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'Bokmål' (lit. "book language") or ''Dano-Norwegian''^[1][2][3] is the most commonly used of the two official written standards of Norwegian, the other being Nynorsk. Bokmål is used by around 85% of the population (regardless of dialect) and is the standard most commonly taught to foreign students of Norwegian.

Contents

In writing and speech

History

Controversy

Riksmål vs. Bokmål

Terminology

Characteristics

Differences from the Oslo dialect

Differences from Danish

References

See also

In writing and speech

The first Bokmål orthography was created and officially adopted in 1907 under the name ''Riksmål''. It was an adaptation of written Danish, which was commonly used since the past union with Denmark, to the Dano-Norwegian koiné spoken by the Norwegian urban elite, especially in the capital. When the large conservative newspaper Aftenposten adopted the 1907 orthography in 1923, Danish writing was practically out of use in Norway. The name ''Bokmål'' was officialy adopted in 1929 after a proposition to call the written language ''Dano-Norwegian'' lost by a single vote in the Lagting (a chamber in the Norwegian parliament).^[4]
The term Bokmål officially refers only to the ''written'' language of that name, and possibly to its use in the media, by actors etc. There are, however, a number of spoken varieties of Norwegian that are close or largely identical ^[5] to written Bokmål, sometimes even in a conservative form similar to historical Dano-Norwegian - notably, the higher sociolect in Oslo and in other Norwegian cities. The modern variety is commonly known as ''standard østnorsk'' (Standard East Norwegian) and can be regarded as a ''de facto'' spoken standard for Bokmål.^[6] Colloquially, standard østnorsk is often called ''the Oslo dialect''. This is misleading since the Oslo dialect predates the Dano-Norwegian koiné, and though both influenced by and partially replaced by standard østnorsk, it is still in use.

History

Up until about 1300, the written language of Norway, Old Norse, was essentially identical to Old Icelandic. The speech, however, was gradually differentiated into local and regional dialects. As long as Norway remained an independent kingdom, the written language remained essentially constant.⁷
From about 1385, there was no longer an independent Norwegian king, and in 1397 the Union of Kalmar brought Norway, Sweden and Denmark into a personal union under the rule of Queen Margaret I of Denmark. Sweden revolted in 1521 and established independence in 1523. Norway remained part of the united Kingdoms of Denmark and Norway until 1814, progressively becoming the weaker member of the union. During this period written Norwegian was displaced by Danish, which was used for virtually all administrative documents.^[7] History of the Norwegian People, Volumes I & II, , Knut, Gjerset, The MacMillan Company, 1915, ISBN none
At first Norwegians used Danish primarily in writing; later it came to be spoken on formal or official occasions; and by the time Norway's ties with Denmark were severed in 1814, a Dano-Norwegian vernacular often called the "cultivated everyday speech" had become the mother tongue of parts of the urban elite. This new Dano-Norwegian koiné could be described as Danish with East Norwegian pronunciation, some Norwegian vocabulary, and a simplified grammar.^[8]
In 1814, when Norway had been ceded from Denmark to the king of Sweden, Norway defied Sweden and her allies, declared independence and adopted a democratic constitution. Although compelled to submit to a dynastic union with Sweden, this spark of independence continued to burn, influencing the evolution of language in Norway. Old language traditions were revived by the patriotic poet Henrik Wergeland (1808-1845), who championed an independent non-Danish written language. Haugen indicates that:

"Within the first generation of liberty, two solutions emerged and won adherents, one based on the speech of the upper class and one on that of the common people. The former called for Norwegianization of the Danish writing, the latter for a brand new start."⁷

The more conservative of the two language transitions was advanced by the work of writers like Peter Asbjørnsen and Jørgen Moe, schoolmaster and agitator for language reform Knud Knudsen, and Knudsen's famous disciple, Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson, as well as a more cautious Norwegianization by Henrik Ibsen.⁷ A History of Norway, Larson, Karen, , , Princeton University Press, 1948, ISBN none In particular, Knudsens work on language reform in the mid 1800s was important for the 1907 orthography and a subsequent reform in 1917. So much so that he is now often called the "father of Bokmål".

