Dano-Norwegian (
Danish and no, dansk-norsk) was a
koiné/
mixed language that evolved among the urban elite in Norwegian cities during the later years of the union between the
Kingdoms of Denmark and Norway (1536/1537–1814). It is from this koiné that the unoffical written standard
Riksmål and the official written standard
Bokmål
Bokmål () (, ; ) is an official written standard for the Norwegian language, alongside Nynorsk. Bokmål is the preferred written standard of Norwegian for 85% to 90% of the population in Norway. Unlike, for instance, the Italian language, there ...
developed. Bokmål is now the most widely used written standard of contemporary Norwegian.
History
As a spoken language
During the period when Norway was in a union with Denmark, Norwegian writing died out and
Danish became the language of the literate class in
Norway
Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of ...
. At first, Danish was used primarily in writing; later it came to be spoken on formal or official occasions; and by the time Norway's ties with Denmark were severed in 1814, a Dano-Norwegian vernacular often called the "cultivated everyday speech" had become the mother tongue of parts of the urban elite. This new Dano-Norwegian koiné could be described as Danish with Norwegian pronunciation, some Norwegian vocabulary, and some minor grammatical differences from Danish.
As a written language
In the late middle ages and early modern age, the Scandinavian languages went through great changes, as they were influenced in particular by Low German. Written
Danish language
Danish (; , ) is a North Germanic language spoken by about six million people, principally in and around Denmark. Communities of Danish speakers are also found in Greenland, the Faroe Islands, and the northern German region of Southern Schl ...
mostly found its modern form in the 17th century, based on the vernacular of the educated classes of
Copenhagen. At the time, Copenhagen was the capital of
Denmark–Norway, and Danish was used as an official written language in Norway at the time of the dissolution of the Dano-Norwegian union in 1814. In Norway it was generally referred to as Norwegian, particularly after the dissolution of the Dano-Norwegian union.
During the 19th century, spoken Dano-Norwegian language gradually came to incorporate more of Norwegian vocabulary and grammar. At the start of the 20th century, written Dano-Norwegian was mostly identical with written Danish, with only minor differences, such as some additional Norwegian vocabulary in Dano-Norwegian. In 1907 and 1917, spelling and grammar reforms brought the written language closer to the spoken koiné (Dano-Norwegian). Based on the Danish model, the Dano-Norwegian language in Norway was referred to as Rigsmål, later spelled
Riksmål, from the late 19th century, and this name was officially adopted in the early 20th century. In 1929, the name Riksmål was officially changed to
Bokmål
Bokmål () (, ; ) is an official written standard for the Norwegian language, alongside Nynorsk. Bokmål is the preferred written standard of Norwegian for 85% to 90% of the population in Norway. Unlike, for instance, the Italian language, there ...
after a proposition to use the name ''dansk-norsk'' lost with a single vote in the
Lagting (a chamber in the
Norwegian parliament).
In the mid-19th century, a new written language,
Landsmål, based on selected rural Norwegian dialects, was launched as an alternative to Dano-Norwegian, but it did not replace the existing written language. Landsmål, renamed
Nynorsk
Nynorsk () () is one of the two written standards of the Norwegian language, the other being Bokmål. From 12 May 1885, it became the state-sanctioned version of Ivar Aasen's standard Norwegian language ( no, Landsmål) parallel to the Dano-No ...
, is currently used by around 12% of the population, mostly in western Norway; it had reached its height in the 1940s. The
Norwegian language conflict is an ongoing controversy within Norwegian culture and politics related to these two official versions of the Norwegian language.
Modern developments
Nowadays, the term Bokmål officially refers only to the ''written'' language of that name (and possibly to its use in the media, by actors etc.). There are, however, a number of spoken varieties of Norwegian that are close or largely identical
to written Bokmål, sometimes even in a conservative form similar to historical Dano-Norwegian - notably, the higher
sociolect in
Oslo and in other cities in
Eastern Norway. A socially less distinct variety known as (
Standard East Norwegian) is increasingly becoming the standard spoken language of a growing part of Eastern Norway. Colloquially, the latter form is also called ''the Oslo dialect'', which is misleading since the Oslo dialect predates the Dano-Norwegian koiné, and though both influenced by and partially replaced by , it is still in use, and since the koiné language is not a dialect. Over the years the spoken Dano-Norwegian standard and its successors, on the one hand, and
Modern Norwegian dialects on the other hand have influenced each other. Nowadays, no clear dividing line can be drawn between the two.
The term ''Dano-Norwegian'' is seldom used with reference to contemporary
Bokmål
Bokmål () (, ; ) is an official written standard for the Norwegian language, alongside Nynorsk. Bokmål is the preferred written standard of Norwegian for 85% to 90% of the population in Norway. Unlike, for instance, the Italian language, there ...
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 ''state language'' and ''literary language'' respectively). The debate intensified with the advent of a new Norwegian written language in the 19th century, now known as
Nynorsk
Nynorsk () () is one of the two written standards of the Norwegian language, the other being Bokmål. From 12 May 1885, it became the state-sanctioned version of Ivar Aasen's standard Norwegian language ( no, Landsmål) parallel to the Dano-No ...
, which is 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 Riksmål/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 association to be offensive, and it is therefore mainly confined to the Nynorsk-supporting side of heated discussions.
See also
*
Gøtudanskt
*
Svorsk
Svorsk () or Svorska () is a portmanteau of '' svensk(a)'' 'Swedish' and '' norsk(a)'' 'Norwegian' to describe a mixture of the Swedish and Norwegian languages.
The term ''svorsk'' is used to describe the language of someone (almost exclusively ...
Notes
{{Germanic languages
Norwegian language
Danish language
Denmark–Norway