History UsefulNotes / NorwegianLanguageStruggle

For non-neuter nouns in the singular, Bokmål, like Danish and Swedish, has two sets of pronouns: one for persons and one for non-persons[[note]]much like "he"/"she" for persons and "it" for non-persons in English[[/note]]. Nynorsk uses the same set for everything. To Bokmål users, that looks like writing "he" or "she" about a non-person (and having to make sure they use the right grammatical gender, lest they use the wrong pronoun). Nynorsk users get another pronoun they have to remember to use. Nynorsk's system does exist in many Norwegian dialects, but even to people used to hearing such dialects, it may look odd in writing.

'''The Norwegian Language Struggle''' is a concept seemingly very particular for the [[UsefulNotes/{{Norway}} Norwegian nation]], although "language struggles" elsewhere are to be found, like the gaelic question in UsefulNotes/{{Ireland}}, or the struggle for minority languages in suppressed cultures all over the world. Although the Norwegian situation is less violent than most (UsefulNotes/SouthAfrica being one of the most aggravating examples of this), it came to blows at some points, and at least one prime minister had to resign over the issue (in 1913).

Although the Scandinavian languages all developed from original Norse, the languages of course developed after different lines. Thus, the [[UsefulNotes/{{Sweden}} Swedish]] and [[UsefulNotes/{{Denmark}} Danish languages]] followed the strain called East Nordic, while UsefulNotes/{{Iceland}} and UsefulNotes/FaroeIslands followed the West Nordic. Norway ended up caught almost in between the two, for historical reasons, with a broad variety of dialects. The eastern came to follow the east nordic pattern, while the western came to follow the west nordic one. So far so good. ''But then {{realpolitik}} entered the mix''.

Through {{the middle ages}}, the three countries all had their specific written languages. The differences began to emerge some time during the 1200s, and became more apparent during the next century. The Norse language had a full case system, personal conjugation of verbs and three genders. While the Norwegians and Swedes were slow to change, Danish collapsed more rapidly, and the patterns was most simplified there. And though the three nations went into political union from 1397, they all had their own mode of writing and expression. The Norwegian mode was apparently in use up to about 1530. After this point, all written texts in Norway were written in Danish.

This, of course, happened because the Danish king saw the opportunity to make it absolutely chrystal clear who was master and who was not. Danish merchants and civil cervants were assigned to Norway, and all written material officially were taken down in Danish. All the while, Norwegians continued to speak as they had done all the time, a little differently, although some of them understood the opportunities following a change of language mode: It could actually give them promotions...

At the same time, other scholars tried to revive the Norse language, and argued that a "true Norwegian language" had to be built on Norse roots. They went pretty far in their endeavour, but the solution came from another place: A self learned scholar from western Norway had put together a grammar for his particular dialect, and by 1853, he came up with a whole dictionary for the "Norwegian language", containing words from all over the country. From this, he developed a full "country language", as opposed to the Danish sounding "state language". And from now on, the struggle escalated. By 1858, the papers were full of debates on the matter, and this man, Ivar Aasen, defended his prospect, and gained followers, writers from rural areas who saw the opportunity to use a language written closer to their own. A new literature emerged, and Aasen kept on walking the country and editing his grammars as far as he could manage it. He died in 1896, and by now, the matter had become a political significance.

For non-neuter nouns in the singular, Bokmål, like Danish, has two sets of pronouns: one for persons and one for non-persons[[note]]much like "he"/"she" for persons and "it" for non-persons in English[[/note]]. Nynorsk uses the same set for everything. To Bokmål users, that looks like writing "he" or "she" about a non-person (and having to make sure they use the right grammatical gender, lest they use the wrong pronoun). Nynorsk users get another pronoun they have to remember to use. Nynorsk's system does exist in many Norwegian dialects, but even to people used to hearing such dialects, it may look odd in writing.

* {{Henrik Ibsen}} parodied the efforts in Theatre/PeerGynt.

Although the Scandinavian languages all developed from original norse, the languages of course developed after different lines. Thus, the [[UsefulNotes/{{Sweden}} Swedish]] and [[UsefulNotes/{{Denmark}} Danish languages]] followed the strain called "east nordic", while UsefulNotes/{{Iceland}} and UsefulNotes/FaroeIslands followed the "west nordic". Norway ended up caught almost in between the two, for historical reasons, with a broad variety of dialects. The eastern came to follow the east nordic pattern, while the western came to follow the west nordic one. So far so good. ''But then {{realpolitik}} entered the mix''.

