Norwegian norsk
Pronunciation:	/nɔrsk/
Spoken in:	Norway and by people in Norwegian settlements in the United States[1]
Total speakers:	4. Norway ( Norwegian: Norge ( Bokmål) or Noreg ( Nynorsk) officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Constitutional The United States of America —commonly referred to as the 7 million[2]
Ranking:	111
Language family:	Indo-European  Germanic   North Germanic    West Scandinavian[3]     Norwegian
Writing system:	Latin (Norwegian variant)
Official status
Official language in:	Norway Nordic Council
Regulated by:	Norwegian Language Council
Language codes
ISO 639-1:	no – Norwegian nb – Bokmål nn – Nynorsk
ISO 639-2:	nor – Norwegian nob – Bokmål nno – Nynorsk
ISO 639-3:	variously: nor – Norwegian nob – Bokmål nno – Nynorsk
Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. This is a list of languages, ordered by the number of native-language speakers, with some data for second-language use List of language familiesA language family is a group of Languages related by descent from a common ancestor called the Proto-language of that family The Germanic languages are a group of related languages that constitute a branch of the Indo-European (IE Language family. The North Germanic languages or Scandinavian languages make up one of the three branches of the Germanic languages, a sub-family of the Indo-European languages A writing system is a type of Symbolic system used to represent elements or statements expressible in Language. The Danish and Norwegian Alphabet is based upon the Latin alphabet and has consisted of the following 29 letters since 1917 (Norwegian and 1955 Norway ( Norwegian: Norge ( Bokmål) or Noreg ( Nynorsk) officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Constitutional The Nordic Council and the Nordic Council of Ministers is an intergovernmental forum for co-operation between the Nordic countries. This is a list of bodies that regulate Standard languages Natural languages Auxiliary languages Interlingua The auxiliary language The Norwegian Language Council (Språkrådet is the Norwegian government's advisory body in matters pertaining to the Norwegian language and Language planning ISO 639-1 is the first part of the ISO 639 international-standard language-code family Bokmål (lit "book language" or Dano-Norwegian is the most commonly used of the two official Norwegian written Standard languages the other Nynorsk (literally "New Norwegian" is one of the two official Norwegian Standard languages the other being Bokmål. ISO 639-2 is the second part of the ISO 639 standard, which lists codes for the representation of the names of languages Bokmål (lit "book language" or Dano-Norwegian is the most commonly used of the two official Norwegian written Standard languages the other Nynorsk (literally "New Norwegian" is one of the two official Norwegian Standard languages the other being Bokmål. ISO 639 -3 (ISO 639-32007 is an international standard for Language codes The standard describes three‐letter codes for identifying languages Bokmål (lit "book language" or Dano-Norwegian is the most commonly used of the two official Norwegian written Standard languages the other Nynorsk (literally "New Norwegian" is one of the two official Norwegian Standard languages the other being Bokmål. In Computing, Unicode is an Industry standard allowing Computers to consistently represent and manipulate text expressed in most of the world's

Norwegian (Norsk) is a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Norway, where it is an official language. The North Germanic languages or Scandinavian languages make up one of the three branches of the Germanic languages, a sub-family of the Indo-European languages A language is a dynamic set of visual auditory or tactile Symbols of Communication and the elements used to manipulate them Norway ( Norwegian: Norge ( Bokmål) or Noreg ( Nynorsk) officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Constitutional Together with Swedish and Danish, Norwegian forms a continuum of more or less mutually intelligible local and regional variants (see Danish language#Classification). Swedish ( is a North Germanic language spoken by more than nine million people predominantly in Sweden and parts of Finland, especially along the Danish ( d̥ænsɡ̊ is one of the North Germanic languages (also called Scandinavian languages a sub-group of the Germanic branch of the A dialect continuum is a range of Dialects spoken across a large geographical area differing only slightly between areas that are geographically close and gradually decreasing In Linguistics, mutual intelligibility is recognized as a relationship between Languages in which speakers of different but related languages can readily understand Danish ( d̥ænsɡ̊ is one of the North Germanic languages (also called Scandinavian languages a sub-group of the Germanic branch of the

These continental Scandinavian languages together with the insular languages Faroese and Icelandic, as well as some extinct languages, constitute the North Germanic languages (also called Scandinavian languages). Faroese ( føroyskt ˈføːɹɪst or) often also spelled Faeroese (cf Icelandic ( is a North Germanic language, the language of Iceland. The North Germanic languages or Scandinavian languages make up one of the three branches of the Germanic languages, a sub-family of the Indo-European languages Faroese and Icelandic are no longer 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 — Bokmål (literally "book language") and Nynorsk (literally "new Norwegian"). Bokmål (lit "book language" or Dano-Norwegian is the most commonly used of the two official Norwegian written Standard languages the other Nynorsk (literally "New Norwegian" is one of the two official Norwegian Standard languages the other being Bokmål. The Norwegian Language Council recommends the terms "Norwegian Bokmål" and "Norwegian Nynorsk" in English. The Norwegian Language Council (Språkrådet is the Norwegian government's advisory body in matters pertaining to the Norwegian language and Language planning

There is no officially sanctioned standard of spoken Norwegian, but the sociolect of the urban upper and middle class in East Norway, upon which Bokmål is primarily based, is the form generally taught to foreign students. In Linguistics, a sociolect is the variety of language characteristic of a social background or status This so-called Standard Østnorsk (Standard East Norwegian) can be regarded as a de facto spoken standard for Bokmål. ^[4]

From the 16th to the 19th centuries, Danish was the standard written language of Norway. The 19th century of the Common Era began on January 1, 1801 and ended on December 31, 1900, according to the Gregorian calendar 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. The term nationalism can refer to an Ideology, a sentiment, a form of Culture, or a Social movement that focuses on the Nation Historically, Bokmål is a Norwegianized variety of Danish, while Nynorsk is a language form based on Norwegian dialects and puristic opposition to Danish. Linguistic purism (or linguistic protectionism) is the definition of one language variety as purer than other varieties often in reference to a perceived decline The now abandoned official policy to merge Bokmål and Nynorsk into one common language called Samnorsk through a series of spelling reforms has created a wide spectrum of varieties of both Bokmål and Nynorsk. The unofficial form known as Riksmål is considered more conservative than Bokmål, and the unofficial Høgnorsk more conservative than Nynorsk. Bokmål (lit "book language" or Dano-Norwegian is the most commonly used of the two official Norwegian written Standard languages the other Høgnorsk, meaning "High Norwegian" is a term for conservative varieties of the Norwegian language form Nynorsk.

