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Riksmål is an unofficial variant of written Norwegian language as well as a common denominator for several Norwegian spoken dialects. The name "Riksmål", meaning "National Language" or "State Language", was suggested by Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson in 1899. Previously, it was known under several different names, including "Dano-Norwegian", "(our) mother tongue" and descriptive phrases like "our common literary language".

Up to 1907 written Riksmål was virtually identical to written Danish, but since the middle of the 19th century, Norwegian authors had started using a somewhat Norwegianized syntax and some Norwegian vocabulary. The two spelling reforms in 1907 and 1917 brought written Riksmål closer to spoken Dano-Norwegian, as previously proposed by Knud Knudsen.

Riksmål was an official written Norwegian language until 1929, when Parliament changed its name to Bokmål, and subsequently in 1938 embarked upon a series of spelling reforms, originally aimed at creating a common written language (see Samnorsk), and in later years to some extent aimed at quelling dissatisfaction about previous reforms. The spelling reforms shaping the Bokmål written standard have thus over time been influenced by evolving and contradictive political objectives. While the spelling reform of 1917 was gradually widely accepted, the reform of 1938 met with unsubdued resistance from large numbers of Riksmål users, and the Norwegian Academy for Language and Literature was established to advocate traditional written Riksmål in defiance of governmental control over language issues. Through the state education monopoly, Bokmål has since WWII influenced Riksmål usage, leading to a gradual acceptance of many Bokmål features. Meanwhile, widespread reactions against the compulsory dissemination of radical Bokmål (or Samnorsk) forced the authorities to withdraw the most offensive features of Bokmål through newer reforms. These developments have greatly reduced the level of linguistic conflict, resulting in a rapprochement between the two forms of written Norwegian.

Riksmål and conservative versions of Bokmål have been the de facto standard written language of Norway for most of the 20th century, being used by large newspapers, encyclopedias, and a significant proportion of the population of the capital Oslo, surrounding areas, and other urban areas, as well as much of the literary tradition. Since the reforms of 1981 and 2003 (effective in 2005), the official Bokmål can be adapted to be almost identical with modern Riksmål. The differences between written Riksmål and Bokmål are today comparable to Commonwealth English vs American English.

Under the Norwegian Academy, written Riksmål has gone through some spelling reforms, none of which have been as far-reaching as the concurrent reforms having shaped the written standard Bokmål. Since many of the reforms originally introduced in Bokmål have since been reversed, the emerging result is a considerable possible overlap between the two written standards. While contemporary written Riksmål in its most moderate form may be virtually indiscernable from Bokmål in its most conservative form, traditional Riksmål stands out among the living Norwegian languages as being the only one best classified as an East Scandinavian (East Nordic) Germanic language.

Background: Danish Domination

The Black Death (the plague) came to Norway in 1349 AD. As much as one third of the population may have died in the course of two or three years. Being a contagious disease, the Black Death ravaged more seriously where population was dense, which was in the towns. Populations in valleys, in mountainous areas and on remote farms had a lower death rate. Most of the survivors were agrarian people with little or no education. Highly educated city dwellers; the clergy, the literati — the administrative classes of society — suffered a higher percentage of the casualties. With this segment diminished, Old Norse as a literary language and an upholder of high culture lost ground and was superseded by Swedish and Danish, with abundant lingustic loans from Low German. Old Norse survived as a literary language only in Iceland, where it evolved into modern Icelandic.

The Black Death thus ended an era, and it also heralded the end of Norwegian independence. When the Norwegian King Haakon VI died in 1380, his son Olav IV united the thrones of Norway and Denmark, because Haakon's Queen Margrethe I, born princess of Denmark, had succeeded in making Olav heir to the Danish throne as well. This marked the beginning of various unions between the Scandinavian countries, Norway invariably being the weaker and exploited part. The Kalmar Union (1397-1521) united all three kingdoms, and Norway remained in a union with Denmark when Sweden broke out. There were innumerable other ties through marriage and inheritance among the nobles of the three countries, amongst which Norway more and more found herself recruiting from abroad to compensate for the vacuum caused by the Black Death.

