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89-525: Both Bokmål and Riksmål evolved from the Danish written language as used in Norway during the countries' union and beyond, and from the pronunciation of Danish that became the native language of Norwegian elites by the 18th century. By the late 19th century, the main written language became known as Rigsmål in both Denmark and Norway; the written language in Norway remained identical to Danish until 1907, although it

178-595: A Danish Chancellery (Danish: Danske Kancelli ) and German Chancellery (Danish: Tyske Kancelli ) existed. The term "Denmark–Norway" reflects the historical and legal roots of the union. It is adopted from the Oldenburg dynasty's official title. The kings always used the style "King of Denmark and Norway, the Wends and the Goths " ( Konge til Danmark og Norge, de Venders og Gothers ). Denmark and Norway, sometimes referred to as

267-561: A "400-year night". Historians describe the idea of a "400-year night" as a myth that was created as a rhetorical device in the struggle against the Swedish–Norwegian union , inspired by 19th-century national-romanticist ideas. Since the late 19th century the Danish–Norwegian union was increasingly viewed in a more nuanced and favourable light in Norway with a stronger focus on empirical research, and historians have highlighted that

356-411: A "natural defense" against uvular R and thus will not adopt it. However, the dialect of Arendal retains the retroflexes, while featuring the uvular R in remaining positions, e.g. rart [ʁɑːʈ] . In large parts of Northern Norway, especially in the northern parts of Nordland county and southern parts of Troms county, as well as several parts of Finnmark county, another variant is still common:

445-578: A change of power in the region. Denmark–Norway had territory surrounding Sweden which appeared threatening, and the Sound Dues were a continuing irritation for the Swedes. In 1643 the Swedish Privy Council determined that the chances of a gain in territory for Sweden in an eventual war against Denmark–Norway would be good. Not long after this, Sweden invaded Denmark–Norway. Denmark was poorly prepared for

534-460: A complete failure for the Swedes and a devastation of the province. This allowed Norway to further secure itself militarily for the future through closer ties with the capital Copenhagen. Throughout the time of Denmark–Norway, it continuously had possession over various overseas territories. At the earliest times this meant areas in Northern Europe and North America , for instance Estonia and

623-723: A crushing defeat. This led to most of the German Protestant states ceasing their support for Christian IV. After another defeat at the Battle of Wolgast and following the Treaty of Lübeck in 1629, which forbade Denmark–Norway from future intervening in German affairs, Denmark–Norways's participation in the war came to an end. Sweden was very successful during the Thirty Years' War, while Denmark–Norway failed to make gains. Sweden saw an opportunity of

712-485: A dialect may be considered criticism of someone's personal identity and place of upbringing, and is considered impolite. Not using one's proper dialect would be bordering on awkward in many situations, as it may signal a wish to take on an identity or a background which one does not have. Dialects are also an area from which to derive humour both in professional and household situations. There are many ways to distinguish among Norwegian dialects. These criteria are drawn from

801-557: A great power , while it marked the start of decline for Denmark–Norway. The Dano-Swedish War (1657–1658), a part of the Second Northern War, was one of the most devastating wars for the Dano-Norwegian kingdom. After a huge loss in the war, Denmark–Norway was forced in the Treaty of Roskilde to give Sweden a quarter of its territory. This included Norwegian province of Trøndelag and Båhuslen , all remaining Danish provinces on

890-583: A hostile action, and attacked Copenhagen in 1801 and again in 1807 . In the 1807 attack on Copenhagen the British captured the entire Dano-Norwegian navy, burning most of the fleet and incorporating the remaining ships into the Royal Navy . The Dano-Norwegian navy was caught unprepared for any military operation and the British found their ships still in dock after the winter season. The Dano-Norwegians were more concerned about preserving their continued neutrality and

979-823: A legal monopoly in Denmark while Denmark supplied Norway with agricultural products. 55°40′20″N 12°31′30″E  /  55.67222°N 12.52500°E  / 55.67222; 12.52500 Norwegian dialects Norwegian dialects ( dialekter/ar ) are commonly divided into four main groups, 'Northern Norwegian' ( nordnorsk ), 'Central Norwegian' ( trøndersk ), 'Western Norwegian' ( vestlandsk ), and 'Eastern Norwegian' ( østnorsk ). Sometimes 'Midland Norwegian' ( midlandsmål ) and/or 'South Norwegian' ( sørlandsk ) are considered fifth or sixth groups. The dialects are generally mutually intelligible , but differ significantly with regard to accent , grammar , syntax , and vocabulary . If not accustomed to