Norwegians are educated in both Bokmål and Nynorsk. A 2005 poll indicates that 86. 3% use primarily Bokmål as their daily written language, 5. 5% use both Bokmål and Nynorsk, and 7. 5% use primarily Nynorsk. ^[5] Thus only 13% are frequently writing Nynorsk, although the majority speak dialects that resemble Nynorsk more closely than Bokmål. Broadly speaking, Bokmål and Riksmål are more commonly seen in urban and suburban areas; Nynorsk is seen in rural areas, particularly in Western Norway. The Norwegian broadcasting corporation (NRK) broadcasts in both Bokmål and Nynorsk, and all governmental agencies are required to support both written languages. The Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation ( Norwegian: Norsk rikskringkasting AS) which is usually known as the NRK, is the Norwegian Bokmål is used in 92% of all written publications, Nynorsk in 8% (2000). In spite of concern that Norwegian dialects would eventually give way to a common, spoken, Norwegian language close to Bokmål, dialects find significant support in local environments, popular opinion, and public policy.

Norwegian is one of the working languages of the Nordic Council. The Nordic Council and the Nordic Council of Ministers is an intergovernmental forum for co-operation between the Nordic countries. Under the Nordic Language Convention, citizens of the Nordic countries speaking 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. The Nordic Language Convention is a convention of Linguistic rights which came into force in March 1, 1987, under the auspices of the Nordic The Nordic countries make up a region in Northern Europe called the Nordic region, consisting of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Translation is the interpreting of the meaning of a text and the subsequent production of an equivalent text likewise called a " translation ^[6][7]

History

Old Norse to distinct Scandinavian languages

This is the approximate extent of Old Norse and related languages in the early 10th century. Old Norse is the North Germanic language that was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and inhabitants of their overseas settlements during the Viking Age The red area is the distribution of the dialect Old West Norse; the orange area is the spread of the dialect Old East Norse. The pink area is Old Gutnish and the green area is the extent of the other Germanic languages with which Old Norse still retained some mutual intelligibility

The languages now spoken in Scandinavia developed from the Old Norse language, which did not differ greatly between what are now Danish, Norwegian, and Swedish areas. Old Gutnish was the dialect of Old Norse that was spoken on the island of Gotland. The Germanic languages are a group of related languages that constitute a branch of the Indo-European (IE Language family. Old Norse is the North Germanic language that was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and inhabitants of their overseas settlements during the Viking Age In fact, Viking traders spread the language across Europe and into Russia, making Old Norse one of the most widespread languages for a time. A Viking is one of the Norse ( Scandinavian Explorers Warriors Merchants, and pirates who raided and colonized wide areas Russia (Россия Rossiya) or the Russian Federation ( Rossiyskaya Federatsiya) is a transcontinental Country extending According to tradition, King Harald Fairhair united Norway in 872. Harald Fairhair or Harald Finehair ( Old Norse: Haraldr hárfagri, Norwegian: Harald Hårfagre) (c Events By Place Europe Battle of Hafrsfjord: Harald Fairhair becomes the first king of Norway. Around this time, a runic alphabet was used. According to writings found on stone tablets from this period of history, the language showed remarkably little deviation between different regions. Runes had been in limited use since at least the 3rd century. The 3rd century is the period from 201 to 300 in accordance with the Julian calendar in the Christian / Common Era. Around 1030, Christianity came to Norway, bringing with it the Latin alphabet. Christianity ( Greek Χριστιανισμός from the word Xριστός ( Christ)is a monotheistic Religion centered on the life and teachings Norwegian manuscripts in the new alphabet began to appear about a century later. The Norwegian language began to deviate from its neighbors around this time as well.

Viking explorers had begun to settle Iceland in the 9th century, carrying with them the Old Norse language. Iceland, officially the Republic of Iceland ( ( Ísland or Lýðveldið Ísland ( The 9th century is the period from 801 to 900 in accordance with the Julian calendar in the Christian / Common Era. Over time, Old Norse developed into "Western" and "Eastern" variants. Western Norse covered Norway (including its overseas settlements in Iceland, Greenland, the Faroe Islands and the Shetland Islands), while Eastern Norse developed in Denmark and south-central Sweden. The three lands of Denmark historically formed the Danish kingdom from its unification and consolidation in the 9th century: Scania ( Historical lands Sweden was historically divided into the four lands Götaland, Svealand, Norrland and The languages of Iceland and Norway remained very similar until about the year 1300, when they became what are now known as Old Icelandic and Old Norwegian. Old Norse is the North Germanic language that was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and inhabitants of their overseas settlements during the Viking Age Old Norwegian is a term used for the Old Norse language as spoken and written in Norway in the Middle Ages.

In the period traditionally dated to 1350–1525, Norwegian went through a Middle Norwegian transition toward Modern Norwegian. Modern Norwegian is the Norwegian language that emerged after the Middle Norwegian transition period (1350-1536 The major changes were simplification of the morphology, a more fixed syntax, and a considerable adoption of Middle Low German vocabulary. Middle Low German ( ISO 639 -3 code gml) is a Language that is the descendant of Old Saxon and is the ancestor of modern Low German. Similar development happened in Swedish and Danish, keeping the dialect continuum in continental Scandinavia intact. A dialect continuum is a range of Dialects spoken across a large geographical area differing only slightly between areas that are geographically close and gradually decreasing This did not, however, happen in Faroese and Icelandic, so these languages lost mutual intelligibility with continental Scandinavia during this period. Faroese ( føroyskt ˈføːɹɪst or) often also spelled Faeroese (cf Icelandic ( is a North Germanic language, the language of Iceland.

Danish and Swedish rule

This article is part of the series on: Norwegian language

Variants: Official: Bokmål | Nynorsk Unofficial: Riksmål | Landsmål/Høgnorsk Norwegian language struggle Norwegian dialects Use: Alphabet Phonology Other topics: Norwegian literature Norwegian Sign Language Norwegian Language Council

