AHC: Nynorsk wins
- Thread starter Otto Kretschmer
- Start date
My understanding is that the current status of Nynorsk as a minority language in most of Norway save West Norway is a consequence of deep-seated changes long predating the 19th century. The varieties of Norwegian spoke in the east of the country, the demographic core of Norway, happened to be very deeply influenced by the long period of union with relatively wealthier and more powerful Denmark. Absent the Danish union, I would bet most Norwegians would speak Nynorsk.
Figure 1: Distribution of the written language forms Bokmål and Nynorsk...
Download scientific diagram | Distribution of the written language forms Bokmål and Nynorsk across the Norwegian municipalities (as of 2007; source: Bokmål-Wikipedia on “Norsk”) and of the four large dialect groups of spoken Norwegian. from publication: Culture or language: What drives effects...
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My understanding is that the current status of Nynorsk as a minority language in most of Norway save West Norway is a consequence of deep-seated changes long predating the 19th century. The varieties of Norwegian spoke in the east of the country, the demographic core of Norway, happened to be very deeply influenced by the long period of union with relatively wealthier and more powerful Denmark. Absent the Danish union, I would bet most Norwegians would speak Nynorsk.
Figure 1: Distribution of the written language forms Bokmål and Nynorsk...
Download scientific diagram | Distribution of the written language forms Bokmål and Nynorsk across the Norwegian municipalities (as of 2007; source: Bokmål-Wikipedia on “Norsk”) and of the four large dialect groups of spoken Norwegian. from publication: Culture or language: What drives effects...
View attachment 651263
Unlikely while Østnorsk did get more influence by Danish, it was already a dialect closer related to Danish and Swedish before the union. The real battlefield between Bokmål and Nynorsk was Trøndersk and Nordnorsk, which was far closer related to Nynorsk. But Nynorsk will always have a uphill battle because East Norway make up half of the population on it own and the fact that the southern dialects of Vestnorsk was heavily influenced by Danish already before the union and many Norwegians sees those dialects as Danish (while non-north Jutish Danes just see them as intelligible Norwegian).
More socially and economically strata of Norwegian society even in Western Norway spoke dialects with more Danish influence. Playing a strong role in why towns in Western Norway often use Bokmål as their primary language form, while the surrounding counties use Nynorsk.
Cool map showing the use of Nynorsk among pupils in 1950.
However since 1950 there has been a decline in the percentage of pupils using Nynorsk as their primary language form. Urbanisation has probably been one factor, combined with Bokmål longstanding dominant position and the lack of understanding of Nynosk among many Bokmål users.
