Bokmål

Norwegian Bokmål
bokmål
Pronunciation	IPA: [ˈbuːkmoːl]
Native to	Norway
Native speakers	None (written only)
Language family	Indo-European Germanic North Germanic East Scandinavian Danish Norwegian Bokmål
Early forms	Old East Norse Old Danish Medieval Danish Dano-Norwegian Riksmål Norwegian Bokmål
Standard forms	Bokmål (official) Riksmål (unofficial)
Writing system	Latin (Norwegian alphabet)
Official status
Official language in	Norway Nordic Council
Regulated by	Norwegian Language Council (Bokmål proper) Norwegian Academy (Riksmål)
Language codes
ISO 639-1	nb
ISO 639-2	nob
ISO 639-3	nob
Glottolog	(insufficiently attested or not a distinct language) norw1259[1]
Linguasphere	52-AAA-ba to -be & 52-AAA-cd to -cg

Bokmål ([ˈbuːkmoːl], literally "book tongue") is an official written standard for the Norwegian language, alongside Nynorsk. Bokmål is the preferred written standard of Norwegian for 85% to 90%^[2] of the population in Norway, and is most used by people who speak Standard Østnorsk.

Bokmål is regulated by the governmental Norwegian Language Council. A more conservative orthographic standard, commonly known as Riksmål, is regulated by the non-governmental Norwegian Academy for Language and Literature. The written standard is a Norwegianised variety of Danish.

The first Bokmål orthography was officially adopted in 1907 under the name Riksmål after being under development since 1879.^[3] The architects behind the reform were Marius Nygaard and Jacob Jonathan Aars.^[4] 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 officially 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).^[3]

The government does not regulate spoken Bokmål and recommends that normalised pronunciation should follow the phonology of the speaker's local dialect.^[5] Nevertheless, there is a spoken variety of Norwegian that is commonly seen as the de facto standard for spoken Bokmål. In The Phonology of Norwegian, Gjert Kristoffersen writes that

Bokmål [...] is in its most common variety looked upon as reflecting formal middle-class urban speech, especially that found in the eastern part of Southern Norway, with the capital Oslo as the obvious centre. One can therefore say that Bokmål has a spoken realisation that one might call an unofficial standard spoken Norwegian. It is in fact often referred to as Standard Østnorsk ('Standard East Norwegian').^[6]

Standard Østnorsk (Standard East Norwegian) is the pronunciation most commonly given in dictionaries and taught to foreigners in Norwegian language classes.

History

Up until about 1300, the written language of Norway, Old Norwegian, was essentially the same as the other Old Norse dialects. 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]

In 1380, Norway entered into a personal union with Denmark. By the early 16th century, Norway had lost its separate political institutions, and together with Denmark formed the political unit known as Denmark–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][8]

Norwegians used Danish primarily in writing, but it gradually came to be spoken by the urban elite on formal or official occasions. Although Danish never became the spoken language of the vast majority of the population, by the time Norway's ties with Denmark were severed in 1814, a Dano-Norwegian vernacular often called the "educated daily 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.^[9] Or as Kristoffersen puts it:

"Standard Østnorsk can be considered a sociolect that has developed as a result of tension between Danish as the official written, and in some contexts spoken, language used by the upper class before 1814, and the variety of Norwegian used by the lower social classes in the towns of Eastern Norway."^[6]

Knud Knudsen, often called the "father of Bokmål".

In 1814, when Norway was ceded from Denmark to 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.^[8] 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 Norwegianisation 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 Norwegianisation by Henrik Ibsen.^[7][10] In particular, Knudsen's work on language reform in the mid-19th century 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

Riksmål vs. Bokmål

Poster from a campaign against mandatory Samnorsk, circa 1955.

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 organised under his leadership in order to fight against the growing influence of Nynorsk, eventually leading to the foundation of the non-governmental organisation 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 more closely together, intending eventually to merge them into one. These changes met resistance from the Riksmål movement, and Riksmålsvernet (The Society for 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 stiffer resistance from the Riksmål movement, culminating in the 1950s under the leadership of Arnulf Øverland. Riksmålsforbundet organised a parents' campaign against Samnorsk in 1951, and the Norwegian Academy for Language and Literature was founded in 1953. Because of this resistance, the 1959 reform was relatively modest, and the radical reforms were partially reverted in 1981 and 2005.

Currently, Riksmål denotes the moderate, chiefly pre-1938, unofficial variant of Bokmål, which is still in use and is regulated by the Norwegian Academy and promoted by Riksmålsforbundet. Riksmål has gone through some spelling reforms, but none as profound as the ones that 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 have diminished and they are now comparable to American and British English differences, but the Norwegian Academy still upholds its own standard.

Norway's most popular daily newspaper, Aftenposten, is notable for its use of Riksmål as its standard language. Use of Riksmål is rigorously pursued, even with regard to readers' letters, which are "translated" into the standard.

Terminology

Map of the official language forms of Norwegian municipalities. Red is Bokmål, blue is Nynorsk and gray depicts neutral areas.

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 book language respectively). The debate intensified with the advent of Nynorsk in the 19th century, 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 or simply Danish applied to Bokmål can be used to stigmatise or delegitimise the language. Many Bokmål users consider this use to be offensive and childish, and it is therefore mainly confined to the Nynorsk-supporting side of heated discussions.

