Elfdalian - Sweden's Most Conservative Language
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 15 ส.ค. 2020
- Lectures on Elfdalian (most in Swedish): video.ku.dk/tag/elvdalsk%202015
Welcome All!
SpeechLeech is a series in which I learn one of 4 languages beginning with the same letter, according to the English alphabet, voted for by You, the audience!
It comes in 2 parts:
- the choices video (in which I briefly introduce the 4 languages of the letter)
- the results video (in which I talk about the language and the history and culture of the people who speak it a bit more in-depth, after which I briefly show what I've managed to learn after 2 weeks of studying by attempting to speak the language)
How it works:
o Based on English alphabet
o 4 languages per letter (A, B, C, D, etc...)
o Vote during the the first 24 hours after the video is posted
o Winner is announced the following day
Criteria for choices:
1) Must have enough online resources to learn
2) Must be written using one of the following scripts: Latin, Cyrillic, Arabic, Hebrew
Criteria for learning:
1) Be able to introduce myself
2) Be able to count, say today’s date
3) Be able to read a passage of text
4) Discuss something about the language/culture in question in said language
5) Talk about daily life (weather, food, activities, etc.)
6) Be able to ramble a bit off topic
The week in between the choices video and the results video, I will be posting an "Honourable Mentions" video, in which I talk about another language beginning with the same letter, as well as the history and culture of the people who speak it in-depth, which wasn't featured as one of the 4 learning choices.
If you’ve ever been curious to learn a language, no matter how ‘irrelevant’ or small, just do it!
Keep it alive, and pass it on to the next generation!
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The "Elf" in the name has nothing to do with elves though. It's just that "elv" or "älv" (in norweigan or swedish spelling) is the scandinavian word for river. "Älvdalen" means literally "the river valley".
as in riverdale...
@@matswessling6600 exactly!
Like the river Elbe in German.
It has something to do with "elves", though: both words are believed to have originated from proto-Germanic "*albus" meaning "white" or "shining".
@@SchmulKriegerThat is where the word ”älv” is believed to come from
As a Swede I can confirm that it is easier to understand Norwegian or Danish than this.
DEFINETELY.
What about Finnish?
@@viljaminieminen6925 Puhun on vain vähän suomi.
Wouldn't say that Finnish is close at all to the other nordic languages tho.
@@emilekroth100 but in terms of difficulty
I live in Älvdalen, and i speak and understand elfdalian. So Nice video
I want to see what the letters sound like.
@@lunet1st488 There are many recordings.
Teach your kids!!!!!!
@@brockgan8941 have no children, but will of course make sure they talk later
@@mal2ksc I am 26 years old, everyone in my family and relatives can speak and understand Elvdal.
I am a 2nd generation American, my grandfather came to America from Loka, a small village just outside Älvdalen, in 1881. My grandfather married twice in America, his first wife died in childbirth in June of 1893 and in early 1896 he married the girl who would be my grandmother. My grandfather taught all of his children the Övdalsk language and I feel very privileged and proud to have some strong memories of this language, which is my family’s mother tongue, from my childhood! A message from me for the Swedish parliament… it is not possible for Övdalsk to be a dialect of Swedish because the Övdalsk language is older than the Swedish language!! Ig ir ettling tä Waikingg fro Swerre, og eð ir guoð!
hvað í fj varðst þú að segja þarrna síþazt
You should contact the Elvdalia language society,.
That's amazing
She said "I am a descendant of Vikings from Sweden" then the words "and oath is" and I guess "God".
Something like "I swear to God"?
Og eð ir guoð = and it is good
The Little Prince has been translated to a surprisingly large number of lesser known and/or endangered languages. That little book is a gem in more ways than just being a nice story.
Another great work of literature that's been translated into a surprising amount of obscure dialects is also originally French: Asterix!
Seen it in Plattdüütsch, Karjala, etc etc.
Agatha Christie has been v translated into more languages than any other body of literaturexexcept the Bible.
@@brucealanwilson4121 She is not a single book though.
I am native Icelandic and Faroese speaker and also know some Danish/Swedish/Norwegian and while I feel this language sounds somewhat oddly familiar I only understood maybe about 20-30% of this sample.
