Norwegian Language

Historical overview

Long time ago during the Viking Age ( 700- 1066) people spoke Old Norse which is North Germanic language. Most of the people had Old East Norse dialect ( current dialect in Denmark and Sweden) or Gutish (Gothic language).
 Some people say that people were able to understand Old English,Old Saxon and French during that time. Gradually  Old Norse turned into Modern North language ( Scandinavian language).  If you have ever been in Iceland or heard their language, you may get an idea about what North language does sound! Another language that sounds like Old Norse language is spoken in Alvdalen in Sweden.

In 1030 when Christianity came to Norway, Norwegian language got influenced of some  Latin Alphabet.

When Vikings settled in Iceland during 9th century, the language of Iceland and Norway remained similar and gradually Norwegian language went through transition towards modern language.

Phonology

Norwegian language sounds like Swedish with different dialects and accents. In fact we understand each other.However we have different pronunciation.  For example some of my courses at the university were in Danish language and I did not have problem with understanding them.

Most of the post alveolar consonants are mutations of dental consonant
for instance the word bare [bære] means "only" in English.
 
The phonology is completely different in central Norway such as Trondheim, Namsos, Steinkjer than south and western part of Norway. There are many vowel variations in various Norwegian dialects.

Norwegian language has two pitch patterns. For instance word plural word farmers (bønder) is pronounced bønner ( in English means beans,prayers) with different spelling.

Written

The Norwegian alphabet has 29 letters such as:

    A-B-C-D-E-F-G-H-I-J-K-L-M-N-O-P-Q-R-S-T-U-V-W-X-Y-Z-Æ-Ø-Å

Bokmål [bookmol] Nynorsk[ninoshk] ( new Norwegian language,created by Ivar Aasen Norwegian philologist and poet in  1800 ) are  Norwegian standard languages. Bokmål is mostly used in writing (written Norwegian),regardless of dialect and some people apply nynosk.  At school and universities most of the exam papers are in both bokmål and nynosk along with English for exchange students. Nynorsk is  close to Bokmål with some differences.

Example: Bokmål = Hva heter han? [ Va heterr han] what is his name?

              Nynorsk = Kva heiter han? [ka heite han] what is his name?

There are various number of Norwegian dialects in Norway. Each area has their own dialect for instance in Bergen and  Stavanger, people pronounce "R" as "R" in French. In Nordland (North of Norway) they have a soft pronunciation of letters. 

In central Norway people speak Trøndesk [trondashk/trondashc] and each city in central Norway has their own trøndesk dialect. 

Morphology

Norwegian nouns are  singular and plural. 

                      Singlar                                     plural

    Indefinite           Definite        Indefinite      Definite

       en student    studenten            studenter         studentene

m. en mann         mannen                  menn            mennene