At the same time, other scholars tried to revive the norse language, and argued that a "true Norwegian language" had to be built on norse roots. They went pretty far in their endeavour, but the solution came from another place: A self learned scholar from western Norway had put together a grammar for his particular dialect, and by 1853, he came up with a whole dictionary for the "Norwegian language", containing words from all over the country. From this, he developed a full "country language", as opposed to the Danish sounding "state language". And from now on, the struggle escalated. By 1858, the papers were full of debates on the matter, and this man, Ivar Aasen, defended his prospect, and gained followers, writers from rural areas who saw the opportunity to use a language written closer to their own. A new literature emerged, and Aasen kept on walking the country and editing his grammars as far as he could manage it. He died in 1896, and by now, the matter had become a political significance.

Some meant, like Aasen, that the solution was to ditch Danish completely in favor of the rural mode. Others tried to soften the Danish mode by replacing sounds and some of the more grave grammatical differences. This mode developed into the "book language" of today. The conservative elite, sitting at the universities, and also in high positions, saw with unkind eyes on the linguistic developments, and held back. When the political parties arose, the rural language fighters went to the left, while most of the others went to the right. The Leftists went to elections with a change of language on their bills, and the righters saw with a little fear on a possible alliance with the emerging working class. An offer was made, and by 1906, half of the schools and churches began using the rural mode. The leftists decided not to ally themselves with the Labor party. The most serious political consequence of this came in the spring of 1912, when the prime minister Konow had to resign his post because he had held a speech in the Youth Organization for the "country language", showing endorsement for the language cause. The Right wing immediately withdrew their support for the government, and resignation was the only option.

There are two differences: Pronounciation of certain words, and difference in spelling. To give examples of the word difference:

** ''Dance'' goes ''Danse, danser (present tense), danset (past tense)'' when in moderate Bokmål, while radicals may use ''Danse, danser, dansa (past tense)". Nynorsk goes ''danse, dansar, dansa''.

By 1913, the literary movement had grown, and now the Theatre question was burning hot. A "Norwegian" theatre was established in Oslo, having their first performance in the fall of that year. Tense riots broke out, inside the theatre and out in the streets of the capital. For days. But the Theatre remained, and established themselves for posterity. Although their performance of {{Peer Gynt}} in 1947 sparked new riots and more public debate.

''post war difficulties and the Labor politics''


The Labour Party was the sole ruler of Norway for eighteen years from 1945 to 1963. They also had the reins before the war, and came up with a rather radical "language reform" in 1938, pushing the "city mode" far to the left, and into a more "low caste" territory. This reform was not taken lightly by the old elite, who stubbornly rejected it. During the war, all those questions were ignored, but surfaced again during {{the fifties}}, when parents, mostly from Oslo, campaigned for a more "pure" written mode, and official school books were corrected by parents who saw this reform as base and uncouth. At the same time, the more conservative strain of authors and poets broke off from the Norwegian author assembly to form their own organization. Thus, the Norwegian fifties were a long fight for the "right" way to conjugate nouns of the female gender. Come 1960, the government abandoned this, and the two modes of Norwegian had to find other ways to live their separate lives. Officially, the language struggle was declared dead, and the government would not spend another penny on the subject. But then again, {{not quite dead}} after all.

The right wing parties got the upper hand in the elections of 1981, and they started to slowly turn the written modes of "book language" back to before 1938 before long. Meanwhile, the citizens to the west of the capital fought a long fight for the obliteration of the letter "A" from the area of Majorstua. When they finally succeeded, and the official name was pronounced "Majorstuen", they toasted in champagne. Meanwhile, the push for fewer schools actually educating the rural mode went on. Even today, people strive to change the ending vowel of street names, because they can`t stand the thought of writing the letter A at the end of some words.

* ''Milk'' in English, ''Milch'' in German. In "Book Language" and Danish, it is written ''Melk'', but in "New Norwegian and Swedish it is written ''Mjølk''/''Mjölk'' (which sounds the same). On the grammar side, "The milk" will be "Melken" in conservative "book language", "Melka" in the more radical form, and "Mjølka" in the "New Norwegian". If you dare to write "Mjölken", you are probably Swedish.