In a deal struck between Christian III of Denmark and Norway and the Danish council in 1536 the Norwegian council was abolished — without being consulted. Although Norway nominally remained a separate kingdom for the duration of the union with Denmark until its dissolution in 1814, it was for all practical purposes completely integrated into the dual monarchy of Denmark-Norway, centrally administered from the capital Copenhagen. Following the contemporary Reformation, the Catholic Church disappeared as the most important national institution. Its successor was a Lutheran Church conducting its services in Danish, based on a Danish translation of the Bible. The courts of law would for some time uphold the use of a much corrupted version of Norwegian, delivering judgments according to law texts written in Old Norse. But as the old law texts became less and less legible to the officials of the judiciary, they were first locally translated into Danish and eventually in 1687 replaced with the revised Norwegian Law Book of King Christian V, printed in Danish.

During the 400 year period of Danish administration and influence, numerous Danes migrated to Norway as officials, merchants and skilled workers. Norwegians in their turn had to travel to the capital Copenhagen to study or to further their careers, as the dual monarchy had a centralized administration, and the only university was in the capital. All clergy of the Lutheran church were either born in or educated in Denmark, and the Bible was only translated into Danish. For these reasons, Norwegian quickly disappeared as a written language. It survived only as spoken dialects, evolving in separate directions, all under heavy influence and pressure from Danish. In 1610, records show that common people speaking dialects assumed to be closest to Old Norse (on the Northwestern coast, midway between Bergen and Trondheim) were no longer able to understand spoken Icelandic.

Among government officials and the higher bourgeoisie a Dano-Norwegian spoken language became the norm; i.e. Danish with a Norwegianized phonology, and to a somewhat lesser degree Norwegian vocabulary and syntax thrown in. Danish language at first had scant influence on the rural Norwegian dialects, but alongside and aided by a gradual increase in popular literacy some Danish traits eventually found their way into all dialects, as all books and writings were in Danish, and as Danish or Dano-Norwegian was heard from the pulpits and sung in the churches.

Language Reform 1907-1958

At the reemergence of Norway as an independent state in 1814, the written language in Norway thus was Danish, though it was labeled Dano-Norwegian in Norway and Danish in Denmark. In a period of increasing nationalism, the lack of a national language was by ardent patriots seen as a disgrace. The discrepancy between the spoken language of the Norwegian bourgeoisie and the written norm was substantial, and there was wide agreement that reform was needed.

After some time of debate in and outside the Parliament, that forum in 1907 passed a moderate language reform including both spelling and grammar bringing the written norm closer to the spoken language. One prominent educator pronounced that the aim of spelling reforms should be "to adjust the written language to the vernacular of the polite classes". This was a popular notion among the bourgeoisie (looking upon themselves as the "polite classes") of the time and is the objective of the Riksmål movement today. The National Language was not anymore labeled Dano-Norwegian; it had acquired a status of a national language pertaining to Norway alone and was thus given the name Riksmål (directly translated "National Language" or "State Language"). In 1917 came yet another language reform, passed through parliamentary channels. The aim of bringing the written language adjacent to the spoken language of the bourgeoisie had been completed. The name of this language was still Riksmål. With some minor adjustments, this is the norm of writing used by Riksmål-adherents today.

