Norwegian dialects

• Nordnorsk (North- Norwegian)
• Trøndersk ( Mittelnorwegisch )
• Vestnorsk (West Norwegian)
• Austnorsk (East Norwegian)

The Norwegian language includes in addition to the written languages ​​Bokmål and Nynorsk a variety of Norwegian dialects.

• 3.2.1 throat -R
• 3.2.2 reduction
• 3.2.3 Soft consonants

• 3.3.1 balance
• 3.3.2 vowel harmony
• 3.3.3 Thick L
• 3.3.4 Retro flexes consonants
• 3.3.5 Det as a formal subject
• 3.3.6 particles and direct object

• 3.4.1 Soft ll and nn
• 3.4.2 apocope

• 3.5.1 dl and dn
• 3.5.2 diphthongisation

• 3.6.1 infinitive suffix
• 3.6.2 Specific articles of female

• 4.1 Balance, apocope and reduction
• 4.2 " Thick L" and infinitive
• 4.3 Old Norwegian dialect Outline

Dialect boundaries

The dialect boundaries in Norway have come into existence in different ways:

• A major dialect boundary is the high mountains in central Norway, the Langfjella. This high mountain was a major obstacle in the traffic between the west and the east of the country ( Vestland and Austland / Ostland ). Language changes could hardly be spread this way.
• In some cases, certain old administrative boundaries, the dialect boundaries of today.
• In other cases, there are settlement movements that generate new dialect boundaries. At the end of the 18th century originated in Bardu and Målselv ( Troms fylke ) a linguistic island, because that is where people from the Østerdalen ( Hedmark fylke ) settled. Another example: It is believed that Northern Norway was inhabited in prehistoric times by people from the west of the country ( Vestland ). This means that these two areas are related linguistically closely, although the area Trøndelag between, where people spoke different dialects and like talking about.

Use

In Norway Regiolekte dialects and are often used in public. There are indeed two in Norway official writing languages ​​( Nynorsk and Bokmål ), but no general debate. But even where a particular choice of words, or ending debate are set, can be found in Norway relatively large deviations from these regulations. There are also politicians and professors who use their native dialect in public.

In Norway, there are always the phenomenon that just spread the dialects that have a low reputation. This has been shown, among others, in studies in the cities of Stavanger, Bergen and Ålesund. There arise new general city dialects on the basis of old underclass dialects ( gatespråk, " street language "). These old underclass dialects had a low status in the rule. The new general city languages ​​in the cities studied but are spoken by larger parts of the population and of other social classes than the old underclass dialects. This new urban dialects are becoming increasingly common in the rural surroundings of the cities studied.

Also in Oslo is not so much the " genteel " dialect from the west of the city, but the less highly regarded dialect spread from the east of the city ( vikamålet ). The language in the new suburbs of Oslo is essentially an evolution of the old dialect from the east of the city. One would have thought that a big city like a linguistic melting pot effect, and that in such a formulation of the " genteel " dialect would prevail - but that's not happening here.

A similar trend is also available in Denmark. There, the " street language" of Copenhagen common among young people on the island of Zealand, located on the Copenhagen.

Linguistic peculiarities

The Norwegian dialects can be classified on the basis of the following characteristics:

Ostnordisch

Monophthongization

The monophthongization is a phonetic development, are at the diphthongs to monophthongs. In the North Germanic languages ​​, this concerns the three Norse diphthongs ei, au and ey. The Norse ey is the result of the i- umlaut from Old Norse au.

• Examples of Old Norse diphthongs: Steinn ( "stone" ), Kaupa ( " Buy " ), reykr ( " smoke ").
• Examples of Danish monophthongs: keys ( "stone" ), Kobe ( " Buy " ), rog ( " smoke ").

The North Germanic monophthongization originated in Altniederdeutschen. She reached the Altdänische before the year 1000. They spread further across Skane in Swedish and other ostnorwegische dialects. In North Østerdalen and in the area around Røros the monophthongization took place only in the 17th century. On the island of Gotland and the Swedish Finland and in the great majority of Norwegian dialects the monophthongization has not occurred to date.

Norse hv, kv and v

The Norse difference between hv, kv and v at the beginning of the word. In standard Swedish, Danish standard and in almost all Swedish dialects hv has become v. In almost all Norwegian dialects, in Faroese and Icelandic in the hv has become kv.

Examples: Danish Hvad ( "what" ) [ VAD ], nynorsk kva, both originated from Old Norse hvat.

Present tense forms of strong verbs

Almost all Norwegian dialects have some strong verbs with vowel change. Many Norwegian city of dialects and dialects in the Greater Oslo have this vowel change not, Swedish and Danish ( and all its dialects ) is not also.

