A look at the competition between English loanwords and Norwegian substitute forms in the domains of economy and technology

Abstract

One of the efforts to contain the influence from English has involved the creation of Norwegian substitute forms (avløserord) or the expansion of the meaning of an existing word to another domain. The aim of this thesis is to investigate the reasons why one substitute form replaces a particular loanword, while another substitute form loses ground to the loanword in question. What constitutes a good substitute form? What are the criteria a substitute form should satisfy in order to replace the loanword? Language researchers in the Nordic countries have formulated certain principles which a substitute form should conform to, and the substitute forms examined have been tested against the principles. The material is based on searches in electronic editions of newspapers in the Atekst database. Atekst dates as far back as 1984 for Aftenposten, but the search period was limited to January 1st 1994 to January 1st 2004. The material comprises a selection of loanwords and the substitute forms recommended by the Norwegian Language Council in two domains where there is a great deal of English influence: economy and technology. The words selected are words in common use rather than expert terminology. The findings suggest that the use and meaning of the loanword and the substitute form should be examined before any recommendations are made. When a substitute form violates one or several of the principles the outcome is rarely a success. When there is an existing form, an attempt to replace the loanword by yet another substitute form is futile. A suggestion such as hjelpetjeneste will most likely neither replace the loanword help desk nor the existing form brukerstøtte in the domain of computing.