6.2.3 Norway: Population, language, culture
Description
This article is from the Nordic countries FAQ, by Antti Lahelma and Johan Olofsson, with numerous contributions by others.
6.2.3 Norway: Population, language, culture
Norway's population is primarily Germanic. The largest ethnic minority
are Sami (Lapps) living Northern Norway (Finnmark) who number about
20,000; a few thousand Norwegian Finns (Kvens) live in northern
Norway. Norwegian is a Germanic language developed from the Old Norse
spoken in the viking age; it is closely related to both Danish and
Swedish. Norway has hundreds of dialects of spoken Norwegian
(corresponding to different geographical regions or locales) and two
official written norms, Bokmål and Nynorsk. Bokmål, which has its
basis in large part in the Danish spoken during the period of Danish
rule, serves as the written norm for most of the dialects of the
larger urban centers. Nynorsk, created by the philologist Ivar Andreas
Aasen (1813-96) who drew it from the old rural dialects that preserve
Norwegian as it descended from Old Norse, serves as the written norm
for most of the dialects of rural areas and some smaller urban
centers. Norway, while becoming increasingly urbanized, is still one
of the least urbanized countries in Europe. Population is extremely
sparse in northern Norway and inland; except for Iceland, it is the
lowest in Europe.
It's worth to note that both Nynorsk and Bokmål are pure written
languages. No one actually speaks these languages - in Norway all
spoken languages are regarded as dialects. But one has to remember
that over 80% of the pupils in Norwegian schools chose to learn
Bokmål, and that the vocabulary of Bokmål is influenced by Danish
whereas the vocabulary of Nynorsk lies closer to Swedish. The minority
language Nynorsk is thus protected by laws, ensuring for instance that
at least 25% of the radio and tv transmissions are in Nynorsk, and a
national theater Det Norske Teatret playing in Nynorsk,
Frequently questions about common Scandinavian names come up in the
newsgroup. The national statistical office of Norway has made tables
over the most common names to make your choice easier. :-)
Norway has a strongly developed tradition of folk music; its most
distinguished classical composers were Edvard Grieg (1843-1907),
Christian Sinding (1856-1941), and Johan Svendsen (1840-1911), all of
whom made much use of traditional music. The painting of Edvard Munch
(1863-1944) has achieved worldwide recognition. Gustav Vigeland
(1869-1943) produced a vast body of sculpture, which has been
collected in Frogner Park in Oslo. For Norwegian literature, see
section 6.5.
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