• Example with vowel change: infinitive kome [ ko ː mə ] "come" over kjem [ çe ː m] (. 1./2./3 person singular and plural)
• Example without vowel change: infinitive come [ kɔmə ] " come " versus " commercial " [ kɔmər ]

Südskandinavisch

Throat -R

The throat -R [ ʁ ] (Norwegian Skarre -r) is a dialect characteristic of Sørland, southern Vestland, Denmark and southern Sweden ( south of the line Gothenburg - Kalmar). The remaining areas have tongue tips -R.

This sound may come from Paris and has spread from there. Around 1780 he had come to Copenhagen and in 1800 to Bergen and Kristiansand. Of these cities has the sound used in the rural areas. In 1900 had large parts of the coast from the mouth Sørland already -R. He spread from larger cities to smaller and jumped over will be an even smaller places that lay in between.

Reduction

The reduction here is the reduction of full vowels at the end of the word to schwa ( [ ə ] ). This of course is only possible where the vowel is not already disappeared because of apocope.

The largest part of Norway has either reduction or apocope. Only Western Norway ( Vestlandet ) has neither. There is then infinitive endings -a, eg å kasta ( "throw" ).

Soft consonants

Soft, ie voiced consonants, where the written language has voiceless. This is about b, d and g after vowels in words like skip [ ʃi ː p] blot [ Blo ː t] and bok [ bu ː k ] (" ship ", " soft", " book" ). These words would be pronounced roughly skib [ ʃi ː b], blod [ Blo ː d] and bent [ bu ː g].

This is the mark of a southern Norwegian coastal strip between Stavanger and Arendal. See also Sørlandet.

Zentralskandinavisch

Balance

Equilibrium ( in Norwegian jamvekt ) means that in certain words the emphasis is evenly distributed on the first two syllables. This means that it is a stress equilibrium established. Words with balance, there were earlier in the central Norwegian and Swedish dialects. Today they are found only in Gudbrandsdalen (Oppland fylke ). The traces of this equilibrium are, however, still be seen today, especially in Eastern Norway ( Ostland ) and in Trøndelag. A significant consequence of the equilibrium is the occurrence of two different infinitive endings: one in infinitives, which used to have a balance, and another with infinitives, who never had balance. See below, " infinitive ending".

Vowel harmony

In certain areas there are certain types of words a phonetic balance between the vowels, jamning in Norwegian or jevning called. The ending vowel influenced to a greater or lesser extent, then the vowel before. This phonetic balancing occurs only with words that had once equilibrium. A complete balance between the vowels there are in two areas: one occupying the eastern half of Telemark, the other Indre Trøndelag, Namdalen and North Østerdalen. An incomplete compensation is available in large parts of Ostland and Trøndelag. Examples: ( "know" ) The dialect word veta will Vätta, dada dada or; the dialect word viku ( " week " ) will vukku.

Thick L

The so-called " thick L" (IPA [ ɽ ], in Norwegian tykk l or tjukk l) is a kind of retro flexes L. See Voiced retroflex flap. Instead retroflex is also said kakuminal or cerebral.

This " thick L" is originated from the Old Norse Rd and Old Norse l. Examples: Old Norse ord ( " word" ) and sól ( "Sun" ), modern Norwegian ord and sol in Eastern, Trøndelag and large parts of Sweden, these words have a " big L". In Vestland and Northern Norway they are pronounced with r and l, for example, [ u ː ʁ ] and [ su ː l].

Retro flexes consonants

Where there is the " thick L", also occur retroflex consonants. The " thick L" [ ɽ ] then fuses with a following l, d, t, r, or n to a retroflex consonant [ ɭ ], [ ɖ ], [ ʈ ], [ ɽ ] or [ ɳ ]. Example: måltid ( " meal " ) with retroflexem consonant [ mo ː ʈi ː ] without retroflex consonant [ mo ː ː lti ].

Det as a formal subject

In modern Norwegian, Swedish and Danish a sentence must have a subject. In certain types of sentences, there is therefore a formal subject. In the following examples are DET and the formal subject. The German translations have also formal subjects at this point, that is it.

Examples:

• Det Regnar ( Nynorsk ) or Det regner ( Bokmål ) " It's Raining "
• The he tre komne nye Båtar inn i hamna i dag " There are now three new boats called at the port "

Swedish, Ostnorwegisch and Trøndersk have in such sentences det ( " it ", "the " ) as a formal subject. In Vestland, Sørland, in the west of Telemark and the greater part of northern Norway have such sets of ( "there" ), sometimes ago ( "here" ).

