{"id":307,"date":"2019-09-24T23:01:55","date_gmt":"2019-09-25T06:01:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/linguamonium.com\/?p=307"},"modified":"2022-07-05T11:51:19","modified_gmt":"2022-07-05T18:51:19","slug":"a-norwegian-smorgasbord","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/linguamonium.com\/?p=307","title":{"rendered":"A Norwegian sm\u00f6rg\u00e5sbord"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Okay, \u201csm\u00f6rg\u00e5sbord\u201d is a Swedish borrowing, but close enough. It\u2019s appropriate for this post, which will be a buffet of miscellaneous facts about the Norwegian language.<\/p>\n<p>I became interested in and started learning Norwegian because my brother has been living in Oslo for the past several years, where he is getting his Ph.D. in <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Lichenology\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">lichenology<\/a>.<a href=\"#_ftn1\" name=\"_ftnref1\">[1]<\/a> My family and I traveled to visit him last summer. To characterize the country in a few words, I\u2019d say Norway is \u2013 more iconically \u2013 Vikings, fjords, trolls, nature, Norse mythology, and \u2013 more personally \u2013 lichens, stellar black coffee, gross sweet brown cheese, overly-restricted booze-purchasing hours, part of my paternal ancestry, and vampires.<a href=\"#_ftn2\" name=\"_ftnref2\">[2]<\/a><\/p>\n<div id='gallery-1' class='gallery galleryid-307 gallery-columns-3 gallery-size-thumbnail'><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon portrait'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/linguamonium.com\/?attachment_id=311'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/linguamonium.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/mvimg_20180707_123046-scaled.jpg?resize=150%2C150&amp;ssl=1\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/linguamonium.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/mvimg_20180707_123046-scaled.jpg?resize=150%2C150&amp;ssl=1 150w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/linguamonium.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/mvimg_20180707_123046-scaled.jpg?zoom=2&amp;resize=150%2C150&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/linguamonium.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/mvimg_20180707_123046-scaled.jpg?zoom=3&amp;resize=150%2C150&amp;ssl=1 450w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div><\/figure><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/linguamonium.com\/?attachment_id=310'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/linguamonium.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/img_20180707_122229-scaled.jpg?resize=150%2C150&amp;ssl=1\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/linguamonium.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/img_20180707_122229-scaled.jpg?resize=150%2C150&amp;ssl=1 150w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/linguamonium.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/img_20180707_122229-scaled.jpg?zoom=2&amp;resize=150%2C150&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/linguamonium.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/img_20180707_122229-scaled.jpg?zoom=3&amp;resize=150%2C150&amp;ssl=1 450w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div><\/figure><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon portrait'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/linguamonium.com\/?attachment_id=312'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/linguamonium.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/img_20180707_123023-scaled.jpg?resize=150%2C150&amp;ssl=1\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/linguamonium.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/img_20180707_123023-scaled.jpg?resize=150%2C150&amp;ssl=1 150w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/linguamonium.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/img_20180707_123023-scaled.jpg?zoom=2&amp;resize=150%2C150&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/linguamonium.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/img_20180707_123023-scaled.jpg?zoom=3&amp;resize=150%2C150&amp;ssl=1 450w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div><\/figure>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">Heddal <em>stavkirke <\/em>(stave church), built in the early 13<sup>th<\/sup> century<\/p>\n<p>So what\u2019s cool about Norwegian?<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3>Dialects<\/h3>\n<p>First (as I mentioned in <a href=\"https:\/\/linguamonium.com\/2019\/03\/17\/accents-dialects-part-i-yinzers-and-jawn\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">one of the recent dialect posts<\/a>), Norwegian forms a <strong>dialect continuum <\/strong>with Swedish and Danish, languages with which it is, to a greater or lesser extent, mutually intelligible. These are Scandinavian or <strong>North Germanic <\/strong>languages, along with Icelandic and Faroese. My brother, who now has a decent command of Norwegian, says he can understand Swedish relatively well too, although Danish is harder. Have a listen to differences between Danish and Norwegian in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=95eq0AzQ7Mw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">this video<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>However, there are also a staggering number of <em>Norwegian <\/em>dialects spread across Norway. People claim it\u2019s often harder to understand someone from a different part of the country (for example, Oslo inhabitants vs. speakers of <em>tr\u00f8ndersk<\/em>, a group of sub-dialects in north-central Tr\u00f8ndelag county) than it is to understand a Swede speaking Swedish. Wikipedia corroborates: \u201cVariations in grammar, syntax, vocabulary, and pronunciation cut across geographical boundaries and can create a distinct dialect at the level of farm clusters. Dialects are in some cases so dissimilar as to be unintelligible to unfamiliar listeners.