Edit: I just came back to it now two weeks later and I understood 80% immediately. I can tell I am relying on both the Icelandic and Faroese to make sense of this. Very interesting!
What about other Dalecarlian dialects like Orsamål? th-cam.com/play/PLqiZ-ikph3Mn4biHT3XqM8XTPC3S-IQZ3.html The other Dalecarlian dialects in Ovansiljan aren't that different from Elfdalian.
Heve du både islendskt og færøyskt som modermål?
people bragging about speaking x x and x languages. its really a big thing on these vids
its called sharing an interest: the info that he understood 80% is broadened by stating hes not a monolingual person @@marz_mitzi
@@marz_mitziThe guy in the vid literally asked them if anyone was from the Nordic region if they understood it, write it in the comment section
An eð fel ulað bruk språtjeð sos laindj an dug glåmå!
(~Use the language for as long as you can speak!)
Thank you so much for making a video about Elfdalian. My father comes from Älvdalen and my grandfather was a fluent speaker of Elfdalian. Unfortunately, he died before I was born so I was never exposed to the language. However, as a Swede, I can assure you that it is extremely different from Swedish and there are barely any similarities between the two languages, both lexically and grammatically.
Funny story, I remember attending a funeral in Älvdalen when I was 14 and some elderly people who sat beside me starting speaking to me in Elfdalian, and I had no idea what they were saying! I remember feeling so embarrassed, since I didn't know any phrases in Elfdalian and my dad never passed the language on to me.
Since then, I've been trying to learn it as there are very few speakers left and because I feel very attached to the language since my ancestors must have spoken Elfdalian back in their day. It is a shame though, because there are very few resources available for those who want to learn the language, which makes it harder to learn it.
Lastly, I also can't fathom why the government refuses to recognize Elfdalian as an official minority language, since it only contributes to the downfall of the language. Funnily enough, this April, a Swedish politician starting speaking Elfdalian in the Swedish parliament as a way to mock the government, since they still believe that it is a dialect. No one could understand him, and he was even told by the Speaker of Parliament that speaking another language in the parliament is not allowed and that he had to switch to Swedish if he wanted to continue. Mind you, the politician who was before him spoke with a thick southern dialect (skånska) but nobody had an issue with that since his speech was intelligible. Needless to say, I think he got his point across...
Edit: Thought I would add that my grandmother bought me a game in Elfdalian as a present, to help me learn Elfdalian many years ago. It was a memory game that showed the name of the animals in Elfdalian, and some of my favorite ones are still to this day: myödumbel - bee (Swedish: humla), pillermaru - dragonfly (Swedish: trollslända), rakke - dog (svenska: hund), aikuonn - squirrel (Swedish: ekorre) and tjyötmaungg - great tit (Swedish: talgoxe).
fun fact, _rakke_ is a cognate to the English word _rach_ which is a dialectal word for scent hound
@@fgconnolly4170 Could it have something to do with the (Dutch and) reconstructed protogermanic noun "brak" and all its relatives in Germanic languages and French (like standard German "Bracke") indicating (types of) hounds?
@@ThW5 I don't know it would be interesting to find out?
@@fgconnolly4170 It turns out that does not seem to be the case, but there is a Dutch cognate "rekel" which indicates the male of fox, badger, wolf, dog (and other canines) and rascals/insolent persons... In my experience only really common in Dutch with foxes and fox like animals.
@@ThW5 I'm from The Netherlands and I've never heard of the word rekel, very interesting though! Also I didn't expect brake to be related, b's don't tend to be added out of nowhere
Nice video. I'm an Elfdalian scholar and learing speaker from Sweden. Here is a list of characteristics describing archaisms and innovations in the language from wikipedia, of which some I have written:
"Archaisms
:
Lack of syllable lengthening.
Retention of voiced fricatives /ð/, /ɣ/ and /β/.
Retention of nominative, accusative and dative cases.
Retention of Proto-Germanic, Proto-Norse and Old Norse nasal vowels.
Retention of Proto-Germanic voiced labio-velar approximant /w/: wattn ('water'), will ('wants'), wet ('knows'): compare English water, will, and wit and Swedish vatten, vill and vet.
Innovations and unique developments
More frequent assimilation of pre-Norse mp, nt and nk to pp, tt and kk, as in West Scandinavian dialects.
