Norwegian dialects (Norwegian: dialekter) are commonly divided into four main groups, 'Northern Norwegian', 'Central Norwegian' (Norwegian: [[trøndersk]]), 'Western Norwegian' (Norwegian: [[vestlandsk]]), and 'Eastern Norwegian' . Sometimes 'Midland Norwegian' and/or 'South Norwegian' are considered fifth or sixth groups.[1]
The dialects are generally mutually intelligible, but differ significantly with regard to accent, grammar, syntax, and vocabulary. If not accustomed to a particular dialect, even a native Norwegian speaker may have difficulty understanding it. Dialects can be as local as farm clusters, but many linguists note an ongoing regionalization, diminishing, or even elimination of local variations.
Spoken Norwegian typically does not exactly follow the written languages Bokmål and Nynorsk or the more conservative Riksmål and Høgnorsk, except in parts of Finnmark (where the original Sami population learned Norwegian as a second language). Rather, most people speak in their own local dialect. There is no "standard" spoken Norwegian.
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. Oppdal Municipality, 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. Other transitional dialects include the dialects of Romsdal and Arendal.
On the other hand, newly industrialized communities near sources of hydroelectric power have developed dialects consistent with the region but in many ways unique. Studies in such places as Høyanger, Odda, Tyssedal, Rjukan, Notodden, Sauda, and others show that koineization has effected the formation of new dialects in these areas.
Similarly, in the early 20th century a dialect closely approximating standard Bokmål arose in and around railway stations. This was known as ("station language") and may have contributed to changes in dialect around these centers.
See also: Norwegian language struggle. Until the 20th century, upward social mobility in a city like Oslo could in some cases require conforming speech to standard Riksmål. Studies show that even today, speakers of rural dialects may tend to change their usage in formal settings to approximate the formal written language. This has led to various countercultural movements ranging from the adoption of traditional forms of Oslo dialects among political radicals in Oslo, to movements preserving local dialects. There is widespread and growing acceptance that Norwegian linguistic diversity 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.
There is no standard dialect for the Norwegian language as a whole, and all dialects are by now mutually intelligible. Hence, widely different dialects are used frequently and alongside each other, in almost every aspect of society. Criticism of a dialect may be considered criticism of someone's personal identity and place of upbringing, and is considered impolite. Not using one's proper dialect would be bordering on awkward in many situations, as it may signal a wish to take on an identity or a background which one does not have. Dialects are also an area from which to derive humour both in professional and household situations.
There are many ways to distinguish among Norwegian dialects. These criteria are drawn from the work Vårt Eget Språk/Talemålet (1987) by Egil Børre Johnsen. These criteria generally provide the analytical means for identifying most dialects, though most Norwegians rely on experience to tell them apart.
One of the most important differences among dialects is which ending, if any, verbs have in the infinitive form. In Old Norwegian, most verbs had an infinitive ending (-a), and likewise in a modern Norwegian dialect, most of the verbs of the dialect either have or would have had an infinitive ending. There are five varieties of the infinitive ending in Norwegian dialects, constituting two groups:
One ending (western dialects)
Two different endings (eastern dialects)
The split distribution of endings is related to the syllable length of the verb in Old Norse. "Short-syllable" verbs in Norse kept their endings. The "long-syllable" verbs lost their (unstressed) endings or had them converted to -e.
The original Germanic contextual difference between the dative and accusative cases, standardized in modern German and Icelandic, has degenerated in spoken Danish and Swedish, a tendency which spread to Bokmål too. Ivar Aasen treated the dative case in detail in his work, Norsk Grammatik (1848), and use of Norwegian dative as a living grammatical case can be found in a few of the earliest Landsmål texts. However, the dative case has never been part of official Landsmål/Nynorsk.
It is, however, present in some spoken dialects north of Oslo, Romsdal, and south and northeast of Trondheim. The grammatical phenomenon is highly threatened in the mentioned areas, while most speakers of conservative varieties have been highly influenced by the national standard languages, using only the traditional accusative word form in both cases. Often, though not always, the difference in meaning between the dative and accusative word forms can thus be lost, requiring the speaker to add more words to specify what was actually meant, to avoid potential loss of information.
There are regional variations in the use of future tense, for example, "He is going to travel.":
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Syntax can vary greatly between dialects, and the tense is important for the listener to get the meaning. For instance, a question can be formed without the traditional "asking-words" (how, where, what, who..)
