Effects of bidialectal literacy in Norway: Cognition or culture?

In this talk I will first present results from a study of available register data that show a positive correlation between school achievement and linguistic environment in Norway. The results from national tests in reading, arithmetic and English for four cohorts of 8th graders from all of Norway (99,7% of the total pupil population) formed the basis for the study which was carried out at the level of municipality. Municipalities in which some portion of the pupils are instructed in Nynorsk Norwegian (14%) performed slightly below the national average. However, when corrected for socio-economic status the results were better than expected. The results were statistically significant, and they were only significant for municipalities in which more than 50% of all pupils have Nynorsk as their language of instruction. Viewed on the background of findings in the literature that show cognitive benefits of bilingualism in childhood, one may ask whether the finding in any way can be seen as an effect of the language situation in the Nynorsk municipality. It is beyond reasonable doubt that children brought up with Nynorsk in school learn to master Bokmål Norwegian more or less simultaneously due to extracurricular exposure, whereas the opposite seldom holds. In that respect the Nynorsk children receive more varied linguistic stimulation related to their native language. However, there are obvious differences between the dual language stimulation Nynorsk children receive and more typical situations of bilingualism: (i) We are dealing with two very close linguistic varieties, (ii) one may claim that competence in Nynorsk and Bokmål first and foremost pertain to literacy, not to oracy. For these reasons we may invoke the term ‘bidialectal literacy’ to characterize the Norwegian situation. In my talk I will discuss these issues and claim on the one hand that linguistic closeness in principle does not entail that bilingual benefits cannot arise and on the other hand that Nynorsk children do in fact possess, and practice, oracy skills also in Bokmål. The question is nevertheless whether the seeming advantages Nynorsk children experience is due to hardwired cognitive benefits or to more general beneficial cultural factors. As matters currently stand, the answer to the question seems fairly open.