The early 19th century saw the emergence of a nationalist movement romanticizing the old Norwegian culture and language that was seen as having survived in an unbroken tradition among countryside people, i.e. the vast majority of Norwegians. The rich cultural and intellectual life in the countryside and the relative freedom of Norwegian farmers at the time aided in the momentum of this movement. Several scholars advocated the creation of a Norwegian written language based on the Norwegian spoken languages. After crisscrossing Norway for four years the linguist Ivar Aasen issued his first publication advocating this concept in 1848. Following further research into Norwegian dialects a written norm mainly based on the dialects of Western Norway, the interior of Eastern Norway, Trøndelag and the southern part of Nordland was promulgated. Norse was looked to for reference where a common solutions for a written norm based on these dialects were hard to come by. Landsmål (directly translated "Country Language" or "Countryside Language") received equal status to Riksmål by an act of Parliament in 1885. The Landsmål, which as a standard was closer to Icelandic and Faeroese than to Danish, also endured various spelling and grammar reforms prior to 1917. In 1929 the names of Riksmål and Landsmål were changed to Bokmål and Nynorsk by parliament (the option "Dano-Norwegian" and "Norwegian" lost by one vote).

The 1938 language reform act meant the end to the official status of both Riksmål and Landsmål. The attempted transformation of the two Norwegian languages was violent and excessive both in direction and in extent. As for the direction, it was for the two languages Riksmål and Landsmål mutually opposite; they were redesigned to meet each other half way. The aim of the time was that in the near future, there would be only one Norwegian language, and that this would be accomplished through repeated language reforms.

The schools gradually started to teach the new Bokmål language, but few textbooks were available intially. The full effect of the reform was not felt until the post-war years, with the appearance of new text-books and a more radical enforcement by the educational authorities. Sigurd Hoel: "Sprogkampen i Norge - en kriminalfortelling", Aschehoug / Riksmålsforbundet, Oslo, 1955 Leif Wærenskiold: "Vi finner oss ikke i det", Riksmålsforbundet, Oslo, 1964 After WWII, the government broadcasting monopoly NRK started introducing Bokmål pronunciation in their broadcasts. Street signs also went down in every city. New ones with the new spelling came up.

A key word to the new era was AN-BE-HET-ELSE. These were suffixes and affixes in Riksmål derived from Danish. Primary schools teachers were encouraged to correct the pupils every time they used any word containing AN, BE, HET or ELSE. In this way, many abstract words formed using these suffixes were sent into oblivion and the replacement provided were more often than not concretes. Another feature of the new Bokmål language was the introduction of widespread use of the feminine gender. In Riksmål, the feminine gender existed to add flavor to the spoken tongue; it indicated vulgarism, humor and informality. Now it became obligatory, lest the pupils should see their grades lowered.

The Quisling administration contributed a spelling reform of its own, firmly embracing the Samnorsk though with one or two peculiarities added, a reform that found itself promptly annulled by first peacetime government, along with most new legislation during the German occupation.

In the fifties, a large scale reaction occurred against the further twisting of Bokmål in direction of Nynorsk among parents of grammar school students. The movement was named "Parents Movement Against Linguistic Unification" (‘’Foreldreaksjonen mot Samnorsk’’) and gained quite some momentum. Partly due to this popular movement, partly due to widespread dissatisfaction elsewhere in society, yet another language reform act was passed by Parliament in 1958. This act was partly a reversal of the 1938 act. Many forms previously banned when Riksmål turned into Bokmål were now again allowed as "optional side forms". The reaction had won a great victory. New minor scale acts were subsequently passed in the beginning of the eighties, allowing greater freedom in the use of the optional side forms. The attitude of the teaching profession nevertheless remained hostile towards Riksmål throughout.

The Situation Today

After the 1938 reform act, the adherents of Riksmål revived the Norwegian Academy for Language and Literature, an NGO, in order to combat the reforms. The Norwegian Academy in years to follow reprinted and expanded a six-volume Riksmål dictionary from an edition dating back to the thirties, and in the eighties edited yet a smaller one-volume desktop dictionary with newer terms from science and technology incorporated. The Parliament appoints members to sit in the State Language Council, a forum where the Norwegian Academy is represented, though it constitutes a minority. The State Language Council regularly passes revisions to Bokmål and Nynorsk. In practice, the Norwegian Academy has little influence over Council decisions. The following two revisions by the Council need mention:

