Norwegian

Where it’s spoken

Norwegian is the official language of Norway. It uniquely has two written standards: Bokmål (“book language,” derived from Danish) and Nynorsk (“new Norwegian,” constructed from rural dialects). Spoken Norwegian is dialect-diverse with no single official spoken standard. Norwegian-American communities concentrate in Minnesota, Wisconsin, and the Dakotas.

What it sounds like

Like Swedish, Norwegian has pitch accent in most dialects, distinguishing word pairs by tonal contour. The vowel inventory is rich. The “skj” and “kj” sounds are distinctive, and many speakers use a uvular “r” in the south and west.

How it’s written

Both Bokmål and Nynorsk use the Latin alphabet plus æ, ø, and å. Bokmål is used by about 85–90% of Norwegians; Nynorsk is mandatory in some western municipalities and required as a secondary subject in schools.

History

Norwegian was largely displaced by Danish during the 400-year union with Denmark (1380–1814). Bokmål evolved from Danish-Norwegian written usage; Nynorsk was constructed by Ivar Aasen in the 1850s from western Norwegian dialects to recreate a distinctively Norwegian written form.