The Norwegian Academy for Language and Literature (), commonly known as the Norwegian Academy, is a Norwegian learned body on matters pertaining to the modern

Norwegian language Norwegian ( ) is a North Germanic language from the Indo-European language family spoken mainly in Norway, where it is an official language. Along with Swedish and Danish, Norwegian forms a dialect continuum of more or less mutually intelli ...

in its

Dano-Norwegian Dano-Norwegian (Danish language, Danish and ) was a Koine language, koiné/mixed language that evolved among the urban elite in Norwegian cities during the later years of the union between the Denmark–Norway, Kingdoms of Denmark and Norway (1 ...

variety, now commonly known as

Riksmål (, also , ) is an unofficial written Norwegian language form or spelling standard, meaning the ''National Language'', closely related and now almost identical to the dominant form of Bokmål, known as . Both Bokmål and Riksmål evolved from t ...

and

Bokmål Bokmål () (, ; ) is one of the official written standards for the Norwegian language, alongside Nynorsk. Bokmål is by far the most used written form of Norwegian today, as it is adopted by 85% to 90% of the population in Norway. There is no cou ...

. The academy was established in the Norwegian government's honorary residence Grotten in 1953 based on the model of the

Swedish Academy The Swedish Academy (), founded in 1786 by King Gustav III, is one of the Royal Academies of Sweden. Its 18 members, who are elected for life, comprise the highest Swedish language authority. Outside Scandinavia, it is best known as the body t ...

and the

French Academy French may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France ** French people, a nation and ethnic group ** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices Arts and media * The French (band), ...

, but the idea was originally conceived by Bjørn Bjørnson in 1913. Its members are elected for life on the basis of scholarly, literary or artistic merits. The academy publishes the main dictionary of Norwegian, '' Det Norske Akademis ordbok'' ("Dictionary of the Norwegian Academy"
www.naob.no
, is responsible for regulating the written standard known as

("National Language") and has a literary and cultural purpose. The academy awards the Norwegian Academy Prize in memory of Thorleif Dahl.

History

The academy was founded in 1953 by several notable Norwegian authors and poets, among them Arnulf Øverland, Sigurd Hoel, A.H. Winsnes, Cora Sandel and Francis Bull. They disagreed with the official

language policy Language policy is both an interdisciplinary academic field and implementation of ideas about language use. Some scholars such as Joshua Fishman and Ofelia García consider it as part of sociolinguistics. On the other hand, other scholars such as ...

aiming to merge ''

'' with ''

Nynorsk Nynorsk (; ) is one of the two official written standards of the Norwegian language, the other being Bokmål. From 12 May 1885, it became the state-sanctioned version of Ivar Aasen's standard Norwegian language (''Landsmål''), parallel to the Da ...

'' and protested against what they called state discrimination against the dominant Norwegian written standard ''Riksmål''. This was Norway's ''de facto'' written language, used by most large newspapers and by the majority of the population as a written standard (although not necessarily a spoken one). The Academy was modelled after the

and the

. In addition to regulating

, the most conservative and Danish-near form of Norwegian, the academy publishes dictionaries and supports the publishing of literature in Riksmål. To-day, after several reforms worth in the official Bokmål and in the traditional Riksmål, Bokmål in its "moderate" version and modern Riksmål more or less coincide with some deviations. The Academy has 51 members (2021), each of whom is a specialist in miscellaneous areas of analysis, investigation and expertise. These include Nordic studies, German, English and French languages and literature, history, philosophy, law, political science, poetry et cetera. The President of the Academy is John Ole Askedal. The Norwegian Academy for Language and Literature was represented, along with other non-governmental language organisations, in the

Norwegian Language Council The Language Council of Norway (, ) is the administrative body of the Norwegian state on language issues. It regulates the two written forms of the Norwegian language: Bokmål and Nynorsk. It was established in 2005 and replaced the Norwegian Lan ...

, which regulates the official ''Bokmål'' and ''Nynorsk'' languages, since its establishment in 1972 until it was reorganized in 2005. In 1981, the Academy merged with Riksmålsvernet, founded in 1919.

Members

The following are current members of the Norwegian Academy for Language and Literature: * Nils August Andresen * John Ole Askedal * Bodil Aurstad * Kjetil Bang-Hansen * Trond Berg Eriksen * Liv Bliksrud * Tor Bomann-Larsen * Fredrik Bull-Hansen * Bentein Baardson * Lars Saabye Christensen *

Arnold Eidslott Arnold Olav Eidslott (10 June 1926 – 19 April 2018) was a Norwegian poet. He was born in Ålesund, and worked as a telegraphic engineer for the whole of his working life. From 1986 to 2018 he was the poet laureate. Eidslott's Christian religio ...

* Thor Falkanger * Ivo de Figueiredo * Lise Fjeldstad * Dagfinn Føllesdal * Karin Gundersen * Tor Guttu * Cathrine Grøndahl * Erik Fosnes Hansen * Håkon Harket * Per Egil Hegge * Nils Heyerdahl * Roy Jacobsen * Christian Janss * Egil Kraggerud *

Sissel Lange-Nielsen Sissel Aabel Lange-Nielsen, née Herlofson (27 January 1931 – 28 September 2023) was a Norwegian writer, literary critic, and journalist. Born in Kristiansund, she won the Riksmål Society Literature Prize The Riksmål Society Literature Prize ...

* Hanne Lauvstad * Mari Lending * Tom Lotherington * Jørn Lund (corresponding) * Carina Nilstun * Helge Nordahl * William Nygaard * Kjell Arild Pollestad * Per Qvale * Hilde Sejersted * Ole Michael Selberg * Rune Slagstad * Arild Stubhaug * Henrik Syse * Jan Jakob Tønseth *

Helene Uri Helene Uri (born 11 December 1964, in Stockholm, Sweden) is a Norwegian linguist, novelist and children's writer. Among her novels are ''Dyp rød 315'' from 2001 and ''Honningtunger'' from 2002. Her novel ''De beste blant oss'' from 2006, which d ...

* Trond Vernegg * Finn-Erik Vinje * Peter Normann Waage * Egil A. Wyller * Vigdis Ystad *

Knut Ødegård Knut Ødegård (born 6 November 1945) is a Norway, Norwegian poet. Biography Born in 1945 in Molde (town), Molde, Norway, Ødegård made his poetic debut in 1967.''(Norwegian)'' http://www.cappelendamm.no/main/katalog.aspx?f=7543 Since then ...

References

External links

Official site
{{Authority control Language organisations of Norway Language regulators National academies Norwegian language Norwegian literature Organizations established in 1953

History

Members

See also

References

External links