Norwegian dialects () are commonly divided into four main groups, 'Northern Norwegian' (), 'Central Norwegian' (), 'Western Norwegian' (), and 'Eastern Norwegian' (). Sometimes 'Midland Norwegian' () and/or 'South Norwegian' () are considered fifth or sixth groups.
The dialects are generally mutually intelligible, but differ significantly with regard to accent, grammar, syntax, and vocabulary. If not accustomed to a particular dialect, even a native Norwegian speaker may have difficulty understanding it. Dialects can be as local as farm clusters, but many linguists note an ongoing regionalization, diminishing, or even elimination of local variations.
Spoken Norwegian typically does not exactly follow the written languages Bokmål and Nynorsk or the more conservative Riksmål and Høgnorsk, except in parts of Finnmark (where the original Sami population learned Norwegian as a second language). Rather, most people speak in their own local dialect. There is no "standard" spoken Norwegian.
Dialect groups
West and South Norwegian South Norwegian (most of Agder county plus Fyresdal, Nissedal, Drangedal, and Kragerø in Telemark county) South-West Norwegian (the inland parts of Sogn, most of Hordaland (except the city of Bergen), Rogaland county, and western parts of Agder county) Bergen Norwegian or Bergensk (the city of Bergen and immediate surroundings) North-West Norwegian (the districts of Romsdal, Sunnmøre, Nordfjord, Sunnfjord and outer parts of Sogn) North Norwegian Helgeland Norwegian (Nordland county south of Saltfjellet, except for Bindal Municipality) Nordland Norwegian (Nordland county north of Saltfjellet) Troms Norwegian (Troms county, except for Bardu Municipality and Målselv Municipality) Finnmark Norwegian Finnmark county, except for northern Kautokeino, northern Karasjok, Tana and Nesseby. East Norwegian Vikvær Norwegian (Vestfold county, Østfold county, Bohuslän in Sweden, adjacent lowland parts of Telemark county, Buskerud county, and Akershus county) Middle East Norwegian (Ringerike, Modum, Oslo and Romerike) Oppland Norwegian (southern Hedmark and south-eastern Oppland) Østerdal Norwegian (northern Hedmark and Bardu Municipality in northern Norway) Midland Norwegian Gudbrandsdal Norwegian (northern Oppland) Valdres and Hallingdal Norwegian (south-west Oppland and western Buskerud) Western Telemark Norwegian (Vinje Municipality, Tokke Municipality and Kviteseid Municipality) Eastern Telemark Norwegian (Tinn Municipality, Hjartdal Municipality, Midt-Telemark Municipality, Notodden Municipality and upper Numedal) Trøndelag Norwegian Outer Trøndelag Norwegian (Nordmøre, outer Sør-Trøndelag, and Fosen) Inner Trøndelag Norwegian (inner Sør-Trøndelag, Innherad, Lierne Municipality, and Snåsa Municipality) Trondheim Norwegian (Trondheim Municipality) Namdal Norwegian (Namdalen and surrounding coastal areas) South-eastern Trøndersk (Røros Municipality, Selbu Municipality, Tydal Municipality, Holtålen Municipality, Oppdal Municipality) Jämtlandic (Jämtland in Sweden) American Norwegian
Dialect branches
National Norwegian (Northern Norway) (Bodø) Brønnøy dialect (Brønnøy) (Helgeland) other dialects Trøndersk (Trøndelag) Trondheim dialect (Trondheim) (Fosen) (Härjedalen) Jämtland dialects (Jämtland province) Meldal dialect (Meldal) (Tydal) other dialects Vestlandsk (Western and Southern Norway) West (Vestlandet) Bergen dialect (Bergen) (Haugesund) (Jæren district) (Karmøy) (Nordmøre)
(Sunndalsøra) (Romsdal) Sandnes dialect (Sandnes) Sogn dialect (Sogn district) (Sunnmøre) Stavanger dialect (Stavanger) (Midhordland district) South (Sørlandet) Arendal dialect (Arendal region) (Upper Setesdal, Valle) other dialects (Eastern Norway) (Lowland districts) Vikværsk dialects (Viken district) Drammen dialect (Drammen region) Follo dialect (Follo) (Vestfold) Tønsberg dialect (Tønsberg and Færder) (Andebu) (Re) Østfold dialects (Østfold) Fredrikstad dialect (Fredrikstad region) Inner Østfold dialect (Inner Østfold) (Bohuslän province) (Grenland district) (Mid-east districts) Urban East Norwegian () Oslo dialect (Oslo) Asker and Bærum dialect (Asker and Bærum) Romerike dialect (Romerike) (Ringerike district) (Hønefoss) (Ådal) (Modum) (Opplandene district) Hedmark dialects (Hedmark) (Solør) (Hadeland district) (Viken district) Särna-Idre dialect (Särna and Idre) (Midland districts) Gudbrandsdal dialect (Gudbrandsdalen, Oppland and Upper Folldal, Hedmark) Hallingdal-Valdres dialects (Hallingdal, Valdres)
Valdris dialect (Valdres district) Telemark-Numedal dialects (Telemark and Numedal)
other dialects
Evolution Owing to geography and climate, Norwegian communities were often isolated from each other until the early 20th century. As a result, local dialects had a tendency to be influenced by each other in singular ways while developing their own idiosyncrasies. Oppdal Municipality, for example, has characteristics in common with coastal dialects to the west, the dialects of northern Gudbrandsdalen to the south, and other dialects in Sør-Trøndelag from the north. The linguist Einar Haugen documented the particulars of the Oppdal dialect, and the writer Inge Krokann used it as a literary device. Other transitional dialects include the dialects of Romsdal and Arendal.