* ''Living Room'': "Book Language" has ''Stue'', while the "nynorsk" has ''Stove''. The conservatives use ''stuen'' with a definite article while everybody else probably would say ''stua''. "Nynorsk" variety is ''stova''. Then, a number of dialects use "Stugu" or something like that, to complicate things even more. Hence the problem with the area of Majorstua, where the definite article -a was and is considered rude. Hence also a number of riots for the sake of a vowel.

* ''Boy'': "Book language" will conjugate ''Gutt, gutten, gutter, guttene'', while the form "gutta" (the boys) is used informally over most of the urban areas of the east. Dialecal form are "Guttane", while "new norwegian" uses ''Gut, guten, gutar, gutane''.

** ''Dance'' goes ''Danse, danser (present tense), danset (past tense)'' when in "moderate book language", while radicals may use ''Danse, danser, dansa (past tense)". Nynorsk goes ''danse, dansar, dansa''.

It is actually here the troubles begin for most of normal "book language" readers. Over the centuries, a number of words and expressions came in through the Danish vocabulary, often from the area of the Hansa, who spoke ''plattdütch''. Words beginning with syllables like ''an''- ''be''-, or endings like -''else'' or ''het'' (from German ''-Keit''), was considered loan words, and was actually replaced with words that were in common use. It is easy to produce a list:

* ''Frihet'' is derived from the german ''Freiheit''. The "New Norwegian" uses ''Fridom'', which actually is closer to the English word ''Freedom''.

* Movies made in "New Norwegian" exist, usually when the author uses the language himself. The most used author is Creator/TarjeiVesaas, from Telemark. He has three books adapted for movies, and he took part in the first ones. Story says he had to struggle pretty hard for getting his way on the language side.

* Norwegian movies are more often than not produced with the "book language" as a premise. International dubbing has the same rule. Occasionally, a comical character or a villain may use a dialectal mode. Thus, Sid the giant sloth from the {{Ice Age}} franchise was cast as a generic user of the Bergen dialect. The vikings shown in an {{Asterix}} movie spoke straight "new Norwegian" while the main characters did not. This trick also applies to TV series, where we find a local variety of the American dialectal rule: Every child sounds as if it comes from Oslo, [[TheKidsAreAmerican while their parents use dialects]].

* When Film/TheHobbit was to be shown for a Norwegian market, the texting bureau had two translations to choose from, the "book language" one, and a "new Norwegian" one. The Movie company actually purchased the rights to both, and abandoned the rural mode completely. Thus, the language struggle spilled over to a decision made far outside Norwegian borders, at the offices of {{MGM}}. It raised some debate in Norway. Hilarity ensues when the "New Norwegian" translator actually is credited at the end of the film, in spite of not having a single word translated in it...

* Disney/{{Frozen}} had the Norwegian version dubbing the entire troll clan in the "New Norwegian" mode, with their own song to boot (''needs a little fixer upper...'').

* On the comic book side, the most known controversy was the {{Carl Barks}} story ''Lost in the Andes'', which translated the Corn Pone mode of the Square People into an older variety of the "new Norwegian". This raised a heated public debate, because some people were offended by it. It calmed down, but the story became especially loved because of this language trait (Rutt Betler, the "fessah" from Alabama was translated as coming from the area of Voss, known for a strong use of the rural language even today). "New Norwegian" seems to thrive in the Norwegian comic book market, with a lot of users making new material.
** This fact, and the ''Frozen'' incident mentioned above, led to some people honestly asking whether "new Norwegian" always had to be set aside for the funny characters, the non human sidekicks, the weird ethnic groups, or even the villains. The story, it seems, is not over yet.

'''The Norwegian Language Struggle''' is a concept seemingly very particular for the Norwegian nation, although "language struggles" elsewhere are to be found, like the gaelic question in {{Ireland}}, or the struggle for minority languages in suppressed cultures all over the world. Although the Norwegian situation is less violent than most (South Africa being one of the most aggravating examples of this), it came to blows at some points, and at least one prime minister had to resign over the issue (in 1913).

Although the Scandinavian languages all developed from original norse, the languages of course developed after different lines. Thus, the Swedish and Danish languages followed the strain called "east nordic", while Iceland and the Faroe Island followed the "west nordic". Norway ended up caught almost in between the two, for historical reasons, with a broad variety of dialects. The eastern came to follow the east nordic pattern, while the western came to follow the west nordic one. So far so good. ''But then {{realpolitik}} entered the mix''.

