Husby Olaf, Høyte Tore, Nefzaoui Sissel Jensen, Nordli C. Ingrid, Robbins Sissel, Øvregaard Åsta. An introduction to Norwegian dialects

Trondheim: Tapir Academis Press, 2008. — 108 p. — ISBN 978-82-519-2340-8.This book is written for adult students of Norwegian as a second language who experience the paradox that the language taught at their language courses might differ from the language spoken in the area where they live. In order to reach students at beginner's level, the book is written in English.
The background for the paradoxical situation can be explained by the language situation in Norway: Norwegians speak dialects while students at second language courses are learning a spoken variant of the written standard called Bokmål.
There is a fairly good correspondence between spoken Bokmål and the dialects of Central East Norway, the part of Norway where Oslo is central. However, dialects outside this area show different degrees of overlap with Bokmål. The lesser the overlap is, the greater is the difference between the language taught in class and the dialect spoken outside class.
The aim of this book is to provide students with short descriptions of six Norwegian dialects. The descriptions are valid for the places described and to varying degrees for surrounding areas. This book is organized in the same way as a standard grammar. First the sound system of the dialect is presented, then word classes are presented one by one. This makes it easy to compare Bokmål with the dialects. The main focus is upon issues that constitute differences between spoken Bokmål and the dialect in question. Overlapping features are to a large extent excluded.