Dalecarlian language


Dalecarlian is a group of North Germanic language varieties spoken in Dalarna County, Sweden. Some Dalecarlian varieties can be regarded as part of the Swedish dialect group in Gästrikland, Uppland, and northern and eastern Västmanland. Others represent a variety characteristic of a midpoint between West and East Scandinavian languages, significantly divergent from Standard Swedish. In the northernmost part of the county, a characteristic dialect reminiscent of eastern Norwegian is spoken. One usually distinguishes between the Dalecarlian Bergslagen dialects, which are spoken in south-eastern Dalarna, and Dalecarlian proper. The dialects are traditionally regarded as part of the Svealand dialect group.
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.
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 Dalarna intonation and prosody. In linguistics, one distinguishes between regionally different national languages and genuine dialects, and Dalecarlian as a term is used exclusively for dialects in the latter sense.

Geographical distribution

Varieties of Dalecarlian are generally classified geographically as follows:
Floda and Mockfjärd dialects are sometimes considered a separate group, but are typically listed as subdialects.
Dalecarlian proper, as well as western Dalecarlian varieties are markedly different from Swedish, and are considered to be distinct language varieties by linguists. Elfdalian is the Dalecarlian language that best preserved their older features. 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.
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 neighbouring Norwegian dialects.
There is a quite large difference between Gagnef and the Stora Tuna dialect, which belongs to the Dalecarlian [Bergslagen dialects], a relatively uniform and fairly normal Swedish dialect complex that covers the entire southern Dalarna. The most unique within this complex are the dialects of Svärdsjö and western Bergslagen, which are approaching Hälsingemål and Western Dalecarlian proper, respectively. Dalecarlian Bergslagen dialects are also spoken in the northern part of Västmanland. The Dalecarlian Bergslagen dialects are quite closely connected with the neighbouring Svealand Swedish, perhaps most with the dialects of eastern Västmanland.

Phonology

As with most dialects in northern and central Sweden, the Dalecarlian dialects have retroflex consonants, which are most commonly allophones of consonants with a preceding supradental or. For example, rs is often realized as /sː/, while the cluster rn becomes in southern Dalarna, up to and including Rättvik, Leksand and Västerdalarna. In Dalecarlian proper, north of Gagnef, the consonant clusters nn, rt and rd are often preserved without assimilation. The sound is not usually supradental after and except in Dalecarlian proper, where has developed in its own direction and where it can even appear as partially supradental at the beginning of words, as it does in låta.
Dalecarlian has lost the -n and -t in unstressed suffixes. For example, the Dalecarlian definitive form sola or sole corresponds to Swedish ', and Dalecarlian gata to Swedish. Similarly, Dalecarlian supine form biti has lost the -t suffix that is still present in Swedish '. As with other Upper Swedish dialects, the Dalecarlian dialects often pronounce the sound in suffixes where Standard Swedish has. An example of this would be Dalecarlian funnin and Swedish, as well as Dalecarlian muli and Swedish , Dalecarlian härvil and Swedish härvel. They also retain within the consonant clusters rg and lg, whereas Swedish has shifted to . Dalecarlian also keeps long vowels in front of m in many words where Swedish does not, such as tîma, tôm, and after and in words such as äntja and bryddja. As in the northern Svealand and some Norrland dialects, and have been softened to or even in medial positions of certain words, such as sättjin or sättjen, botja or botje and nyttjil. These traits characterise all Dalecarlian dialects.
The use of open and close is especially characteristic of the phonology of Lower and Upper Dalarna dialects, with the exception of Dalecarlian proper. In that respect, the dialects are significantly different from standard Swedish. The open can occur as long, while the close appears as short. For example, hara features an open in the first, and a close in the second syllable. The words katt, bakka, vagn are pronounced with a closed, and skabb, kalv with an open. The open sound is often replaced by a sound between and. The u sound is similar to the Norwegian. The sounds ä and e are well separated. Low-pitched vowels often have a quality reminiscent of. Among the most interesting features of Dalecarlian proper is that they still largely retain nasal vowels as they previously appeared in all Nordic dialects. Furthermore, the long, and have fractured into diphthongs, usually to, and, such as in ais, knåyta, aute. The consonant v is pronounced like the English. The standard Swedish l is usually omitted in front of,, and, for example in kåv and fok. Initial h is omitted in the Älvdalen, Orsa and Mora dialects, as well as in Rättvik and parts of Leksand, such as in and.
A pair of Nordic diphthongs is still present in the western dialects of Lima and Transtrand. The diphthong, which shifted to in Swedish, is retained in these dialects as ôu, for example dôu. The old Swedish diphthongs ei and öy are pronounced as äi.