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In 1397, the Kalmar Union unified Norway, Sweden and Denmark, and from 1536 Norway was subordinated under the Kingdom of Denmark–Norway. Bokmål (lit "book language" or Dano-Norwegian is the most commonly used of the two official Norwegian written Standard languages the other Nynorsk (literally "New Norwegian" is one of the two official Norwegian Standard languages the other being Bokmål. Bokmål (lit "book language" or Dano-Norwegian is the most commonly used of the two official Norwegian written Standard languages the other Landsmål, meaning "national language" was the name Ivar Aasen gave the Norwegian Orthography he created in the 19th century Høgnorsk, meaning "High Norwegian" is a term for conservative varieties of the Norwegian language form Nynorsk. The Norwegian language struggle ( målstriden, språkstriden or sprogstriden) is an ongoing controversy within Norwegian culture and politics The Norwegian dialects are commonly divided into 5 main groups North Norwegian (nordnorsk Trøndelag Norwegian ( Trøndersk[http //www The Danish and Norwegian Alphabet is based upon the Latin alphabet and has consisted of the following 29 letters since 1917 (Norwegian and 1955 The sound system of Norwegian is similar to that of Swedish. There is considerable variation among the dialects but the variant generally taught to foreign students is Norwegian literature is literature composed in Norway or by Norwegian people. Norwegian Sign Language (abbreviated NSL) is the preferred Sign language amongst deaf Norwegians NSL is an important language in Norway The Norwegian Language Council (Språkrådet is the Norwegian government's advisory body in matters pertaining to the Norwegian language and Language planning The Kalmar Union ( Danish, Norwegian and Swedish: Kalmarunionen) is a historiographical term meaning a series of Personal Denmark–Norway ( Danish: Danmark-Norge Norwegian: Danmark-Norge or Danmark-Noreg is the historiographical name for a former political entity union Danish became the commonly written language among Norway's literate class. Spoken Danish was gradually adopted by the urban elite, first at formal occasions, and gradually a more relaxed variety was adopted in everyday speech. The everyday speech went through a koinéization process, involving grammatical simplification and Norwegianized pronunciation. In Linguistics, a koiné language ( common language) is a Standard language or Dialect, that has arisen as a result of contact between two When the union ended in 1814 the Dano-Norwegian koiné had become the mother tongue of a substantial part of the Norwegian élite, but the more Danish-sounding solemn variety was still used on formal occasions. Year 1814 ( MDCCCXIV) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common Bokmål (lit "book language" or Dano-Norwegian is the most commonly used of the two official Norwegian written Standard languages the other In Linguistics, a koiné language ( common language) is a Standard language or Dialect, that has arisen as a result of contact between two A first language (also mother tongue, native language, arterial language, or L1) is the language a human being learns from birth

Norway was forced to enter a new personal union with Sweden, shortly after the end of the former one with Denmark. However, Norwegians began to push for true independence by embracing democracy and attempting to enforce the constitutional declaration of being a sovereign state. Democracy is a form of government in which the supreme power is held completely by the people under a free electoral system Part of this nationalist movement was directed towards the development of an independent Norwegian language. Three major paths were available: do nothing (Norwegian written language, i. e. Danish, was already different from Swedish), Norwegianize the Danish language, or build a new national language based on Modern Norwegian dialects. All three approaches were attempted.

Danish to Norwegian

Main article: Norwegian language struggle

From the 1840s, some writers experimented with a Norwegianized Danish by incorporating words that were descriptive of Norwegian scenery and folk life, and adopting a more Norwegian syntax. The Norwegian language struggle ( målstriden, språkstriden or sprogstriden) is an ongoing controversy within Norwegian culture and politics Events and trends Technology First use of General anesthesia in an operation by Crawford Long. Knud Knudsen proposed to change spelling and inflection in accordance with the Dano-Norwegian koiné, known as "cultivated everyday speech. Knud Knudsen (1812 in Tvedestrand - 1895 in Kristiania) was a Norwegian linguist. " A small adjustment in this direction was implemented in the first official reform of Danish language in Norway in 1862 and more extensively after his death in two official reforms in 1907 and 1917. Year 1862 was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common year starting on Monday Year 1907 ( MCMVII) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common year Year 1917 ( MCMXVII) was a Common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common year

Meanwhile, a nationalistic movement strove for the development of a new written Norwegian. Ivar Aasen, a self-taught linguist, began his work to create a new Norwegian language at the age of 22. Ivar Andreas Aasen ( August 5, 1813 &ndash September 23, 1896) was a Norwegian Philologist, Lexicographer, He traveled around the country, comparing the dialects in different regions, and examined the development of Icelandic, which had largely escaped the influences Norwegian had come under. Icelandic ( is a North Germanic language, the language of Iceland. He called his work, which was published in several books from 1848 to 1873, Landsmål, meaning national language. Year 1848 ( MDCCCXLVIII) was a Leap year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian Calendar (or a Leap Year 1873 ( MDCCCLXXIII) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common Landsmål, meaning "national language" was the name Ivar Aasen gave the Norwegian Orthography he created in the 19th century The name "Landsmål" is sometimes interpreted as "rural language" or "country language," but this was clearly not Aasen's intended meaning.

The name of the Danish language in Norway was a topic of hot dispute through the 19th century. Its proponents claimed that it was a language common to Norway and Denmark, and no more Danish than Norwegian. The proponents of Landsmål thought that the Danish character of the language should not be concealed. In 1899, Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson proposed the neutral name Riksmål, meaning national language like Landsmål, and this was officially adopted along with the 1907 spelling reform. Year 1899 ( MDCCCXCIX) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common Bjørnstjerne Martinus Bjørnson ( 8 December, 1832 – 26 April, 1910) was a Norwegian writer and the 1903 Nobel Prize in Bokmål (lit "book language" or Dano-Norwegian is the most commonly used of the two official Norwegian written Standard languages the other Year 1907 ( MCMVII) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common year The name "Riksmål" is sometimes interpreted as "state language," but this meaning is secondary at best, compare to Danish rigsmål from where the name was borrowed. Danish ( d̥ænsɡ̊ is one of the North Germanic languages (also called Scandinavian languages a sub-group of the Germanic branch of the

After the personal union with Sweden was dissolved in 1905, both languages were developed further and reached what is now considered their classic forms after a reform in 1917. Year 1905 ( MCMV) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common year starting Riksmål was in 1929 officially renamed Bokmål (literally "Book language"), and Landsmål to Nynorsk (literally "New Norwegian"). Year 1929 ( MCMXXIX) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Bokmål (lit "book language" or Dano-Norwegian is the most commonly used of the two official Norwegian written Standard languages the other Nynorsk (literally "New Norwegian" is one of the two official Norwegian Standard languages the other being Bokmål. A proposition to substitute Dano-Norwegian for Bokmål lost in parliament by a single vote. The name Nynorsk, the linguistic term for Modern Norwegian, was chosen for contrast to Danish and emphasis on the historical connection to Old Norwegian. Modern Norwegian is the Norwegian language that emerged after the Middle Norwegian transition period (1350-1536 Today this meaning is often lost, and it is commonly mistaken as a "new" Norwegian in contrast to the "real" Norwegian Bokmål.

Bokmål and Nynorsk were made closer by a reform in 1938. Year 1938 ( MCMXXXVIII) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. This was a result of a state policy to merge Nynorsk and Bokmål into one language, called "Samnorsk" (Common Norwegian). A 1946 poll showed that this policy was supported by 79% of Norwegians at the time. Year 1946 ( MCMXLVI) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link will display full 1946 calendar of the Gregorian calendar. However, opponents of the official policy still managed to create a massive protest movement against Samnorsk in the 1950s, fighting in particular the use of "radical" forms in Bokmål text books in schools. The 1950s Decade refers to the years of 1950 to 1959 inclusive In the reform in 1959, the 1938 reform was partially reversed in Bokmål, but Nynorsk was changed further towards Bokmål. The year 1959 ( MCMLIX) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Since then Bokmål has reverted even further toward traditional Riksmål, while Nynorsk still adheres to the 1959 standard. Therefore a small minority of Nynorsk enthusiasts uses a more conservative standard called Høgnorsk. Høgnorsk, meaning "High Norwegian" is a term for conservative varieties of the Norwegian language form Nynorsk. The Samnorsk policy had little influence after 1960, and was officially abandoned in 2002. Year 1960 ( MCMLX) was a Leap year starting on Friday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. See also 2002 (disambiguation Year 2002 ( MMII) was a Common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar.