Controversy

Main articles: Norwegian language struggle

Riksmål vs. Bokmål

The term ''Riksmål'', meaning ''National Language'', was first proposed by Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson in 1899 as a name for the Norwegian variety of written Danish as well as spoken Dano-Norwegian. It was borrowed from Denmark where it denoted standard written and spoken Danish. The same year the Riksmål movement became organized under his leadership in order to fight against the growing influence of Nynorsk, eventually leading to the foundation of the non-governmental organization Riksmålsforbundet in 1907. Bjørnson became Riksmålsforbundet's first leader until his death in 1910.
The 1917 reform introduced some elements from Norwegian dialects and Nynorsk as optional alternatives to traditional Dano-Norwegian forms. This was part of an official policy to bring the two Norwegian languages closer together, intending eventually to merge them into one. These changes met resistance from the Riksmål movement, and the ''Riksmålsvernet'' (To the Protection of Riksmål) was founded in 1919.
The 1938 reform in Bokmål introduced more elements from dialects and Nynorsk, and more importantly, many traditional Dano-Norwegian forms were excluded. This so called ''radical'' Bokmål or ''Samnorsk'' (Common Norwegian) met even harder resistance from the Riksmål movement, topping in the 1950s under the leadership of Arnulf Øverland. The Riksmålsforbundet organized a parents' campaign against Samnorsk in 1951, and the Norwegian Academy for Language and Literature was founded in 1953. The 1938 reform was partially reverted in 1959, 1981, and 2005.
Currently, Riksmål denotes the conservative, chiefly pre-1938, unofficial variant of Bokmål, which is still in use and is regulated by the Norwegian Academy and promoted by the Riksmålsforbundet. Riksmål has gone through some spelling reforms, but none as profound as the ones having shaped Bokmål. A Riksmål dictionary was published in four volumes in the period 1937 to 1957 by Riksmålsvernet, and two supplementary volumes were published in 1995 by the Norwegian Academy. After the latest Bokmål reforms, the difference between Bokmål and Riksmål has diminished and is comparable to American and British English differences, but the Norwegian Academy still upholds its own standard.

Terminology

In the Norwegian discourse, the term ''Dano-Norwegian'' is seldom used with reference to contemporary Bokmål and its spoken varieties. The nationality of the language has been a hotly debated topic, and its users and proponents have generally not been fond of the implied association with Danish (hence the neutral names ''Riksmål'' and ''Bokmål'', meaning ''national language'' and ''literary language'' respectively). The debate intensified with the advent of Nynorsk in the 1800s, a written language based on Modern Norwegian dialects and puristic opposition to Danish and Dano-Norwegian. Historically, many Nynorsk supporters have held that Nynorsk is the only genuinely Norwegian language, since Bokmål is a relic of the dual monarchy; therefore, the term ''Dano-Norwegian'' applied to Bokmål can be used to stigmatize or delegitimize the language. Many Bokmål users consider this use to be offensive, and it is therefore mainly confined to the Nynorsk-supporting side of heated discussions.

Characteristics

Differences from the Oslo dialect

The following table shows some important cases where traditional written and spoken Bokmål/Riksmål has followed Danish rather than the traditional Oslo dialect. The parenthesized radical forms are allowed in Bokmål, but not much used.

