Norwegian Language and Literature

NORWEGIAN LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE. The language used in almost all great newspapers, in commerce and by the best known authors differs in' many ways from the spoken language even of people of literary education, still more from that of less educated classes in the towns and of the rural population. "The ordinary literary language," as it is officially styled, or the "Norwego-Danish" as it is scientifically termed, or "Riksmaal" in colloquial speech, is the Norwegian variety of the Danish language which came in during the union with Denmark (1380-1814).

Up to the beginning of the 19th century Danish in Norway was chiefly a written language, its oral use being limited to reading, preaching and, towards the end of this period, society purposes. During the 19th century the upper classes, especially of the towns, developed a spoken Norwego-Danish, with Norwegian sounds and intonation, and progressively influenced by the Norwegian popu lar idiom. Pure Danish was spoken by some actors as late as 1889. In 1887 Norwego-Danish was recognized for standard reading in the secondary schools, and gradually it penetrated even the church, the last stronghold of the Danish tradition. In 1907 some important characteristics of Norwegian pronunciation were adopted into the orthography of the language, and in 1917 orthography took a further step away from modern Danish.

Colloquial Varieties.

The colloquial form varies greatly according to the locality and the social class of the speaker. Locally Norwego-Danish speech may be divided into four prin cipal dialects: the southern dialect, comprising the towns Arendal, Christianssand and Stavanger and others on that part of the coast, with b-d-g for Norwegian p-t-k following a vowel; the west ern dialect (Bergen), with a peculiar accent and great fluency of diction, and with the same (uvular) r as the southern dialect ; the northern dialect (Bodo Tromso) with a somewhat monotonous "singing" accent ; and the eastern dialect (Oslo-Trondhjem), now the principal form of the spoken Norwego-Danish.

This Norwego-Danish literary language, with its dignified pronunciation especially as heard in the capital, is presented as "Norwegian" in school and reference books written for foreign ers. Through different social strata this language is connected with the dialects of the towns and of the factory workers in the country. These town dialects exhibit the same phonetic and inflec

tional traits as the surrounding country dialects and are thus fundamentally Norwegian ; but they are susceptible of modifica tions in the direction of the Norwego-Danish speech of the upper classes. There are thus three strata in the speech of the towns: upper, middle and lower class dialects, the first originally Danish, the last essentially Norwegian. The town dialects are little rep resented in literature, being limited to writings of a light and humorous kind ; modern authors, however, frequently use the colloquial (middle class) and vulgar forms of speech in dialogues and as a means of characterization, and on the stage. Only ex ceptionally has it found its way into serious drama.

New Norwegian.

The New Norwegian National Language (Landsmaal) is a common standard literary form for the dia lects, propounded on a scientific basis by Ivar Aasen (1813-1896) in his grammar of Norwegian speech (1848, 1864) and in his Dic tionary (1850, 1873), and since 1853 cultivated in literary works. From that time the Landsmaal has been further developed by a series of authors, by newspapers, by periodicals, by scientific and educational works (especially on national philology and history, on pedagogics and theology), and by school books of all kinds.

Landsmaal is supported by the national democratic parties and a strong Young People's Association movement. In 1885 the Storting passed a resolution declaring the equality of the popular language and the Norwego-Danish language. In 1892 the school circuits were allowed to make Landsmaal the principal language of the elementary school ; and it has been adopted by more than 2,000 school circuits, mostly in the west and midland districts, and by the great majority of the free adult schools. In the sec ondary schools and, from 1908, in the university, students may use Landsmaal, but only in three State schools is it the principal language ; and in some other secondary schools founded by pri vate individuals or corporations. In some 200 churches the liturgy is in Norwegian, and an increasing number of clergymen preach in Norwegian.