Phonology

Main article: Norwegian phonology

The sound system of Norwegian is similar to Swedish. The sound system of Norwegian is similar to that of Swedish. There is considerable variation among the dialects but the variant generally taught to foreign students is There is considerable variation among the dialects, but the variant generally taught to foreign students is Standard Østnorsk.

Consonants

Vowels

Accent

Norwegian is a pitch accent language with two distinct pitch patterns. In Phonetics, a bilabial consonant is a Consonant articulated with both Lips The bilabial consonants identified by the International Phonetic Alphabet In Phonetics, labiodentals are Consonants articulated with the lower Lip and the upper Teeth. In Linguistics, a dental consonant or dental is a Consonant that is articulated with the tongue against the upper teeth such as /t/ /d/ /n/ and Alveolar consonants are articulated with the tongue against or close to the superior Alveolar ridge, which is called that because it contains the alveoli (the sockets In Phonetics, retroflex consonants are Consonant sounds used in some Languages (They are sometimes referred to as cerebral consonants Postalveolar consonants are Consonants articulated with the tongue near or touching the back of the Alveolar ridge, placing them a bit further back in the Palatal consonants are Consonants articulated with the body of the tongue raised against the Hard palate (the middle part of the roof of the mouth Glottal consonants are Consonants articulated with the Glottis. A stop, plosive, or occlusive is a Consonant sound produced by stopping the airflow in the Vocal tract. A nasal consonant (also called nasal stop or nasal continuant) is produced with a lowered velum in the mouth allowing air to escape freely through the Fricatives are Consonants produced by forcing air through a narrow channel made by placing two articulators close together Liquid consonants, or liquids, are Approximant Consonants that are not classified as Semivowels (glides because they do not correspond phonetically Approximants are speech sounds ( Phonemes) that could be regarded as intermediate between Vowels and typical Consonants In the articulation of approximants The orthography of a language specifies the correct way of using a specific Writing system to write the language Æ ( minuscule: æ) is a Grapheme formed from the letters A and E. The " Ø " ( minuscule: " ø " is a Vowel and a letter used in the Danish, Faroese and Norwegian The " Ø " ( minuscule: " ø " is a Vowel and a letter used in the Danish, Faroese and Norwegian The letter Å represents various sounds in the Swedish, Finnish (although no native Finnish words contain the letter å Danish, Norwegian Pitch accent is a linguistic term of convenience for a variety of restricted tone systems that use variations in pitch to give prominence to a Syllable They are used to differentiate two-syllable words with otherwise identical pronunciation. For example in many East Norwegian dialects, the word "bønder" (farmers) is pronounced using tone 1, while "bønner" (beans or prayers) uses tone 2, just like in Danish. Though the difference in spelling occasionally allow the words to be distinguished in written language, in most cases the minimal pairs are written alike, since written Norwegian has no explicit accent marks. In most eastern low-tone dialects, accent 1 uses a low flat pitch in the first syllable, while accent 2 uses a high, sharply falling pitch in the first syllable and a low pitch in the beginning of the second syllable. In both accents, these pitch movements are followed by a rise of intonational nature (phrase accent), the size (and presence) of which signals emphasis/focus and which corresponds in function to the normal accent in languages that lack lexical tone, such as English. In Linguistics, intonation is variation of pitch whilst speaking which is not used to distinguish words Tone is the use of pitch in Language to distinguish lexical or grammatical meaning—that is to distinguish or inflect words That rise culminates in the final syllable of an accentual phrase, while the utterance-final fall that is so common in most languages is either very small or absent.

There are significant variations in pitch accent between dialects. Thus, in most of western and northern Norway (the so-called high-pitch dialects) accent 1 is falling, while accent 2 is rising in the first syllable and falling in the second syllable or somewhere around the syllable boundary. The pitch accents (as well as the peculiar phrase accent in the low-tone dialects) give the Norwegian language a "singing" quality which makes it fairly easy to distinguish from other languages. Interestingly, accent 1 generally occurs in words that were monosyllabic in Old Norse, and accent 2 in words that were polysyllabic. Old Norse is the North Germanic language that was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and inhabitants of their overseas settlements during the Viking Age

Written language

Alphabet

Main article: Norwegian alphabet

The Norwegian alphabet has 29 letters. The Danish and Norwegian Alphabet is based upon the Latin alphabet and has consisted of the following 29 letters since 1917 (Norwegian and 1955

The letters c, q, w, x and z are only used in loanwords. The letter A is the first letter in the Latin alphabet. Its name in English is a (eɪ plural B is the second letter in the Latin alphabet. Its name in English is spelled bee or occasionally be (biː plural bees. C is the third letter in the Latin alphabet. Its name in English is spelled cee or occasionally ce (siː D is the fourth letter in the Latin alphabet. Its name in English is spelled dee or occasionally de (diː E is the fifth letter in the Latin alphabet. Its name in English is spelled e (iː plural es or ees (also written E's E F is the sixth letter in the Latin alphabet. Its name in English is spelled ef or eff (ɛf G is the seventh letter in the Latin alphabet. Its name in English is spelled gee or occasionally ge (dʒiː I is the ninth letter of the Latin alphabet. Its English name is i (aɪ J is the tenth letter in the modern Latin alphabet; it was the last of the 26 letters to be added K is the eleventh letter of the modern Latin alphabet. Its name in English is spelled kay (keɪ L is the twelfth letter of the Latin alphabet. Its name in English is el or occasionally ell (ɛl M is the thirteenth letter of the modern Latin alphabet. Its name in English is spelled em (ɛm N is the fourteenth letter in the Latin alphabet. Its name in English is spelled en (ɛn O is the fifteenth letter of the modern Latin Alphabet. Its name in English is spelled o (oʊ plural usually o's or os; sometimes P is the sixteenth letter of the modern Latin alphabet. Its name in English is spelled pee or occasionally pe (piː Q is the seventeenth letter of the modern Latin alphabet. Its name in English is spelled cue (kjuː R is the eighteenth letter of the modern Latin alphabet. Its name in English is spelled ar (ɑr pronounced or) S is the nineteenth letter in the modern Latin alphabet. Its name in English is spelled ess or occasionally es (ɛs generally es- T is the twentieth letter in the modern Latin alphabet. Its name in English is spelled tee or occasionally te (tiː U is the twenty-first letter in the modern Latin alphabet. Its name in English is spelled u (juː V is the twenty-second letter in the modern Latin alphabet. Its name in English is spelled vee or occasionally ve (viː W is the twenty-third letter in the Latin alphabet. Its name in English is spelled double-u (ˈdʌbljuː X is the twenty-fourth letter in the modern Latin alphabet. Its name in English is spelled ex or occasionally ecks (ɛks plural exes The letter Y is the twenty-fifth letter in the modern Latin alphabet. Z is the twenty-sixth and last letter of the modern Latin alphabet. Æ ( minuscule: æ) is a Grapheme formed from the letters A and E. The " Ø " ( minuscule: " ø " is a Vowel and a letter used in the Danish, Faroese and Norwegian The letter Å represents various sounds in the Swedish, Finnish (although no native Finnish words contain the letter å Danish, Norwegian A loanword (or loan word) is a word directly taken into one Language from another with little or no translation Some also spell their otherwise Norwegian family names using these letters.

