When a Greenlandic speech of resistance was crowned the Danish Speech of the Year

Photo: Olivia Anine Thøgersen

By Camilla Kleemann-Andesen, Naja Blytmann Trondhjem & Marie Maegaard

In the column last month, we wrote about Aki-Matilda Høegh-Dams speech in the Danish Parliament on May 12th 2023. We focused on the language selection and on which argument that were used in the public debate surrounding this. Therefore, we will in this month’s cover take a closer look as to how things went, and we will describe the contents of the speech and its form.

In the reasoning, given by the judging panel for the selection of the speech, it is mentioned that the speech had a changing effect - it led to new practices for language selection in the Danish Parliament. Concurrently the panel also views it as a “more than accomplished happening” and adheres to its political messaging regarding Greenlandic sovereignty and strength, along with its form which on occasions is strongly poetic and which the judging panel resemble with spoken poetry.

The stylistic features that the judging panel compare with spoken poetry, is however highly inspired from the Greenlandic culture, i.e. myths, stories, poetry, and national anthems, and in the following section we look at how they are present in the speech. But first we will look at the use of Danish in the speech.

Danish and Kalaallisut in the speech

Even though the speech has been mentioned due to its controversial language selection (Kalaallisut, i.e. West-Greenlandic), it contains quite a few Danish words. Especially in the introductory part, where Høegh-Dam uses quite a few borrowed words from Danish. One can see the Danish words as key words for the subjects Høegh-Dam bring up in Parliament: commonwealth, constitution, Kingdom of Denmark, the Self-Government Act, Laws about the Greenlandic self-government, Danish Parliament, Official language, The Greenlandic language, federalism.

The usage of Danish words is noteworthy, because it signifies that the speech has a double audience. On one hand Høegh-Dam is speaking to her fellow Greenlandic countrymen, and that is made clear given that the speech is conducted in Kalaallisut, a language that few in the hall understand, but most Greenlanders do.

On the other hand, we can see that Høegh-Dam is also speaking to a Danish audience. This is made clear through the language selection, kalaallisut, which in of itself contains a message to the Danish Parliament and to the Danish public even though they do not understand the contents of what is being spoken (we covered this in our column last month).

Additionally, we can look as the usage of borrowed words from Danish in the speech as a tool which enables a Danish audience to still get an understanding as to what the speech is about, but without the ability to understand all the details found in the speech. There exist similar words in kalaallisut for most of the Danish words used and therefore Høegh-Dams word selection not just an expression of typical language selection, but a conscious choice. If the speech were to be given in Greenland it would not have been comprised of these Danish glossaries, because in official speeches in Greenland one would never mix the two languages together, but instead aim to solely use kalaallisut. It is therefore clear that the double audience of the speech is also reflected in the use of danish terms. One can also see that this phenom changes throughout the speech, and for example the term kalaallisut oqaatsivut is used several times later on in the speech instead of the danish expression “the Greenlandic language”.

"It is said that there is a Danish Realm"

The speech is written like a poem where the stanzas function as key points, or as emphasis in the speech, which signifies how the intonation is to be strengthened. This applies to for example the word suli (“further on”) - which stands alone and is followed by a ca. 3 second pause. This division gives a form of rhythm in the speech where every stanza has its own distinct intonation.

In terms of form, there are many that resemble the Greenlandic narrative style. For example, the ending -gooq (“It is said”) in the context of commonwealth-eqarmanngooq (“It is said that there is a commonwealth”). This formulation stems from mythic tales and is used to express that what is being told is not something the speaker can be held accountable for.

Myths, poetry, and songs

Many other features stem from Greenlandic songs. The formulation Nipaatsumik inooqataaneq (“to live in silence”) stem from a song written by the former chairman of the national board Jonathan Motzfeld (Siumut) about Inuiaat Kalaallit (“The Greenlandic people”), where the last two stanzas are angussuusarmata piniartuusut, nipaallutik inooqataasut (“They were strong catcher who had coexistence in silence”). The stanzas indicate that coexistence in silence in the noisy world is no longer efficient.

In another stanza saperata isumaqalersimavugut (“We have formed our opinions”) is taken from the last stanza of the national anthem Nunarput utoqqarsuanngoravit (“Our ancient country”) which expresses saperasi isumaqalertisi (“Start with believing in your own abilities”). This line is rearranged from the original version where it is expressed as an advice, to a form where it expresses something that has already been accomplished (“We have formed our opinions”). In that way Høegh-Dam is saying that Greenlanders have begun to think and believe in themselves, and she does this by referencing the national anthem.

Høegh-Dams speech is therefore both interesting - and noteworthy - in leu of its language selection, its content, its form and naturally in leu of the effect it had on the rules concerning language in the Danish Parliament.