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| Dalecarlian | |
|---|---|
| dalmål | |
| Native to | Sweden |
| Region | Dalarna County |
| Ethnicity | Dalecarlians (Swedes) |
Early form | |
| Dialects | |
| Latin (Dalecarlian alphabet) Dalecarlian runes | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | None (mis)Individual code: ovd – Elfdalian |
| Glottolog | dale1238 |
| ELP | Dalecarlian |
 Dalecarlian is classified as Definitely Endangered by theUNESCOAtlas of the World's Languages in Danger (2010) | |
Dalecarlian (Swedish:dalmål) is a group ofNorth Germanic varieties spoken inDalarna County,Sweden. Some Dalecarlian varieties can be regarded as part of the Swedish dialect group inGästrikland,Uppland, and northern and easternVästmanland. Others represent a variety characteristic of a midpoint between West and East Scandinavian languages, significantly divergent fromStandard Swedish.[1] In the northernmost part of the county (i.e., the originally Norwegian parishes ofSärna andIdre), a characteristic dialect reminiscent of easternNorwegian is spoken.[4] One usually distinguishes between the DalecarlianBergslagen dialects, which are spoken in south-eastern Dalarna, and Dalecarlian proper.[5] The dialects are traditionally regarded as part of theSvealand dialect group.[6]
Officially, they are considered Swedish dialects due to being spoken in a region where Swedish is an official language today. The Swedish government nevertheless acknowledges that the dialects have developed independently from Old Norse, and not from Swedish itself.[7]
In everyday speech, many also refer to Dalarna regional variants of Standard Swedish as part of the Dalecarlian dialect. Linguistically speaking, however, they are more accurately described as a lexically and morphologically "national" Swedish with characteristic Dalarnaintonation andprosody. Inlinguistics, one distinguishes between regionally differentnational languages and genuine dialects, andDalecarlian as a term is used exclusively for dialects in the latter sense.
Varieties of Dalecarlian are generally classified geographically as follows:[8]
Floda and Mockfjärd dialects are sometimes considered a separate group, but are typically listed as subdialects.
Dalecarlian proper (especially in Älvdalen, Mora and Orsa, to some extent also in Ore, Rättvik and Leksand), as well as western Dalecarlian varieties are markedly different from Swedish,[4] and are considered to be distinct language varieties by linguists.[9][10]Elfdalian is the one of the Dalecarlian languages that best preserved their older features.[4] It attracted interest from researchers early on because of its major divergences from others Swedish dialects. In many ways, it is very archaic and reminiscent of Old Norse, though it has in other ways distinguished itself from the Norse branch and developed special features that are seldom seen in other dialects.[11]
Characteristic of the dialect group are its plentiful linguistic differences even between bordering varieties, often changing from village to village, or even within a single village. For other Swedish speakers, Dalecarlian varieties are virtually incomprehensible without dedicated language lessons. However, this does not apply to the Rättvik and Leksand dialects as much. They are more easily understood and can be considered to form a transitional stage between the Dalecarlian languages and a dialect of Swedish with Dalecarlian remnants. Such transitional varieties also include the Ål, Bjursås and Gagnef dialects. The Gagnef dialect is closer to western Dalecarlian varieties, which to some extent can also be regarded as transitional dialects, but which in many respects take on a more independent position, especially in the upper parishes. They may show similarities with neighbouringNorwegian dialects.[12]
There is a quite large difference between Gagnef and theStora Tuna dialect, which belongs to theDalecarlian Bergslagen dialects, a relatively uniform and fairly normal Swedish dialect complex that covers the entire southern Dalarna (Stora Kopparberg,Hedemora andVästerbergslagen). The most unique within this complex are the dialects ofSvärdsjö and western Bergslagen, which are approachingHälsingemål and Western Dalecarlian proper, respectively (viaGrangärde andFloda). Dalecarlian Bergslagen dialects are also spoken in the northern part ofVästmanland. The Dalecarlian Bergslagen dialects are quite closely connected with the neighbouringSvealand Swedish, perhaps most with the dialects of eastern Västmanland.[12]