Some letters may be modified by diacritics: é, è, ê, ó, ò, â, and ô. A diacritic ( also called a diacritic or diacritical mark, point, or sign, is a small sign added to a letter to alter pronunciation In Nynorsk, ì and ù and ỳ are occasionally seen as well. The diacritics are not compulsory, but may in a few cases distinguish between different meanings of the word, e. g. : for (for/to), fór (went), fòr (furrow) and fôr (fodder). Loanwords may be spelled with other diacritics, most notably ü, á and à.

Bokmål and Nynorsk

Main articles: Bokmål and Nynorsk

Like some other European countries, Norway has an official "advisory board" — Språkrådet (Norwegian Language Council) — that determines, after approval from the Ministry of Culture, official spelling, grammar, and vocabulary for the Norwegian language. Bokmål (lit "book language" or Dano-Norwegian is the most commonly used of the two official Norwegian written Standard languages the other Nynorsk (literally "New Norwegian" is one of the two official Norwegian Standard languages the other being Bokmål. The Norwegian Language Council (Språkrådet is the Norwegian government's advisory body in matters pertaining to the Norwegian language and Language planning The board's work has been subject to considerable controversy through the years, and much work lies ahead.

Both Nynorsk and Bokmål have a great variety of optional forms. The Bokmål that uses the forms that are close to Riksmål is called moderate or conservative, depending on one's viewpoint, while the Bokmål that uses the forms that are close to Nynorsk is called radical. Nynorsk has forms that are close to the original Landsmål and forms that are close to Bokmål.

Riksmål

Main article: Riksmål

Opponents of the spelling reforms aimed at bringing Bokmål closer to Nynorsk have retained the name Riksmål and employ spelling and grammar that predate the Samnorsk movement. Bokmål (lit "book language" or Dano-Norwegian is the most commonly used of the two official Norwegian written Standard languages the other Riksmål and conservative versions of Bokmål have been the de facto standard written language of Norway for most of the 20th century, being used by large newspapers, encyclopedias, and a significant proportion of the population of the capital Oslo, surrounding areas, and other urban areas, as well as much of the literary tradition. The twentieth century of the Common Era began on Since the reforms of 1981 and 2003 (effective in 2005), the official Bokmål can be adapted to be almost identical with modern Riksmål. Year 1981 ( MCMLXXXI) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link displays the 1981 Year 2003 ( MMIII) was a Common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. The differences between written Riksmål and Bokmål are today comparable to American and British English differences. This is one of a series of articles about the differences between American English and

Riksmål is regulated by the Norwegian Academy, which determines acceptable spelling, grammar, and vocabulary. The Norwegian Academy for Language and Literature ( Det Norske Akademi for Sprog og Litteratur) is a Norwegian learned body on matters pertaining to the Norwegian

Høgnorsk

Main article: Høgnorsk

There is also an unofficial form of Nynorsk, called Høgnorsk, discarding the post-1917 reforms, and thus close to Ivar Aasen's original Landsmål. Høgnorsk, meaning "High Norwegian" is a term for conservative varieties of the Norwegian language form Nynorsk. It is supported by Ivar Aasen-sambandet, but has found no widespread use. Ivar Aasen-sambandet (The Ivar Aasen Union is an umbrella organization of associations and individuals promoting the use of the Høgnorsk variant of the Norwegian

Current usage

Map of the official language forms of Norwegian municipalities as of 2007

About 86. 2% of the pupils in the primary and lower secondary schools in Norway receive education in Bokmål, while about 13. 8% receive education in Nynorsk. From the eighth grade onwards pupils are required to learn both. Out of the 431 municipalities in Norway, 161 have declared that they wish to communicate with the central authorities in Bokmål, 116 (representing 12% of the population) in Nynorsk, while 156 are neutral. Of 4,549 state publications in 2000 8% were in Nynorsk, and 92% in Bokmål. 2000 ( MM) was a Leap year that started on Saturday of the Common Era, in accordance with the Gregorian calendar. The large national newspapers (Aftenposten, Dagbladet and VG) are published in Bokmål. Aftenposten ( Norwegian for "Evening Post" is Norway 's second largest Newspaper (after Verdens Gang) with a circulation of 250 Dagbladet is Norway 's third largest Newspaper with a circulation of 146512 copies in 2006 15557 papers less than in 2005. Verdens Gang (directly translated The way of the world or the course of the world) commonly known as VG, is Norway Some major regional newspapers (including Bergens Tidende and Stavanger Aftenblad), many political journals, and many local newspapers use both Bokmål and Nynorsk. Bergens Tidende is Norway 's fourth largest newspaper and largest regional newspaper with a circulation of about 87000 copies (2002 numbers. Stavanger Aftenblad ( (lit Stavanger Evening Paper) or simply Aftenbladet is a daily Newspaper in Stavanger, Norway

Dialects

Main article: Norwegian dialects

There is general agreement that a wide range of differences makes it difficult to estimate the number of different Norwegian dialects. The Norwegian dialects are commonly divided into 5 main groups North Norwegian (nordnorsk Trøndelag Norwegian ( Trøndersk[http //www Variations in grammar, syntax, vocabulary, and pronunciation cut across geographical boundaries and can create a distinct dialect at the level of farm clusters. Dialects are in some cases so dissimilar as to be unintelligible to unfamiliar listeners. Many linguists note a trend toward regionalization of dialects that diminishes the differences at such local levels; there is, however, a renewed interest in preserving distinct dialects.

