Mere Övdalian

This review is from: Studies in Övdalian Morphology and Syntax: New research on a lesser-known Scandinavian language (Linguistik Aktuell/Linguistics Today) (Hardcover)

I haven't seen this volume, but since I live in Sweden and spent a few summers in Dalecarlia, I feel I have to promote it anyway. It's an English-language study of Dalecarlia's strangest dialect, here called Övdalian. Another common name is Elfdalian. In Sweden, it's usually called älvdalsmål. The dialect is spoken in Älvdalens socken by about 2,000 people, most of them elderly. Linguists are enthusiastic about Övdalian, since it resembles Old Norse and Icelandic in some ways, while being very different from modern Swedish and other Swedish dialects. Övdalian has developed in relative isolation since the 14th century and even today, it's so different from other Swedish dialects that many consider it a separate language.

Of course, whether or not a local lingo is a “language” or a “dialect” is, in my humble non-linguistic opinion, somewhat subjective. If mutual intelligibility is the criterion, Övdalian is definitely a separate language. I never visited Älvdalen itself, but judging by recorded interviews with Övdalian speakers, the dialect has essentially zero intelligibility to a speaker of standard modern Swedish. Had I not known it's supposed to be a Germanic language, I would have guessed that it's a very strange form of Finnish or Sami! In its written form, it's somewhat easier to see familiar words, but only if you pay attention…

If morphology and syntax of unusual Scandinavian languages is your cup of herb tea, don't let the price of this volume scare you, buy it today!