Variant subtag proposal: Høgnorsk variety of Norwegian

Thorgeir Holm thorgeirholm at yahoo.no
Thu Jan 7 13:42:54 CET 2010


<hermer Doug Ewell frå 07.01.2010 03:50>

>> Høgnorsk Nynorsk insists - stronger than the Official Nynorsk does - 
>> on the need of recognizing traditional Nynorsk as an 
>> all-dialects-encompassing Norwegian language - and therefore resists 
>> that is being made less all-encompassing by seeking closeness to 
>> Bokmål.
> 
> Really, really starting to become uncomfortable about characterizing 
> this as a mere "orthography" in the registration.

You might remember that I commented on this the last time you had some 
doubts about the matter. I will make a short recapitulation to this point:

* Høgnorsk vocabulary might be the most important difference people will 
note in daily use, but since this vocabulary is actually allowed (or 
should I say, not prohibited) in official 'nn', it is impossible to draw 
a line here.

* Grammar differences are minutiae, and if 'nn' also encompasses 
Norwegian dialects, which I think it should, the deviant Høgnorsk 
grammar can be found in those. So, no clear line here neither. (And 
there is also a tradition to include some grammar, like endings, in 
Norwegian "spelling reforms", making the term 'orthography' suitable 
also for such matters.)

* The only practical shibboleth or litmus test, is the orthography, 
where Høgnorsk and official Nynorsk are different in many frequent 
words. Other matters, be they more important, are associated with this.

I hope that made things clear.

Thorgeir


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