Norwegian Language!

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Norwegian (norsk) is a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Norway,
where it is the official language. Together with Swedish and Danish,
Norwegian forms a continuum of more or less mutually intelligible local and
regional variants.These Scandinavian languages together with the Faroese
language and Icelandic language, as well as some extinct languages,
constitute the North Germanic languages (also called Scandinavian
languages). Faroese and Icelandic are hardly mutually intelligible with
Norwegian in their spoken form because continental Scandinavian has
diverged from them.As established by law and governmental policy, there are
two official forms of written Norwegian Bokml (literally "book tongue") and
Nynorsk (literally "new Norwegian"). The Norwegian Language Council is
responsible for regulating the two forms, and recommends the terms
"Norwegian Bokml" and "Norwegian Nynorsk" in English. Two other written
forms without official status also exist, the major one being Riksml ("national
language"), which is somewhat closer to the Danish language but today is to
a large extent the same language as Bokml. It is regulated by the Norwegian
Academy, which translates the name as "Standard Norwegian". The other is
Hgnorsk ("High Norwegian"), a more purist form of Nynorsk, which
maintains the language in an original form as given by Ivar Aasen and rejects
most of the reforms from the 20th century. This form of Nynorsk has very
limited use.Nynorsk and Bokml provide standards for how to write
Norwegian, but not for how to speak the language. There is no officially
sanctioned standard of spoken Norwegian, and most Norwegians speak their
own dialect in all circumstances. Thus, unlike in many other countries, the
use of any Norwegian dialect, whether it coincides with the written norms or
not, is accepted as correct spoken Norwegian. However, in areas where East

Norwegian dialects are used, there is a tendency to accept a de facto spoken

standard for this particular regional dialect, standard stnorsk, in which the
vocabulary coincides with Bokml.[3][4] Outside Eastern Norway this spoken
variation is not used.From the 16th to the 19th centuries, Danish was the
standard written language of Norway. As a result, the development of modern
written Norwegian has been subject to strong controversy related to
nationalism, rural versus urban discourse, and Norway's literary history.
Historically, Bokml is a Norwegianised variety of Danish, while Nynorsk is a
language form based on Norwegian dialects and puristic opposition to
Danish. The now abandoned official policy to merge Bokml and Nynorsk into
one common language called Samnorsk through a series of spelling reforms
has created a wide spectrum of varieties of both Bokml and Nynorsk. The
unofficial form known as Riksml is considered more conservative than
Bokml, and the unofficial Hgnorsk more conservative than
Nynorsk.Norwegians are educated in both Bokml and Nynorsk. A 2005 poll
indicates that 86.3% use primarily Bokml as their daily written language,
5.5% use both Bokml and Nynorsk, and 7.5% use primarily Nynorsk.[citation
needed] Thus, 13% are frequently writing Nynorsk, though the majority speak
dialects that resemble Nynorsk more closely than Bokml.[5] Broadly
speaking, Nynorsk writing is widespread in Western Norway, though not in
major urban areas, and also in the upper parts of mountain valleys in the
southern and eastern parts of Norway. Examples are Setesdal, the western
part of Telemark county (fylke) and several municipalities in Hallingdal,
Valdres and Gudbrandsdalen. It is little used elsewhere, but 3040 years ago
it also had strongholds in many rural parts of Trndelag (Mid-Norway) and the
south part of Northern Norway (Nordland county). Today, not only is Nynorsk
the official language of 4 of the 19 Norwegian counties (fylker), but also of
many municipalities in 5 other counties. The Norwegian broadcasting

corporation (NRK) broadcasts in both Bokml and Nynorsk, and all

governmental agencies are required to support both written languages.
Bokml is used in 92% of all written publications, Nynorsk in 8% (2000).
[citation needed]Norwegian is one of the working languages of the Nordic
Council. Under the Nordic Language Convention, citizens of the Nordic
countries who speak Norwegian have the opportunity to use their native
language when interacting with official bodies in other Nordic countries
without being liable to any interpretation or translation costs.