Interskandinaviske interaktioner i et historisk og nutidigt perspektiv

Abstract

This paper is concerned with the previous literature on inter-Scandinavian communication (the production of one Scandinavian language, reception of another) from the earliest questionnaire-studies by Einar Haugen (1953) to the latest interaction-based ones by the author of this article. Besides giving a review of findings in the research field of inter-Scandinavian communication, the article questions the assumption that fewer and fewer Scandinavians understand their ‘nabosprog’ (neighbouring languages) and that young people prefer to use English in an inter-Scandinavian language scenario. Supported by previous interaction-based studies, and the author’s own, it is concluded that Scandinavians, as a point of departure for further investigations of intercomprehension in inter-Scandinavian scenarios, do understand each other. However, the degree of successful inter-Scandinavian communication is situationally conditioned and depends on the individuals’ language resources and their experience in combination with those of their interlocutors.