Nederkalix dialect

Nederkalix dialect is a traditional Norrland dialect of Swedish, spoken in the historical parishes of Nederkalix and Töre in modern-day Kalix Municipality in Norrbotten in Sweden. The traditional Nederkalix dialect, like the other Norrland dialects, is very divergent from Standard Swedish, containing both archaisms and innovations in the phonological and grammatical systems.
The Nederkalix dialect retains Old Norse diphthongs, Old Swedish light syllables, and many initial consonants lost in Standard Swedish. In terms of morphology, the dialect has also preserved plural agreement of verbs, as well as the dative case, which have been lost in Standard Swedish.
The Nederkalix dialect has innovated many diphthongs from older long vowels. It also displays features such as vowel balance, apocope, and vowel harmony, all common in many Norrland dialects. Nasal consonants have been lost before a following plosive, with subsequent vowel nasalization. Like many other Norrland dialects, it has also innovated an extended use of the definite form and a preproprial article before proper names.
The Nederkalix dialect is most closely related to other traditional dialects in Norrbotten, especially the neighboring Överkalix dialect in the north. The three parishes constituted one single Kalix parish until the mid 17th century, when Överkalix parish split from Nederkalix, and the two dialects diverged. The Nederkalix and Överkalix dialects are however often considered to be mutually unintelligible.

Documentation

The oldest preserved manuscripts in the Kalix dialect is an 1879 description of the area, a text which is used as a standard of genuinity. The Kalix dialect was first described by a thesis work by Hulda Rutberg, starting the year 1908 and presented at Uppsala University in 1924. The book contains many words and an extensive description of phonology and grammar. The language is also covered in later documentation, and by many recordings from the 1960s. The work of communities such as Föreningen Kalix Bygdemål, founded 1992, has kept collecting words and expressions to an extensive word lexicon, and is still active today.

Phonology

The Kalix dialect has, according to Rutberg, 18 vowel monophthongs, 10 vowel diphthongs, and 29 consonants.

IPA	Ex.IPA	Ex.Latin	Translation
	iːln	i:ln	the fire
	hɪn	hin	here
	snyːn	sny:n	the snow
	ʏvɪ	yvi	over
	ve:r	ve:r	weather
	mɛstɛ	meste	almost
	ʝæɾ	jär	is
	røː	rö:	red
	nœ	nö	now
	hʉl	hul	was going to
	ʝʊ	jo	yes/well
	anar	anar	another
	lɑːk	la:k	long
	kɒm	kom	came
	gɔːɳ	gå:rn	the yard

Grammar

Noun gender

Three grammatical genders exist:

Feminine: e.g. "ha:ta", "nagla", "å:dra", "sköuldra", "påp:a", "måm:a", "kjat:a". But also "kuno", "stuo", "sögo".
Masculine: e.g. "ståoLn", "fåotn", "armen", "armboan", "tåomen", "måon".
Neuter: "öe"/"öge", "öre", "höure", "bene", "feingre", "kni:e", "bån:e".

Basically, words that in their definite form end with an "n" are masculine, an "e" is neuter, and all vowel except "e" are feminine.
General ending for words following the nouns are in feminine "-ar", masculine "-en", neuter "-e" or "-t", and plural "-er". Ex.

Feminine: "he jär menar stuo" "hö ha:ar eingar på:åp", "hukar kuno?", "woLar viko"
Masculine: "men ståoL", "anworn da", "in tuken fåot"
Neuter: "i lätet bån", "tuke schwammeL", "i anne å:r"
Plural: "tuker stäinto", "huker då:a?", "einger feingro"

Definite and indefinite nouns

The definite noun form is used in a broader sense than in other Scandinavian languages, widespread in all dialects spoken in northern Scandinavia. Some examples: "je skå nå:åp i gröut ve bera" – I'll pick some berries, "kunin jåra ät som kåran" – women are not like men. Definiteviness can be divided into four categories depending on the noun's plural form. Examples of usage with the feminine word "i fLa:ask" :

Enumerating indefinite, equal to singular or differs on accent only: "je ha:ar to fLa:ask", "i döusin fLa:ask", "je ha fLe:r fLa:ask än di:", "ma:ak fLa:ask".
Non-enumerating indefinite, "-o" ending: "he jär naer/einger/in del fLasko ini tjälaro", "aar fLasko", "tuker fLasko", "he jär la:ka fLasko ini tjälaro".
Definite usage, "-en" ending: "he jär mytji fLasken ini tjälaro", "å:åll fLasken jåra bå:årt", "höundratale å fLasken", "he var fLasken ållostans", "whiskeyfLasken", "we hå:å la:kfLasken å röundfLasken", "di ha:ar snört fLasken ållostans".
Definite "-en": "ta ve de fLasken då do gja öut"

For masculine nouns, the four forms are e.g. "in bi:l" "to bi:il" "naer bi:lo", "mytji bi:lan", and "bi:lan". Neuter definitive plural ending is "-a". Non-enumerative words e.g. "i höus", "i gåLv" are exceptions lacking the "-o" form.

Case

is separated from the accusative and nominative case, e.g. feminine: "Din jär SkåoLa, je siti ini skå:oLn", masculine: "je sei tjälarn, he lik na ini tjälaro".
Several forms of genitive cases exists, e.g. "Je ha ons Enok bi:l", "je fick bre:ve än Anna", "kLåk:a gran:o".

Verbs

Verbs are conjugated in singular and plural, unlike modern standard Swedish: "hån jär" but "di jåra", "hö löut se" but "di lö:ut se", "je far" but "we fåra", "je vil" but "di vili". But there are irregular verbs which does not differ, e.g. "je liot fåra" / "we liot fåra".

Adjectives

Most adjectives are equal in singular and plural, similar to English but distinct from many other Scandinavian languages, e.g.:
"dö:rn jär ipi" and "doran jåra ipi", "bå:ne jär vötchin" and "bå:na jåra vötchin", "do jär wälkymin heit" and "di jåra wälkymin heit".
Other adjectives differs in singular and plural, and have two plural forms, e.g. "flaska jär rö:", "rö:a flasko, so jåra rö:ö".
Adjectives can also be joined with nouns, e.g. "råLkafötren", or serially joined, e.g. "lilvåckerstäinta".

Preproprial article

A preproprial article is widespread traditional Norrland dialects and is also found in many parts of Norway. It functions as an obligatory article before proper names and kinship terms. In the Nederkalix dialect, it takes the form on or en in the masculine, and na or a in the feminine. There are also separate dative forms of the article: nu or u in the masculine, and en in the feminine, but the basic forms are also used in the dative.

Writing systems

The Nederkalix dialect, like the absolute majority of Swedish dialects, lack a standard orthography. In early dialectological descriptions, the phonetic Swedish Dialect Alphabet was used to transcribe the dialect. In more non-scientific contexts, the Swedish alphabet has been used, including the letters ⟨å ä ö⟩ and certain ad-hoc representations of sounds not found in Standard Swedish, e.g. a capitalized or boldface ⟨l⟩ for the retroflex flap, a colon ⟨:⟩ for marking long vowels etc.