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Norwegian dialects

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Norwegian spoken dialects are not to be confused with Bokmål and Nynorsk, the two official written variations of the Norwegian language.

The Norwegian dialects are commonly divided into 5 main groups, North Norwegian (nordnorsk), Trøndelag Norwegian (trøndersk), Midland Norwegian (innlandsmål), West Norwegian (vestnorsk), and East Norwegian (østnorsk). The dialects are generally mutually intelligible, but differ significantly with regards to accent, grammar, syntax, and vocabulary. If not accustomed to a particular dialect, even a native Norwegian speaker may have difficulty understanding it. Dialects can be as local as farm clusters, but many linguists note an ongoing regionalization, diminishing or even elimination of local variations. Normalized speech, following the written languages Bokmål and Nynorsk or the more conservative Riksmål and Høgnorsk, is not in common use, except in parts of Finnmark (where the original Sami population learned Norwegian as a second language), in certain social groups in the major urban areas of Norway, in national broadcasting, and in courts and official decrees.

Dialect groups

Evolution of dialects

Owing to geography and climate, Norwegian communities were often isolated from each other till the early 20th century. As a result, local dialects had a tendency to be influenced by each other in singular ways while developing their own idiosyncrasies. The community of Oppdal, for example, has characteristics in common with coastal dialects to the west, the dialects of northern Gudbrandsdalen to the south, and other dialects in Sør Trøndelag from the north. The linguist Einar Haugen documented the particulars of the Oppdal dialect, and the writer Inge Krokann used it as a literary device.

On the other hand, newly industrialized communities near sources of hydroelectric power have developed dialects consistent with the region but in many ways unique. Studies in such places as Høyanger, Odda, Tyssedal, Rjukan, Notodden, Sauda, and others show that creolization has effected the formation of new dialects in these areas.

Similarly, in the early 20th century a dialect closely approximating standard Bokmål arose in and around railway stations. This was known as stasjonsspråk ("station language") and may have contributed to changes in dialect around these centers.

Social dynamics and dialects

See also: Norwegian language struggle

Till the 20th century, rural dialects were considered an attribute of the uneducated provincial class in Norway. Social mobility involved conforming speech to standard Riksmål, a pattern that persists to this day in certain urban areas. Studies show that speakers of dialect tend to change their usage in formal settings to approximate the formal written language.

This has led to various countercultural movements ranging from the adoption of radical forms of Oslo dialects among political radicals to movements preserving local dialects. There is widespread and growing acceptance that Norwegian linguistic diversity is worth preserving.

The trend today is a regionalisation of the dialects causing smaller dialectal traits to disappear and rural dialects to merge with their nearest larger dialectal variety.

Distinctions among dialects

There are many ways to distinguish among Norwegian dialects. These criteria are drawn from the work Johnsen, Egil Børre (ed.) (1987) Vårt Eget Språk/Talemålet. H. Aschehoug & Co. ISBN 82-03-17092-7. These criteria generally provide the analytical means for identifying most dialects, though most Norwegians rely on experience to tell them apart.

Grammars and syntax

Infinitive forms

One of the most important differences among dialects is in the form the verb takes in infinitive forms. There are five varieties in Norwegian dialects, constituting two groups:

One ending (western dialects)

  • Infinitive ending with -a, e.g., å vera, å bita, common in southwestern Norway, including areas around Bergen and Stavanger
  • Infinitive ending with -e, e.g., å være, å bite, common in Troms, Finnmark, areas of Sogn og Fjordane and Møre og Romsdal, Southern counties, and a few other areas.
  • Apocopic infinitive, where no vowel is added to the infinitive form, common in certain areas of Nordland

Two different endings (eastern dialects)

  • Split infinitive, in which the verb will end either with -a or -e, common in Eastern Norway
  • Split infinitive, with apocope, common in some areas in Sør-Trøndelag and Nord-Trøndelag

The split distribution of endings is related to the syllable length of the verb in Old Norse. "Short-syllable" (kortstava) verbs in Norse kept their endings, as the ending was stressed. The "long-syllable" (langstava) verbs lost their (unstressed) endings or had them converted to -e.

Dative case

The dative case is still in use in dialects north of Oslo, Romsdal, and south and northeast of Trondheim, although the actual forms vary quite a bit.