Examples

Below are a few sentences giving an indication of the differences between Bokmål and Nynorsk, compared to the conservative (nearer to Danish) form Riksmål, Danish, as well as Old Norse, Swedish, Faroese, Icelandic (the living language closest to Old Norse) and other modern Germanic languages:

Morphology

Nouns

Norwegian nouns are inflected or declined in definiteness (indefinite/definite) and number (singular/plural). Bokmål (lit "book language" or Dano-Norwegian is the most commonly used of the two official Norwegian written Standard languages the other Bokmål (lit "book language" or Dano-Norwegian is the most commonly used of the two official Norwegian written Standard languages the other Danish ( d̥ænsɡ̊ is one of the North Germanic languages (also called Scandinavian languages a sub-group of the Germanic branch of the Nynorsk (literally "New Norwegian" is one of the two official Norwegian Standard languages the other being Bokmål. Høgnorsk, meaning "High Norwegian" is a term for conservative varieties of the Norwegian language form Nynorsk. Old Norse is the North Germanic language that was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and inhabitants of their overseas settlements during the Viking Age Icelandic ( is a North Germanic language, the language of Iceland. Swedish ( is a North Germanic language spoken by more than nine million people predominantly in Sweden and parts of Finland, especially along the Faroese ( føroyskt ˈføːɹɪst or) often also spelled Faeroese (cf The German language (de ''Deutsch'') is a West Germanic language and one of the world's major languages. Dutch ( is a West Germanic language spoken by around 24 million people 22 million of which are from the Netherlands, Belgium and Suriname Afrikaans is an Indo-European language, derived from 17th century Dutch and classified as Low Franconian Germanic, mainly spoken in In Grammar, inflection or inflexion is the way language handles grammatical relations and relational categories such as tense, mood, voice In Linguistics, declension (or declination) is the occurrence of Inflection in Nouns Pronouns and Adjectives indicating In grammatical theory, definiteness is a feature of Noun phrases distinguishing between entities which are specific and identifiable in a given context (definite noun In linguistics grammatical number is a Grammatical category of nouns pronouns and adjective and verb agreement that expresses count distinctions (such as "one" In some dialects, definite nouns are furthermore declined in case (nominative/dative). In Grammar, the case of a Noun or Pronoun indicates its Grammatical function in a greater Phrase or Clause; such as the The nominative case is a Grammatical case for a Noun, which generally marks the subject of a Verb, as opposed to its object or other The dative case is a Grammatical case generally used to indicate the Noun to whom something is given

As in most Indo-European languages (English language being one of a few exceptions), nouns are classified by gender, which has consequences for the declension of agreeing adjectives and determiners. English is a West Germanic language originating in England and is the First language for most people in the United Kingdom, the United States In Linguistics, grammatical genders, sometimes also called Noun classes are classes of nouns reflected in the behavior of associated words every noun must belong In Grammar, an adjective is a word whose main syntactic role is to modify a Noun or Pronoun, giving more information about the Norwegian dialects have three genders: masculine, feminine and neuter, except the Bergen dialect which has only two genders: common and neuter. is the second largest city in Norway. It is located on the south-western coast of Norway in the county of Hordaland in between a group of mountains known as De syv fjell Bokmål and Standard Østnorsk traditionally have two genders like Danish (and the Bergen dialect), but so called radical varieties have three genders. The two-gender form is now mostly replaced by the three-gender form in spoken Standard Østnorsk, but it is sometimes used in conservative Bokmål.

The declension of regular nouns depends on gender. Some dialects and variants of Nynorsk furthermore have different declension of weak and strong feminines and neuters.

As of July 1st 2005, all feminine nouns can be written as masculine nouns.

Adjectives

Norwegian adjectives have two inflectional paradigms. In Grammar, an adjective is a word whose main syntactic role is to modify a Noun or Pronoun, giving more information about the In Grammar, inflection or inflexion is the way language handles grammatical relations and relational categories such as tense, mood, voice The weak inflection is applicable when the argument is definite, the strong inflection is used when the argument is indefinite. In grammatical theory, definiteness is a feature of Noun phrases distinguishing between entities which are specific and identifiable in a given context (definite noun In grammatical theory, definiteness is a feature of Noun phrases distinguishing between entities which are specific and identifiable in a given context (definite noun In both paradigms the adjective is declined in comparison (positive/comparative/superlative). Strong, positive adjectives are furthermore declined in gender and number in agreement with their argument. Positive is the form of an Adjective or Adverb on which Comparative and Superlative are formed with suffixes -ier, -lier In Linguistics, grammatical genders, sometimes also called Noun classes are classes of nouns reflected in the behavior of associated words every noun must belong In linguistics grammatical number is a Grammatical category of nouns pronouns and adjective and verb agreement that expresses count distinctions (such as "one" In some southwestern dialects, the weak positive is also declined in gender and number, with one form for feminine and plural, and one form for masculine and neuter.

Verbs

Norwegian finite verbs are inflected or conjugated in mood: indicative/imperative/subjunctive. Positive is the form of an Adjective or Adverb on which Comparative and Superlative are formed with suffixes -ier, -lier In Grammar, the comparative is the form of an Adjective or Adverb which denotes the degree or grade by which a person thing or other entity has a property In Grammar the superlative of an Adjective or Adverb is the greatest form of adjective or adverb which indicates that something has some feature Positive is the form of an Adjective or Adverb on which Comparative and Superlative are formed with suffixes -ier, -lier In Grammar, the comparative is the form of an Adjective or Adverb which denotes the degree or grade by which a person thing or other entity has a property In Grammar the superlative of an Adjective or Adverb is the greatest form of adjective or adverb which indicates that something has some feature A finite verb is a Verb that is inflected for person and for tense according to the rules and categories of the languages in which it occurs For English usage of verbs see the wiki article English verbs. In Linguistics, conjugation is the creation of derived forms of a Verb, Noun or Adjective from its Principal parts by Inflection Grammatical mood is one of a set of distinctive Verb forms that are used to signal modality. The subjunctive mood is constrained to a handful of verbs. In Grammar, the subjunctive mood (sometimes referred to as the conjunctive mood) is a Verb mood that exists in many languages The indicative verbs are conjugated in tense, present / past. Grammatical tense is a temporal linguistic quality expressing the time at during or over which a state or action denoted by a verb occurs Present Tense is the first Sagittarius album released in 1968 by Columbia Records. The past tense is a Verb tense expressing action activity state or being in the past of the current moment (in an Absolute tense system or prior In Bokmål and Standard Østnorsk, the present tense also has a passive form. In Grammar, the voice (also called gender or diathesis of a verb describes the relationship between the action (or state that the verb expresses and the participants identified In a few dialects, indicative verbs are also conjugated in number. In linguistics grammatical number is a Grammatical category of nouns pronouns and adjective and verb agreement that expresses count distinctions (such as "one" Conjugation in gender is lost in Norwegian. In Linguistics, grammatical genders, sometimes also called Noun classes are classes of nouns reflected in the behavior of associated words every noun must belong