* Disney/{{Frozen}} had the Norwegian version dubbing the entire troll clan in the "New Norwegian" mode, with their own song to boot (''needs a little fixing up...'')

* Film/{{Frozen}} had the Norwegian version dubbing the entire troll clan in the "New Norwegian" mode, with their own song to boot (''needs a little fixing up...'')

* Norwegian movies are more often than not produced with the "book language" as a premise. International dubbing has the same rule. Occasionally, a comical character or a villain may use a dialectal mode. Thus, the Sid the giant sloth from the {{Ice Age}} franchise was cast as a generic user of the Bergen dialect. The vikings shown in an {{Asterix}} movie spoke straight "new Norwegian" while the main characters did not. This trick also applies to TV series, where we find a local variety of the American dialectal rule: Every child sounds as if it comes from Oslo, [[TheKidsAreAmerican while their parents use dialects]].

* When Film/TheHobbit was to be shown for a Norwegian market, the texting bureau had two translations to choose from, the "book language" one, and a "new Norwegian" one. The Movie company actually purchased the rights to both, and abandoned the rural mode completely. Thus, the language struggle spilled over to a decision made far outside Norwegian borders, at the offices of {{MGM}}. It raised some debate in Norway.

Some meant, like Aasen, that the solution was to ditch Danish completely in favor of the rural mode. Others tried to soften the Danish mode by replacing sounds and some of the more grave grammatical differences. This mode developed into the "book language" of today. The conservative elite, sitting at the universities, and also in high positions, saw with unkind eyes on the linguistic developments, and held back. When the political parties arose, the rural language fighters went to the left, while most of the others went to the right. The Leftists went to elections with a change of language on their bills, and the righters saw with a little fear on a possible alliance with the emerging working class. An offer was made, and by 1906, half of the schools and churches began using the rural mode. The leftists decided not to ally themselves with the Labor party.

By 1913, the literary movement had grown, and now the Theatre question was burning hot. A "Norwegian" theatre was established in Oslo, having their first performance in the fall of that year. Tense riots broke out, inside the theatre and out in the streets of the capital. For days. This matter was pressing the government, who eventually resigned. But the Theatre remained, and established themselves for posterity. Although their performance of {{Peer Gynt}} in 1947 sparked new riots and more public debate.

* Movies made in "New Norwegian" exist, usually when the author uses the language himself. The most used author is creator/TarjeiVesaas, from Telemark. He has three books adapted for movies, and he took part in the first ones. Story says he had to struggle pretty hard for getting his way on the language side.

* Norwegian movies are more often than not produced with the "book language" as a premise. International dubbing has the same rule. Occasionally, a comical character or a villain may use a dialectal mode. Thus, the Sid the giant sloth from the {{Ice Age}} franchise was cast as a generic user of the Bergen dialect. The vikings shown in an {{Asterix}} movie spoke straight "new Norwegian" while the main characters did not. This trick also applies to TV series, where we find a local variety of the American dialectal rule: Every child sounds as if it comes from Oslo, [[AllChildrenAreAmerican while their parents use dialects]].

* Author and poet Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson discussed it, and ended up on an anti farmer statement late i life.

* Norwegian movies are more often than not produced with the "book language" as a premise. International dubbing has the same rule. Occasionally, a comical character or a villain may use a dialectal mode. Thus, the Sid the giant sloth from the {{Ice Age}} franchise was cast as a generic user of the Bergen dialect. The vikings shown in an {{Asterix}} movie spoke straight "new Norwegian" while the main characters did not. This trick also applies to TV series, where we find a local variety of the American dialectal rule: Every child sounds as if it comes from Oslo, while their parents use dialects.

Movies made in "New Norwegian" exist, usually when the author uses the language himself. The most used author is creator/TarjeiVesaas, from Telemark. He has three books adapted for movies, and he took part in the first ones. Story says he had to struggle pretty hard for getting his way on the language side.

During the fifties and sixties, Norwegian movie makers were prone to make movies with commoners and workers as protagonists. In those cases, they uses their dialects, while the antagonists spoke "dignified". This spille over to radicalism, as the same would happen when the producers had a radical point of view. Today, this is mostly abandoned. {{The Olsen Gang}} movies in Norwegian use this principle to a T, with the antagonists living outside the law, on the east side of town, and speaks rather broadly, while the police uses the dignified mode.

