Dansk Sprognævn

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Dansk Sprognævn (help·info) ("Danish language committee") is the official regulatory body of the Danish language as a part of the Danish Ministry of Culture, and resides at the University of Copenhagen. It was established in 1955. The committee has three main objectives:

to follow the development of the language
to answer inquiries about the Danish language and its use
to update the official Danish dictionary, Retskrivningsordbogen

The working members of the committee follow written and broadcast media, read books to keep track of new words and record their usage. New words which have appeared enough in print and speech to be considered notable are added to Retskrivningsordbogen, which all government institutions and schools are obliged by law to follow. The committee receives some 14,000 inquiries by phone or mail each year about the Danish language, most of them from private companies such as marketing firms, but also by private citizens.

Dansk Sprognævn cooperates on a daily basis with its equivalents in the other Scandinavian countries, the Swedish and Norwegian Language Councils, to make sure that the three Mainland Scandinavian languages, that are more or less mutually intelligible do not diverge from one another more than necessary. The committee also has the power to stop private companies or organizations to copyright common words and phrases, though this is rarely needed.