For example, the sentence ? (in Bokmål), ? (in Nynorsk), literally: "How much is the clock?" i.e. "What time is it?" can be put in, among others, the following forms:
? (Is the clock much?) (stress is on "the clock")
? (Is it much, the clock?) (stress on "is")
? (literally: "What is the clock?")
? (literally: What the clock is?), or, using another word for clock, ?
? (literally: What is she?).
Old Norse had the diphthongs pronounced as //au//, pronounced as //ei//, and pronounced as //øy//, but the Norwegian spoken in the area around Setesdal has shifted two of the traditional diphthongs and innovated four more from long vowels, and, in some cases, also short vowels.[2]
| Old Norse | Modern Norwegian | |
|---|---|---|
| Setesdal[3] | ||
| pronounced as /[ei]/ | pronounced as /[ai]/ | |
| pronounced as /[øy]/ | pronounced as /[oy]/ | |
| pronounced as /[iː]/ | pronounced as /[ei]/ | |
| pronounced as /[yː]/ | pronounced as /[uy]/ | |
| pronounced as /[uː]/ | pronounced as /[eu]/ | |
| pronounced as /[oː]/ | pronounced as /[ou]/ |
West Norwegian dialects have also innovated new diphthongs. In Midtre you can find the following:
| Old Norse | Modern Norwegian | |
|---|---|---|
| Midtre | ||
| pronounced as /[aː]/ | pronounced as /[au]/ | |
| pronounced as /[oː]/ | pronounced as /[ou]/ | |
| pronounced as /[uː]/ | pronounced as /[eʉ]/ |
The Old Norse diphthongs pronounced as //au//, pronounced as //ei//, and pronounced as //øy// have experienced monophthongization in certain dialects of modern Norwegian.
| Old Norse | Modern Norwegian | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Urban East | Some dialects | ||
| pronounced as /[ei]/ | pronounced as /[æɪ]/ | pronounced as /[e ~ eː]/ | |
| pronounced as /[øy]/ | pronounced as /[œʏ]/ | pronounced as /[ø ~ øː]/ | |
| pronounced as /[au]/ | pronounced as /[æʉ]/ | pronounced as /[ø ~ øː]/ | |
This shift originated in Old East Norse, which is reflected in the fact that Swedish and Danish overwhelmingly exhibit this change. Monophthongization in Norway ends on the coast west of Trondheim and extends southeast in a triangle into central Sweden. Some Norwegian dialects, east of Molde, for example, have lost only pronounced as //ei// and pronounced as //øy//.
(/ in Norwegian) This is a phenomenon in which the root vowel and end vowel in a word approximate each other. For example, the old Norse has become or 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. Leveling exists only in inland areas in Southern Norway, and areas around Trondheim.
In all but Oslo and coastal areas just south of the capital, the present tense of certain verbs take on a new vowel (umlaut), e.g., becomes (in Oslo, it becomes).
In some areas, the pronounced as //r// is not pronounced in all or some words in their plural indefinite form. There are four categories:
Most dialects realize pronounced as //r// as the alveolar tap pronounced as /[ɾ]/ or alveolar trill pronounced as /[r]/. However, for the last 200 years the uvular approximant pronounced as /[ʁ]/ 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 fashionable to "import" governesses from the Kristiansand area. In certain regions, such as Oslo, the flap has become realized as a retroflex flap (generally called "thick L") pronounced as //ɽ//, which exists only in Norway, a few regions in Sweden, and in completely unrelated languages. The sound coexists with other retroflexions in Norwegian dialects. In some areas it also applies to words that end with "rd," for example with (farm) being pronounced pronounced as //ɡɑːɽ//. The uvular R 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. However, the dialect of Arendal retains the retroflexes, while featuring the uvular R in remaining positions, e.g. pronounced as /[ʁɑːʈ]/.
In large parts of Northern Norway, especially in the northern parts of Nordland county and southern parts of Troms county, as well as several parts of Finnmark county, another variant is still common: the voiced post-alveolar sibilant fricative pronounced as //ʒ//. In front of voiceless consonants, the realisation of this R is unvoiced as well, to pronounced as //ʃ//. Thus, where one in the southern and Trøndelag dialects will get pronounced as //sp̬ar̥k// or pronounced as //sp̬aʀk// or pronounced as //sp̬aʁ̥k//, in areas realising voiced R as pronounced as //ʒ//, one will get pronounced as //spaʃːk//.