Shift of a to o before Pre-Norse nk (but not kk).
Shift of Old Norse ei, ey and au to ie, ä and o.
Diphthongization of Old Norse long high vowels í, ý, ú to closing diphthongs ai, åy, au and of long rounded mid vowels ó, œ to opening diphthongs uo, yö.
Vowel harmony (present also in other dialects of Central Scandinavia).
Loss of h: compare Elfdalian aus with Swedish hus (or English house) and Elfdalian imil with Swedish himmel."
h being semi silent at the start of a word is characteristic for all dialects in dalarna, you can also see a similar thing in some English dialects (I'm not 'appy) and in Spanish
The [w] phoneme still exists in a few places in Västergötland and Bohuslän but is dying out here. It turns out that it was actually prevalent in some places in Göteborg just a few decades ago. It was a working class accent in places like Bagaregården. It also still exists among a tiny majority of old people in Orust, though there it usually only exists in words where the English cognate is spelled with 'wh'.
Also the genitive in Elfdalian is an innovation, formed from the abstraction of the dative case instead of the Germanic original genitive inflection. Second, syllable lengthening is a thing in Germanic. Or do you refer to a Swedish characteristic?
/í, ý/ > /ai, åy/
This is so similar to modern Dutch!
/i:, y:/ > /ɛi, œy/
/mp nt ŋk/ to /pp tt kk/ is the same change that happened in westernmore Sámi languages! Could this be related somehow to the changes in Älvdalska? Also, the /oo öö/ to /uo yö/ happened in northern Finnic languages (and earlier in Sámic).. suspicious 😂
Funnily enough Minecraft is actually the reason I know Elfdalian exists, One day I saw it listed there (I think I was actually looking at some place to contribute to the translations for the game and saw it there, not certain though), And was curious so I looked it up. Even though the Swedish government doesn't recognise it as its own language, At least we know their most popular video game does!
Thank you for spreading knowledge of our wonderful language, elfdalian. Keep up the good work! /proud elfdalian speaker
Hella underrated languages channel.
My experience is that at first glance it seems completly unintelligible to me, but after a second reading/hearing it makes sense and I can understand enough to get what is being said. It is probably easier if you yourself speak with a dialect. I feel like if you take other dialects of swedish and go thick enough you could get a similar (but not as extreme) effect. It is a really cool dialect/language and I really hope the locals keep it alive and thriving!
This is the truth of the matter, i tried reading it and it didnt make sense, but reading it out loud changed it. Understood at least 80-90 %
I agree it is possible to understand a lot of it pretty quickly as a Swedish speaker, just take a bit of time getting used to.
I don't speak Jamska (the dialect of Jämtland), but I'm familiar with it. To some extent this has similarities, some words and the grammar too.
I grew up about 70 km north of Älvdalen and now live 40 km south of it and I’ve spend a lot of time in Älvdalen as well, It’s really cool to see a video about elfdalian, thank you!
As a Kurd i can say that all states are using same ways to kill the other languages and the experiences of minority people are pretty similar ! People are ashamed to use their language after these things and if it can stay alive until a proud movement founded may can be survived . Long live all languages !!!
It's sad when languages are suppressed, but languages dying is, unfortunately, also a side effect of a more connected world.
We don't speak to each other in Kurdish, or Swedish in my case, because we wouldn't be able to understand each other. So using a common, globally used language, makes a lot of sense for that. I often even speak English to Danes, despite us probably being able to understand them pretty well most of the time.
What I'm getting at is that we need to preserve the languages. Not necessarily make sure people speak them, but make sure we have them on record at the very least.
@@RoffeDH Pretty much yes. It's unavoidable that languages gradually gets left unused when different groups of people try to communicate. Wholeheartedly agree though, that these languages should at least be preserved in some way.
I don’t know how you don’t have more followers? You seem to make great content, I followed you after I found your Breton language video which was very informative. I hope you keep going
A similar thing happened with the old Gutnish language. Spoken on the Island of Gotland. There are but a few speakers left. And it is the last remaining link to the now extinct Gothic language. I am not talking about Swedish with a gutnish dialect.. But the actual Gutnish language.
It has nothing to do with Gothic.