Usage of dative case is rapidly disappearing even in the regions where it is still used. Most people aged less than 30 do not use the dative, whereas their parents or grandparents still do.

Future tense

There are regional variations in the use of future tense.

  • Han kommer/kjem til å reise
  • Han blir å reise
  • Han blir reisan

(In English: He (is) going away)

Syntax

Syntax can vary greatly between dialects, and the tense is important for the listener to get the meaning. For instance, a question can be formed without the traditional "asking-words" (how, where, what, who..)

ex. the sentence Hvor mye er klokken? (literally: "How much is the clock?") i.e. "What time is it" can be put in the following forms: E klokka mykje? (Is the clock much?) (tense is on "the clock"), E a mytti klokka? (Is she much the clock?) (tense on "is")

Accent and pronunciation

Retroflex "R"

The retroflex R (generally called "thick L") (IPA /ɽ/) exists only in Norway, a few regions in Sweden, and in completely unrelated languages. The sound is a retroflex sound and coexists with other retroflexions in Norwegian dialects. In some areas it also applies to words that end with "rd," for example with "gard" (farm) being pronounced /ɡɑːɽ/.

Diphthongization

Old Norse had the diphthongs /au/, /ei/, and /øy/, but the Norwegian spoken in the area around Setesdal has shifted two of the traditional diphthongs and innovated four more from long vowels.

/ei/ > /ai/

/øy/ > /oy/

/iː/ > /ei/

/yː/ > /uy/

/uː/ > /eu/

/oː/ > /ou/

West Norwegian dialects have also innovated new diphthongs. In Midtre you can find the following.

/aː/ > /au/

/oː/ > /ou/

/uː/ > /eʉ/

Monophthongization

The Old Norse diphthongs /au/, /ei/, and /øy/ have experienced monophthongization in certain dialects of modern Norwegian.

/ei/ > /e/

/øy/ > /ø/

/au/ > /ø/

This shift originated in Old East Norse, which is reflected in the fact that Swedish and Danish overwhelmingly exhibit this change. Monphthongization in Norway ends on the coast west of Trondheim and extends southeast in a triangle into central Sweden. Some Norwegian dialects, east of Molde, for example, have only lost /ei/ and /øy/.

Palatalization

In areas north of an imaginary line drawn between Oslo and Bergen, palatalization occurs for the n (IPA /nʲ/), l (/lʲ/), t (/tʲ/) and d (/dʲ/) sounds in varying degrees. Areas just south and southwest of Trondheim palatalize both the main and subordinate syllable in words (e.g, /kɑlːʲɑnʲ/), but other areas only palatalize the main syllable (/bɑlʲ/).

Leveling

(Jamning/Jevning in Norwegian) This is a phenomenon in which the root vowel and end vowel in a word approximate each other. For example, the old Norse viku has become våkkå in certain dialects. There are two varieties in Norwegian dialects - one in which the two vowels become identical, the other where they are only similar. Leveling exists only in inland areas in Southern Norway, and areas around Trondheim.

Voicing

Voiceless stops (/p/, /t/, /k/) have become voiced (/b/, /d/, /g/) on the extreme southern coast of Norway, including Kristiansand, Mandal and Stavanger. The same phenomenon appears in Sør-Trøndelag and one area in Nordland.

Segmentation

The geminate /ll/ in southwestern Norway has become /dl/, while just east in southcentral Norwegian the final /l/ is lost, leaving /d/. The same sequence has been palatized in Northern Norway, leaving the palatal lateral /ʎ/.

Assimilation

The second consonant in the consonant clusters /nd/, /ld/, and /ng/ has assimilated to the first across most of Norway, leaving /n/, /l/, and /ŋ/ respectively. Western Norway, though not in Bergen, retains the /ld/ cluster. In Northern Norway this same cluster is realized as the palatal lateral /ʎ/.

Vowel shift in irregular verbs

In all but Oslo and coastal areas just south of the capital, the present tense of certain verbs take on a new vowel (umlaut), e.g., å fare becomes fer (in Oslo, it becomes farer).

