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Norwegian Academy

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Norwegian Academy
Formation7 May 1953;71 years ago(1953-05-07)
HeadquartersOslo,Norway
Membership
51 members
President
John Ole Askedal
Websitedetnorskeakademi.no

TheNorwegian Academy for Language and Literature(Norwegian:Det Norske Akademi for Språk og Litteratur), commonly known as theNorwegian Academy,is aNorwegianlearned body on matters pertaining to the modernNorwegian languagein itsDano-Norwegianvariety, now commonly known asRiksmålandBokmål.The academy was established in the Norwegian government's honorary residenceGrottenin 1953 based on the model of theSwedish Academyand theFrench Academy,but the idea was originally conceived byBjørn Bjørnsonin 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",naob.no), is responsible for regulating the written standard known asRiksmål( "National Language" ) and has a literary and cultural purpose. The academy awards theNorwegian Academy Prize in memory of Thorleif Dahl.

History

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The academy was founded in 1953 by several notableNorwegianauthors and poets, among themArnulf Øverland,Sigurd Hoel,A.H. Winsnes,Cora SandelandFrancis Bull.They disagreed with the officiallanguage policyaiming to mergeBokmålwithNynorskand protested against what they called state discrimination against the dominant Norwegian written standardRiksmål.This was Norway'sde factowritten 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 theSwedish Academyand theFrench Academy.

In addition to regulatingRiksmål,the most conservative andDanish-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 theNorwegian Language Council,which regulates the officialBokmålandNynorsklanguages, since its establishment in 1972 until it was reorganized in 2005.

In 1981, the Academy merged withRiksmålsvernet,founded in 1919.

Members

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The following are current members of the Norwegian Academy for Language and Literature:[1]

See also

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References

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  1. ^"Det Norske Akademi for Sprog og Litteratur"(in Norwegian). Norwegian Academy for Language and Literature. Archived fromthe originalon 10 February 2009.Retrieved25 December2010.
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