In areas north of an isogloss running between Oslo and Bergen, palatalization occurs for the n (IPA pronounced as /[nʲ]/), l (pronounced as /[lʲ]/), t (pronounced as /[tʲ]/) and d (pronounced as /[dʲ]/) sounds in varying degrees. Areas just south and southwest of Trondheim palatalize both the main and subordinate syllable in words (e.g., pronounced as /[kɑlʲːɑnʲ]/), but other areas only palatalize the main syllable (pronounced as /[bɑlʲ]/).
Voiceless stops (pronounced as //p, t, k//) have become voiced (pronounced as /[b, d, ɡ]/) intervocalically after long vowels (pronounced as //ˈfløːdə//, pronounced as //ˈkɑːɡə// vs. pronounced as //ˈfløːtə//, pronounced as //ˈkɑːkə//) on the extreme southern coast of Norway, including Kristiansand, Mandal and Stavanger. The same phenomenon appears in Sør-Trøndelag and one area in Nordland.
The geminate pronounced as //ll// in southwestern Norway has become pronounced as /[dl]/, while just east in southcentral Norwegian the final pronounced as /[l]/ is lost, leaving pronounced as /[d]/. The same sequence has been palatalized in Northern Norway, leaving the palatal lateral pronounced as /[ʎ]/.
The second consonant in the consonant clusters pronounced as //nd//, pronounced as //ld//, and pronounced as //nɡ// has assimilated to the first across most of Norway, leaving pronounced as /[n]/, pronounced as /[l]/, and pronounced as /[ŋ]/ respectively. Western Norway, though not in Bergen, retains the pronounced as //ld// cluster. In Northern Norway this same cluster is realized as the palatal lateral pronounced as /[ʎ]/.
Although used less frequently, a subtle shift takes place in conjugating a masculine noun from indefinitive to definitive, e.g., from to (pronounced as /[becːen], [becçen]/, [beçːen] or pronounced as /[be:t͡ʃen]/). This is found in rural dialects along the coast from Farsund Municipality to the border between Troms and Finnmark.
Many people, especially in the younger generation, have lost the differentiation between the pronounced as //ç// (written) and pronounced as //ʂ// (written) sounds, realizing both as pronounced as /link/. This is by many considered to be a normal development in language change (although as most language changes, the older generation and more conservative language users often lament the degradation of the language). The functional load is relatively low, and as often happens, similar sounds with low functional loads merge.
There are great differences between the intonation systems of different Norwegian dialects.
Three variations of the first person plural nominative pronoun exist in Norwegian dialects:
There is considerable variety in the way the first person singular nominative pronoun is pronounced in Norwegian dialects. They appear to fall into three groups, within which there are also variations:
| Regions | I | You | He | She | It | We | You (pl.) | They | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bokmål | Jeg | Du | Han | Hun | Det | Vi | Dere | De, dem | |
| Nynorsk | Du | Han | Ho | Det | Vi, me | De, dykk, dokker | Dei | ||
| South Eastern Norway | Jæ, jé, jè, jei | Du, ru, u, dø | Han, hæn, hænnom, hannem | Hun, ho, hu, ha, a, henne, henner | De | Vi, ve, mø, oss, øss, æss, vårs | Dere, dø, de, di, døkk, dår(e), dør(e) | Dem, rem, 'rdem, em, døm, dom, di | |
| Most of Western and Southern Norway | , e, æ, æg, æi, æig, jei, ej, i | Du, dø, døø, døh | Han, an, ha'an | Hun, ho, hu, hau, hon, u | De, da, d' | Vi, me, mi, mø, åss | Dere, då(k)ke, dåkkar, dåkk, de, derr, dåkki, dikko(n), deke, deko, | De, dei, dæ, di, di'i | |