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1068-760: A modern Norwegian dialect, most of the verbs of the dialect either have or would have had an infinitive ending. There are five varieties of the infinitive ending in Norwegian dialects, constituting two groups: One ending (western dialects) Two different endings (eastern dialects) The split distribution of endings is related to the syllable length of the verb in Old Norse. "Short-syllable" ( kortstava ) verbs in Norse kept their endings. The "long-syllable" ( langstava ) verbs lost their (unstressed) endings or had them converted to -e. The original Germanic contextual difference between

1157-574: A much looser personal union with Sweden until 1905, when that union was peacefully dissolved. The term "Kingdom of Denmark" is sometimes used to include both countries in the period, since the political and economic power emanated from the Danish capital, Copenhagen. These terms cover the "royal territories" of the Oldenburgs as it was in 1460, excluding the "ducal territories" of Schleswig and Holstein . The administration used two official languages , Danish and German , and for several centuries both

1246-504: A new reform introduced some elements from Norwegian dialects and Nynorsk as optional alternatives to traditional Dano-Norwegian forms. This was part of an official policy to bring the two Norwegian languages more closely together, intending eventually to merge them into one. These changes met resistance from the Riksmål movement, and Riksmålsvernet (The Society for the Protection of Riksmål)

1335-437: A particular dialect, even a native Norwegian speaker may have difficulty understanding it. Dialects can be as local as farm clusters, but many linguists note an ongoing regionalization, diminishing, or even elimination of local variations. Spoken Norwegian typically does not exactly follow the written languages Bokmål and Nynorsk or the more conservative Riksmål and Høgnorsk , except in parts of Finnmark (where

1424-487: A war alliance. Attempts at diplomacy were made, but neither party was particularly interested in peace. When Frederick II included the traditionally Swedish insignia of three crowns into his own coat of arms, the Swedes interpreted this as a Danish claim over Sweden. In response, Erik XIV of Sweden (reigned 1560–1568) added the insignia of Norway and Denmark to his own coat of arms. Denmark–Norway then carried out some naval attacks on Sweden, which effectively started

1513-507: Is a phenomenon in which the root vowel and end vowel in a word approximate each other. For example, the old Norse viku has become våkkå or vukku in certain dialects. There are two varieties in Norwegian dialects – one in which the two vowels become identical, the other where they are only similar. Leveling exists only in inland areas in Southern Norway, and areas around Trondheim. In all but Oslo and coastal areas just south of

1602-437: Is found in rural dialects along the coast from Farsund Municipality to the border between Troms and Finnmark. Many people, especially in the younger generation, have lost the differentiation between the /ç/ (written ⟨kj⟩ ) and /ʂ/ (written ⟨sj⟩ ) sounds, realizing both as [ ʂ ] . This is by many considered to be a normal development in language change (although as most language changes,

1691-483: Is highly threatened in the mentioned areas, while most speakers of conservative varieties have been highly influenced by the national standard languages, using only the traditional accusative word form in both cases. Often, though not always, the difference in meaning between the dative and accusative word forms can thus be lost, requiring the speaker to add more words to specify what was actually meant, to avoid potential loss of information. There are regional variations in

1780-421: Is the clock?" i.e. "What time is it?" can be put in, among others, the following forms: Old Norse had the diphthongs /au/ , /ei/ , and /øy/ , but the Norwegian spoken in the area around Setesdal has shifted two of the traditional diphthongs and innovated four more from long vowels, and, in some cases, also short vowels. West Norwegian dialects have also innovated new diphthongs. In Midtre you can find

1869-515: Is widespread and growing acceptance that Norwegian linguistic diversity is worth preserving. The trend today is a regionalisation of the dialects causing smaller dialectal traits to disappear and rural dialects to merge with their nearest larger dialectal variety. There is no standard dialect for the Norwegian language as a whole, and all dialects are by now mutually intelligible. Hence, widely different dialects are used frequently and alongside each other, in almost every aspect of society. Criticism of

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1958-517: The Dannebrog became the only official merchant flag in the union. Denmark–Norway became an absolutist state and Denmark a hereditary monarchy , as Norway de jure had been since 1537. These changes were confirmed in the Leges regiae signed on 14 November 1665, stipulating that all power lay in the hands of the king, who was only responsible to God. In Denmark, the kings also began stripping rights from

