At 14:16 11/11/2004 +0000, James R. Johnson wrote:
Could you give some examples of the differences between
the three forms of
Norwegian?
Hello James,
Bokmål and Riksmål are, as already mentioned, slightly different subsets of
the same. The Riksmål end of the scale has a higher number of -en, -ene and
-et endings (rather than -a) as well as a higher number of monophthongs (e,
ø rather than ei, øy, au). Some word forms that are relatively frequently
used in Riksmål and very infrequently in Bokmål are: nu (Bm. nå; Nn. no) =
now; efter (Bm./Nn. etter) = after; sprog (Bm. & Nn. språk) = language.
Riksmål tends in general to be closer to Danish, Bokmål tends to be closer
to Nynorsk.
The differences between mainstream-to-conservative Bokmål and mainstream
Riksmål are too small to necessarily show up in a sample of, let's say,
some 5-10 lines or so of text.
The differences between Bokmål (w/Riksmål) and Nynorsk are greater. Mainly,
the personal pronouns vary (Nn. "eg", Bm. "jeg" = I; Nn.
"dei", Bm.
"de/dem" = they/them; Nn. "vi"~"me", Bm. "vi" =
we; etc.), there is a fully
extant three-gender system in Nn., as opposed to the two-gender or
modified/expanded two-gender system in esp. conservative Bokmål and
Riksmål; the Old Norse / Icelandic diphthongs are kept in most cases in
Nn., but more often monophthongised in Bm./Rm. (Nn./Bm. bein, Bm./Rm. ben,
bone(/leg); Nn. blaut, Bm. blaut/bløt, Rm. bløt = wet); there is much more
direct-tense writing in Nynorsk than in Bokmål -- one strongly prefers to
"investigate" rather than to "perform an investigation"; loan words
from
German are lower in number and more infrequently used in Nynorsk; etc.
The following are some examples of Nynorsk and Bokmål, with other
Scandinavian written languages being thrown in for the perspective --
please bear in mind that differences within the Bm.~Rm. contrast are
subtle/fussy and that the examples are a bit of an over-simplification in
that respect. (Also please bear in mind that these examples are coming off
the top of my head here and now, so I apologise in advance for errors I may
have committed in the Swedish or Danish.
Sv: Jag körde hem hennes bil.
Nn.: Eg køyrde heim bilen hennar.
Bm.: Jeg kjørte heim bilen hennes. ~ Jeg kjørte hennes bil hjem.
Rm. Jeg kjørte hennes bil hjem.
Da:: Jeg kørte hendes bil hjem.
= I drove her car home.
Sv.: Jag målade alla husen röda.
Nn.: Eg måla alle husa raude.
Bm.: Jeg malte alle husa røde.
Rm.: Jeg malte alle husene røde.
Da.: Jeg malede alle de hus røde.
= I painted all the (those) houses red.
Sv.: Pojkarna och flickorna gette getterna hela veckan lång.
Nn.: Gutane og jentene gjette geitene heile veka lang.
Bm.: Guttene og jentene gjette geitene hele uka lang.
Rm.: Guttene og jentene gjette gjetene hele uken lang.
Da.: Drængerne og pigerne gedte gedderne hele ugen lang.
= The boys and the girls herded the goats all week long.
Sv.: Hon hadde mycket lång erfarenhet av att hantera farliga ämnen.
Nn.: Ho hadde svært lang røynsle med handsaming av farlege stoff.
Bm.: Hun hadde meget lang erfaring med håndtering av farlige stoffer.
Da.: Hun hadde lang erfarenhed i at håndtere farlige stoffer.
= She had a lot of experience in handling dangerous substances.
Sv.: Förenta staternas utrikespolitik medför stor oenighet i hela världen.
Nn.: Utanrikspolitikken åt Sambandsstatane er grunn til mykje usemje verda
ikring.
Bm./Rm.: De forente staters utenrikspolitikk forårsaker mye uenighet verden
rundt.
Da.: De Forenede Staters udenrigspolitik forårsager megen uenighed værden
rundt.
= The United States' foreign policy causes much controversy around the world.
Enjoy! :-)
All the best,
Olve
___________________
Olve Utne
http://utne.nvg.org