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>There are two official standard forms for the <em>written <\/em>language, even if there is no standard for <em>spoken <\/em>Norwegian (since local dialects rule in most situations). <strong>Bokm\u00e5l<\/strong> (literally \u201cbook tongue\u201d) is used in the majority of publications, and <strong>Nynorsk<\/strong> (\u201cnew Norwegian\u201d) in under 10% of written communication.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3>Lexicon and Morphology<\/h3>\n<p>Onto smaller language-y bits: words and morphemes. Norwegian is super fun because it is prone to extensive compounding (like German), and these compounds often break down into etymologically amusing or charming pieces. By this I mean that the component words reveal interesting (but usually sensible) semantic relationships with the larger compound. Let me give you some examples:<\/p>\n<table>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"text-align: center;\" width=\"138\"><strong>Norwegian compound<\/strong><\/td>\n<td style=\"text-align: center;\" width=\"120\"><strong>English word<\/strong><\/td>\n<td style=\"text-align: center;\" width=\"404\"><strong>Individual morphemes<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td width=\"138\"><em>fruktkj\u00f8tt<\/em><\/td>\n<td width=\"120\">\u201cpulp\u201d<\/td>\n<td width=\"404\"><em>frukt <\/em>(\u201cfruit\u201d) + <em>kj\u00f8tt<\/em> (\u201cmeat\u201d)\u00a0 \u21d2\u00a0 \u201cfruit meat\u201d<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td width=\"138\"><em>matbit<\/em><\/td>\n<td width=\"120\">\u201csnack\u201d<\/td>\n<td width=\"404\"><em>mat <\/em>(\u201cfood\u201d) + <em>bit <\/em>(\u201cbite\u201d)\u00a0 \u21d2\u00a0 \u201cfood bite\u201d<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td width=\"138\"><em>sommerfugl<\/em><\/td>\n<td width=\"120\">\u201cbutterfly\u201d<\/td>\n<td width=\"404\"><em>sommer <\/em>(\u201csummer\u201d) + <em>fugl <\/em>(\u201cbird\u201d) \u21d2\u00a0 \u201csummer bird\u201d<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td width=\"138\"><em>morkake<\/em><\/td>\n<td width=\"120\">\u201cplacenta\u201d<\/td>\n<td width=\"404\"><em>mor <\/em>(\u201cmother\u201d) + <em>kake <\/em>(\u201ccake\u201d)\u00a0 \u21d2\u00a0 \u201cmother cake\u201d<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td width=\"138\"><em>verdensrommet<\/em><\/td>\n<td width=\"120\">\u201c(outer) space\u201d<\/td>\n<td width=\"404\"><em>verden<\/em> (\u201cworld\u201d) + <em>s <\/em>(possessive) + <em>romm <\/em>(\u201croom\u201d) + <em>et<\/em> (\u201cthe\u201d)\u00a0 \u21d2\u00a0 \u201cthe room of the world\u201d<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td width=\"138\"><em>sykehus<\/em><\/td>\n<td width=\"120\">\u201chospital\u201d<\/td>\n<td width=\"404\"><em>skye <\/em>(\u201csick\u201d) + <em>hus <\/em>(\u201chouse\u201d)\u00a0 \u21d2\u00a0 \u201csick house\u201d<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td width=\"138\"><em>gr\u00f8nnsak<\/em><\/td>\n<td width=\"120\">\u201cvegetable\u201d<\/td>\n<td width=\"404\"><em>gr\u00f8n<\/em> (\u201cgreen\u201d) + <em>sak <\/em>(\u201cthing\u201d)\u00a0 \u21d2\u00a0 \u201cgreen thing\u201d<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td width=\"138\"><em>st\u00f8vsuger<\/em><\/td>\n<td width=\"120\">\u201cvacuum cleaner\u201d<\/td>\n<td width=\"404\"><em>st\u00f8v<\/em> (\u201cdust\u201d) + <em>suger<\/em> (\u201csuck[er]\u201d)\u00a0 \u21d2\u00a0 \u201cdust suck[er]\u201d<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td width=\"138\"><em>flaggermus<\/em><\/td>\n<td width=\"120\">\u201cbat\u201d<\/td>\n<td width=\"404\"><em>flagger<\/em> (\u201cflying\u201d) + <em>mus <\/em>(\u201cmouse\u201d)\u00a0 \u21d2\u00a0 \u201cflying mouse\u201d<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td width=\"138\"><em>piggsvin<\/em><\/td>\n<td width=\"120\">\u201chedgehog\u201d<\/td>\n<td width=\"404\"><em>pig<\/em> (\u201cspike\u201d) + <em>svin <\/em>(\u201cpig\u201d)\u00a0 \u21d2\u00a0 \u201cspike pig\u201d<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3>Morphosyntax<\/h3>\n<figure id=\"attachment_320\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-320\" style=\"width: 279px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-320 alignright\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/linguamonium.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/rommegraut_cropped.jpg?resize=279%2C358&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"rommegraut_cropped\" width=\"279\" height=\"358\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-320\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><br \/>Rest stop on the road back to Oslo. <em>R\u00f8mmegraut <\/em>is the Nynorsk word for a traditional porridge \u2013 kind of like cream of wheat, but sweeter and topped with butter.