2047-746: The Duchy of Holstein . The state also claimed sovereignty over three historical peoples: Frisians , Gutes and Wends . Denmark–Norway had several colonies, namely the Danish Gold Coast , Danish India (the Nicobar Islands , Serampore , Tharangambadi ), and the Danish West Indies . The union was also known as the Dano-Norwegian Realm ( Det dansk-norske rige ), Twin Realms ( Tvillingerigerne ) or

2136-525: The Kalmar Union in 1397. Following Sweden's departure in 1523, the union was effectively dissolved. From 1536/1537, Denmark and Norway formed a personal union that would eventually develop into the 1660 integrated state called Denmark–Norway by modern historians, at the time sometimes referred to as the "Twin Kingdoms". Prior to 1660, Denmark–Norway was de jure a constitutional and elective monarchy in which

2225-468: The Oldenburg Monarchy ( Oldenburg-monarkiet ). The state's inhabitants were mainly Danes , Norwegians and Germans , and also included Faroese , Icelanders and Inuit in the Norwegian overseas possessions, a Sami minority in northern Norway, as well as other indigenous peoples. The main cities of Denmark–Norway were Copenhagen , Christiania (Oslo), Altona , Bergen and Trondheim , and

2314-606: The Oresund was able to enforce the Sound Tolls , a tax enforced on ships passing through the Oresund. These tolls made up two thirds of Denmark's state income, and allowed Danish-Norwegian kings such as Christian IV to become extremely rich. Denmark–Norway also sought to expand into the eastern Baltic Sea as well. They controlled the island of Gotland , which was a major trading post, and using his wealth, King Frederick II purchased

2403-469: The Treaty of Knäred was signed, in which Norway's land route from Sweden was regained by incorporating Lapland into Norway, and Swedish payment of the Älvsborg Ransom for two fortresses which Denmark–Norway had taken in the war. However, Sweden achieved an exemption from the Sound Toll. The great ransom paid by Sweden (called the Älvsborg Ransom) was used by Christian IV, among many other things, to found

2492-589: The dative and accusative cases, standardized in modern German and Icelandic , has degenerated in spoken Danish and Swedish , a tendency which spread to Bokmål too. Ivar Aasen treated the dative case in detail in his work, Norsk Grammatik (1848), and use of Norwegian dative as a living grammatical case can be found in a few of the earliest Landsmål texts. However, the dative case has never been part of official Landsmål/Nynorsk. It is, however, present in some spoken dialects north of Oslo, Romsdal, and south and northeast of Trondheim. The grammatical phenomenon

2581-500: The "Twin Realms" ( Tvillingerigerne ) of Denmark–Norway, had separate legal codes and currencies, and mostly separate governing institutions. Following the introduction of absolutism in 1660, the centralisation of government meant a concentration of institutions in Copenhagen. Centralisation was supported in many parts of Norway, where the two-year attempt by Sweden to control Trøndelag had met strong local resistance and resulted in

2670-580: The 17th to 19th centuries over various parts around India. Colonies included the town of Tranquebar and Serampore . The last settlements Denmark had control over were sold to the United Kingdom in 1845. Rights in the Nicobar Islands were sold in 1869. Centred on the Virgin Islands , Denmark–Norway established the Danish West Indies. This colony was one of the longest-lived of Denmark, until it

2759-521: The 20th century, upward social mobility in a city like Oslo could in some cases require conforming speech to standard Riksmål . Studies show that even today, speakers of rural dialects may tend to change their usage in formal settings to approximate the formal written language. This has led to various countercultural movements ranging from the adoption of traditional forms of Oslo dialects among political radicals in Oslo, to movements preserving local dialects. There

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2848-475: The Danish language they were taught, since it was very different from the spoken language they were used to. However, as late as in 1883 the Danish intellectual Georg Brandes stated that the language in Norway was Danish, and that the Norwegians did not have a language of their own. Knud Knudsen presented his Norwegian language in several works from the 1850s until his death in 1895, while the term Riksmaal ( aa

2937-602: The Danish nobility. The Danish and Norwegian nobility saw a population decline during the 1500s, which allowed the Crown to seize more land for itself. The growing wealth of the Danish-Norwegian kings due to the Oresund allowed them fight wars without consent from the nobility and Danish Rigsraad, meaning that Danish-Norwegian kings slowly gained more and more absolute authority over time. Denmark had lost its provinces in Scania after

