DOI: 10.1515/soci-2016-0006 Unn Røyneland Revision of the Nynorsk standard: deliberation, decision and legitimisation The planner proposes, but the community disposes (Haugen 1966: 24) 1 Introduction 1.1 Legitimacy and legitimisation Questions of legitimacy and legitimisation are at the very core of any standardisa- tion project. At the end of the day, what really matters is whether people see the standard as a legitimate representation of their “language” and are willing to use it. How such legitimacy is obtained, however, may of course differ in different socio- political contexts and at different points in time. Another question – equally press- ing – is whether people want to write their language at all or if they prefer using an exoglossic standard. One of the first steps in a standardisation process is thus to find out whether people actually think that they have a language worthy of written rep- resentation and that a standard would be worth using. This may, in some circum- stances, turn out not to be the case. In that situation, one may seek to convince people of the value of a standardised written representation. Or one may, alterna- tively, refrain from the endeavour. In situations where people and their languages have long been oppressed (cf. Lane this volume), establishing a standard may be a particularly difficult task. As a large body of research has shown, minority groups may not want to write their lan- guage, as it is not perceived as a useful vehicle for social mobility (e.g. Johansen 2013; May 2003; 2006). In other situations, people may not want a standard because creating a written or an oral standard almost inevitably will happen at the expense of diversity, as all possible forms and features of language in a community will not enter into the regulated standard (e.g. Oñederra this volume; Albury 2016 on Māori corpus planning). Standardisation, by necessity, implies the reduction of variation and the erasure of certain forms. If maintaining linguistic diversity is more im- portant than establishing one authoritative written or oral standard, then agreement on what should constitute the standard is likely to be difficult, complex and perhaps undesirable. Also, similar issues may be at stake even in cases where a standard has existed for quite some time, such as the Norwegian minority standard Nynorsk. In this paper I will discuss the most recent developments in Norwegian lan- guage policy and planning by considering the language reforms that took place, and Bereitgestellt von | UiO - Universitetsbiblioteket Angemeldet Heruntergeladen am | 30.10.17 12:44