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>One facet of Norwegian morphosyntax that was novel to me is the structure of its <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Determiner\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">determiners<\/a><\/strong>. In English, both <strong>definite<\/strong> (\u201cthe\u201d) and <strong>indefinite<\/strong> (\u201ca \/ an\u201d) articles are independent words that always <em>precede <\/em>their noun or noun phrase. So we have:<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">\u201cthe house\u201d\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 &#8220;the big blue house\u201d<br \/>\n\u201ca house\u201d\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201ca big blue house\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The same is true for the Romance languages I know about (French, Spanish, Italian), the other Germanic language I\u2019m familiar with (German)\u2026 and it is simply not relevant for the Asian languages I\u2019ve dabbled in (Japanese, Cantonese) because they lack articles entirely.<\/p>\n<p>In Norwegian (as well as in Swedish and Danish), indefinite articles are, familiarly, the independent words which precede the noun, while <em>definite<\/em> articles are actually <strong>suffixes<\/strong>, which attach to the end of the noun they modify. What\u2019s more \u2013 if you place something in front of the noun, like an adjective or a number, there\u2019s <em>another <\/em>set of determiners to use, called <strong>demonstratives <\/strong>(in English: <em>this, that, these, those<\/em>). These precede the noun phrase (adjective\/number + noun), where the noun already contains its definite suffix. Again, a table might help illustrate:<\/p>\n<p><strong>Norwegian (Bokm\u00e5l) determiners<br \/>\n<\/strong><\/p>\n<table>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td colspan=\"3\" width=\"331\">\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>Indefinite articles<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<td colspan=\"3\" width=\"331\">\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>Definite articles<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"text-align: center;\" width=\"110\"><strong>Masc. singular<\/strong><\/td>\n<td width=\"110\">\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>Fem. singular<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<td width=\"110\">\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>Neuter singular<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<td width=\"110\">\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>Masc. singular<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<td width=\"110\">\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>Fem. singular<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<td width=\"110\">\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>Neuter singular<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td width=\"110\">\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><em>en<\/em><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<td width=\"110\">\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><em>ei<\/em><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<td width=\"110\">\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><em>et<\/em><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<td width=\"110\">\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><em>-en<\/em><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<td width=\"110\">\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><em>-a<\/em><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<td width=\"110\">\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><em>-et<\/em><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td width=\"110\">\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><em>en sykkel<br \/>\n<\/em>\u201ca bicycle\u201d<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<td width=\"110\">\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><em>ei jente<br \/>\n<\/em>\u201ca girl\u201d<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<td width=\"110\">\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><em>et hus<br \/>\n<\/em>\u201ca house\u201d<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<td width=\"110\">\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><em>bilen<\/em><br \/>\n\u201cthe car\u201d<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<td width=\"110\">\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><em>d\u00f8ra<\/em><br \/>\n\u201cthe door\u201d<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<td width=\"110\">\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><em>huset<br \/>\n<\/em>\u201cthe house\u201d<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td colspan=\"6\" width=\"662\">\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>Demonstratives + noun phrase<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td colspan=\"2\" width=\"221\">\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><em>den<\/em><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<td colspan=\"2\" width=\"221\">\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><em>den<\/em><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<td colspan=\"2\" width=\"221\">\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><em>det<\/em><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td colspan=\"2\" width=\"221\">\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><em>den r\u00f8de bilen<\/em><br \/>\n\u201cthe red car\u201d<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<td colspan=\"2\" width=\"221\">\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><em>den r\u00f8de d\u00f8ra<\/em><br \/>\n\u201cthe red