Norwegian - SpeedyLook encyclopedia

History

Current Norwegian derives from the Vieux norrois, which was the language used by the Viking S. According to the tradition it is the king Harald Hårfagre who unified Norway in 872. At that time one used a Runic alphabet. By observing the runic stones of this period, one sees that there were few regional variations of the language. Towards 1030 the Christianisme arrives to Norway, devoted by the inauguration of the Nidaros cathedral to Trondheim in the year millet precisely, and with him the Latin alphabet, the first manuscripts in Latin characters appears one century later. Norwegian also starts to differ from his neighbors.

The old man norrois is divided then into two families, the Scandinave Westerner (in Norway, Iceland, Greenland, Faroe Islands and Shetlands) and the Eastern Scandinave (in Denmark and in Sweden). The languages of Iceland and Norway remain very close until worms the years 1300, they are named then old Norwegian and Icelandic old man.

During the period 1350 - 1525, old Norwegian evolves/moves, grammar is simplified, syntax is fixed and of the vocabulary of the average Low-German is integrated. The Swedish and the Danish are subject to a similar influence, contrary to the Féringien and of the Icelandic. During this period the Union of Kalmar unifies the kingdoms of Sweden, Norway and Denmark. Norway is subordinated to Denmark, and Danish becomes the language of the elite and the literature. In the language of the every day, Danish undergoes a norvegianisation and a grammatical simplification. It is this Dano-Norwegian who became the native tongue when the union with Denmark ends in 1814.

A new union starts with Sweden, but during all the 19th century, Norway tries to emerge as a nation and the language becomes an policy issue.

History of the two standards to the writing of the Norwegian language

In the Years 1840, many writers began with norvégianiser Danish by incorporating words describing the landscapes and the Norwegian culture. The orthography and grammar were gradually modified.

In same time, a nationalist movement militated for the development of the new written shape of Norwegian. Ivar Aasen, a self-educated linguist began as of the 22 years age its work to create a new Norwegian language starting from its voyages in all the country - where it had compared the dialects of various areas - and study of the Icelandic, language which had known to largely preserve external influences that had undergone the Norwegian language. It called the fruit of its work, published in several books of 1848 with 1873, the landsmål (literally “national language”).

Norway was separated from the Denmark in 1815 to form a union with the Sweden, which lasted until in 1905. However, only norvegianized Danish was adopted like official language by the Norwegian Parliament under the name riksmål (language of the kingdom) in 1899. After one period of unrestrained patriotic romanticism, some wanted to impose a return to the sources, i.e. with “original” Norwegian of the campaigns; but the various institutions could not follow this movement, since all their files were written in Danish (this tension explains the coexistence, today, of two Norwegian languages).

After the dissolution of the union with the Sweden, the two languages continued to develop. During the 20th century, a series of spelling reforms tended to bring closer the two languages, in particular facilitating the use of forms nynorsk in bokmål and reciprocally.

In 1929, the riksmål was officially famous bokmål (language of the books), and the landsmål was famous nynorsk (new Norwegian) - old designations dano-Norwegian and Norwegian was abandoned at the Parliament, because the Danish label was (and is always) very unpopular among the users of the bokmål ( riksmål ). This adoption marks the official recognition of two languages.

The bokmål and the riksmål were brought closer during the successive reforms to 1917, 1938 and 1959. It was the result of a policy aiming at amalgamating the nynorsk with the bokmål in only one named hypothetical language samnorsk (Norwegian commun run). In 1946, a survey showed that this policy was supported by 79 % of the Norwegians of then.

However opponents with the official policy organized a massive movement of protest against the samnorsk in the Années 1950, as a combatant particularly the use of radical forms in the schoolbooks of text in bokmål . The policy samnorsk have finally little influence after 1960 and was officially abandoned in 2002.

So in 1917 one had been satisfied to gather the dialects with a common orthography in one of the two linguistic groups, but while letting remain of the local alternatives, the more recent reforms of 1981 and 2003 (effective in 2005) of the official bokmål make it possible to unify the differences remaining with the riksmål (the residual differences are now comparable with those between the British English and the Anglo-American one).

