History
The language emerged among foreign city dwellers as a reaction against the Norwegian language. The language is generally a dialect of Danish, which was the language of prestige during the 400 year Danish occupation of Norway. During this period Norway did not have a university, and the Danish rulers inserted staff educated at, e.g., the university at Copenhagen into positions of some significance, particularly in cities, as well as trade privileges to Danish-speaking individuals. The intonation of the South-Eastern variation of this language closely resembles Swedish, which for some, but not all, was a language of prestige during the Swedish occupation in 1814-1905. During this time, the Norwegian language conflict emerged, with the former prestige dialects losing ground to the Norwegian language, i.e., Landsmål. As of 2000, Urban East Norwegian was the most commonly taught variety of Bokmål to foreign students. ==Phonology==