Norwegian

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A language of Norway

ISO 639-3
nor
Population

4,640,000 in Norway. Population total all countries: 4,741,780.

Location

Also in Canada, Sweden, United States.

Language Maps
Language Status

1 (National). De facto national language.

Classification
Indo-European, Germanic, North, East Scandinavian, Danish-Swedish, Danish-Bokmal
Dialects

Riksmål.

Typology

SVO

Language Development
Fully developed. Bible: 1904–1985.
Language Resources
OLAC resources in and about Norwegian
Writing
Latin script.
Other Comments

Norwegian has 2 written standards, both of which are assigned codes in the ISO 639-3 standard: Bokmål Norwegian (nob) and Nynorsk Norwegian (nno). It draws lexicon and syntax from both West Scandinavian and East Scandinavian speech varieties. Bokmål differs from Riksmål in genders, lexicon, counting system, using diphthongs versus single vowels, having a tendency to permit concrete noun endings in abstract situations, etc. While Norwegian is here classified as East Scandinavian, the two written standards Nynorsk and Bokmal follow the norms of both West and East Scandinavian respectively. Nynorsk, the spoken language of a majority of the population is West Scandinavian. Bokmål is East Scandinavian.