There are four non-finite verb forms: infinitive, passive infinitive, and the two participles perfective/past participle and imperfective/present participle. In Linguistics, a non-finite verb (or a verbal) is a Verb form that is not limited by a subject and more generally is not fully inflected by In Grammar, infinitive is the name for certain verb forms that exist in many languages In Grammar, the voice (also called gender or diathesis of a verb describes the relationship between the action (or state that the verb expresses and the participants identified In Linguistics, a participle (from Latin participium, a Calque of Greek μετοχη "partaking" is a derivative of a non-finite In Grammar, the perfective aspect is an aspect that exists in many languages The imperfective aspect is a Grammatical aspect. It refers to an action that is viewed from a particular viewpoint as ongoing habitual repeated or generally containing internal

The participles are verbal adjectives. In Linguistics, a non-finite verb (or a verbal) is a Verb form that is not limited by a subject and more generally is not fully inflected by The imperfective participle has no further declension, but the perfective participle is declined in gender (not in Bokmål and Standard Østnorsk) and number like strong, positive adjectives. In Linguistics, grammatical genders, sometimes also called Noun classes are classes of nouns reflected in the behavior of associated words every noun must belong In linguistics grammatical number is a Grammatical category of nouns pronouns and adjective and verb agreement that expresses count distinctions (such as "one" The definite form of the participle is identical to the plural form. In grammatical theory, definiteness is a feature of Noun phrases distinguishing between entities which are specific and identifiable in a given context (definite noun

As with other Germanic languages, Norwegian verbs can be either weak or strong. In Germanic languages, including English, weak verbs are by far the largest group of verbs which are therefore often regarded as the norm though historically they In the Germanic languages strong verbs are those which mark their past tenses by means of ablaut.

Pronouns

Norwegian personal pronouns are declined in case, nominative / accusative. A finite verb is a Verb that is inflected for person and for tense according to the rules and categories of the languages in which it occurs In Linguistics, a non-finite verb (or a verbal) is a Verb form that is not limited by a subject and more generally is not fully inflected by Grammatical mood is one of a set of distinctive Verb forms that are used to signal modality. In Grammar, the subjunctive mood (sometimes referred to as the conjunctive mood) is a Verb mood that exists in many languages The imperative mood is a Grammatical mood that expresses direct commands or requests A verbal noun is a Noun formed directly as an Inflexion of a Verb or a verb stem, sharing at least in part its constructions In Linguistics, a non-finite verb (or a verbal) is a Verb form that is not limited by a subject and more generally is not fully inflected by In Linguistics, a participle (from Latin participium, a Calque of Greek μετοχη "partaking" is a derivative of a non-finite Present Tense is the first Sagittarius album released in 1968 by Columbia Records. The past tense is a Verb tense expressing action activity state or being in the past of the current moment (in an Absolute tense system or prior In Grammar, infinitive is the name for certain verb forms that exist in many languages The imperfective aspect is a Grammatical aspect. It refers to an action that is viewed from a particular viewpoint as ongoing habitual repeated or generally containing internal In Grammar, the perfective aspect is an aspect that exists in many languages In Grammar, the voice (also called gender or diathesis of a verb describes the relationship between the action (or state that the verb expresses and the participants identified In Grammar, the voice (also called gender or diathesis of a verb describes the relationship between the action (or state that the verb expresses and the participants identified A finite verb is a Verb that is inflected for person and for tense according to the rules and categories of the languages in which it occurs In Linguistics, a non-finite verb (or a verbal) is a Verb form that is not limited by a subject and more generally is not fully inflected by Grammatical mood is one of a set of distinctive Verb forms that are used to signal modality. In Grammar, the subjunctive mood (sometimes referred to as the conjunctive mood) is a Verb mood that exists in many languages The imperative mood is a Grammatical mood that expresses direct commands or requests A verbal noun is a Noun formed directly as an Inflexion of a Verb or a verb stem, sharing at least in part its constructions In Linguistics, a non-finite verb (or a verbal) is a Verb form that is not limited by a subject and more generally is not fully inflected by In Linguistics, a participle (from Latin participium, a Calque of Greek μετοχη "partaking" is a derivative of a non-finite Present Tense is the first Sagittarius album released in 1968 by Columbia Records. The past tense is a Verb tense expressing action activity state or being in the past of the current moment (in an Absolute tense system or prior In Grammar, infinitive is the name for certain verb forms that exist in many languages The imperfective aspect is a Grammatical aspect. It refers to an action that is viewed from a particular viewpoint as ongoing habitual repeated or generally containing internal In Grammar, the perfective aspect is an aspect that exists in many languages In Grammar, the voice (also called gender or diathesis of a verb describes the relationship between the action (or state that the verb expresses and the participants identified In Grammar, the voice (also called gender or diathesis of a verb describes the relationship between the action (or state that the verb expresses and the participants identified In Grammar, the voice (also called gender or diathesis of a verb describes the relationship between the action (or state that the verb expresses and the participants identified In Grammar, the voice (also called gender or diathesis of a verb describes the relationship between the action (or state that the verb expresses and the participants identified In Linguistics and Grammar, a pronoun is a Pro-form that substitutes for a (including a noun phrase consisting of a single Noun) with or In Grammar, the case of a Noun or Pronoun indicates its Grammatical function in a greater Phrase or Clause; such as the The nominative case is a Grammatical case for a Noun, which generally marks the subject of a Verb, as opposed to its object or other The accusative case ( abbreviated ACC) of a Noun is the Grammatical case used to mark the Direct object of a Transitive Some of the dialects that have preserved the dative in nouns, also have a dative case instead of the accusative case in personal pronouns, while others have accusative in pronouns and dative in nouns, effectively giving these dialects three distinct cases. The dative case is a Grammatical case generally used to indicate the Noun to whom something is given

In the most comprehensive Norwegian grammar, Norsk referansegrammatikk, the categorization of personal pronouns by person, gender, and number is not regarded as inflection. Grammatical person, in Linguistics, is deictic reference to a participant in an event such as the speaker the Addressee, or others In Linguistics, grammatical genders, sometimes also called Noun classes are classes of nouns reflected in the behavior of associated words every noun must belong In linguistics grammatical number is a Grammatical category of nouns pronouns and adjective and verb agreement that expresses count distinctions (such as "one" As with nouns, adjectives must agree with the gender and number of pronoun arguments.

Other pronouns have no inflection.

The so called possessive, demonstrative and relative pronouns are no longer regarded to be pronouns. A possessive pronoun is a Part of speech that attributes ownership to someone or something Demonstratives are deictic words (they depend on an external frame of reference that indicate which entities a speaker refers to and distinguishes those entities from others A relative pronoun is a Pronoun that marks a Relative clause within a larger sentence.