door\u201d<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<td colspan=\"2\" width=\"221\">\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><em>det r\u00f8de huset<\/em><br \/>\n\u201cthe red house\u201d<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p>Because Norwegian and English are closely related in their linguistic genealogy, a native English speaker may have less trouble learning Norwegian than, say, <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Taa_language\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Taa<\/a> (also known as !X\u00f3\u00f5, a southern African language with possibly the largest phoneme inventory in the world, including dozens of clicks) \u2013 but as the determiner situation here demonstrates, it\u2019s still no piece of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.passionforbaking.com\/blog\/2017\/09\/03\/blotekake-norwegian-cream-cake\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">bl\u00f8tkake<\/a>.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_313\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-313\" style=\"width: 470px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-313 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/linguamonium.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/img_20180708_100933.jpg?resize=470%2C352&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"IMG_20180708_100933\" width=\"470\" height=\"352\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-313\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">View (!) from our rental house deck on Hardangerfjord<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h3>Phonology and Prosody<\/h3>\n<p>Norwegian is what\u2019s called a <strong>pitch-accent <\/strong>language. There are roughly three categories of languages when it comes to stress and pitch. Here\u2019s a super abridged breakdown <a href=\"#_ftn3\" name=\"_ftnref1\">[3]<\/a>:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><strong>Stress-accented languages<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>Stress (emphasis) is placed on a syllable in a word, or on a word in a phrase\/sentence. This can create a difference in word meaning, but it doesn\u2019t have to. Stress is a combination of <strong>loudness<\/strong>, <strong>length<\/strong>, and higher <strong>pitch<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><u>Example languages:<\/u> English, Czech, Finnish, Classical Arabic, Quechua, Italian<\/li>\n<li><u>Example words\/phrases [English]<\/u>:\n<ul>\n<li>On a word in a sentence (no difference in meaning) \u2013 \u201cI REALLY like your jacket\u201d<\/li>\n<li>On a syllable in a word (meaning difference) \u2013<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: left; padding-left: 270px;\"><strong>NOUNS<\/strong> vs. <strong>VERBS<\/strong><br \/>\nREcord vs. reCORD<br \/>\nINcrease vs. inCREASE<br \/>\nPERmit vs. perMIT<\/p>\n<ol start=\"2\">\n<li><strong>Pitch-accented languages<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>A syllable on a word\/morpheme is accentuated by a particular <strong>pitch contour <\/strong>(instead of by <strong>stress<\/strong>). So only pitch is involved, not loudness or length. Distinct tonal patterns occur in words that otherwise look and sound the same, giving them different meanings.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><u>Example languages:<\/u> Norwegian, Swedish, Japanese, Turkish, Filipino, Yaqui (a Native American language)<\/li>\n<li><u>Example words\/phrases [Norwegian]<\/u>:\n<ul>\n<li>Norwegian has two kinds of tonal accents or pitch patterns:<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: left; padding-left: 180px;\"><strong>ACCENT 1 (ACUTE) <\/strong>and <strong>ACCENT 2 (GRAVE)<\/strong><\/p>\n<audio class=\"wp-audio-shortcode\" id=\"audio-307-1\" preload=\"none\" style=\"width: 100%;\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"audio\/mpeg\" src=\"https:\/\/linguamonium.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/norweg-pitches.mp3?_=1\" \/><a href=\"https:\/\/linguamonium.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/norweg-pitches.mp3\">https:\/\/linguamonium.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/norweg-pitches.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">(Audio extracted from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=iHnXihStww0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">video by &#8220;Norwegian Teacher &#8211; Karin&#8221;<\/a>)<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left; padding-left: 180px;\"><em>hender <\/em>\u2013 \u201chands\u201d vs. <em>hender <\/em>\u2013 \u201chappens\u201d<br \/>\n<em>\u00e5nden <\/em>\u2013 \u201cthe spirit\u201d vs. <em>\u00e5nden<\/em> \u2013 \u201cthe breath\u201d<br \/>\n<em>b\u00f8nder<\/em> \u2013 \u201cfarmer\u201d vs. <em>b\u00f8nner<\/em> \u2013 \u201cbeans\u201d<br \/>\n<em>v\u00e6ret<\/em> \u2013 \u201cthe weather\u201d vs. <em>v\u00e6re<\/em> \u2013 \u201cto be\u201d<\/p>\n<ol start=\"3\">\n<li><strong>Tonal languages<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>Each syllable of the language has an independent <strong>tone <\/strong>or <strong>pitch contour<\/strong>. Tones are used to distinguish between words (they create a difference in meaning between words that otherwise look and sound the same).