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Norwegian spoken dialects are not to be confused with Bokmål and Nynorsk, the two official ''written'' variants of the Norwegian Language . The Norwegian dialects are commonly divided into 5 main groups, ''North Norwegian'' (nordnorsk), ''Trøndelag Norwegian'' ( Trøndersk ), ''Midland Norwegian'' (innlandsmål), ''West Norwegian'' (vestnorsk), and ''East Norwegian'' (østnorsk). The dialects are generally mutually intelligible, but differ significantly as regards Accent , Grammar , Syntax , and Vocabulary . If not accustomed to a particular dialect, even a native Norwegian speaker may have difficulties understanding it. Dialects can be as local as farm clusters, but many linguists note an ongoing regionalization trend, diminishing or even eliminating local variations. Normalized speech, following the written languages ''Bokmål''/''Riksmål'' or ''Nynorsk'', is not in common use, except in parts of Finnmark (where the original Sami population learned Norwegian as a second language), in certain Social Groups in the major urban areas of Norway, the national broadcasting, and in courts and official decrees. DIALECT GROUPS
EVOLUTION OF DIALECTS 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. The community of Oppdal , for example, has characteristics in common with coastal dialects to 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. On the other hand, newly industrialized communities that have emerged near sources of hydroelectric power have developed dialects that are consistent with the region but in many ways unique. Studies in such places as Høyanger , Odda , Tyssedal , Rjukan , Notodden , Sauda , and others show that Creolization is effecting the formation of new dialects in these rapidly growing 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 dialects around these centers. SOCIAL DYNAMICS AND DIALECTS Up until the 20th century, rural dialects were considered an attribute of the uneducated provincial class in Norway. Social mobility involved conforming speech to standard Riksmål , a pattern that persists to this day in the Oslo area. Studies show that speakers of dialect tend to change their usage in formal settings to approximate written language. This has led to various countercultural movements, ranging from the adoption of radical forms of Oslo dialects among political radicals; to movements to preserve local dialects. There is widespread and growing acceptance that the linguistic diversity in the Norwegian language 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. DISTINCTIONS AMONG DIALECTS There are many ways to distinguish among Norwegian dialects. These criteria are drawn from the work Johnsen, Egil Børre (ed.) (1987) ''Vårt Eget Språk/Talemålet''. H. Aschehoug & Co. ISBN 82-03-17092-7. These criteria generally provide the analytical means for identifying most dialects, though most Norwegians rely on experience to tell them apart. Grammars and syntax Infinitive forms One of the most important differences among dialects is in the form the verb takes in infinitive forms. There are five varieties in Norwegian dialects, constituting two groups: One ending (western dialects)
Two different ending (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, as the ending was stressed. The "long-syllable" (''langstava'') verbs lost their (unstressed) endings or had them converted to -e. Dative Case The dative case is still in use in dialects north of Oslo, Romsdal, and south and northeast of Trondheim, although the actual forms vary quite a bit. Usage of dative case is rapidly disappearing, also in the regions where it still is present. Most younger people (age less than 30) do not use the dative, whereas their parents or grandparents still do. Future tense There are regional variations in the use of future tense.
(In English: He (is) going away) Syntax Syntax can vary greatly between the dialects, and the tense of the sentence is important for the listener to get the meaning. For instance can a question be formed without the traditional "asking-words" (how, where, what, who..) ex. Can the sentence ''Hvor mye er klokken?'' (How much is the clock? (i.e. "What time is it")) , Be put in the following forms: ''E klokka mykje?'' (Is the clock much?) (tense is on "the clock"), ''E a mytti klokka?'' (Is she much the clock?) (tense on "is") Accent and pronunciation Thick "L" The thick "L" (ł) exists only in Norway, a few regions in Sweden, and in completely unrelated languages. The sound is a Retroflex sound and 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 prounounced "gał." Monophthong In some dialects, words that are usually pronounced with a Diphthong are "flattened" to a monophthong, e.g., ''ei'' becomes ''e'', ''øy'' becomes ''ø'', and in some cases ''au'' also becomes ''ø''. This shift originated in Old East Norse . Palatalization In areas north of an imaginary line drawn between Oslo and Bergen, palatalization occurs for the n (ņ), l(ļ) t(ţ) and dd sounds in varying degrees. Areas just south and southwest of Trondheim palatalize both the main and subordinate syllable in words (e.g, kaļaņ), but other areas only palatalize the main syllable (baļ). "Jamning" (Lit. ''leveling/equalization'') This 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'' 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. Jamning exists only in inland areas in Southern Norway, and areas around Trondheim. Soft consonants Another phonetic shift is to replace the ''p'' with a ''b''; ''t'' with a ''d''; and ''k'' with a ''g''. Though most pronounced on the extreme Southern coast of Norway (including Kristiansand , Mandal and Stavanger , this also exists in Sør Trøndelag and one area in Nordland. Segmentation of ''ll'' In a few dialects in Southwestern Norway, the ''ll'' sound has shifted to either ''dl'' or ''dd'', cutting out the ''l'' altogether. Assimilation of ''ld'' In most of Norway, words ending with ''ld'' are pronounced ''ll'', e.g., ''en kald kveld'' is pronounced ''en kall kvell''. In some areas in Western Norway (though not Bergen), the ''ld'' is completely intact, and in a strip south of Trondheim, the ''ld'' becomes ''ll'' before a vowel, otherwise it retains ''ld''. Vowel shift in irregular verbs In all but Oslo and coastal areas just south of the capital, the present tense of certain verbs take on a new vowel, e.g., ''å fare'' becomes ''fer'' (in Oslo, it becomes ''farer''). Consonant shift in conjugation of masculine nouns Although used less frequently, a subtle shift takes place in conjugating a masculine verb from indefinitive to definitive, e.g., from ''bekk'' to ''beķķen''. This is found in rural dialects along the coast from Farsund to the border between Troms and Finnmark. Eliminating ''r'' in the plural indefinite form In some areas, the ''r'' is not pronounced in all or some words in their plural indefinite form. There are four categories:
Alveolar/Uvular R Most dialects use an Alveolar Trill for "r". However, for the last 150 years the Uvular R 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 the point that it was for some time to "import" governesses from the Kristiansand area. It has gained less acceptance in eastern regions, and linguists speculate that dialects that use retroflexes have a "natural defense" against uvular R and thus will not adopt it. Tonemes and intonation There are great differences between the intonation systems of different Norwegian dialects. See the relevant section in the article on Norwegian Language . Vocabulary First person, plural Three variations of first person plural exist in Norwegian dialects:
First person, singular There is considerable variety in the way first person singular is pronounced in Norwegian dialects. They appear to fall into three groups, within which there are also variations:
The word "not" The Norwegian word for the English ''not'' exists in five main categories:
Asking words Some common asking words take on forms like this: SEE ALSO EXTERNAL LINKS
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