The users of the two written languages resisted the efforts of dilution of the distinctions of their language written in general and their pronunciation. During years, the standards for the bokmål adapted more and more the old forms of the riksmål . So some preferred to follow a more traditional way for the writing of the nynorsk , the høgnorsk (Norwegian pure).

The current location of the two standards to the writing

Currently, the nynorsk is more widespread in the country areas of south-west, the west, and with the mountains of the east of the Norway, whereas the bokmål meets in the east and the north of the country, like in almost all the urban areas.

Today, at the school, the pupils learn necessarily the two languages and must be able to read and compile documents in each one of them starting from secondary education and superior. Nearly 85,3% of the Norwegian schoolboys receive an primary school education in bokmål , and 14,5% in nynorsk . On the 433 municipalities of Norway, 161 stated to want to communicate with the central authorities in bokmål , 116 (accounting for 12% of the population) in nynorsk , the 156 others remaining neutral. On the 4 549 publications (appeared in 2000), 92% were in bokmål or riksmål , 8% in nynorsk . The national famous daily newspapers ( Aftenposten , Dagbladet and VG ) are published in bokmål . Some regional newspapers (such as Bergens Tidende and Stavanger Aftenblad ) and many local newspapers use the two languages.

However, other regional influences remain, and so with Oslo a street is called spoils , to Kragerø (south-eastern of Oslo) one says gade , while in the county of the Oppland, in direction of Lillehammer, one reads gutua on the signs. In a great southern part of Norway, why says hvorfor , but in north, in Finnmark, one will hear kvorfor , the K initial being clearly supported.

Nevertheless, of solids divergences persist between the two languages and an often ignited debate persists between holding of the nynorsk and those of the bokmål , the first supporting that the nynorsk , more “Swedish”, would be closer to spoken Norwegian, whereas the seconds propose the fact that the foreigners learn more easily the bokmål ; but the question is still far from being regulated.

As, one generally admits as there exists a large variety of dialectal differences, so much so that it is almost impossible to count them. Differences grammatical, syntactic, lexical and phonetic occur on levels distinct from administrative divisions, so much so that in certain cases they are mutually inintelligibles to the not informed speakers. These dialects tend to be regionalized by mutual enrichment, but one notes a recent interest for their safeguarding.

Differences between the bokmål and the nynorsk

Below some sentences appear giving an indication of the differences between the bokmål and the nynorsk , compared with the historical form riksmål (near of the Danish) and with the Danish itself, with the conservative form høgnorsk (nearer to the Swedish - perhaps would be it interesting to also compare it with Swedish), like with the English, the German and the French:

Writing

C-Ws communication

Since a relatively recent date (turning the XXe century), Norwegian (bokmål and nynorsk) gave up the Gothic script and the capital letters “with allemande” which appeared at the beginning of the substantives.

Norwegian uses C-Ws communication being able to be disconcerting for the foreign reader:

sj corresponds to our sound ( CH ocolat). This C-W communication exists in other languages, like the Limbourgeois or the Dutch for example.
contrary to what occurs in German, the U corresponds to our its French (it u' rieux )
on the other hand, the C-W communication O corresponds, it, with our (I ou' R).

Additional characters

The bokmål and the nynorsk use three additional characters compared to French:

the å ( has Rond as a chief), which corresponds to a “O” opened enough, like f' o' rt , or the o' Ge, and not as in me o' T , or aut' O ; at the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, this sign was replaced in the texts by the C-W communication aa' ;
the ø ( O barred), which corresponds to our sound “have”, of I eu' , œu F, institut' eu' R, ment' eu' R (and not “have” of have phemism , I have , p eu' );
and the æ (binding ash ), which corresponds to our “E”, but more open than in cl' ai' Re, you e' rre, col' E Re , nearer to “has”.

These three characters find in Danish; but when the two languages are compared, it is noted that many æ became simple e' in Norwegian, the bokmål tending to close and to advance the vowels more.

Nowadays, the å is still frequently replaced by the C-W communication aa in the place names, the proper names… and when the Computer material does not include/understand a Norwegian keyboard.

The pronunciation of the specific, is clearly differentiated there, between the I and the U .