Particles and direct object

A syntactic difference between dialects is the order of the direct object ( dO ) and Verbpartikel (Part) in verbal groups ( sham compound verbs ). Trøndelag and the eastern parts of Østlandet have here only the verbal particles and then the direct object. In these dialects the verb and particle are often used to Tonemgruppe. This means that they are pronounced as a single polysyllabic word, the particle is therefore appended ( enclitic ). The emphasis is then on the first syllable, with 2 accent

The records in the list mean:

• " They brought it in,"
• " They brought the bike into it "

Nordskandinavisch

Soft ll and nn

Soft or mouilliert here means that ll or nn (as in fjell or man ) have a palatal pronunciation, roughly as lj and nj are pronounced. See also voiced palatal nasal and palatal lateral approximant voiced.

These two soft consonants are characteristic of northern areas ( Opplandsk Northern Midtlandsk, Nordvestlandsk and the areas further north ).

Apocope

The apocope is a linguistic change in which the suffix vowel is eliminated at the end of the word. Example: han [ha ː n] instead of hane [ha ː nə ] (" Hahn" ). This may include the infinitive endings of a dialect concern. The apocope occurs in northern Norway: ( fylke Møre og Romsdal ) in Møre Trøndelag and parts of Nordland. See " infinitive ending".

Westnordisch and Westnorwegisch

Dl and dn

In Iceland, the Faroe Islands and Norway in the west, there is the phenomenon of differentiation. This means that Norse rl dl and rn to dn. Norse fn ( [ vn ] ) is to bn. The phonetic difference (the difference ) is so larger. The Norwegian territories in which this phenomenon can occur are Rogaland, Hordaland, Sogn Midtre, Indre Sogn, Hallingdal and Valdres. However, the details of this differentiation in the languages ​​and dialects mentioned above are quite different.

Examples:

• Old Norse grain ( " grain " ) becomes [ kɔdn̩ ] ( Voss )
• Old Norse karl ( " man " ) becomes [ Kadl ] ( Voss )
• Old Norse nafn ( "Name") becomes [ nabn̩ ] ( Hallingdal )

A similar phenomenon is the segmentation. This means that a sound is segmented, that is divided. This is about the Norse long consonants ll and nn as in kalla ( " call " ) and finna ( "find" ). These sounds are typically dl and dn. This phenomenon occurs in Icelandic, Faroese and southern Vestland.

Examples:

• Old Norse ( " call " ) kalla becomes [ Kadla ] ( Voss )
• Old Norse finna ( "find" ) becomes [ fɪdna ] ( Northern Hordaland )

Diphthongisation

Diphthongization is a phonetic development, where a monophthong into a diphthong is. This development took place in several parts of the Nordic language area: Iceland, Faroe Islands, in parts of Western Norway, Jutland, southern Sweden ( south of the line Gothenburg - Kalmar), Gotland and in some other Swedish regions. The diphthongization concerns the Norse long vowels á, é, í, ó and ú.

Examples:

• Old Norse Batr ( " boat " ) becomes [ baʊ ː t] ( Voss )
• Old Norse sól ( "Sun" ) becomes [ sɔʊ ː l] ( Voss, Sunnmøre, Setesdalen )
• Old Norse tré ( " tree") becomes [ træɪ ː ] ( Sunnmøre, Setesdalen )
• Is Old Norse Bita ( " bite " ) to [ ː tə beɪ ] ( Setesdalen )
• Old Norse Škuta ( a light sailing ship) becomes [ ː tə skeʊ ] ( Setesdalen )

Other

Infinitive suffix

In Western and Southern Norway there is a single infinitive suffix, eg -a or -e, ie å å kasta or caste ( "throw" ). In Northern Norway, this ending can also be completely absent, ie å å kasta kast instead of eg.

In the other parts of the country there are two different infinitive endings ( kløyvd infinitive, " split infinitive "). There, the ending of the force in the Old Norse Quanität of Stammvokalismus depends: was this long, so the verb ending today [ ə ] has, he was short, the verb ending today [a]. Norse shortening were stretched at a later time in an open syllable, but this day's vowel quantity has won no effect on the ending. Example: Old Norse Bita ( " bite " ) is ( "know" ) to bite ( [ bi ː tə ] ) with [ ə ], but Old Norse vita will veta ( [ ve ː ta ] ) with [a].

Certain articles of female

In the North Germanic languages ​​the definite article is attached usually to the noun. That is the indefinite article in female egg and Nynorsk to Bokmål or an s, eg egg or bok bok s ( " a book "). The definite article is -a female, in Bokmål even -en, eg boka or boken ( " the book" ).

Weak feminine nouns are feminine nouns with an e - ending in the script languages, such as jente ( " girl " ), Kvinne ( "woman" ), etc. Strong feminine nouns are feminine nouns without these e - suffix, such as bok ( " book" ), sol ( " sun"), bru ( " bridge"), etc.

In most parts of the country but this shall not have effect on the article; here often come a- like endings before as boka and sola, jenta and kvinna etc. dialects that make a difference to know an additional article; here it is, about kvinna, but solid.

