Norwegian spelling (was RE: English Spelling)

From: Karlsson Kent - keka ([email protected])
Date: Fri Dec 10 1999 - 18:44:28 EST


> From: Frank da Cruz [mailto:[email protected]]

> I think there is one case on record where reform pretty much replaced the
> old with the new -- in Norway in the last century.

Well, I'm not Norwegian, but not far from...

Not counting "dialects" (whatever that is), there are two Norwegian
languages:

- Bokm�l (norsk): written (nearly?) like Danish, but is pronounced quite
  differently from Danish. Bokm�l is the most commonly used language
  in (southern?) Norway.

- Nynorsk (New Norwegian): this language is an artificial composition
  from a number of west Norwegian dialects. It is not as common
  as Bokm�l, but not uncommon still. It has a different pronunciation
  and spelling compared to Bokm�l. See http://www.nynorsk.no/
  (in Nynorsk, of course), more links under "Peikarar". You can download
  a program that converts text in Bokm�l to the corresponding
  text in Nynorsk (see under "Nynorske dataprogram").

All governmental documents, if I'm correctly informed, are produced
both in Bokm�l and Nynorsk. Nynorsk is sometimes used in television
programs (news mostly, I think). Nynorsk is taught in all Norwegian
schools, but it is not replacing Bokm�l as the mostly used kind
of Norwegian.

Anyone from Norway, please correct any misunderstandings of mine!

        /kent k



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