Norwegian movies are more often than not produced with the "book language" as a premise. International dubbing has the same rule. Occasionally, a comical character or a villain may use a dialectal mode. Thus, the Sid the giant sloth from the {{Ice Age}} franchise was cast as a generic user of the Bergen dialect. The vikings shown in an {{Asterix}} movie spoke straight "new Norwegian" while the main characters did not. This trick also applies to TV series, where we find a local variety of the American dialectal rule: Every child sounds as if it comes from Oslo, while their parents use dialects.

When Film/TheHobbit was to be shown for a Norwegian market, the texting bureau had two translations to choose from, the "book language" one, and a "new Norwegian" one. The Movie company actually purchased the rights to both, and abandoned the rural mode completely. Thus, the language struggle spilled over to a decision made far outside Norwegian borders, at the offices of {{MGM}}. It raised some debate in Norway.

On the comic book side, the most known controversy was the {{Carl Barks}} story ''Lost in the Andes'', which translated the Corn Pone mode of the Square People into an older variety of the "new Norwegian". This raised a heated public debate, because some people were offended by it. It calmed down, but the story became especially loved because of this language trait (Rutt Betler, the "fessah" from Alabama was translated as coming from the area of Voss, known for a strong use of the rural language even today). "New Norwegian" seems to thrive in the Norwegian comic book market, with a lot of users making new material.

When Film/TheHobbit was to be shown for a Norwegian market, the texting bureau had two translations to choose from, the "book language" one, and a "new Norwegian" one. The Movie company actually purchased the rights to both, and abandoned the rural mode completely. Thus, the language struggle spilled over to a decision made far outside Norwegian borders, at offices of {{MGM}}. It raised some debate in Norway.

When Film/TheHobbit was to be shown for a Norwegian market, the texting bureau had two translations to choose from, the "book language" one, and a "new Norwegian". The Movie company actually purchased the rights to both, and abandoned the rural mode completely. Thus, the languge struggle spilled over to a decision made far outside Norwegian borders, at offices of {{Metro-Goldwyn-Meyer}}. And it raised some debate in Norway.

Just to make a few samples of differences that seem to be pretty small. But in Norway, this is {{serious business}}, and we have people who claim to not understand a text written in one way and not the other. The difference may boil down to a vowel or a difthong, and the struggle goes on.

In Norway, a speech pattern that in some ways resembled the Danish was considered "dignified". This came in use in the upper classes, mostly by merchants and officials, priests and lawmen. In time, this "educated" class, who actually ruled the country, had the power of definition in the question of language as well. "Dignified" in Norway is often translated as "Danified", even today, although Norwegians are not consciously aware of it. For the dignified group, it was a challenge to even see a dialectal phrase in writing or print.

By 1913, the literary movement had grown, and now the Theatre question was burning hot. A "Norwegian" theatre was established in Oslo, having their first performance in the fall of that year. Tense riots broke out, inside the theatre and out in the streets of the capital. For days. This matter was pressing the government, who eventually resigned. But the Theatre remained, and established themselves for posterity. Although their performance of {{Peer Gynt}} in 1947 sparked new riots and more public debate.

The common language in the eastern parts of Norway was considered rude by the better off people, and some of them actually tried to pay off kids to speak more "proper". This happened many places in those years. To see the same expression in print was even worse for them.

The rural mode was the language of commoners, farmers and workers. It was interpreted that way, and the elite saw it as such. The common policy has been to suppress it, often by economical means, and thus the support has dwindled over the years. But the hard core is staunch, defending it as a language for newspapers, literature and art. Strong cultural personalities have exasperated themselves on this matter on both sides, and politicians have broken their teeth on it. Up to this very day, when the conjugation of nouns and verbs are the most favorite Norwegian subject, besides the subject of weather.

Through {{the middle ages}}, the three countries all had their specific written languages. The differences began to emerge some time during the 1200s, and became more apparent during the next century. The Norse language had a full case system, personal conjugation of verbs and three genders. While the Norwegians and Swedes were slow to change, Danish collapsed more rapidly, and the patterns was most simplified there. And though the three nations went into political union from 1397, they all had their own mode of writing and expression. The Norwegian mode was apparently in use up to about 1530. After this point, all written texts in Norway war written in Danish.