Structure

The classification of the dialects is strongly dependent on which language features you think is important. Therefore, there are often several possibilities for the structure of dialects.

Balance, apocope and reduction

An often -made classification uses the three criteria balance, apocope and reduction.

Another criterion is the shared feminine, so the distinction between the two endings in female specific nouns ( see above).

This classification is as follows:

• With balance with apocope Trøndersk

• Split feminine Midlandsk

• Austlandsk / Østlandsk

• No balance with apocope Nordlandsk

• With reduction Sørlandsk
• Nordvestlandsk
• Troms and Finnmarksmål

• Sørvestlandsk

" Thick L" and infinitive

Another possibility is to use the number of infinitive endings, the " thick L" and the particular feminine products as a criterion. Then the division of the Norwegian dialects looks like this:

A) Westnorwegisch ( Vestnorsk )

• Nordvestlandsk: ( fylke Møre og Romsdal ) in Romsdal, Sunnmøre, Fjordane ( Sogn og Fjordane fylke ), Ytre Sogn ( coastal area of ​​Sogn og Fjordane )
• Vestlandsk Indre: Indre Sogn, Voss, Hardanger Indre
• Ytre Vestlandsk: in Nordhordland Sunnhordland (both in Hordaland ), Rogaland
• Sørlandsk: in Vest -Agder and Aust- Agder

B ) Ostnorwegisch ( Østnorsk / Austnorsk )

• Midtlandsk: in the high mountain villages: North Gudbrandsdal to Sel, Valdres, Hallingdal, Telemark and Numedal to Rollag, Tinn, Hjartdal, Seljord, Kviteseid, Bykle in Setesdalen
• Sørøstlandsk: the area on either side of the Oslo fjord with Ringerike ( Buskerud fylke ) and Romerike
• Opplandsk: the Hedmark and Oppland fylker ( Oppland but without the high mountain villages)
• Trøndsk: in the two fylker Nord-Trøndelag and Sør -Trøndelag and in Nordmøre

C ) Nordnorwegisch ( Nordnorsk ), north of Nord-Trøndelag

Old Norwegian dialect Outline

Also in the Old Norse language, there were already dialect differences. These dialect differences show up partially in the old manuscripts. However, these manuscripts are not pure dialect texts because it already then write some traditions were, to which the writer held partially.

For the 13th century there is a structure that is similar to the layouts of today's Norwegian dialects substantially. A distinction is made for the 13th century between the western and the eastern main dialect. The boundary was the high mountains in central Norway, the Langfjella. The main western dialect had the most properties because the Icelandic settlers mainly came together with the Old Icelandic from the South Western Norway. The eastern main dialect shared many characteristics with the ancient Danish and the Old Swedish. The Western Old Norse is further divided into Nordvestlandsk (northern Westnorwegisch ) and Sørvestlandsk (southern Westnorwegisch ). The eastern Old Norse is divided into Trøndsk and Østlandsk.

It is not known which linguistic features in that time, the North Norwegian, ie the language of Namdal north ( in the northern Nord-Trøndelag ). For this part, there are too few ancient texts.

History of dialectology

The Norwegian dialectology has its roots in the national romanticism of the early 19th century. Before this time the Norwegians formed the dialects considered only as degenerate and unkempt varieties of written language. However, the national romantic influenced researchers were very interested in the history of their country, especially for the "Golden Age " of the country, so for what they called the "big" and "glorious " time in the country. Therefore, they noticed that the Norwegian dialects descended from Old Norse, rather than from the written language. Because the Old Norwegian was the language of this " Golden Age ", also derived therefrom dialects had gained greater prestige.

Also in the language debate in the 30s of the 19th century, the dialects played an important role. See also Norwegian language. However, the Norwegian dialects were poorly understood at the time and linguists were seen socially very far from the dialect speakers. The first thorough scientific description of the Norwegian dialects comes from Ivar Aasen, who was himself a dialect speakers. In the 40s of the 19th century, he traveled through large parts of Norway and collected voice samples. He too was very interested in the language- historical contexts, ie for the origin of the dialects of Old Norse.

Although the context of the dialects with the Old Norse led to a new appreciation of the dialects. But he also meant that one was particularly interested in the old-fashioned and archaic features of the language. Recent developments within a dialect therefore were like hidden because they " originally " were not enough.

The Norwegian dialects were also used as an argument in political debates. The existence of own ancient dialects should be a proof that the Norwegians are a separate people, and not the Danes or Swedes are attributable. Norway was in fact for centuries part of the Danish kingdom had been. In 1814 it was caught in a personal union with Sweden. During the 19th century, grew up in Norway, the resistance against the personal union with Sweden. In 1905 it was dissolved at the insistence of the Norwegian. See also History of Norway.