3026-584: The King's power was somewhat limited; in that year it became one of the most stringent absolute monarchies in Europe. The Dano-Norwegian union lasted until 1814, when the Treaty of Kiel decreed that Norway (except for the Faroe Islands, Iceland, and Greenland) be ceded to Sweden. The treaty however was not recognised by Norway, which resisted the attempt in the 1814 Swedish–Norwegian War . Norway thereafter entered into

3115-511: The Labour government met increasing resistance as they were seen as "radical", and language organisations independent of the state started publishing their own spelling standard known as Riksmål. The struggle between Bokmål and Riksmål eventually led to the Norwegian language struggle that was at its most intense in the 1950s and 1960s. As a result the "Language Peace Committee" was appointed by

3204-584: The Lapps in Nordland", and started collecting taxes in Norwegian territory. Denmark–Norway and King Christian IV protested against the Swedish actions, as they had no intentions of letting another independent trade route open; Christian IV also had an intent of forcing Sweden to rejoin its union with Denmark–Norway. In 1611 Denmark–Norway finally invaded Sweden with 6,000 men and took the city of Kalmar . On 20 January 1613,

3293-519: The Norwegian Academy. After the latest Bokmål reforms in 2005, the difference between Bokmål and Riksmål have diminished and they are now comparable to American and British English differences , but the Norwegian Academy still upholds its own standard. The daily newspaper Aftenposten is notable for its use of Riksmål as its standard language. Use of Riksmål is rigorously pursued, even with regard to readers' letters, which are "translated" into

3382-425: The Norwegian economy thrived and that Norway was one of the world's wealthiest countries during the entire period of real union with Denmark. Historians have also pointed out that Norway was a separate state, with its own army, legal system and other institutions, with significant autonomy in its internal affairs, and that it was primarily governed by a local elite of civil servants who identified as Norwegian, albeit in

3471-567: The Norwegian possessions of Greenland , the Faroe Islands and Iceland . From the 17th century, the kingdoms acquired colonies in Africa , the Caribbean and India . At its height the empire was about 2,655,564.76 km (1,025,319 sq mi), after the dissolution of the union, in 1814, all the overseas territories became a part of Denmark. Denmark–Norway maintained numerous colonies from

3560-500: The Norwegians objected to the terms of this treaty, and a constitutional assembly declared Norwegian independence on 17 May 1814 and elected the Crown Prince Christian Frederik as king of independent Norway. Following a Swedish invasion , Norway was forced to accept a personal union between Sweden and Norway , but retained its liberal constitution and separate institutions, except for the foreign service. The union

3649-453: The Norwegians. Hence, prominent Norwegians, such as Henrik Wergeland and Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson , advocated a standardized Norwegian language, to be based on the legacy of the Danish language as used in Norway by the upper class of Christiania (now Oslo) and other Eastern Norwegian cities. This was proposed by Knud Knudsen , a schoolteacher, who had witnessed how schoolchildren struggled with

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3738-594: The Protestants. With the money provided by the aforementioned states, along with his own personal fortune, Christian could hire a large army of mercenaries. Christian IV long sought to become the leader of the north German Lutheran states. He also had interests in gaining ecclesiastical posts in Northern Germany, such as the Prince-Bishopric of Verden . However, during the Battle of Lutter in 1626, Denmark faced

3827-400: The Riksmål movement, culminating in the 1950s under the leadership of Arnulf Øverland . Riksmålsforbundet organised a parents' campaign against Samnorsk in 1951, and the Norwegian Academy for Language and Literature was founded in 1953. Because of this resistance, the 1959 reform was relatively modest, and the radical reforms were partially reverted in 1981 and 2005. Currently, Riksmål denotes

3916-624: The Swedish mainland, and the island of Bornholm . However, two years later, in 1660, there was a follow-up treaty, the Treaty of Copenhagen , which gave Trøndelag and Bornholm back to Denmark–Norway. In the aftermath of Sweden's final secession from the Kalmar Union in 1521, civil war and the Protestant Reformation followed in Denmark and in Norway. When things had settled down, the Rigsraad ( High Council ) of Denmark became weak, and it

4005-551: The Treaty of Roskilde and was always eager to retrieve them, but as Sweden had grown into a great power it would not be an easy task. However, Christian V saw an opportunity when Sweden got involved in the Franco-Dutch War , and after some hesitation Denmark–Norway invaded Sweden in 1675. Although the Danish-Norwegian assault began as a great success, the Swedes led by 19-year-old Charles XI counter-attacked and took back

