American Norwegian

American Norwegian formed as a result of Norwegians migrating to the United States.^[2] In 1825, the first organized emigration party consisting of several dozen Norwegians left Stavanger on board the Restauration.^[2][3] Early migration was largely due to religious persecution, particularly of Quakers and Haugeans,^[4] but intensified and diversified in the second half of the 19th century. Throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, Norwegian migration to North America continued, primarily through the White Star Line,^[5] and the Cunard Line.^[6]

Between 1910 and the First World War, one million Americans had Norwegian as their first language, many of whom subscribed to Norwegian-language newspapers,^[7] such as Decorah Posten and Skandinaven. As of 2025, it is moribund.^[8]

Variations in grammar indicate koineization.^[1]

In Norwegian, grammatical gender is opaque, meaning a word's gender is not immediately obvious based on meaning or phonetics. Children, thus, often overgeneralise masculine gender. This same effect can be observed in heritage speakers. This overgeneralization is far less common when words are used in their definite form. Similarly, overgeneralization is seen more in prenominal possession compared to postnominal possession.^[9]

In some European Norwegian dialects, feminine and masculine gender have combined into common gender,^[9] while in other dialects, words considered feminine elsewhere are masculine.

Below are examples of non-target consistent indefinite articles:^[9]

Masculine article used with feminine word

Masculine article used with neuter word

Feminine article used with neuter word