Norwegian language

Norwegian (norsk) is a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Norway, where it is an official language. Together with Swedish and Danish, Norwegian forms a continuum of mutually intelligible local and regional variants.

These continental Scandinavian languages, together with Faroese and Icelandic, and also some extinct languages, constitute the North Germanic languages (also called Scandinavian languages). Faroese and Icelandic are hardly mutually intelligible with Norwegian in their spoken form, because continental Scandinavian has deviated from them.

There are two official forms of written Norwegian – Bokmål (literally "book language") and Nynorsk ("new Norwegian"). The Norwegian Language Council recommends the terms "Norwegian Bokmål" and "Norwegian Nynorsk" in English.

Most Norwegians speak their own dialect in all circumstances. The sociolect of the urban upper and middle class in East Norway, upon which Bokmål is primarily based, can be regarded as a de facto spoken standard for Bokmål. This standard østnorsk ("Standard Eastern Norwegian") is the form generally taught to foreign students.

From the 16th to the 19th centuries, Danish was the standard written language of Norway. Bokmål is a Norwegianized variety of Danish, while Nynorsk is a language form based on Norwegian dialects and puristic opposition to Danish. 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.

There is general agreement that a wide range of differences makes it difficult to estimate the number of dialects. Dialects are in some cases so dissimilar that they are unintelligible to unfamiliar listeners. Many linguists note a trend toward regionalization of dialects that diminishes the differences at such local levels; however, there is a renewed interest in preserving distinct dialects.

The Norwegian alphabet has 29 letters. The letters c, q, w, x and z are only used in loanwords. Some letters may be modified by diacritics: é, è, ê, ó, ò, and ô. 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. Loanwords may be spelled with other diacritics, notably ü, á, and à.

Like some other European countries, Norway has an official advisory board – Språkrådet (Norwegian Language Council) – that determines, with the approval of the Ministry of Culture, official spelling, grammar, and vocabulary for the Norwegian language.

Norwegian nouns are inflected or declined in definiteness (indefinite/definite) and number (singular/plural). In some dialects, definite nouns are furthermore declined in case (nominative/dative). Nouns in Norwegian dialects have three genders: masculine, feminine and neuter, except the Bergen dialect which has only two genders: common and neuter.

The declension of regular nouns depends on gender. Some dialects and variants of Nynorsk have different declension of weak and strong feminines and neuters. As of June 5 , 2005, all feminine nouns can be written as masculine nouns.

The adjectives have two inflectional systems. The weak inflection is used when the argument is definite, the strong inflection is used when the argument is indefinite.

Norwegian finite verbs are inflected in indicative, imperative, and subjunctive moods. The subjunctive mood is limited to a few verbs. The indicative verbs are conjugated in tense, present/past. In Bokmål and Standard Østnorsk, the present tense also has a passive form. In some dialects, indicative verbs are also conjugated in number.

In Norsk referansegrammatikk, the most comprehensive Norwegian grammar, the categorization of personal pronouns by person, gender, and number is not regarded as inflection. As with nouns, adjectives must agree with the gender and number of pronoun arguments. Other pronouns have no inflection. The possessive, demonstrative, and relative pronouns are no longer regarded to be pronouns. Pronouns are a closed class.

Information: Wikipedia