Pronunciation

Phonetics

Norwegian is a language with Pitch.

Diphthongs and monophtongues in bokmål and nynorsk

The diphthongs of old the norrois were replaced by monophtongues in Danish and also in the dialects of the east of Norway. One sees this difference in the writing in bokmål and nynorsk of the words which had diphthongs in norrois:

the diphthong I.E.(internal excitation) becomes often E in bokmål.
the diphthong øy (of the norrois ey ) becomes ø in bokmål.
the diphthong with the becomes ø in bokmål.

Grammar

Verbs

The verbs have only one form per time, commune with all the people.

Example: å være , “being”, at the present indicative:

In a general way, the present indicative is formed by adding the termination - R or - er to infinitive.

Example: å elske , “to like” (equivalent of English to coils ):

As in German, there exist “strong” verbs which have particular preterites and past participles.

Personal pronouns of the nynorsk

On the level of the verbal group, the principal difference which remains between nynorsk and bokmål relates to the prone personal pronouns:

the first nobody jeg of the bokmål becomes eg in nynorsk;
hun ( it ) becomes Ho
of ( they, they ) becomes dei .

Names and articles

The bokmål knows two kind S: female the/male one on a side, the neutral of the other. Up to one recent time, one still made the difference between masculine and female; recently, the tendency is with the fusion of both, and it is thus grammatically correct to put the female names at the masculine, even if certain speakers continue to differentiate them. One finds thus sometimes I.E.(internal excitation) strand instead of in strand (“a beach”), but one also finds this variation in the definite form: stranda meets as much as stranden (“the beach”). Lastly, certain words exceptionally remained with the female one: it is for example the case of I.E.(internal excitation) sild , “a herring” or I.E.(internal excitation) read , lua , “a hat”.

Contrary to what occurs in German, the names are not declined in bokmål; on the other hand, their termination can vary according to their kind and them number.

Moreover, the definite article (singular and plural) as well as the plural indefinite article is placed after and enclitic (" collé" at the end of the substantive), as in Swedish: it is this specific measure which produces a “effect of variation” near the uninitiated person.

Examples:

In these examples, “skogen” concerns the male/female kind, and “treet” of the neutral.

The nominal morphosyntaxe of the nynorsk

From the point of view of nominal morphology, the principal difference between bokmål and nynorsk are due to the number of kinds: whereas the bokmål tends to preserve only two of them, the nynorsk, it, always function with the three kinds (masculine - female - neutral).

From a syntactic point of view, the nynorsk prefers the prepositional periphrasis with the Saxon genitive to indicate the membership: one will say in nynorsk boka til Anna (“the book of Anne”), whereas the bokmål uses turning Annas bok .

Adjectives

As for the names, the principal distinction is done between the neutral and the masculine-female kind. The neutral is marked by a - T final.

Gentilés

Rare are the cities which decline in adjectives the names of their inhabitants. The rule is laid down that an inhabitant of Oslo is called Oslo burger , and does not have translation in French other than inhabitant of Oslo .

In the rare exceptions, one quotes usually Bergen, whose resident is the bergenser . In Tromsø a trømseværing lives. Originating in the county of Trondelag (Trondheim chief town) is called a trønder (the dialect which is spoken there is the trøndersk ).

Pronouns and interrogative adverbs

One finds in bokmål and nynorsk the same series of interrogative pronouns as in German and English: The interrogative adverbs follow the formation of the pronouns:

On the passage of the C-W communication Hv in bokmål with Kv in nynorsk: in Icelandic, the C-W communication Hv precisely decides ': to see for example Sigur Rós, “Flugufrelsarinn” (in Ágætis Byrjun ).

Vocabulary of the bokmål

For a French speaker, one can distinguish three principal layers in the vocabulary from the bokmål:

words of Germanic and/or Anglo-Saxon origin: for example the famous tre , “tree”, clearly related with the tree English ; or the verb å like , “to like, appreciate”, perfect equivalent of English to like ; “wisdom” says visdom , like wisdom in English… The examples of proximity between Norwegian and English are numerous. Closer to German are the names finished in - het , equivalent of the Germanic suffix - heit : sikkerhet means “safety, safety”, like the German Sicherheit ; to the hemmelighet (“secret”) Norwegian, corresponds the German Heimlichkeit .

words of Scandinavian origin, that one finds in Swedish and Danish, even in Icelandic, but not in the other Germanic languages; the name given to the festival of Christmas, “Jul”, is an good example… in fact, this word corresponded to the Scandinavian festival of the winter solstice ( jól in norrois), over which came to be grafted the festival of Christmas at the time when the whole of the peninsula was christianized.

and properly Norwegian words, finally very few, although there are some.

