Riksmål
| Norwegian Riksmål | |
|---|---|
| Riksmål | |
| Region | Norway |
| Era | 19th century to present |
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Indo-European
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Early forms
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| Latin | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-2 | |
| ISO 639-3 | |
| Glottolog | None |
Riksmål is a written Norwegian language form, meaning the National Language, based on the Dano-Norwegian language used by the upper class in Christiania (modern Oslo) in the 19th century.
After the dissolution of the union with Denmark in 1814 Norway had no national language of its own, the written language being Danish, while the verbal language consisted of numerous dialects – that to some extent were not mutually intelligible. The new union partner Sweden had a different language, Swedish, and there was a fear that if no measures were taken, its language would be imposed upon the Norwegians.
Hence, prominent Norwegians, such as Henrik Wergeland and Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson, advocated a standardized Norwegian language, to be based on the legacy of the Danish language as used in Norway by the upper class of Christiania. This was proposed by Knud Knudsen, a schoolteacher, who had witnessed how schoolchildren struggled with the Danish language they were taught, since it was very different from the spoken language they were used to. However, as late as in 1883 the Danish intellectual Georg Brandes stated that the language in Norway was Danish, and that the Norwegians did not have a language of their own.
Knud Knudsen presented his Norwegian language in several works from the 1850s until his death in 1895, while the term Riksmaal (aa is a contemporary way of writing å) was first proposed by Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson in 1899 as a name for the Norwegian variety of written Danish as well as spoken Dano-Norwegian. It was borrowed from Denmark where it denoted standard written and spoken Danish. The same year the Riksmål movement became organised under his leadership in order to fight against the growing influence of Nynorsk, eventually leading to the foundation of the non-governmental organisation Riksmålsforbundet in 1907. Bjørnson became Riksmålsforbundet's first leader until his death in 1910.
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