4094-702: The Union, leaving Denmark–Norway (including overseas possessions in the North Atlantic and the island of Saaremaa in modern Estonia ). During the Count's Feud , where the Danish crown was contested by Protestant Oldenburg King Christian III and Catholic Noble Rebels, the relatively Catholic realm of Norway also wanted to leave the union in the 1530s, but was unable to do so due to Denmark's superior military might. In 1537, Denmark invaded Norway, and annexed it. In doing so, king Christian III removed Norway's equal status that

4183-675: The capital, the present tense of certain verbs take on a new vowel (umlaut), e.g., å fare becomes fer (in Oslo, it becomes farer ). In some areas, the /r/ is not pronounced in all or some words in their plural indefinite form. There are four categories: Most dialects realize /r/ as the alveolar tap [ɾ] or alveolar trill [r] . However, for the last 200 years the uvular approximant [ʁ] has been gaining ground in Western and Southern Norwegian dialects, with Kristiansand , Stavanger, and Bergen as centers. The uvular R has also been adopted in aspiring patricians in and around Oslo, to

4272-617: The cities of Glückstadt , Christiania (refounded after a fire), Christianshavn , Christianstad and Christianssand . He also founded the Danish East India Company which led to the establishment of numerous Danish colonies in India . The remainder of the money was added to Christian's already massive personal treasury. Not long after the Kalmar war, Denmark–Norway became involved in another greater war, in which they fought together with

4361-561: The consonant clusters /nd/ , /ld/ , and /nɡ/ has assimilated to the first across most of Norway, leaving [n] , [l] , and [ŋ] respectively. Western Norway, though not in Bergen, retains the /ld/ cluster. In Northern Norway this same cluster is realized as the palatal lateral [ʎ] . Although used less frequently, a subtle shift takes place in conjugating a masculine noun from indefinitive to definitive, e.g., from bekk to bekkjen ( [becːen], [becçen] , [beçːen] or [be:t͡ʃen] ). This

4450-624: The entire Dano-Norwegian army was therefore gathered at Danevirke in the event of a French attack, leaving much of the combined state undefended. The British attack of 1807 effectively forced the Dano-Norwegians into an alliance with the French, although without a fleet they could do little. Denmark–Norway was defeated and had to cede the Kingdom of Norway to the King of Sweden at the Treaty of Kiel . Norway's overseas possessions were kept by Denmark. But

4539-537: The extreme southern coast of Norway, including Kristiansand, Mandal and Stavanger. The same phenomenon appears in Sør-Trøndelag and one area in Nordland. The geminate /ll/ in southwestern Norway has become [dl] , while just east in southcentral Norwegian the final [l] is lost, leaving [d] . The same sequence has been palatalized in Northern Norway, leaving the palatal lateral [ʎ] . The second consonant in

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4628-654: The following: The Old Norse diphthongs /au/ , /ei/ , and /øy/ have experienced monophthongization in certain dialects of modern Norwegian. This shift originated in Old East Norse, which is reflected in the fact that Swedish and Danish overwhelmingly exhibit this change. Monophthongization in Norway ends on the coast west of Trondheim and extends southeast in a triangle into central Sweden. Some Norwegian dialects, east of Molde, for example, have lost only /ei/ and /øy/ . ( Jamning / Jevning in Norwegian) This

4717-500: The foundation of the non-governmental organisation Riksmålsforbundet in 1907. Bjørnson became its first leader, until his death in 1910. Riksmål became the chosen language for Norwegian pupils from the latter part of the 19th century, and Norwegian newspapers adapted to the language. However, many Norwegian authors, such as Henrik Ibsen , Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson and Knut Hamsun , did not adhere and continued using Dano-Norwegian. Riksmål got an official writing norm in 1907, and in 1917

4806-539: The government, and subsequent reforms have moved Bokmål and Riksmål closer together, to the extent that few differences remain. Riksmål and Bokmål were clearly separate spelling standards until a major reform of Bokmål in 2005 that (re)introduced numerous Riksmål forms as part of Bokmål; some subsequent reforms in the 21st century have eradicated most remaining, mostly small differences. National librarian Aslak Sira Myhre argued in 2017 that Riksmål in practice has "taken over" Bokmål and peacefully "won"

4895-584: The island of Osel in 1560. Denmark–Norway fiercely guarded her hegemony, destroying any new competitors in the Baltic. When Poland-Lithuania attempted to build a navy in 1571, the Danish-Norwegian fleet destroyed or captured much of the Polish fleet in the Battle of Hel . Christian III, who had relied on Swedish aid in the Count's Feud, kept peaceful relations with Sweden throughout his reign. However, Frederick II