Correcting both you and @SchmulKrieger here: there is no *_proven_* connection between Gothic and Old Gutnish. A few linguists *_have speculated_* that there might have been such a connection based on some few phonetic similarities, but it is probably impossible to prove such a connection.
@@rursus8354 correct, that's what I said. There is no proven connection between Old Gutnish and Gothic. So what's your point?
Gutniska och Gutamål❤
Gutnish and Gothic are two completely different things. Gutnish is a dialect of old East Norse. Gothic has a completely separate origin.
That sentence as you gave as an example was almost impossible to understand as a Swedish speaker.
But other sentences can be far more comprehensive. But that's also the case for other Germanic languages such as Dutch and Icelandic.
It is a joke though that Elfdalian is regarded as a dialect when Norwegian and Danish is classified as separate languages from Swedish and is 98% understandable in written form.
Yea, I realized I probably should have given a different sentence as an example, or at least maybe an extra few other phrases/sentences for more variety and context... Thank you for the feedback tho!
@@imshawngetoffmylawn It's still a separate language. You can get both very different and quite similar sentence between Swedish and English too.
"Min hand är varm" "Vintern är kall" et cetera.
I think the same about some dialects here in Norway. Like the setedal dialect/vallemål can at times sound completely unintelligible, and is very close to middle norwegian spoken about 500-600 years ago, also grammar wise.
@@twinleaf3076 "Ti' desse vèvæ eg vi' bigjynde mæ, vi' eg have a åkjatjugskjei."
"Di kunn' liggje tvei å tvei å tvæ å tvæ, men alli tvau å tvau! Du æ den airi som kjæm'e å vi' selje lodd i kveld! Det félar tvau minutt på tvó."
"'Er æ trí gúta, trjå jentu, å trjú bórd, i tréi klassi. Det æ tréi åri eg gjeng'e hèra på Honnès."
"Eg hève fyr vetrefóra saui, å då fær eg kansi sjauttí lomb ti' våræ."
"I vèt'e hèv' eg vòre fimta gongu på heií å henta vé'e."
"Åttendi mai nittenfemmåfyr va' an stór'e dag'e i Nòrik."
vallemal.no/ordliste/?type=Talord
@@twinleaf3076Western Jutlandic in Denmark is completely unintelligible to rigs-Danish speakers.
And old Bornholmsk too, being of course Scanian.
I'm Faroese. I had to listen to this three times before I understood most of this (the English translation is way too inaccurate to be of any help), but about fifteen years ago I heard young people speaking this "dialect" on Danish radio and understood almost everything. It's definitely it's own language! But then Faroese was considered a Danish language (Faroese has no direct relation to danish at all) until V.U. Hamershaimb did something about it. Linguists are whimps for allowing politics to decide what is a language and what is a dialect
After reading/listening a couple of times it actually starts making sense, as a Swede who knows some gutnish. It’s sound a bit similar to bondska, another one of those old dialects which aren’t widely spoke anymore, with the weirdest parts being some words and some of the grammar. I think the reason why most Swedes wont understand this is that the language has become so standardized during the last century that people not from the countryside have lost touch with the more traditional dialectical varieties of Swedish.
I speak German and English and i managed to understand a few words.
Great outline. However, Elfdalian is as far from Swedish as Icelandic, but not more similar to Icelandic than to Swedish. Truely, it has a great deal of archaic features, but at the same time it has a great deal of innovative features, too. As a whole, Icelandic is more archaic e.g. when it comes to lexicon and morphology.
I believe elfdalain is more conservative to Germanic languages due to it keeping the proto Germanic nasal vowels
@@redazthegreat5518phonology does not make a language closer to the ancestor language. It's the grammar that does do so.
A couple of points:
1) dh/th is still prsereved at dialectal level in dalarna, in some villages it's even more noticeable then in elfdalian
2) there are other Swedish dialects that also have preserved nasals, but not to the extent you see in elfdalian
3:22 For those wondering, Å Ä and Ö aren't part of those extra letters, they're used in all of Sweden 🙂
As a swede I urge you to look in to Jamska. Its an old norse language still but rarely used in northern Jämtland, Sweden
I am from Älvdalen, and that village is super-friendly.
I almost never hear of any problems here whatsoever, and people get along really well everywhere.