Pronouns are a closed class. In Linguistics, a closed class (or closed word class) is a Word class to which no new items can normally be added and that usually contains a relatively

Bokmål, like English, has two sets of 3rd person pronouns. The nominative case is a Grammatical case for a Noun, which generally marks the subject of a Verb, as opposed to its object or other The accusative case ( abbreviated ACC) of a Noun is the Grammatical case used to mark the Direct object of a Transitive English is a West Germanic language originating in England and is the First language for most people in the United Kingdom, the United States The nominative case is a Grammatical case for a Noun, which generally marks the subject of a Verb, as opposed to its object or other The accusative case ( abbreviated ACC) of a Noun is the Grammatical case used to mark the Direct object of a Transitive English is a West Germanic language originating in England and is the First language for most people in the United Kingdom, the United States Han and hun refer to male and female individuals respectively, den and det refer to impersonal or inanimate nouns, of masculine/feminine or neutral gender respectively. In contrast, Nynorsk and most dialects use the same set of pronouns (han (m. ), ho (f. ) and det (n. )) for both personal and impersonal references. Det also has expletive and cataphoric uses like in the English examples it rains and it was known by everyone (that) he had travelled the world. The word expletive is currently used in three senses syntactic expletives, expletive attributives, and "bad language". In Linguistics, cataphora is used to describe an expression that co-refers with a later expression in the discourse

Determiners

The closed class of Norwegian determiners are declined in gender and number in agreement with their argument. In Linguistics, a closed class (or closed word class) is a Word class to which no new items can normally be added and that usually contains a relatively In Linguistics, grammatical genders, sometimes also called Noun classes are classes of nouns reflected in the behavior of associated words every noun must belong In linguistics grammatical number is a Grammatical category of nouns pronouns and adjective and verb agreement that expresses count distinctions (such as "one" Not all determiners are inflected.

Particle classes

Norwegian has five closed classes without inflection, i. In Linguistics, a closed class (or closed word class) is a Word class to which no new items can normally be added and that usually contains a relatively e. lexical categories with grammatical function and a finite number of members that may not be distinguished by morphological criteria. In Grammar, a lexical category (also word class, lexical class, or in traditional grammar part of speech) is a linguistic category of words (or These are interjections, conjunctions, subjunctions, prepositions, and adverbs. An interjection is a Part of speech that usually has no connection with the rest of the sentence and simply expresses Emotion on the part of the speaker In Grammar, a preposition is a Part of speech that introduces a prepositional phrase. The inclusion of adverbs here requires that traditional adverbs that are inflected in comparison be classified as adjectives, as is sometimes done.

Compound words

In Norwegian compound words, the head, i. In Linguistics, a compound is a Lexeme (less precisely a Word) that consists of more than one stem. In linguistics the head is the word that determines the syntactic type of the Phrase of which it is a member or analogously the stem that determines the e. the part determining the compound's class, is the last part. Only the first part has primary stress. For instance, the compund tenketank (think tank) has primary stress on the first syllable and is a noun (some sort of tank).

Compound words are written together in Norwegian, which can cause words to become very long, for example sannsynlighetsmaksimeringsestimator (maximum likelihood estimator) and menneskerettighetsorganisasjoner (human rights organisations). Maximum likelihood estimation ( MLE) is a popular statistical method used for fitting a mathematical model to some data In Statistics, an estimator is a function of the observable sample data that is used to estimate an unknown population Parameter (which is called the Another example is the title høyesterettsjustitiarius (originally a combination of supreme court and the actual title, justiciar). A supreme court, also called a court of last resort or high court, is in some Jurisdictions the highest judicial body within that jurisdiction's In Medieval England and Scotland, the Chief Justiciar (later known simply as the Justiciar) was roughly equivalent to a modern Prime Minister Note also the translation En midtsommernattsdrøm (A Midsummer Night's Dream).

If they are not written together, each part will naturally be read with primary stress, and the meaning of the compound is lost. This is sometimes forgotten, occasionally with humorous results. Instead of writing, for example, lammekoteletter (lamb chops), people make the mistake of writing lamme koteletter (lame, or paralyzed, chops). The original message can even be reversed, as when røykfritt (no smoking, i. e. "smoke free") becomes røyk fritt (smoke freely).

Other examples include:

• Terrasse dør ("Terrace dies") instead of Terrassedør ("Terrace door")
• Tunfisk biter ("Tuna bites", verb) instead of Tunfiskbiter ("Tuna bits", noun)
• Smult ringer ("Lard is calling", verb) instead of Smultringer ("Doughnuts")
• Tyveri sikret ("Theft guaranteed") instead of Tyverisikret ("Theft proof")
• Stekt kylling lever ("Fried chicken lives", verb) instead of Stekt kyllinglever ("Fried chicken liver", noun)
• Pult ost ("Fucked cheese") instead of Pultost ("Soft cheese")
• Smør brød ("Butter bread") instead of Smørbrød ("Sandwich")
• Klipp fisk ("Cut fish", verb) instead of Klippfisk ("Clipfish")

These misunderstandings occur because most nouns can be interpreted as verbs or other types of words. Similar misunderstandings can be achieved in English too. The following are examples of phrases that both in Norwegian and English mean one thing as a compound word, and something different when regarded as separate words:

• stavekontroll (spellchecker) or stave kontroll (spell c-h-e-c-k-e-r)
• kokebok (cookbook) or koke bok (cooking a book)
• ekte håndlagde vafler (real handmade waffles) or Ekte hånd lagde vafler. (a real hand made some waffles. )

Vocabulary

By far the largest part of the modern vocabulary of Norwegian dates back to Old Norse. The largest source of loanwords is Middle Low German, which had a huge influence on Norwegian vocabulary from the late Middle Ages onwards partially even influencing grammatical structures, such as genitive constructions. Middle Low German ( ISO 639 -3 code gml) is a Language that is the descendant of Old Saxon and is the ancestor of modern Low German. At present, the main source of new loanwords is English e. g. rapper, e-mail, catering, juice, bag (originally a loan word to English from Old Norse). Norwegian is however considered to be less influenced by English than for instance Swedish or particularly Danish.

Some loanwords have their spelling changed to reflect Norwegian pronunciation rules, but in general Norwegianised spellings of these words tend to take a long time to sink in: e. g. sjåfør (from French chauffeur) and revansj (from French revanche) are now the common Norwegian spellings, but juice is more often used than the Norwegianised form jus, catering more often than keitering, service more often than sørvis, etc. French ( français,) is a Romance language spoken around the world by 118 million people as a native language and by about 180 to 260 million people

See also

• Differences between the Norwegian and Danish languages
• Det Norske Akademi for Sprog og Litteratur
• Noregs Mållag
• Norsk Ordbok
• Riksmålsforbundet
• Russenorsk
• List of Indo-European languages
• Numbers in various languages

References

Bibliography

• Rolf Theil Endresen, Hanne Gram Simonsen, Andreas Sveen, Innføring i lingvistikk (2002), ISBN 82-00-45273-5

External links

• Norwegian-English Dictionary (2)
• Norwegian pronunciation guide (with sound clips)

Translation services

• EasyTrans.org Easily translate words between English, Norwegian and Spanish.