10.3. West Scandinavian Subgroup

10.3.1. Norwegian

Norwegian is spoken by 5 mln people. In Norway it is a native tongue for 4,250,000 people. Outside Norway Norwegian is spoken in the USA (612, 862 according to 1970 census), in Sweden (28,000 in 1993), in Canada (27,405 according to 1971 census), in Ecuador (11,000).

Norwegian has two standards: Bokmål (Riksmal, Dano-Norwegian) and Nynorsk (Landsmal, New Norse, Wegianh). Norwegian Bokmal is primarily urban, whereas Norwegian Landsmal is rural. In 1909 Moltke Moe proposed to call them Limited Norwegian (samnorsk).

Norwegian Bokmål is a transitional Scandinavian language. Over 80% of the pupils in Norway use Riksmal as their main language.

A Norwegian form of Danish, Bokmål is an amalgam of formal Danish with informal Norwegian. It is a “colloquial” language of the cultivated classes.

The existence of such intermediate norm was first clarified by the linguist and educattor Knud Knudsen. In his grammar published in 1856 Knudsen advocated a step-by-step Norwegianization of the Danish spelling.

Knudsen’s Bokmål was an alternative to Landsmål, an amalgam of spoken Norwegian and Old Norse. The idea of Landsmål was suggested by the linguist Ivar Aasen in the 1850s.

Two variants of Norwegian have some common features. Knudsen supported Aasen’s elimination of the voiced postvocalic consonants b, d, g. Also, he accepted Aasen’s purification of Norwegian lexicon. Unlike Aasen, Knudsen refused to radically break with the long-established Danish tradition. Knudsen’s language policy was approved by such leading writers as Bjørnsen and Ibsen.

Three of the spelling reforms (1907, 1917, 1938) moved Dano-Norwegian from a Danish base to a Norwegian one.

Many participants in this movement were for an eventual amalgamation of Riksmal and Landsmal into a single form.

The fact is that Landsmål cannot be neglected, for since 1870 it has developed extensive, highly appraised literature.

New-Norwegian serves two purposes: 1) to restore a native tradition of writing that had been interrupted about 1400 after the political union with Denmark; 2) to create a language that would meet the requirements of common people better than the written Danish of the urban elite.

Aasen established his norm in Norsk Grammatik (1864). He intended to reconstruct an ideal form for the dialects, keeping in mind first and foremost Old Norse. Willing to continue a historical tradition, Aasen suggested the norm that was, in reality, more conservative than any other dialect.

Aasen’s Norwegian dialectal features are based on “purified” forms:

1. diphthongs ei, au, øy for Danish e, ø, ø: Landsmål stein for Dan. sten “stone”;

2. full vowels in unstressed syllables: a, e, o for Danish e [Ə], cf. kastar “throws” for Danish kaster;

3. postvocallic voiceless plosives p, t, k for Danish b, d, g: ape in Landsmål, Dan. abe;

4. gemination of consonants after short vowels: tt, kk, pp for Danish t, k, p, cf. lett “light”, takk “take”;

5. introduction of the feminines, which coalesced with the masculines in Danish.

As for young Norwegians, they prefer a more informal and therefore Norwegian style. Only about 20% of the pupils in Norway use New-Norwegian as their main language.

In fact, Dano-Norwegian grammar is simpler than that of New Norwegian. Because of its Danish learned vocabulary and Norwegian sound system, New Norwegian is an interesting intermediary between Danish and Swedish.

Finally, some Norwegians regard their two standard languages as merely dialects. Linquistic identity has always been the problem for educators, writers, officials and students.

Language switching is quite common in Norway. E.Finegan illustrates how varieties of the same language are chosen by the residents of Hemnes, a village in northern Norway. All members of the community in Hemnes can speak 2 distinct varieties of Norwegian: Ranamål, a local dialect that identifies speakers of that region, and Bokmål, one of the forms of Standard Norwegian. Ranamål is the means of everyday communication. Bokmål is in use for education, religion, government transactions, as well as in mass media. The villages are aware of “Where are you from?” is not mixed in Ranamål and Bokmål:

Ranamål: Ke du e ifrå

Bokmål: vor ær du fra

Bokmål is not used in situations typical for Ranamål, otherwise a speaker will be considered to “put on airs” (snakkfint or snakk jalat). The locals tolerate the use of official standards when they express politeness and officiality towards strangers who are not part of their community (Finegan, 1994: 367-368).

Norwegian literature may be grouped into three periods:

1. ab. 800 – ab. 1400 (largely shared with Icelandic literature);

2. ab. 1400 – 1814 (under Danish influence);

3. from 1814 to the present (independent Norwegian literature).

As a result of the Napoleonic wars, Norway became separated from Denmark. It united with Sweden, with qualified independence.

The national movement for the Norwegian language was led by the poet and dramatist Henrik Arnold Wergeland (1808-1845). He is the founder of Norwegian literary culture. His opponent was the poet and politician Johan Sebastian Welhaven (1807-1873), a spokesman for the continuation of Danish culture.

A new generation of Norwegian writers was headed by Henrik Ibsen and Björnstjerne Björnson, whose literary activities are highly appreciated outside their motherland.