[Wikipedia-l] Re: An honorable compromise and no: or nb: for Bokmål?

[Lars Aronsson]

In a previous posting, I wrote:
> Sorry, your Microsoft analogy doesn't help.

I should clarify this.  While Microsoft has a dominating position in
the desktop computing software market, this situation is too far from
the language situation in Norway to be a useful analogy.  Microsoft is
a single vendor with a marketing department, and there is no
corresponding agency (or conspiracy) behind the majority language in
Norway.

Bokmål is today the name for the dominating written language in
Norway, but this name was not invented by the users of the same.  
They themselves called it Norwegian, because they contrasted their
spelling to Danish, starting in the 1840s.  Only in the late 19th
century when Ivar Aasen's Landsmål (country language, a synthesis of
dialects) had entered the scene, did the need arise for a name for the
other version, and in 1899 it was officially named Riksmål (nation
language, as opposed to country language).  In 1929, Riksmål was
renamed to Bokmål (book language) and Landsmål to Nynorsk (new
Norwegian), and today's Riksmål is a classic form of Bokmål.

It is estimated that 85 percent of Norwegians use Bokmål today, and
the old popular movement for Landsmål, once filled with hopes of
democratization and progress and higher education available to all,
appears somewhat like Esperanto.  I'm a great admirer of the Esperanto
movement, and they might have a better chance on the Internet than
anytime before.  But I write this message in English, because that way
I will reach more readers.  To most Bokmål contributors to no:, it
has felt natural simply to call it "the Norwegian Wikipedia", because
it is neither in English nor Danish.  It might be a good idea to call
it "norsk (bokmål)", but I'm surprised by the strong sentiments that
met me when I suggest the renaming of no: to nb: would be unnecessary.

There is an oppression component here, where the mere number of people
who prefer Bokmål creates a problem for the brave Nynorsk minority.  
For example, parents trying to teach their children Nynorsk might find
fewer choices of spelling training software for Nynorsk, or a daily
newspaper in Nynorsk might not be available for your town.  This
situation is similar to women entering professions with a male
dominance or for ethanol car owners trying to find a gas [sic!]
station where they can fill up ethanol.  Political correctness or
affirmative action can lead to titles such as "mailman" being changed
to "letter carrier" (a translation of the German/Scandinavian
Briefträger/brevbärare), but as far as I know gas/petrol stations
have not (yet) been renamed to fuel stations.

But this kind of perceived oppression is not a conspiracy.  Most
mailmen didn't chose a profession based on a desire to suppress women,
most gasoline drivers didn't actively chose to avoid ethanol or
diesel, and the majority of Norwegians don't hate Ivar Aasen, even
though they prefer to read and write in a language that resembles that
of the former Danish regime.


-- 
  Lars Aronsson (lars at aronsson.se)
  Aronsson Datateknik - http://aronsson.se