Elfdalian actually isn't the only Dalecarlian dialect with nasal vowels and ð, Våmhusmål also has them. Elfdalian isn't as unique as people think, it's not that different from the other dialects in Ovansiljan.
I actually understand it pretty well. I speak an Ostrobothnian dialect. A dialect of Swedish spoken in Finland.
Much of the vocabulary and pronunciation is identical to either my own dialect or other dialects in the region I grew up in.
Fascinating that *little* has the High Germanic sound shift from t > s as *lissl* .
Wow, I literally just was curious about the QWERTY keyboard and then I stumbled upon the Elfdalian language. This is a really cool video by the way, and I really appreciate your work this. Thanks👍🏽.
As a Swede with a casual interest in linguistics and language, hearing Älvdalska for the first time sounded oddly similar to my experience with Isländska. If you told me to try and tell the difference between the two, I probably couldn't.
Still, reading the language in this video, some of the Älvdalska words seemed strangely familiar in their makeup, which is also something I experienced with Isländska. It's like looking at an ancient example of a forge, and then looking at the modern equivalent, and seeing how the initial process inspired the future. Or like looking at the difference between medieval and modern English, for that matter.
What fascinates me the most however, is how a language like this could exist almost completely in the middle of mainland Scandinavia, right between Sweden and Norway, yet remain as close to original old Norse as it is, even compared to Icelandic which was on a faraway island in the northen middle of the Atlantic! The ability for this language to exist as it does... It boggles my mind! And it makes me very curious about the history of Älvdalen, and Dalarna in general... Just how isolated do you have to be to be even more linguistically conservative than Iceland? It's fascinating!
You're the most underrated channel ever!
Norwegian here. "Autå te tegg ed", sounds a lot like "utan å ha togge det" which soundes even more similar in some dialects, like vallemål. "Sweg" and "svelji" or "svelger". "Ielt" and "heilt" or "helt". "Dier" and "dei". "Månadi" and "månader". "Såvå" and "søv" or "sover" even more similar in some dialects. "Åtå" and "et" also more similar in different dialects, people say "åt". "Sett ielt" and "i eitt sett". That's the similarities I found between alvdalsk and norwegian in the first text. If I hadn't read the translated text in english, I wouldn't have understood a thing, but i'm sure people speaking other dialects here in Norway would understand a lot more of it. Sounds like swedish though, with the only exception that it makes little sense to my ears.
It might sound Swedish to a Norwegian, but not to a Swede...! The intonation is unique within Sweden, even within the region of Dalarna! Dalarna is famous for its sing-song melody, but Elfdalian is a totally different story...
"Buormer svelger byttet sitt helt, uten å tygge det."
@@HenrikBergpianorganist Det minner meg mer om islandsk. Også, hei!
I was born 40km from Älvdalen and I just wanted to say you made a very good video. Cheers.
What a fascinating video! Listening to this was very reminiscent of recreations of old English/old Norse/proto-Germanic i've seen, much more so than the other languages they've evolved into.
Yup it is fascinating how different it is from Swedish and that the language had evolved differently and they have their own alphabet and its close to Icelandic and would love too learn it by any chance.
The elfdalians have fought to get their language recognized for years now. But there is only one party that have it on their agenda. I hope they are able to get the government to give it it's desserved language minority status.
(Edit) For preferences, said party is only cooporating with the current government, not actualy apart of it. But this still means there is more hope for elfdalian than ever before. I don't even speak it myself, but losing this beautifull language would be such a shame, and as a swede I actualy have some ability to help influence this topic. I hope you get your support elfdalian, I really do.
I'm Swedish from Göteborg (En: Gothenburg), which is located some 500 km south of where they speak Elfdalian, and I couldn't understand a word of it from this video. The rhythm it is similar to Swedish, but that's about it. Also, Elfdalian has nothing to do with elfs. The Swedish name for the region is Älvdalen and that translates as The River Valley. Älv has been the Swedish word for river for a very long time, but you can also use the more modern word flod. (Fun fact: in Swedish, the word flod can also mean flood or high tide.)
I am Finnish and know swedish quite well, and I understood way less than I would swedish, and some words I had to figure out, but eventually understood by comparison to swedish words. Also I love your channel so much, quite new here!!!
