Kim Bedmar, age 16, of Asbury Park, N.J. for her question:
HOW DID THE NORWEGIAN LANGUAGE EVOLVE?
The Norwegian language spoken by the people of Norway belongs to the West Scandinavian branch of the Germanic languages. Like other Scandinavian languages, Norwegian evolved from an ancient common language which can be traced through runic inscriptions to the third century A.D.
Old Norse (or Old Norwegian), a language from which the modern tongue is derived, came into being and was spread by Norwegian migration to Iceland and other areas in the North Atlantic. The Latin alphabet, replacing runic signs, was introduced with Christianity, and distinct Norwegian written language evolved in the 11th century.
Subsequently, Norwegian was influenced by Danish, Low German and Swedish. The Danish influence became dominant in the more than 400 years between 1380 and 1814, during which time Norway was united with Denmark under the Danish crown.
The Danish language, which was introduced to Norway by government officials, spread after the Reformation through books printed in Denmark. In the 16th century it became the written language of Norway, being generally spoken by the educated classes.
The Norwegian dialects continued in use in the country districts and among the working and middle classes of the towns. During the 19th century, the spoken Danish developed into a language called Dano Norwegian, which was heavily Danish in structure and vocabulary, but with native Norwegian pronunciation and some native grammatical influences. Later termed "riksmal," it became the official language of Norway.
Subsequently, however, a strong nationalistic and romantic movement awakened a desire for a language people felt was their own. In response to this desire, a middle of the 19th century linguist named Ivar Aasen began the construction of a new national literary language, the "landsmal" (or country speech), based on Norwegian dialects and free of Danicisms.
The endeavor started by Aasen won public support and the landsmal, further developed, became an important secondary language in Norway.
Under pressure of the landsmal movement, the riksmal went through a series of significant reforms in 1907, 1917 and 1938. Reforms emphasized strictly Norwegian speech and spelling. The names of the two languages were also officially changed: the riksmal became the bokmal ("book language") and the landsmal became the nynorsk ("New Norse").
The two languages have equal validity in law and both must be taught in the schools.
The bokmal, still the leading language of Norway, is strongest in the eastern part of the country. The nynorsk is strongest in western Norway.
Today, changes continue to occur in both of Norway's languages.