As with most dialects in northern and central Sweden, the Dalecarlian dialects haveretroflex consonants, which are most commonlyallophones of consonants with a preceding supradental/r/ or/l/.[13] For example,rs often becomesss (compare Dalecarliankoss, "cross" and Swedishkors), while the clusterrn becomesr in southern Dalarna, up to and including Rättvik, Leksand and Västerdalarna (compare Dalecarlianbar to Swedishbarn, Englishbairn, or Dalecarlianbjör, "bear" to Swedishbjörn). In Dalecarlian proper, north of Gagnef, the consonant clustersnn,rt andrd are often preserved without assimilation. The/l/ sound is not usually supradental after/i/ and/e/ except in Dalecarlian proper, where/l/ has developed in its own direction and where it can even appear as partially supradental at the beginning of words, as in, e.g.låta.[12]
Dalecarlian has lost the -n and -t in unstressed suffixes. For example, the Dalecarlian definitive formsola orsole ("the sun") corresponds to Swedishsolen, and Dalecarliangata ("the street") to Swedishgatan. Similarly, Dalecarliansupine formbiti ("bitten") has lost the -t suffix that is still present in Swedishbitit. As with other Upper Swedish dialects, the Dalecarlian dialects often pronounce the sound/i/ in suffixes where Standard Swedish has/e/. An example of this would be Dalecarlianfunnin ("found") and Swedishfunnen, as well as Dalecarlianmuli ("cloudy") and Swedishmulet, Dalecarlianhärvil ("yarn winder") and Swedishhärvel. They also retain/ɡ/ within the consonant clustersrg andlg, whereas Swedish has shifted to/j/ (Dalecarlian/varɡ/, Swedish/varj/, "wolf"). Dalecarlian also keeps long vowels in front ofm in many words where Swedish does not, such astîma (/tiːma/, Swedishtimme/timːe/, "hour"),tôm (/tuːm/, Swedishtom/tum/, "empty"), and/j/ after/k/ and/ɡ/ in words such asäntja (Swedishänka, "widow") andbryddja (Swedishbrygga, "bridge"). As in the northernSvealand and someNorrland dialects,/ɡ/ and/k/ have been softened to/ɕ/ or/j/ even in medial positions of certain words, such assättjin orsättjen (Swedishsäcken, "sack, bag"),botja orbotje (Swedishboken, "the book") andnyttjil (Swedishnyckel, "key"). These traits characterise all Dalecarlian dialects.[12]
Characteristic for the phonology of Lower and Upper Dalarna dialects especially, with the exception of Dalecarlian proper, is the use of open and finala, which is used in a completely different way than in Standard Swedish. The open can occur as far and the closed as short, for example hara hare with open a in first, end in second syllable, katt, bakka, vagn with end, skabb, kalv with open a; open å sound (o) is often replaced by a sound between å and ö; The u sound has a sound similar to the Norwegian u; ä and e are well separated; the low-pitched vocals often have a sound of ä. Among the most interesting features of the dialects in Älvdalen, Mora and Orsa is that they still largely retain the nasal vocal sounds that were previously found in all Nordic dialects. Furthermore, it is noticed that the long i, y, u diphthongs, usually to ai, åy, au, for example Dalecarlian ais, Swedish is English ice, Dalecarlian knåyta, Swedish knyta, English tie, Dalecarlian aute, Swedish ute, English out. v has the Old Norse pronunciation w (like w in English),[14] l is usually omitted in front of g, k, p, v, for example, Dalecarlian kåv, Swedish kalf, English calf, Dalecarlian fok and such Swedish folk, English people. h is omitted, for example, Dalecarlian and, Swedish and English hand (in the Älvdals-, Orsa- and Mora dialects, as well as in Rättvik and parts of Leksand).[12]In the same way, many words have gained an initial/h/, such ashäven,hälsklig orhägde. These features are shared with the older Uppland dialects.[citation needed]
A pair of Nordic diphthongs is still present in the western dialects ofLima andTranstrand. The diphthong[au], which shifted to[œ] in Swedish, is retained in these dialects asôu, for exampledôu (Swedishdöd, "death"). The old Swedish diphthongsei andöy (which in Swedish becamee andö respectively) are pronounced asäi (for exampleskäi, Swedishsked, "spoon" andhäi, Swedishhö, "hay").[15]
In many aspects, Elfdalian, takes up a middle position between East and West Nordic. However, it shares some innovations with West Nordic, but none with East Nordic. This invalidates the claim that Elfdalian split off from Old Swedish.
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