| Trøndelag and most of Northern Norway | Æ, æg, i, eig, jæ, e, | Du, dæ, dø, u, dæ'æ | Han, hanj, hin, hån | Hun, hu, ho, a | De, da, dæ, e, denj, ta | Vi, åss, oss, åkke, me, mi | Dåkk, dåkke, dåkker, dåkkæ, dere, ere, dykk, di | Dei, dem, dæm, 'em, di, r'ej, dåm |
| Regions | My | Your | His | Her | Its | Our | Your (pl.) | Their | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bokmål | Min, mi, mitt | Din, di, ditt | Hans | Hennes | dens, dets | Vår | Deres | Deres | |
| Nynorsk | Min, mi, mitt | Din, di, ditt | Hans | Hennar | Rarely used. When used: dess | Vår | Dykkar | Deira | |
| South Eastern Norway | Min, mi, mitt, mø | Din, di, ditt | Hans, hannes, hanns, hass | Hennes, henners, hun sin, hos, hinnes | Dets, det sitt | Vårs, vørs, vår, 'år, våres | Deres, døres, | Dems, demmes, demma, demses, dem sitt, dommes, doms, døms | |
| Most of Western and Southern Norway | Min, mi, mitt | Din, di, ditt | Hans, hannes, hannas, høns, hønnes, ans | Hennes,hons, hos, høvs, haus, hennar, hen(n)as, nas | nonexistent or dens, dets | Vår, 'år, våres, våras, åkkas, åkka, aokan(s) | Deres, dokkas, dokkar(s), dåkas, dekan, dekans | Demmes, dies, dis, deisa, deis, daus, døvs, deira, deira(n)s | |
| Trøndelag and most of Northern Norway | Min, mi, mitt, mæjn, mett | Din, di, ditt, dij, dej'j | Hans, hannjes, hanses, hannes, hanner, hånner | Hennes, hennjes, hunnes, henna, hennar, huns | Dets, det sitt, dess | Vår, våkke, vår', våres, vårres | Deres, dokkers, dokkes, 'eras | Dems, demma, dæres, dæmmes, dæmmers, deira |
The Norwegian word for the English not exists in these main categories:
pronounced as /[ikːə]/ – Oslo, Kristiansand, Bergen, Ålesund, most of Finnmark, Vestfold and lowland parts of Telemark, and some cities in Nordland.
pronounced as /[içːə/iːt͡ʃə]/ – most of Southern, Northern, Western Norway and high-land parts of Telemark.
pronounced as /[itʲː]/ – Trøndelag
pronounced as /[içː]/ - parts of Salten District, Nordland
pronounced as /[iːtə]/ or ittje pronounced as /[itʲːə]/ – areas north of Oslo, along the Swedish border
pronounced as /[intə]/, ente pronounced as /[entə]/ or ette pronounced as /[etːə]/ – Mostly along the Swedish border south of Oslo in Østfold
/
/
Examples of the sentence "I am not hungry," in Norwegian:
: . (Bokmål)
: . (Nynorsk)
: . (Romsdal)
: . (Trøndelag)
: . (Salten)
: . (Narvik)
: . (Hærland)
Some common interrogative words take on forms such as:
| Regions | who | what | where | which | how | why | when | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bokmål | hvem | hva | hvor | hvilken, hvilket, hvilke | hvordan, hvorledes, åssen | hvorfor | når | |
| Nynorsk | kven | kva | kor, kvar | kva for ein/ei/eit | korleis, korso | kvifor, korfor | når, kva tid | |
| South Eastern Norway | hvem, åkke, åkkjen, høkken, håkke | hva, å da, å, hø da, hå, hæ, hær | hvor, hvorhen, å hen, å henner, hen, hørt, hærre, håppæs, hæppæs | hvilken, hvilke, åkken, åssen, hvem, hva slags, hø slags, hæsse, håssen. håleis, hådan | hvordan, åssen, høssen, hæsse | hvorfor, åffer, å for, høffer, hæffer | ti, å ti, når, hærnér | |
| Most of Western Norway | kven, ken, kin, kem, kim | kva, ka, ke, kæ, kå | kor, kest, korhen/korhenne, hen | kva, ka, kvaslags, kaslags, kasla, kallas, kalla, kass, kvafor, kafor, kaforein, keslags, kæslags, koffø en | kordan, korsn, korleis, karleis, koss, koss(e)n | korfor, koffor, kvifor, kafor, keffår, koffø | når, ti, kati, korti, koti, kå ti | |
| Trøndelag and most of Northern Norway | kæm, kem, kånn, kenn | ka, ke, kve, ker | kor, korhæn/korhænne, ker, karre, kehænn | kolles, koss, korsn, kossn, kasla, kass, kafor, kafør, kåfår, kersn, kess, kafla | kolles, koss, kess, korsn, kossn, kordan, korran, kelles | korfor, kafor, kafør, koffer, koffør, koffår, kåffår, keffer | når, ner, nå, når ti, ka ti, katti, kåtti |