Writing and speech

History

"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." In particular, Knudsens work on language reform in the mid 1800s was important for the 1907 orthography and a subsequent reform in 1917. So much so that he's now often called the "father of Bokmål".

Controversy

Riksmål vs. Bokmål 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 organized under his leadership in order to fight against the growing influence of Nynorsk, eventually leading to the foundation of the non-governmental organization 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 closer together, intending eventually to merge them into one. These changes met resistance from the Riksmål movement, and the Riksmålsvernet (To 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 harder resistance from the Riksmål movement, topping in the 1950s under the leadership of Arnulf Øverland. The Riksmålsforbundet organized a parents' campaign against Samnorsk in 1951, and the Norwegian Academy for Language and Literature was founded in 1953. The 1938 reform was partially reverted in 1959, 1981, and 2005.
   Currently, Riksmål denotes the conservative, chiefly pre-1938, unofficial variant of Bokmål, which is still in use and is regulated by the Norwegian Academy and promoted by the Riksmålsforbundet. Riksmål has gone through some spelling reforms, but none as profound as the ones having 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 has diminished and is comparable to American and British English differences, but the Norwegian Academy still upholds its own standard.

Terminology

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 literary language respectively). The debate intensified with the advent of Nynorsk in the 1800s, 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 applied to Bokmål can be used to stigmatize or delegitimize the language. Many Bokmål users consider this use to be offensive, and it's therefore mainly confined to the Nynorsk-supporting side of heated discussions.

Characteristics

Differences from the traditional Oslo dialect

Colloquially, Standard Østnorsk is often called the Oslo dialect. This is misleading since Standard Østnorsk isn't confined to Oslo, and since the traditional Oslo dialect is different from Standard Østnorsk. In reality, most natives of Oslo will speak a sociolect somewhere on a scale from traditional Dano-Norwegian at the high end to the traditional Oslo dialect at the low end.. In many of these cases, radical Bokmål follows the traditional Oslo dialect, and these forms are also given. Radical forms that are allowed but not much used, are parenthesized.

	Danish	Bokmål/Standard Østnorsk		Oslo dialect
		traditional	radical
Differentiation between masculine and feminine a little man a little woman	noen lille mand en lille kvinde	noen liten mann en liten kvinne	yesen liten mann ei lita kvinne	yesen 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
Definite plural neuter suffix the houses	-ene/erne husene	-ene husene	-a husa	-a husa
Weak past participle suffix cycled	-et cyklet	-et syklet	-a sykla	-a sykla
Weak preterite suffix cycled	-ede cyklede	-et syklet	-a sykla	-a sykla
Strong past participle suffix written	-et skrevet	-et skrevet		-i skrivi
Split infinitive come lay	no komme ligge	no komme ligge		yes komma ligge
Splitting of masculines ending on unstressed vowel ladder round	no stige runde	no stige runde		yes stega runde
West Scandinavian diphthongs bone (noun) smoke (noun) soft/wet (adjective)	no ben røg blød	no ben røk bløt	yes bein røyk blaut	yes bein røyk blaut
West Scandinavian u for o bridge (noun)	no bro	no bro	yes bru	yes bru
West Scandinavian a-umlaut floor (noun)	no gulv	no gulv	(yes) (golv)	yes gølv
Stress on first syllable in loan words banana (noun)	no /ba'na:n/	no /ba'na:n/		yes /'banan/
Retroflex flap /ɽ/ from old Norse /rð/ table, board (noun)	no /bo:r/	no /bu:r/		yes /bu:ɽ/
Retroflex flap /ɽ/ from old Norse /l/ sun (noun)	no /so:l/	no /su:l/	yes /su:ɽ/	yes /su:ɽ/
Danish vocabulary eat (verb) why (adverb)	yes spise hvorfor	yes spise hvorfor		no eta åffer
Danish vocabulary girl (noun) how (adverb)	yes pige hvordan	yes pike hvordan	no jente (åssen)	no jente åssen

Differences from Danish

	Danish	Bokmål/Standard Østnorsk	Oslo dialect
Definite plural suffix either -ene or -erne the women the wagons	yes kvinderne vognene	no kvinnene vognene	no kvinnene vognene
West Scandinavian diphthongs heath hay cattle	no hede hø nød	yes hei (also hede) høy naut	yes hei høy naut
Softening of p, t and k loss (noun) food (noun) roof (noun)	yes tab mad tag	no tap mat tak	no tap mat tak
Retroflexes carnival sport	no /ka:rneval/ /sport/	yes /ka:ɳeval/ /spoʈ/	yes /ka:ɳeval/ /spoʈ/
Danish vocabulary afraid (adjective) angry (adjective) boy (noun) frog (noun)	yes bange vred dreng frø	no redd sint gutt frosk	no redd sint gutt frosk

Further Information

Get more info on 'Riksm L'.

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