4984-533: The land that was being occupied. The war was concluded with the French dictating peace, with no permanent gains or losses to either of the countries. During the French Revolutionary Wars Denmark–Norway at first tried to stay neutral, so it could continue its trade with both France and the United Kingdom , but when it entered the League of Armed Neutrality , the British considered this to be

5073-446: The language struggle. After the dissolution of the union with Denmark in 1814, Norway had no national language standard of its own, the written language being Danish , while the spoken language consisted of numerous dialects – that to some extent were not mutually intelligible . The new union partner Sweden had a different language, Swedish , and there was a fear that if no measures were taken, its language would be imposed upon

5162-842: The mainly north German and other Protestant states against the Catholic states led by German Catholic League . The recent defeat of the Protestant League in both the Palatinate and Bohemian Campaigns, the Protestant nations of the Dutch Republic , England , and the Lower Saxon Circle , along with France, the latter of which aiming to weaken the Habsburgs , promised to fund Denmark's operations if Christian IV decided to intervene on behalf of

5251-414: The moderate, chiefly pre-1938, unofficial variant of Bokmål, which is still in use and is regulated by the Norwegian Academy and promoted by Riksmålsforbundet. Riksmål has gone through some spelling reforms, but none as profound as the ones that shaped Bokmål. A Riksmål dictionary was published in four volumes in the period 1937 to 1957 by Riksmålsvernet, and two supplementary volumes were published in 1995 by

5340-429: The n (IPA [nʲ] ), l ( [lʲ] ), t ( [tʲ] ) and d ( [dʲ] ) sounds in varying degrees. Areas just south and southwest of Trondheim palatalize both the main and subordinate syllable in words (e.g., [kɑlʲːɑnʲ] ), but other areas only palatalize the main syllable ( [bɑlʲ] ). Voiceless stops ( /p, t, k/ ) have become voiced ( [b, d, ɡ] ) intervocalically after long vowels ( /ˈfløːdə/ , /ˈkɑːɡə/ vs. /ˈfløːtə/ , /ˈkɑːkə/ ) on

5429-403: The name of the "Danish" King. Norwegians were also well represented in the military, civil service and business elites of Denmark–Norway, and in the administration of the colonies in the Caribbean and elsewhere. Norway benefited militarily from the combined strength of Denmark–Norway in the wars with Sweden and economically from its trade relationship with Denmark in which Norwegian industry enjoyed

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5518-411: The next 200 years. In the end, Pietism was never firmly established as a lasting religious grouping, but policies enacted by the "pietist king" affects citizens of Denmark, Norway and Iceland to this day, like the Holiday Peace Act. Although the Dano–Norwegian union was generally viewed favourably in Norway at the time of its dissolution in 1814, some 19th-century Norwegian writers disparaged the union as

5607-411: The older generation and more conservative language users often lament the degradation of the language). The functional load is relatively low, and as often happens, similar sounds with low functional loads merge. There are great differences between the intonation systems of different Norwegian dialects. Three variations of the first person plural nominative pronoun exist in Norwegian dialects: There

5696-515: The original Sami population learned Norwegian as a second language). Rather, most people speak in their own local dialect. There is no "standard" spoken Norwegian. Owing to geography and climate, Norwegian communities were often isolated from each other until the early 20th century. As a result, local dialects had a tendency to be influenced by each other in singular ways while developing their own idiosyncrasies. Oppdal Municipality , for example, has characteristics in common with coastal dialects to

5785-628: The point that it was for some time fashionable to "import" governesses from the Kristiansand area. In certain regions, such as Oslo, the flap has become realized as a retroflex flap (generally called "thick L") /ɽ/ , which exists only in Norway, a few regions in Sweden, and in completely unrelated languages. The sound coexists with other retroflexions in Norwegian dialects. In some areas it also applies to words that end with "rd," for example with gard (farm) being pronounced /ɡɑːɽ/ . The uvular R has gained less acceptance in eastern regions, and linguists speculate that dialects that use retroflexes have

5874-412: The possibility to leave Denmark proper, such as merchants and civil servants, Norway was seen as an attractive country of opportunities. The same was the case for the Norwegians, and many Norwegians migrated to Denmark, like the famous author Ludvig Holberg . Protestantism had been a religious movement in Denmark ever since the reign of Christian II . Though the country remained Catholic during

