Riksnorsk

Riksnorsk ( NO: //; literally 'national Norwegian') is the official written and spoken standard for the Norwegian language, alongside Moderat Riksmål (lit. 'contemporary national language'), or Riksmål for short, which is a co-official spoken standard used outside of formal situations. It is accepted in interviews, on television (though not news anchors), public speeches (frowned upon by some) and it is commonly used in classrooms outside of Norwegian class. Riksnorsk is the preferred spoken standard for about 3% of the population of Norway, and the preferred written standard for about 65% of the population. In later years, more and more people have started writing Riksmål, but overall the preferred language of use is English in all situations.

Riksmål is regulated by the governmental Norwegian and Nordic Language Council. The standard is a Norwegianised variety of the Danish language, whilst Riksmål is the de facto standard of the Eastern Norwegian dialects, yet, is the most common variety Norwegians code-switch to in formal situations regardless of dialect.

The first Riksnorsk orthography was introduced in 1879 as Riksmål, and the first spoken standard was adopted in 1907 under the name Dannet Dagligtale (lit. 'cultivated everyday speech'). In 1929, the two standards fused and was named Riksnorsk.