On the other hand, newly industrialized communities near sources of hydroelectric power have developed dialects consistent with the region but in many ways unique. Studies in such places as Høyanger, Odda, Tyssedal, Rjukan, Notodden, Sauda, and others show that koineization has effected the formation of new dialects in these areas.
Similarly, in the early 20th century a dialect closely approximating Urban East Norwegian arose in and around railway stations. This was known as ("station language") and may have contributed to changes in dialect around these centers.
Social dynamics
Until the 20th century, upward social mobility in a city like Oslo could in some cases require conforming speech to standard Riksmål. Studies show that even today, speakers of rural dialects may tend to change their usage in formal settings to approximate the formal written language. This has led to various countercultural movements ranging from the adoption of traditional forms of Oslo dialects among political radicals in Oslo, to movements preserving local dialects. There is widespread and growing acceptance that Norwegian linguistic diversity is worth preserving.
The trend today is a regionalisation of the dialects causing smaller dialectal traits to disappear and rural dialects to merge with their nearest larger dialectal variety.
There is no standard dialect for the Norwegian language as a whole, and all dialects are by now mutually intelligible. Hence, widely different dialects are used frequently and alongside each other, in almost every aspect of society. Criticism of a dialect may be considered criticism of someone's personal identity and place of upbringing, and is considered impolite. Not using one's proper dialect would be bordering on awkward in many situations, as it may signal a wish to take on an identity or a background which one does not have. Dialects are also an area from which to derive humour both in professional and household situations.
Distinctions There are many ways to distinguish among Norwegian dialects. These criteria are drawn from the work Vårt Eget Språk/Talemålet (1987) by Egil Børre Johnsen. These criteria generally provide the analytical means for identifying most dialects, though most Norwegians rely on experience to tell them apart.
Grammars and syntax
Infinitive forms
One of the most important differences among dialects is which ending, if any, verbs have in the infinitive form. In Old Norwegian, most verbs had an infinitive ending (-a), and likewise in a modern Norwegian dialect, most of the verbs of the dialect either have or would have had an infinitive ending. There are five varieties of the infinitive ending in Norwegian dialects, constituting two groups:
One ending (western dialects) Infinitive ending with -a, e.g., , , common in southwestern Norway, including the areas surrounding Bergen (although not in the city of Bergen itself) and Stavanger (city) Infinitive ending with -e, e.g., , , common in Troms, Finnmark, areas of Sogn og Fjordane and Møre og Romsdal, southern counties, and a few other areas. Apocopic infinitive, where no vowel is added to the infinitive form, e.g., , , common in certain areas of Nordland
Two different endings (eastern dialects) Split infinitive, in which some verbs end with -a while others end with -e; e.g. versus , common in Eastern Norway Split infinitive, with apocope, e.g., (//) versus , common in some areas in Sør-Trøndelag and Nord-Trøndelag
The split distribution of endings is related to the syllable length of the verb in Old Norse. "Short-syllable" () verbs in Norse kept their endings. The "long-syllable" () verbs lost their (unstressed) endings or had them converted to -e.
Dative case The original Germanic contextual difference between the dative and accusative cases, standardized in modern German and Icelandic, has degenerated in spoken Danish and Swedish, a tendency which spread to Bokmål too. Ivar Aasen treated the dative case in detail in his work, Norsk Grammatik (1848), and use of Norwegian dative as a living grammatical case can be found in a few of the earliest Landsmål texts. However, the dative case has never been part of official Landsmål/Nynorsk.
It is, however, present in some spoken dialects north of Oslo, Romsdal, and south and northeast of Trondheim. The grammatical phenomenon is highly threatened in the mentioned areas, while most speakers of conservative varieties have been highly influenced by the national standard languages, using only the traditional accusative word form in both cases. Often, though not always, the difference in meaning between the dative and accusative word forms can thus be lost, requiring the speaker to add more words to specify what was actually meant, to avoid potential loss of information.
Future tense There are regional variations in the use of future tense, for example, "He is going to travel.": . . . .
Syntax Syntax can vary greatly between dialects, and the tense is important for the listener to get the meaning. For instance, a question can be formed without the traditional "asking-words" (how, where, what, who..)
For example, the sentence ? (in Bokmål), ? (in Nynorsk), literally: "How much is the clock?" i.e. "What time is it?" can be put in, among others, the following forms: ? (Is the clock much?) (stress is on "the clock") ? (Is it much, the clock?) (stress on "is") ? (literally: "What is the clock?") ? (literally: What the clock is?), or, using another word for clock, ? ? (literally: What is she?).
Pronunciation of vowels
Diphthongization of monophthongs Old Norse had the diphthongs , , and , but the Norwegian spoken in the area around Setesdal has shifted two of the traditional diphthongs and innovated four more from long vowels, and, in some cases, also short vowels. Authors state that the Setesdal dialect is "perhaps the most distinctive and most difficult to understand" among all Norwegian dialects.
Old Norse Modern Norwegian SetesdalTo hear them pronounced, go to The section Uttale av vokalane needs to be selected manually.
West Norwegian dialects have also innovated new diphthongs. In Midtre you can find the following:
Old Norse Modern Norwegian Midtre
Monophthongization of diphthongs The Old Norse diphthongs , , and have experienced monophthongization in certain dialects of modern Norwegian.
Old Norse Modern Norwegian Urban East Some dialects