5963-474: The primary official languages were Danish and German, but Norwegian, Icelandic, Faroese, Sami and Greenlandic were also spoken locally. In 1380, Olaf II of Denmark inherited the Kingdom of Norway, titled as Olaf IV, after the death of his father Haakon VI of Norway , who was married to Olaf's mother Margaret I . Margaret I was ruler of Norway from her son's death in 1387 until her own death in 1412. Denmark, Norway, and Sweden established and formed

6052-480: The region but in many ways unique. Studies in such places as Høyanger , Odda , Tyssedal , Rjukan , Notodden , Sauda , and others show that koineization has effected the formation of new dialects in these areas. Similarly, in the early 20th century a dialect closely approximating standard Bokmål arose in and around railway stations. This was known as stasjonsspråk ("station language") and may have contributed to changes in dialect around these centers. Until

6141-529: The reign of Frederick I , and in Norway it was not a big movement at that time. But the victory in the Count's Feud secured Denmark under the Protestant King Christian III, and in 1537 he also secured Norway, creating the union between the two kingdoms. In the following years, Denmark–Norway was among the countries to follow Martin Luther after the Protestant Reformation , and thus established Lutheran Protestantism as official religion in place of Roman Catholicism. Lutheran Protestantism prevailed through

6230-414: The standard. Denmark%E2%80%93Norway Denmark–Norway ( Danish and Norwegian : Danmark–Norge ) is a term for the 16th-to-19th-century multi-national and multi-lingual real union consisting of the Kingdom of Denmark , the Kingdom of Norway (including the then Norwegian overseas possessions: the Faroe Islands , Iceland , Greenland , and other possessions ), the Duchy of Schleswig , and

6319-406: The union's life span. The Church of Denmark and the Church of Norway was founded during this time as well. The introduction of Lutheranism in Denmark-Norway was also a political move. Due to the creation of state churches, the king had the authority to seize church properties, levy his own church tithes, and stop paying taxes to the Papacy . This helped in Denmark-Norway's absolutism and increased

6408-506: The use of future tense, for example, "He is going to travel.": Syntax can vary greatly between dialects, and the tense is important for the listener to get the meaning. For instance, a question can be formed without the traditional "asking-words" (how, where, what, who..) For example, the sentence Hvor mye er klokken ? (in Bokmål), Kor mykje er klokka ? (in Nynorsk), literally: "How much

6497-403: The voiced post-alveolar sibilant fricative /ʒ/ . In front of voiceless consonants, the realisation of this R is unvoiced as well, to /ʃ/ . Thus, where one in the southern and Trøndelag dialects will get /sp̬ar̥k/ or /sp̬aʀk/ or /sp̬aʁ̥k/ , in areas realising voiced R as /ʒ/ , one will get /spaʃːk/ . In areas north of an isogloss running between Oslo and Bergen, palatalization occurs for

6586-504: The war, and Norway was reluctant to attack Sweden, which left the Swedes in a good position. The war ended as foreseen with a Swedish victory, and with the Treaty of Brömsebro in 1645, Denmark–Norway had to cede some of their territories, including Norwegian territories Jemtland , Herjedalen and Idre & Serna , and the Danish Baltic Sea islands of Gotland and Ösel . Thus the Thirty Years' War facilitated rise of Sweden as

6675-563: The war. After seven years of fighting, the conflict concluded in 1570 with a status quo ante bellum . Because of Denmark–Norway's dominion over the Baltic Sea ( dominium maris baltici ) and the North Sea , Sweden had the intention of avoiding paying Denmark's Sound Toll . Swedish king Charles IX 's way of accomplishing this was to try to set up a new trade route through Lapland and northern Norway. In 1607 Charles IX declared himself "King of

6764-467: The wealth of its kings. There was one other religious "reformation" in the kingdom during the rule of Christian VI , a follower of Pietism . The period from 1735 until his death in 1746 has been nicknamed "the State Pietism", as new laws and regulations were established in favor of Pietism. Though Pietism did not last for a substantial time, numerous new small pietistic resurrections occurred over

6853-507: The west, the dialects of northern Gudbrandsdalen to the south, and other dialects in Sør-Trøndelag from the north. The linguist Einar Haugen documented the particulars of the Oppdal dialect, and the writer Inge Krokann used it as a literary device . Other transitional dialects include the dialects of Romsdal and Arendal. On the other hand, newly industrialized communities near sources of hydroelectric power have developed dialects consistent with