Differences between Bokmål and the Oslo dialect

	Danish	Bokmål/Standard Østnorsk		Oslo dialect
		traditional	radical
Opposition between masculine and feminine a little man a little woman	''no'' 'en' lill'e' mand 'en' lill'e' kvinde	''no'' 'en' lit'en' mann 'en' lit'en' kvinne	''yes'' 'en' lit'en' mann 'ei' lit'a' kvinne	''yes'' 'en' lit'en' mann 'ei' lit'a' kvinne
Opposition between masc. and fem. definite plural the boats the wagons	''no'' båd'ene' vogn'ene'	''no'' båt'ene' vogn'ene'		''yes'' båt'a' vogn'ene'
Definite plural neuter suffix the houses	''-ene/erne'' hus'ene'	''-ene'' hus'ene'	''-a'' hus'a'	''-a'' hus'a'
Weak past participle suffix cycled	''-et'' cykl'et'	''-et'' sykl'et'	''-a'' sykl'a'	''-a'' sykl'a'
Weak preterite suffix cycled	''-ede'' cykl'ede'	''-et'' sykl'et'	''-a'' sykl'a'	''-a'' sykl'a'
Strong past participle suffix written	''-et'' skrev'et'	''-et'' skrev'et'		''-i'' skriv'i'
Split infinitive come lay	''no'' komm'e' ligg'e'	''no'' komm'e' ligg'e'		''yes'' komm'a' ligg'e'
Split weak masculines ladder round	''no'' stig'e' rund'e'	''no'' stig'e' rund'e'		''yes'' steg'a' rund'e'
West Scandinavian diphtongs bone (noun) smoke (noun) soft/wet (adjective)	''no'' b'e'n r'ø'g bl'ø'd	''no'' b'e'n r'ø'k bl'ø't	''yes'' b'ei'n r'øy'k bl'au't	''yes'' b'ei'n r'øy'k bl'au't
West Scandinavian u for o bridge (noun)	''no'' br'o'	''no'' br'o'	yes br'u'	yes br'u'
West Scandinavian a-umlaut floor (noun)	''no'' g'u'lv	''no'' g'u'lv	(''yes'') (g'o'lv)	''yes'' g'ø'lv
Stress on first syllable in loan words banana (noun)	''no'' /ba''na:n'/	''no'' /ba''na:n'/		''yes'' /''ban'an/
Retroflex flap /ɽ/ from old Norse /rð/ table, board (noun)	''no'' /bo:'r'/	''no'' /bu:'r'/		''yes'' /bu:'ɽ'/
Retroflex flap /ɽ/ from old Norse /l/ sun (noun)	''no'' /so:'l'/	''no'' /su:'l'/	''yes'' /su:'ɽ'/	''yes'' /su:'ɽ'/
Danish vocabulary eat (verb) why (adverb)	''yes'' spise hvorfor	''yes'' spise hvorfor		''no'' eta åffer
Danish vocabulary girl (noun) how (adverb)	''yes'' pige hvordan	''yes'' pike hvordan	''no'' jente (åssen)	''no'' jente åssen

Differences from Danish

Main articles: Differences between Norwegian Bokmål and Standard Danish

The following table shows a few central differences between Bokmål and Danish.

Differences between Bokmål and Danish

	Danish	Bokmål/Standard Østnorsk	Oslo dialect
Definite plural suffix either -ene or -erne the women the wagons	''yes'' kvind'erne' vogn'ene'	''no'' kvinn'ene' vogn'ene'	''no'' kvinn'ene' vogn'ene'
West Scandinavian diphtongs heath hay cattle	''no'' h'e'de h'ø' n'ø'd	''yes'' h'ei' (also h'e'de) h'øy' n'au't	''yes'' h'ei' h'øy' n'au't
Softening of p, t and k loss (noun) food (noun) roof (noun)	''yes'' ta'b' ma'd' ta'g'	''no'' ta'p' ma't' ta'k'	''no'' ta'p' ma't' ta'k'
Retroflexes carnival sport	''no'' /ka:'rn'eval/ /spo'rt'/	''yes'' /ka:'ɳ'eval/ /spo'ʈ'/	''yes'' /ka:'ɳ'eval/ /spo'ʈ'/
Danish vocabulary afraid (adjective) angry (adjective) boy (noun) frog (noun)	''yes'' bange vred dreng frø	''no'' redd sint gutt frosk	''no'' redd sint gutt frosk

References

1. Dictionary.com Unabridged, , , , Random House, Inc, ,
2. WordNet®, , , , Princeton University, ,
3. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, , , , Houghton Mifflin Company, 2004,
4. Lundeby, Einar: ''Stortinget og språksaken''
5. Vikør, Lars S. ''Frå norrønt til bokmål og nynorsk.''
6. The Phonology of Norwegian, , Gjert, Kristoffersen, Oxford University Press, , ISBN 9780198237655
7. Norwegian English Dictionary, , Einar, Haugen, Unifersitetsforlaget, 1977,
8. Nasjonalisme i norsk målstrid 1848-1865, , Oddmund Løkensgard, Hoel, Noregs Forskingsråd, 1996,

See also

★ Norwegian language

★ Norwegian language struggle

★ Differences between Norwegian Bokmål and Standard Danish