An endangered oral tradition of the North Atlantic

Dr Leonard is a Research Fellow at Trinity Hall College, the Department of Linguistics and the Scott Polar Research Institute, all at the University of Cambridge. He is an anthropological linguist with research interests in the role of language in the establishment of social and linguistic identities in small speech communities, the ethnography of speaking, endangered languages and cultures, linguistic diversity and language revitalisation. His doctoral research at the University of Oxford focused on the construction of social and linguistic identity in early Iceland, and he has conducted sociolinguistic and ethnographic research in Iceland and the Faroe Islands. In 2010, Dr Leonard embarked on a new project to document the endangered oral traditions and communicative practices of the Inughuit people in northwest Greenland.Faroese skjaldur are a genre of oral literature and music comprising rhymes, lullabies and short tales that have existed for centuries and played a part in the transmission — and survival — of the Faroese language. Rich in content, skjaldur illustrate how folklore, language and local knowledge were passed down the generations.While the origins of the genre remain opaque, they were part of a wider tradition of oral literature that included ballads, kvæ ir (poems, tales) and tættir (satirical ballads, often rude and insulting). The nineteenth century, when the Faroese language was most threatened by the colonial language, Danish, saw the flourishing of verbal arts, ethnic music and ballads.The influence of skjaldur and other forms of oral literature on the vernacular language has been disproportionately significant, as Faroese did not develop a written tradition until the nineteenth century. Faroese was never a minority language as such and survived the onslaught of Danish through its position as an oral form in a bilingual environment, with its use restricted to the homestead where oral literature continued to thrive. The contribution of skjaldur to the development of the Faroese language is thus beyond doubt. At present, however, in the increasingly urbanised society of the Faroe Isles, the custom of parents narrating nursery rhymes, counting games, lullabies and folktales to their children is rapidly giving way to more mainstream entertainment media, transmitted in either English and Danish.World Oral Literature Projec

A semiotic approach to language ideologies: Modelling the changing Icelandic languagescape

Attempts have been made to examine how speakers frame linguistic varieties by employing social semiotic models. Using ethnographic data collected over many years, this article applies such a model to Iceland, once described as the ‘e-coli of linguistics’ – its size, historical isolation and relative linguistic homogeneity create conditions akin to a sociolinguistic laboratory. This semiotic model of language ideologies problematizes the prevailing discourse of linguistic purism at a time of sociolinguistic upheaval. The analysis shows how an essentializing scheme at the heart of Icelandic language policy ensured that linguistic “anomalies” such as “dative disease” and “genitive phobia” indexed essential differences. “Impure” language was indicative of un-Icelandicness. Once monolingual (indeed monodialectal), the Icelandic speech community is increasingly characterized by innovative linguistic transgressions which thus far have not been instrumentalized by language policy makers. It is shown how a semiotic model can help us analyse the function of language ideologies more generally.  &nbsp

The Word as an Icon: The embodied spirituality of Church Slavonic

How do Russian Orthodox Christians frame their understanding of semiotic ideologies of worship? That is to say, how do worshippers interpret liturgical language ‘signs’ and how do these interpretations colour their views as to which language is ‘right’ for the Church? There are to be found two semiotic ideologies of worship in Moscow. There are traditionalists for whom the liturgical language is embodied; it becomes the language of God through its vocalisation and enactment. Then, there are those who believe that Church Slavonic is not an indelible part of Russian Orthodox life and that in terms of its semiotic status its relation to the world it represents is an arbitrary one. Those who invoke the former, folk understandings of semiotic praxis perceive the Holy language as an icon or experiential portal that makes the presence of God more presupposable. Conceptions of language and linguistic register vary intra-culturally. Fieldwork showed how different perceptions of form map onto consciousness, raising questions of intentionality as assumptions about who is speaking (God or the priest) are bound up with the form that is used

25 The story of Ilenguaq Oomak

Ilenguaq Oomak talks about his life in north-west Greenland, hunting and life in Savissivik.wav and .mp3 audio fil

6 Aijakko Mitiq: individual drum song

Aijakko Mitiq performs a single drum-song.wav and .mp3 audio fil

16 The culture of hunting and bachelorhood in north-west Greenland

Qaerngaq Nielsen talks about the culture of hunting in north-west Greenland and the issue of bachelorhood in Savissivik.wav and .mp3 audio fil

12 Life on Herbert Island (part 1)

Savfaq Majaq lived for most of her life on Herbert Island until the settlement was closed in 1990 and she had to move to Qaanaaq because her husband was ill. In a series of stories, she talks about her life as the wife of a hunter and what it was like living on Herbert Island in the tiny settlement of Qeqertarssuaq.wav and .mp3 audio fil

2 Aijakko Mitiq: drum songs

Aijakko Mitiq performs a selection of drum-songs..wav video fil

33 Pauline Kristiansen – traditional songs from Thule

Pauline remembers some of the old songs that the people used to sing when she was growing up.wav and .mp3 audio fil

35 Qaerngaq Nielsen – life as a hunter in north-west Greenland

Qaerngaq tells various hunting stories. He is the oldest hunter in Savissivik and has spent his whole life travelling the Arctic wilderness of north-west Greenland in search of seal, narwhal, walrus and polar bears..wav and .mp3 audio fil