The 'Norwegian Academy for Language and Literature' (''Det Norske Akademi for Sprog og Litteratur'') is a private association that promotes
Riksmål, an unofficial variant of written
Norwegian. The organization was founded in
1953 by several notable
Norwegian authors and poets, among them
Arnulf Øverland,
Sigurd Hoel,
A. H. Winsnes,
Cora Sandel and
Francis Bull, who disagreed with the official
language policy aiming to merge ''
Bokmål'' with ''
Nynorsk'' and who protested against what they called state discrimination against the traditional Norwegian standard language ''Bokmål'', which was the ''de facto'' standard language of Norway, used by most large newspapers and by the majority of the population.
They regulate what is now the unofficial form ''
Riksmål'', a more conservative and
Danish-near form of Norwegian than the official ''Bokmål'', and among other things publish dictionaries and support the publishing of literature in Riksmål.
The Academy has 44 members, who are specialists in areas including Nordic studies, German, English and French languages and literature, history, philosophy, law, political science, poetry etc. The President of the Academy is the Conservative Party politician
Lars Roar Langslet, a former Norwegian cabinet secretary of culture, and the ''Presidium'' also consists of John Ole Askedal, Professor of German, Tor Guttu, Associate Professor of Nordic languages and deputy chairman of the Riksmål Society, as well as Nils Heyerdahl, theatre director.
The Norwegian Academy for Language and Literature is represented in the
Norwegian Language Council (''Språkrådet''), which regulates the official ''Bokmål'' and ''Nynorsk'' languages.
In
1981, the Academy merged with
Riksmålsvernet, founded
1919.
See also
★
Norsk ordbok (Riksmål)
★
Language academy
External links
★ http://www.riksmalsforbundet.no/akademi.html (In Norwegian)