Dalecarlian languages

Dalecarlian (Swedish: dalmål) is a group of North Germanic languages and dialects 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 (i.e., the originally Norwegian parishes of Särna and Idre), 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.

Some Dalecarlian dialects are characterized by features that place them somewhere between East and West Scandinavian languages, the former including Standard Swedish. Linguistics Professor Guus Kroonen cites a number of features that Elfdalian, one of the most prominent languages within the Dalecarlian group, shares with those languages traditionally regarded as West Scandinavian. He writes: "In many aspects, Elfdalian takes up a middle position between East and West Nordic. However, it shares some innovations with West Nordic, but none with East Nordic. This invalidates the claim that Elfdalian split off from Old Swedish." Indeed, the official position of the Swedish Government is that all Swedish dialects have developed "freely and independently" from a Nordic proto-language, and that their "swedishness" is derived from the fact that they are spoken in regions where Swedish is an official language today, regardless of linguistic characteristics.

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.