Målform – eit identitetsmerke? Ein kvantitativ analyse av nyare, norske lettlestbøker for born

The thesis investigates similarities and differences between easy-to-read books in ”nynorsk” and ”bokmål”, with a particular focus on how the language forms influence the way such books express both cultural and personal aspects. Given the thesis’ focus on language forms, the cultural and personal aspects in the books investigated will be further discussed with regards to identity related conceptions of the users of these forms. One of the aims of the investigation is to make certain claims with regards to the nynorsk children’s literature, and in order to evaluate whether and to what degree this particular literature reflects particular conceptions of the nynorsk-users, I have looked further into how these books’ content and design relate to various theories of the nynorsk identity. In the survey at the heart of this investigation, I made a selection of a number of childeren’s books within the easy-to-read category, further leveled to 6–9 year olds, published between 2005 and 2011, by four different publishers. The quantitative survey consisted of 165 books, 26 written in nynorsk and 139 written in bokmål. The survey focused on whether the books were serials, their degree of realism, localization, language, parental involvement, and themes such as bullying and friendship. The survey is followed by a discussion, where particular findings are related to the theories of the nynorsk identity