Like all the European languages, the bokmål also borrowed many terms from the “international” vocabulary, those of the countries of Western Europe of XIXe and XXe centuries.

One finds also some words clearly borrowed from French, though not always recognizable with the first access:

in sjåfør , it is… “a driver”. (driver of taxi, for example) (the C-W communication sj corresponds to our “CH”)
in sjeselong , it is… not a “long chair”, but an armchair Récamier, meridian a

Scandinavian Norwegian and other languages

Because of their common origin, Norwegian, the Danish and the Swedish remained rather close and a cultivated Norwegian will understand easily the two languages sisters with the writing; with the oral examination, certain differences in pronunciation can block comprehension as long as they are not known. In practice, it happens regularly that a Norwegian and a Swede, or a Norwegian and a Dane, discuss together by speaking each one their language and include themselves/understand about correctly.

Mutual comprehension between Norwegians and Icelander on the other hand is limited: if the cultivated Norwegians seize roughly speaking the direction of a text written in Icelandic, the oral language is as foreign for them as the Former French of the 13th century is with a French of today. That is due to the fact that linguistically speaking, Icelandic always remained very near to the medieval norrois.

A Pidgin of the area border between Norway and the Russia, the Russenorsk, was applied to 18th and 19th centuries. It was a mixture of Norwegian and Russian elements, created by merchants and hunters with the whale coming from Norway of north and the Russian peninsula of Cola. The lack of a common language forced the creation of a minimal tool of communication. The russenorsk had a rudimentary grammar and a vocabulary enough limited, composed for the majority of the essential words for the trade and Arctic fishing.

Examples

Vocabulary

Literary examples

Riksmål:

Jeg gik ind gjennem skogen, jeg begyndte å røres til tårer og VAr henrykt, jeg its hele tiden: Gud I himlen At jeg skulde komme hit igjen! Knut Hamsun, Under høststjærnen , 1906

(I penetrated in the forest, I started to be moved with the tears and full with rapture, I did not cease repeating: God of the sky, makes that I can return here!) Knut Hamsun, Under star of autumn , 1906

Bokmål:

Jeg skal fortelle deg Noah of the ikke vet. Minst to front tredjeparter of som gifter seg ødelegger sitt og motpartens liv. Arthur Omre, Hun, den første ; 1957

(I will say something to you which you do not know. At least two thirds of those which marry destroy their life and that of their partner.) Arthur Omre, It, the first , 1957

Nynorsk:

Eg to blir reddare kvar gong, trur eg, for det to blir farlegare kvar gong. Hege sit I kjøkkenet og er ikkje det minste redd. Ikkje redd noken ting. Tarjei Vesaas, Fuglane , 1957

(I am each time more afraid, I believe, because it is each more dangerous time. Hege sat in the kitchen and is not afraid of the whole. It is not afraid of nothing.) Tarjei Vesaas, the birds, 1957

Others

code ISO 639 -1 of Norwegian: No (very often the bokmål indicates, like here on Wikipédia)
code ISO 639 -1 of Norwegian bokmål: Nb (code seldom used)
code ISO 639 -1 of Norwegian nynorsk: N

See too

Internal bonds

Linguistic
Dictionary of the languages
Languages by family
Indo-European Languages
Germanic Languages
Scandinavian Languages
Swadesh List of Norwegian (bokmål)
Swadesh List of Norwegian (nynorsk)

External bonds

Dictionary Freelang Dictionary Norwegian-French/French-Norwegian
NorWord To learn Norwegian by email
Learn Norwegian online

Beats-smg: Norvegu kalba Simple: Norwegian language Zh-min-nan: Norge-gí

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