<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><u>Example languages:<\/u> Mandarin, Cantonese, Thai, Zulu, Navajo, Yucatec (a Mayan language)<\/li>\n<li><u>Examples words\/phrases [Mandarin]<\/u>:\n<ul>\n<li>Tones combine with the syllable <em>ma<\/em>, resulting in different words:<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ol>\n<li><em>m\u0101 <\/em>\u201cmother\u201d [high level tone]<\/li>\n<li><em>m\u00e1<\/em> \u201chemp\u201d [mid pitch rising to high pitch]<\/li>\n<li><em>m\u01ce <\/em>\u201chorse\u201d [low with slight fall]<\/li>\n<li><em>m\u00e0<\/em> \u201cscold\u201d [short, sharply falling tone]<\/li>\n<li><em>ma<\/em> (an interrogative particle) [neutral, used on weak syllables]<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The pitch-accent feature of Norwegian contributes to the language\u2019s sing-song quality. Just listen to the melodiousness of Norway\u2019s King Harald V as he gives a speech:<\/p>\n<audio class=\"wp-audio-shortcode\" id=\"audio-307-2\" preload=\"none\" style=\"width: 100%;\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"audio\/mpeg\" src=\"https:\/\/linguamonium.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/norweg-king.mp3?_=2\" \/><a href=\"https:\/\/linguamonium.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/norweg-king.mp3\">https:\/\/linguamonium.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/norweg-king.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">(Audio extracted from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=YQtLxYde-rw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">full NRK video<\/a>)<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3>Orthography<\/h3>\n<p>Norwegian writing uses the same Latin alphabet as English, except that it has three additional letters at the end \u2013 <em>\u00e6<\/em>, <em>\u00f8<\/em>, and <em>\u00e5<\/em>. I <span style=\"text-decoration: line-through;\">highly recommend<\/span> insist that you watch <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=f488uJAQgmw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">this ridiculous video<\/a> to hear how the vowels are pronounced, as well as be entertained in musically nerdy fashion. (Final note: Contrary to the video\u2019s main argument, several letters \u2013 <em>c<\/em>, <em>q<\/em>, <em>w<\/em>, <em>x<\/em>, and <em>z<\/em> \u2013 are not actually used to spell Norwegian-native words, although they\u2019re sometimes used in loan words. One could therefore quibble that they shouldn\u2019t count towards the alphabet size\u2026)<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-315 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/linguamonium.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/vowels_cropped.png?resize=390%2C167&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"vowels_cropped\" width=\"390\" height=\"167\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/linguamonium.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/vowels_cropped.png?w=1150&amp;ssl=1 1150w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/linguamonium.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/vowels_cropped.png?resize=300%2C129&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/linguamonium.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/vowels_cropped.png?resize=1024%2C439&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/linguamonium.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/vowels_cropped.png?resize=768%2C329&amp;ssl=1 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 390px) 100vw, 390px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#_ftnref1\" name=\"_ftn1\">[1]<\/a> If you want to ogle some gorgeous macrophotography of lichens, scope out his Instagram, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/lichens_of_norway\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/lichens_of_norway\/<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#_ftnref2\" name=\"_ftn2\">[2]<\/a> The ancient stave churches for some reason reminded me of <em>True Blood <\/em>(plus three of the show\u2019s main characters, Eric, Pam, and Godric, were Swedish and Norwegian); also I was coincidentally reading <em>The Vampire Lestat <\/em>while we were there\u2026 but NO I\u2019m not generally obsessed with vampires.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#_ftnref3\" name=\"_ftn1\">[3]<\/a> This subject gets really complex. There are a lot more subtleties and distinctions than I make above.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Okay, \u201csm\u00f6rg\u00e5sbord\u201d is a Swedish borrowing, but close enough. It\u2019s appropriate for this post, which will be a buffet of miscellaneous facts about the Norwegian language. I became interested in and started learning Norwegian because my brother has been living in Oslo for the past several years, where he is getting his Ph.D. in lichenology.[1]&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":309,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[9,11,16,21,30,33,34],"tags":[106,133,134],"class_list":["post-307","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-dialects","category-etymology","category-languages","category-phonetics-phonology","category-syntax-morphology","category-words","category-writing-systems","tag-language-overview","tag-norway","tag-norwegian"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>A Norwegian sm\u00f6rg\u00e5sbord - Linguamonium<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/linguamonium.com\/?p=307\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A Norwegian sm\u00f6rg\u00e5sbord - Linguamonium\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Okay, \u201csm\u00f6rg\u00e5sbord\u201d is a Swedish borrowing, but close enough. 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