Characteristics

Differences from Danish

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

Differences between Bokmål and Danish

	Danish	Bokmål
Definite plural suffix either -ene or -erne the women the wagons	yes kvinderne vognene	no kvinnene vognene
West Scandinavian diphthongs heath hay	no hede hø	yes hei høy
Softening of p, t and k loss (noun) food (noun) roof (noun)	yes tab mad tag	no tap mat tak
Danish vocabulary afraid (adjective) angry (adjective) boy (noun) frog (noun)	yes bange (also ræd) vred dreng (also gut) frø	no redd sint gutt frosk

Differences from the traditional Oslo dialect

Most natives of Oslo today speak a dialect that is an amalgamation of vikværsk (which is the technical term for the traditional dialects in the Oslofjord area) and written Danish; and subsequently Riksmål and Bokmål, which primarily inherited their non-Oslo elements from Danish. The present day Oslo dialect is also influenced by other Eastern Norwegian dialects.^[6]

The following table shows some important cases where traditional Bokmål and Standard Østnorsk followed Danish rather than the traditional Oslo dialect as it is commonly portrayed in literature about Norwegian dialects.^[6][11] In many of these cases, radical Bokmål follows the traditional Oslo dialect and Nynorsk, and these forms are also given.

Differences between Bokmål and the traditional Oslo dialect

	Danish	Bokmål/Standard Østnorsk		traditional Oslo dialect	Nynorsk^1
		traditional	radical
Differentiation between masculine and feminine a small man a small woman	no en lille mand en lille kvinde	no en liten mann en liten kvinne	yes en liten mann ei lita kvinne	yes en liten mann ei lita kvinne	yes ein liten mann ei lita kvinne
Differentiation between masc. and fem. definite plural the boats the wagons	no bådene vognene	no båtene vognene		yes båta vognene	yes båtane vognene
Definite plural neuter suffix the houses	-ene/erne husene	-ene husene	-a husa	-a husa	-a husa
Weak past participle suffix cycled	-et cyklet	-et syklet	-a sykla	-a sykla	-a sykla
Weak preterite suffix cycled	-ede cyklede	-et syklet	-a sykla	-a sykla	-a sykla
Strong past participle suffix written	-et skrevet	-et skrevet		-i skrivi	-e skrive
Split infinitive come lie (in bed)	no komme ligge	no komme ligge		yes komma ligge	yes koma ligge
Splitting of masculines ending on unstressed vowel ladder round	no stige runde	no stige runde		yes stega runde	no stige runde
West Scandinavian diphthongs leg (noun) smoke (noun) soft/wet (adjective)	no ben røg blød	no ben røk bløt	yes bein røyk blaut	yes bein røyk blaut	yes bein røyk blaut
West Scandinavian u for o bridge (noun)	no bro	no bro	yes bru	yes bru	yes bru
West Scandinavian a-umlaut floor (noun)	no gulv	no gulv	yes golv	yes gølv	yes golv
Stress on first syllable in loan words banana (noun)	no /ba'naːn/	no officially recognised standard pronunciation		yes /'banan/	no officially recognised standard pronunciation
Retroflex flap /ɽ/ from old Norse /rð/ table, board (noun)	no /boːr/	no officially recognised standard pronunciation		yes /buːɽ/	no officially recognised standard pronunciation
Retroflex flap /ɽ/ from old Norse /l/ sun (noun)	no /soːl/	no officially recognised standard pronunciation		yes /suːɽ/	no officially recognised standard pronunciation

¹ Closest match to the traditional Oslo dialect.

See also

• Danish language
• Differences between Norwegian Bokmål and Standard Danish
• History of Norway
• Norwegian language
• Norwegian language struggle
• Nynorsk

References

1. Nordhoff, Sebastian; Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds. (2013). "Norwegian Bokmål". Glottolog. Leipzig: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology.
2. Vikør, Lars. "Fakta om norsk språk". Retrieved 2014-02-09.
3. Lundeby, Einar. "Stortinget og språksaken". Retrieved 2007-06-12.
4. Halvorsen, Eyvind Fjeld. "Marius Nygaard". In Helle, Knut. Norsk biografisk leksikon (in Norwegian). Oslo: Kunnskapsforlaget. Retrieved 6 February 2010.
5. "Råd om uttale". Retrieved 2009-03-15.
6. Kristoffersen, Gjert (2000). The Phonology of Norwegian. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-823765-5.
7. Haugen, Einar (1977). Norwegian English Dictionary. Oslo: Unifersitetsforlaget. ISBN 0-299-03874-2.
8. Gjerset, Knut (1915). History of the Norwegian People, Volumes I & II. The MacMillan Company. ISBN none.
9. Hoel, Oddmund Løkensgard (1996). Nasjonalisme i norsk målstrid 1848–1865. Oslo: Noregs Forskingsråd. ISBN 82-12-00695-6.
10. Larson, Karen (1948). A History of Norway. Princeton University Press.
11. Skjekkeland, Martin (1997). Dei norske dialektane. Høyskoleforlaget. ISBN 82-7634-103-9.