As established by law and government policy, the two official forms of written Norwegian are Bokmål (literally 'book tongue') and Nynorsk ('new Norwegian'). The official Norwegian Language Council (Språkrådet) is responsible for regulating the two forms, and recommends the terms Norwegian Bokmål and Norwegian Nynorsk in English.Two other written forms without official status also exist. One, called Riksmål ('national language'), is today to a large extent the same language as Bokmål though somewhat closer to the Danish language. It is regulated by the unofficial Norwegian Academy, which translates the name as 'Standard Norwegian'. The other is Høgnorsk ('High Norwegian'), a more purist form of Nynorsk, which maintains the language in an original form as given by Ivar Aasen and rejects most of the reforms from the 20th century; this form has limited use.
What are the unofficial forms of written Norwegian ?
- Riksmål
- Høgnorsk