Information about Nynorsk

Norwegian norsk
Spoken in:	Norway (including Svalbard and Jan Mayen) and some parts of United States and Canada
Total speakers:	6.3 million
Ranking:	111
Language family:	}}}  Germanic   North Germanic    West Scandinavian[1]     Norwegian}}}
Official status
Official language of:	Norway Nordic Council
Regulated by:	Norwegian Language Council
Language codes
ISO 639-1:	no — Norwegian nb — Bokml nn — Nynorsk
ISO 639-2:	nor — Norwegian nob — Bokml nno — Nynorsk
ISO 639-3:	variously: nor — Norwegian nob —  nno —

Nynorsk (lit. "New Norwegian") is one of the two official written standards of the Norwegian language, the other being Bokmål. Just above 10% of the Norwegian population use Nynorsk as their primary written language.^[2]

Nynorsk is based on Norwegian dialects and was created by Ivar Aasen during the 1800s to provide a Norwegian alternative to the Danish language (upon which Bokmål is based) which was commonly written in Norway at the time.

In writing and speech

Spoken Norwegian, Swedish and Danish form a continuum of mutually intelligible dialects and sociolects, linguistically speaking forming a common continental Scandinavian language. Nynorsk is the smallest of the four major written standards within this broad speech community alongside Norwegian Bokmål, Swedish and Danish.

There is no codified standard for spoken Nynorsk, but it is used in broadcasting, on stage, and by a few individuals. This in contrast to Bokmål, which has a larger spoken basis in Standard Østnorsk. However, most Norwegians do not speak Standard Østnorsk, but other Norwegian dialects. Nynorsk supporters widely regard these dialects as the spoken basis for Nynorsk, even if the majority of dialect speakers use Bokmål in writing. As such, Nynorsk is not a minority language, though it shares many of the problems that minority languages face.

Each municipality can declare one of the two languages as its official language, or it can remain "language neutral". 27% of the municipalities making up 12% of the population have declared Nynorsk as their official language. The main language used in primary schools normally follows the official language of its municipality, and is decided by referendum within the local school district. There is a general trend over the years that the number of schools and pupils selecting Nynorsk decreases, even in Nynorsk municipalities. At present (2006), fewer than 14% of pupils in primary school are taught in Nynorsk.<ref name="NLC" />

The prevailing regions for Nynorsk are the western counties of Rogaland, Hordaland, Sogn og Fjordane and Møre og Romsdal, in addition to the western/northern parts of Oppland, Buskerud, Telemark, Aust- and Vest-Agder, where an estimated 50% of the population writes Nynorsk. The usage in the rest of Norway is scarce (< 1%), which also includes the major cities and urban areas - even in the above stated areas.

See Also

• Bokmål
• Norwegian language struggle

References

External links

• Noregs Mållag Noregs Mållag is the major organization promoting Nynorsk.
• Norsk Målungdom Norsk Målungdom is Noregs Mållag's youth organization.
• Ivar Aasen-tunet The Ivar Aasen Centre is a national centre for documenting and experiencing the Nynorsk written culture, and the only museum in the country devoted to Ivar Aasen's life and work.
• Norsk programvareblogg - Collection of computer programmes in Nynorsk

•  • [ e] Norwegian language
Norwegian language struggle
Landsml | Hgnorsk | Nynorsk | Samnorsk | Bokml | Riksml | Dano-Norwegian
Norwegian Language Council | Norwegian Academy | Noregs Mllag | Riksmlsforbundet | Norwegian dialects
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