<Rant alert>
Just a quick step out of the shadows of lurkelihood. "New Norwegian" was indeed constructed (or construed :-)) in the period of National Romanticism following the establishment of our Constitution and the more independent status we achieved in the union with Sweden; compared to our status in the "double-monarcy" with Denmark before Napoleon's demise. This period (1814-1905) saw a "golden age" in Norwegian cultural life, and produced artists like Henrik Ibsen (playwriter), Edvard Grieg (composer), Knut Hamsun (author), and others. Technically speaking, the New Norwegian was an attempt to build a language based on the dialects that were thought to be least influenced by Danish. Which in practice meant the dialects from the most remote and isolated valleys in central Southern Norway. For some reason, the best represented dialects were from the same area as it's constructor, Ivar Aasen. :-) However, to make sure that New Norwegian got a broad basis in the whole population (still only considering Southern Norway), a lot of optional forms and grammar was introduced. It's main distinction is that whatever is the normal form in the alternative, Bokmål, is Strictly Not Allowed in New Norwegian. Interestingly, this excludes the dialects of almost half of the population in the country. It may shine through that I live in this part of the country, and thus don't see the bloody point of the entire thing. In my opinion, learning New Norwegian is a matter for the particularly interested. :-) </Rant alert> However, I tend to think of all languages and dialects as music; and I must say I truly enjoy the variation in melody between different and properly spoken Norwegian dialects. Icelandic, and the language of the Faroe Islands, are much closer to the old Norse than any Noregian incarnation, and seem pretty foreign to us. However, many of the melodic features are similar to the Scandinavian languages. I find it extremely fascinating to listen to Icelandic because I understand the intonation, but not the words. Cheers, Jostein Quoting Jens Bladt <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>: > I have no idea. > Norwegian was very much like Danish (when Norway was a part of Denmark), so > the languages are very similar. (Norwegian and Danish is veruy somilar to > Danish as well - the thhree Scandinavian countries basically shar a > language). Norway and Denmark are the only countries that still have the > three letters a, o and a. After the liberation, the Norwegians tried to > restore the original old Norwegian language - Ny Norsk (New Norwegian), > which was actually the old, pre-danish Norwegian language. Rather > unsuccessfully, I'm afraid. Today Norwegian is still very similar to Danish, > with small differences, especially the spelling. Basically we do understand > each other very well. Both are of course Germanic languages, which share the > most common words (with Germany and England); like hand, finger, eye, man, > arm, boat, house, way, see, hear, ear, feel, friend etc. etc. I guess the > people on both sides of the North Sea did understand eachother very well a > thousand years ago. During the dark medieval ages the languages in each > country changed - evolved in different directions, so to speak. > > It seems that the spelling changes significantly when ever a new state is > officially formed. This may be the explanation for the proposed Euro-English > language. EU even tried to agree on a shared EU constitution some time ago - > unsuccessfully as you all know. I believe Euro English will eventually share > the same destiny. > > Regards > > Jens Bladt > Arkitekt MAA > http://hjem.get2net.dk/bladt > > > -----Oprindelig meddelelse----- > Fra: Bob W [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > Sendt: 4. september 2005 23:52 > Til: [email protected] > Emne: RE: EuroEnglish (Was: Same lenses ...) > > > > The Norwegians are even better - they spell everything just > > like it's pronounced. > > Does everybody have the same accent, or do people with different accents > spell things differently to suit their pronunciation? > > -- > Cheers, > Bob > > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------- This message was sent using IMP, the Internet Messaging Program.
