.
  • Lunden, S. S. 1978. Tracing the ancestry of Russenorsk. Slavia Orientalis 27/2, 213–217.
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