Consonant shift in conjugation of masculine nouns

Although used less frequently, a subtle shift takes place in conjugating a masculine noun from indefinitive to definitive, e.g., from bekk to bekkjen (/becːen/, /becçen/ or /beç:en/. This is found in rural dialects along the coast from Farsund to the border between Troms and Finnmark.

Eliminating r in the plural indefinite form

In some areas, the r is not pronounced in all or some words in their plural indefinite form. There are four categories:

  • The r is retained - most of Eastern Norway, the South-Eastern coast, and across to areas north and east of Stavanger.
  • The r disappears altogether - Southern tip of Norway, coastal areas north of Bergen, and inland almost to Trondheim.
  • The r is retained in certain words but not in others - coastal areas around Trondheim, and most of Northern Norway
  • The r is retained in certain words and in regular feminine nouns, but not in others - one coast area in Nordland.

Alveolar/Uvular R

Most dialects use an alveolar trill (IPA [r]) for "r". However, for the last 200 years the uvular R (IPA [ʁ]) has been gaining ground in Western and Southern Norwegian dialects, with Kristiansand, Stavanger, and Bergen as centers. The uvular R has also been adopted in aspiring patricians in and around Oslo, to the point that it was for some time fashionable to "import" governesses from the Kristiansand area. It has gained less acceptance in eastern regions, and linguists speculate that dialects that use retroflexes have a "natural defense" against uvular R and thus will not adopt it. However, the dialect of Arendal retains the retroflexes, while featuring the uvular R in remaining positions, e.g. rart [ʁɑːʈ]

The kj / sj merge

Many people, especially in the younger generation, have lost the differentiation between the kj (IPA /ç/) and sj (IPA /ʃ/) sounds, merging both as sj /ʃ/.

Tonemes and intonation

Main article: Norwegian language § Accent

There are great differences between the intonation systems of different Norwegian dialects.

Vocabulary

First person, plural

Three variations of first person plural exist in Norwegian dialects:

  • Vi, (pronounced /viː/), common in parts of Eastern Norway, most of Northern Norway, coastal areas close to Trondheim, and one sliver of Western Norway
  • Me, or mi, in Southern and most of Western Norway, areas inland of Trondheim, and a few smaller areas
  • Oss, common in areas of Sør Trøndelag and Nordmøre.

First person, singular

There is considerable variety in the way the first person singular is pronounced in Norwegian dialects. They appear to fall into three groups, within which there are also variations:

  • E(g), æ(g), and æi(g), in which the hard 'g' may or may not be included. This is common in most of Southern and Western Norway, Trøndelag, and most of Northern Norway. Some places in Western Norway, it's common to say "Ej".
  • I (pronounced /iː/), in a few areas in Western Norway (Romsdal/Molde) and Snåsa in Nord Trøndelag
  • Je, jæ, or jæi, in areas around Oslo, and north along the Swedish border, almost to Trondheim, as well as one region in Troms

The word "not"

The Norwegian word for the English not exists in five main categories:

  • ikke - Oslo, Kristiansand, much of Møre og Romsdal and most of Finnmark, plus some cities in Nordland.
  • ikkje - most of the coastal and inland areas in Southern, Northern and Western Norway.
  • ittj - Trøndelag
  • itte, or ittje - areas north of Oslo, along the Swedish border
  • inte, ente - coastal areas south of Oslo

Asking words

Some common asking words take on forms such as:

Regions who what where which how why when
Bokmål hvem hva hvor hvilken hvordan hvorfor når
Nynorsk kven kva kor, kvar kva for korleis kvifor, korfor når
South Eastern Norway hvem, åkke hva, å da, å hvor, hvorhen, å hen, å henner hvilken, åkken, åssen, hvem hvordan, åssen hvorfor, åffer, å for ti, å ti, når
Most of Western Norway kven, ken, kem kva, ka, kafornokke kor, korhen/korhenne, hen kva, ka, kvaslags, kaslags, kasla, kallas, kalla, kass, kvafor, kafor kordan, korsn, korleis, karleis, koss, kossn korfor, koffor, kvifor, kafor
Trøndelag and most of Northern Norway kæm, kem ka, ke kor, korhæn/korhænne kolles, koss, korsn, kossn, kasla, kass, kafor, kafør kolles, koss, kess, korsn, kossn, kelles korfor, kafor, kafør, koffer, koffør. koffår
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