  • New way of counting

Riksmål counts like in German; two-and-sixty, four-and-twenty, three-and-thirty et cetera. Now the official Bokmål way of counting is like in English and Swedish; sixty-four, twenty-four, thirty-three et cetera. Cardinal numbers 1-99 in Riksmål and Bokmål contrasted. Ordinal numbers 1-99 in Riksmål and Bokmål contrasted

  • New way of reading fractions

In Riksmål, 1/3 and 1/4 are read as "one third part" and "one fourth part". Now the officially preferred Bokmål way of reading these fractions is supposed to be "one three part" and "one four part". This reform has little basis in the spoken or written language, nor is it etymologically justified.

The present-day linguistic division in Norway is foremostly a division between descendants of Danes having immigrated to Norway following the Black Death on the one hand and descendants of survivors of the Black Death amongst the original Norwegian population on the other I. Holst: The Norwegian National Language - a brief historical survey [http://www.holst.no/Ingar.Holst.Publishing.Co/irregular-papers/irr1a.html. Originally thus an ethnic division, it is today mostly a regional one, and after generations of social democratic economic levelling in the 20th century to a lesser degree a social one. The popular dialects in the principal cities (Oslo, Bergen, Trondheim - "Trondhjem" in Riksmål) are still classified as Norwegian, but heavily influenced by the socially more prestigious Dano-Norwegian of the former elite, whose distinct language is closer to traditional written Riksmål and in its pure form almost exclusively limited to certain boroughs of the three aforementioned urban centres. Although modern Riksmål has absorbed many Norwegian features, amongst which the phonological system is the most prominent, it may still be considered fundamentally a Danish language . Modern spoken Riksmål is furthermore more and more developing into a vernacular, where its speakers will find themselves writing in Bokmål (or even Nynorsk). In this way, Riksmål is more and more finding its place as only one of the many spoken Norwegian dialects, whose speakers have long been accustomed to substantial discrepancy between how they themselves speak and how they are expected to write. Riksmål is to a lesser and lesser extent used as a literary language and living influential Riksmål writers may now be counted on one hand.

Riksmål Literature

The following are some well-known Riksmål authors, poets and playwrights:

Dialect groups

Riksmål counts three major dialects; Eastern Riksmål, Bergen Riksmål and Finnmark Riksmål, and several minor dialect areas, out of which Southern Riksmål and Trondhjem Riksmål are the two largest. Two important features of all Riksmål dialects are on one hand their discrete and narrow distribution and on the other hand their sharp isomorphic and isoglossal delimitation affronting surrounding West Nordic (West Scandinavian) Norwegian languages, which between themselves show more indistinct boundaries.

  • Eastern Riksmål

The Eastern Riksmål dialect is the largest, the most influential and the one most discretely distributed, being made up of more than a dozen pockets throughout Østlandet, from Hamar in the northeast to Kragerø in the southwest, the largest pocket being a continuous area comprising the western boroughs of the capital Oslo and the greater part of the neighbouring municipality Bærum.

  • Bergen Riksmål

The dialect in Bergen traditionally regarded as Riksmål is generically different from the Eastern dialect, but its classification as a Riksmål dialect may be justified as its speakers will themselves refer to their dialect as Riksmål, as its speakers will to a considerable extent embrace the Riksmål written standard and because this dialect morphologically has evolved in a direction bringing it close to the Eastern dialect. The Bergen Riksmål dialect is the largest among the Riksmål dialects being bounded inside what is in effect only one geographical pocket.

  • Finnmark Riksmål

The Finnmark Riksmål dialect is generically an offspring of the Eastern dialect.

  • Southern Riksmål

The Southern Riksmål dialect is found on the southern coast from the start of the uvular /r/ area in the east to the end of the level stress area in the west, the largest number of speakers living in Kristiansand.

References:

Norwegian language

Riksmål | נורבגית מדינתית | Riksmål | Riksmål | Riksmål

 

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "Riksmål".

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