6942-407: The work Vårt Eget Språk/Talemålet (1987) by Egil Børre Johnsen . These criteria generally provide the analytical means for identifying most dialects, though most Norwegians rely on experience to tell them apart. One of the most important differences among dialects is which ending, if any, verbs have in the infinitive form. In Old Norwegian, most verbs had an infinitive ending (-a), and likewise in

7031-417: Was a contemporary way of writing å ) was first proposed by Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson in 1899 as a name for the Norwegian variety of written Danish as well as spoken Dano-Norwegian. It was borrowed from Denmark where it denoted standard written and spoken Danish. The same year the Riksmål movement became organised under his leadership in order to fight against the growing influence of Nynorsk, eventually leading to

7120-630: Was abolished in 1660 ; the Norwegian Riksråd had already been abolished de facto (the Norwegian Riksråd was assembled for the last time in 1537). In 1537, during the Count's Feud, king Christian III of Denmark–Norway staged a coup d'état in Norway, and made it a hereditary kingdom in a real union with Denmark. Norway kept its separate laws and some institutions, such as a royal Chancellor , and separate coinage and army. Norway also had its own royal standard flag until 1748, after that

7209-450: Was also the more egalitarian part of the twin kingdoms; in Norway the King (i.e. the state) owned much of the land, while Denmark was dominated by large noble landowners. Denmark had a serfdom -like institution known as Stavnsbånd which restricted men to the estates they were born on; all farmers in Norway on the other hand were free, could settle anywhere and were on average more affluent than Danish farmers. For many Danish people who had

7298-475: Was dissolved in 1905 . After 1660, Denmark–Norway consisted of five formally separate parts (the Kingdom of Denmark , the Kingdom of Norway , the Duchy of Holstein , the Duchy of Schleswig and the County of Oldenburg ). Norway had its separate laws and some institutions, and separate coinage and army. Culturally and politically Denmark became dominant. While Denmark remained a largely agricultural society, Norway

7387-417: Was founded in 1919. They have later been the purist protectors of the traditional riksmål, in opposition to Bokmål and Nynorsk , and especially Samnorsk . In the 1938 reform of Bokmål introduced more elements from dialects and Nynorsk, and more importantly, many traditional Dano-Norwegian forms were excluded. This so-called radical Bokmål or Samnorsk (Common Norwegian) met even stiffer resistance from

7476-411: Was generally known as "Norwegian" in Norway. From 1907, successive spelling reforms gradually introduced some orthographic differences between written Norwegian and Danish. The name Riksmål was adopted as the official name of the language, to differentiate it from Landsmål (now Nynorsk); in 1929, the name of the official language was changed to Bokmål. From 1938, spelling reforms introduced by

7565-482: Was held during the Kalmar Union, and instead relegated Norway to a be a Danish puppet state, in all but name. The Baltic Sea was one of the most lucrative trade spots in Europe. The German Hanseatic League used to be the dominant party in the region, but the slow collapse of the League allowed for Denmark–Norway to begin enforcing their control in the area. Denmark–Norway had a powerful navy , and with their control over

7654-428: Was industrialized from the 16th century and had a highly export-driven economy; Norway's shipping, timber and mining industries made Norway "the developed and industrialized part of Denmark-Norway" and an economic equal of Denmark. Denmark and Norway complemented each other and had a significant internal trade , with Norway relying on Danish agricultural products and Denmark relying on Norway's timber and metals. Norway

7743-584: Was kicked out by the Russian army. The Estonians, who were fearful of the Russians, contacted King Eric XIV of Sweden for protection. Sweden then annexed Estonia, securing the region under their rule. After Eric introduced blockades in an attempt to hinder trade with Russia (Sweden and Russia were disputing over Estonia), Lübeck and the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth joined Denmark–Norway in

7832-486: Was quite hostile towards the Swedes. Another major factor in the war were Sweden's goals in Livonia . Both Denmark and Sweden, along with Russia , sought to control the previously Hanseatic region, as it was extremely important in controlling the Baltic Sea. When Denmark purchased Osel, Duke Magnus , brother of King Frederick II was granted control of the island. Magnus attempted to claim himself King of Estonia , but he

7921-623: Was sold to the United States in 1917. It became the U.S. Virgin Islands . In the Gold Coast region of West Africa, Denmark–Norway also over time had control over various colonies and forts. The last remaining forts were sold to the United Kingdom in 1850, from Denmark. The three kingdoms Denmark, Norway and Sweden united in the Kalmar Union in 1397. Sweden broke out of this union and re-entered it several times, until 1521, when Sweden finally left

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