Editing Norwegian language (section)

===Bokmål and Nynorsk===
{{Main|Bokmål|Nynorsk|Norwegian language conflict}}
[[File:Målformer i Norge.svg|thumb|right|upright=0.8|Map of the official language forms of Norwegian municipalities: red is [[Bokmål]], blue is [[Nynorsk]], and gray depicts neutral areas.]]
The two legally recognized forms of ''written'' Norwegian are ''[[Bokmål]]'' (literally 'book tongue') and ''[[Nynorsk]]'' ('new Norwegian'), which are regulated by the [[Language Council of Norway]] ({{Lang|no|Språkrådet}}).<ref>{{Cite web |title=Lov om språk (språklova) - Lovdata |url=https://lovdata.no/dokument/NL/lov/2021-05-21-42 |url-status=live |access-date=29 February 2024 |website=lovdata.no |archive-date=30 August 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230830043808/https://lovdata.no/dokument/NL/lov/2021-05-21-42 }}</ref> Two other written forms without official status also exist. One, called ''[[Riksmål]]'' ('national language'), is today to a large extent the same language as Bokmål though somewhat closer to the Danish language. It is regulated by the unofficial [[Norwegian Academy]], which translates the name as 'Standard Norwegian'. The other is ''[[Høgnorsk]]'' ('High Norwegian'), a more [[Linguistic purism|purist]] form of Nynorsk, which maintains the language in an original form as given by [[Ivar Aasen]] and rejects most of the reforms from the 20th century; this form has limited use.

Nynorsk and Bokmål provide standards for how to write Norwegian, but not for how to speak the language. No standard of spoken Norwegian is officially sanctioned, and most [[Norwegian dialects|Norwegians speak their own dialects]] in all circumstances. Thus, unlike in many other countries, the use of any Norwegian dialect, whether it coincides with the written norms or not, is accepted as correct ''spoken'' Norwegian. However, in areas where [[Norwegian dialects|East Norwegian dialects]] are used, a tendency exists to accept a de facto spoken standard for this particular regional dialect, [[Urban East Norwegian]] or Standard East Norwegian ({{langx|no|Standard østnorsk| links=no}}), in which the vocabulary coincides with Bokmål.<ref>{{cite journal |url=http://ojs.statsbiblioteket.dk/index.php/sin/article/viewFile/17027/14789 |title=Om begrepene språklig standard og språklig standardisering |trans-title=About the terms linguistic standard and linguistic standardization |last=Vannebo |first=Kjell Ivar |journal=Sprog I Norden |language=no |date=2001 |pages=119–128 |access-date=23 June 2018 |archive-date=15 October 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151015180751/http://ojs.statsbiblioteket.dk/index.php/sin/article/viewFile/17027/14789 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Kristoffersen">{{cite book |last=Kristoffersen |first=Gjert |author-link=Gjert Kristoffersen |title=The Phonology of Norwegian |url=https://archive.org/details/phonologynorwegi00kris_297 |url-access=limited |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2000 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/phonologynorwegi00kris_297/page/n22 6]–11 |isbn=978-0-19-823765-5}}</ref> Outside [[Eastern Norway]], this spoken variation is not used.

From the 16th to the 19th centuries, Danish was the standard written language of Norway. As a result, the development of modern written Norwegian has been subject to strong controversy related to [[nationalism]], rural versus urban discourse, and Norway's literary history. Historically, Bokmål is a Norwegianised variety of Danish, while Nynorsk is a language form based on Norwegian dialects and puristic opposition to Danish. The now-abandoned official policy to merge Bokmål and Nynorsk into one common language called ''Samnorsk'' through a series of spelling reforms has created a wide spectrum of varieties of both Bokmål and Nynorsk. The unofficial form known as ''Riksmål'' is considered more [[conservative (language)|conservative]] than Bokmål and is far closer to Danish while the unofficial ''Høgnorsk'' is more conservative than Nynorsk and is far closer to [[Faroese language|Faroese]], [[Icelandic language|Icelandic]] and [[Old Norse]].

Norwegians are educated in both Bokmål and Nynorsk. Each student gets assigned a native form based on which school they go to, whence the other form (known as {{Lang|no|Sidemål}}) will be a mandatory school subject from elementary school through high school.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.udir.no/kl06/NOR1-05|title=Læreplan i norsk (NOR1-05)|website=www.udir.no|language=nb|access-date=19 July 2018|archive-date=14 July 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180714221827/https://www.udir.no/kl06/NOR1-05|url-status=live}}</ref> For instance, a Norwegian whose main language form is Bokmål will study Nynorsk as a mandatory subject throughout both elementary and high school. A 2005 poll indicates that 86.3% use primarily Bokmål as their daily written language, 5.5% use both Bokmål and Nynorsk, and 7.5% use primarily Nynorsk.{{Citation needed|date=January 2009}} Thus, 13% are frequently ''writing'' Nynorsk, though the majority ''speak'' dialects that resemble Nynorsk more closely than Bokmål.<ref>{{cite journal |url=http://www.apollon.uio.no/vis/art/1998/1/dialekt |last=Venås |first=Kjell |year=1994 |title=Dialekt og normaltalemålet |trans-title=Dialect and normal speech |journal=Apollon |language=no |volume=1 |issn=0803-6926 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110724185459/http://www.apollon.uio.no/vis/art/1998/1/dialekt |archive-date=24 July 2011 |accessdate=12 January 2009 }}</ref> Broadly speaking, Nynorsk writing is widespread in western Norway, though not in major urban areas, and also in the upper parts of mountain valleys in the southern and eastern parts of Norway. Examples are [[Setesdal]], the western part of [[Telemark]] county ({{Lang|no|fylke}}) and several municipalities in [[Hallingdal]], [[Valdres]], and [[Gudbrandsdalen]]. It is little used elsewhere, but 30–40 years ago,{{As of?|date=December 2022}} it also had strongholds in many rural parts of [[Trøndelag]] (mid-Norway) and the southern part of northern Norway ([[Nordland]] county). Today, Nynorsk is the official language of not only four of the nineteen Norwegian counties but also various municipalities in five other counties. [[NRK]], the Norwegian broadcasting corporation, broadcasts in both Bokmål and Nynorsk, and all governmental agencies are required to support both written languages. Bokmål is used in 92% of all written publications, and Nynorsk in 8% (2000).{{Citation needed|date=January 2009}}

Like some other European countries, Norway has an official "advisory board"{{mdash}} [[Norwegian Language Council|Språkrådet]] (Norwegian Language Council){{mdash}} that determines, after approval from the Ministry of Culture, official spelling, grammar, and vocabulary for the Norwegian language. The board's work has been subject to considerable controversy throughout the years.

Both Nynorsk and Bokmål have a great variety of optional forms. The Bokmål that uses the forms that are close to Riksmål is called ''moderate'' or ''conservative'', depending on one's viewpoint, while the Bokmål that uses the forms that are close to Nynorsk is called ''radical''. Nynorsk has forms that are close to the original Landsmål and forms that are close to Bokmål.