This randomly being in my recommended is so perfect :')
As a norwegian, i understood a few words of elfdanian, but the general example sentence that you showed was nearly impossible, i have seen other videoes of elfdanian speech, and i understand around maybe 10 - 20% of it.
Just as a sidenote, Selbu in Norway has (or atleast had untill very recently) nasal vocals, in words like: bygdã (bygda) and gã (gå)
I'm Swedish. I had no idea this was a thing that existed. Pretty cool! Thanks for covering this. I'll have to go read more about it.
I am Swedish and I was supposed to make my military service in Älvdalen. It was a total hellhole, cold, snowy and isolated. Horror movie material. Of 250 recruits 50 of us (me included) claimed reasons not to be able to perform their service. A bunch of us didn't even wanna wait for the army bus so we called a cab from Mora and payed 500 bucks a head to get out of there.
My grandma, who passed away one year ago spoke grew up in Älvdalen and spoke Elfdalian. I don't live in Älvdalen but have visited family there and I really want to learn the language but there are no resources online to help me.
They should totally introduce the runic alphabet again super cool!
As a Swedish person I have honestly never even heard about Älvdalska and fully believed Icelandic was the closest to old nordic still spoken. Would be cool seeing if people from Iceland have an easier time understanding them then us swedes do!
Icelandic is the closest to old WEST norse for sure.
There is a hilarious exchange in swedens parliament where an MP from the Center party speaks elfdalian, get’s reprimanded by the speaker (cause you are only allowed to speak Swedish is parliament) to which the MP answered that he is happy that the speaker agrees with him that elfdalian should be recognised as its own language.
I grew up in Sundsvall, and I went to summer camp in Älvdalen. I remember being really confused why all the road signs weren’t in Swedish and why some of the locals spoke in a way I couldn’t understand.
I wish we’d have been educated about Elfdalian when I was there.
As a Norwegian I can sometimes understand whole sentences, then the next sentence I may understand one or two words.
As a Swede from the South I could only guess a few words in this text - very interesting! I understand much more of the Dutch language.
There’s a clip on YT of Lena Willemark, a well-known Swedish folk singer and fiddler, reading the Christmas gospel in Älvdalska.
las eð 'read I' (las eg) ... Boa-uormar 'Boa-snakes' (Boa-ormar) .... sjæks månaði 'six months' (seks mánaðir) - ( ) = Faroese. So we would probably understand each other if we got used to each others language.
The thing with the language and dialect thing is that linguistics and politics have very different opinions when it comes to the definitions. And while not exactly scientific Weinreich's quip kinda captures the essence of what reality (politics) looks like: "A language is a dialect with an army and a navy."
I live in the lower part of Sweden and i have never heard this before, i hope this dialect gets the recognition it deserves.
It should become standard Swedish.
I visited not too long ago, and the area is BEAUTIFUL. Hope they manage to keep their langugage alive.
Im swedish and i only understand about every tenth word of elfdalian. Never knew this language existed, cool video!
I understood "sleeping six months", and thats it, as a Norwegian. And also, "I read" in the beginning.
Thanks! I'm trying to write my own fantasy novel something similar to A World of Ice and Fire, and I'm interested in learning rare languages to see if I can understand and create something very similar to them, then if the novels become popular, help bring more focus from the world,, towards the dying languages
Norrbotten here, I can see some word choices here that are used by older speakers of "bondska", the old regional dialekt of the coastal communities of northern Sweden. Duga and kunna for example. Truly a charming language.
I am Swedish And I can make some sense of most of it mainly when listening to it because that sounds more similar to the Swedish word of today , (just gotta take my word for it when I say “I didn’t cheat” honest, on my grandmothers grave)
But as I’ve been saying for fccc knows how long by now, is that it’s WAY easier for most people like me to understand most Norwegians and even Danes than some of the more northern Swedish dialects
I live in Göta Älvdalen, never heard of this language before and it makes perfect sense after some time to think and a third listen.
My son speaks Danish, English, some Icelandic, and just started on German (now in 8th grade). He says it sounds oddly like Icelandic with some Swedish and a little German in it.
He also said he didn't understand a single word. 😅
as a Swede it would take me an hour to try and decode one sentence, and still get 96% of it wrong
in 75% speed I understood about 1/3 of it. The word order and the word forms make it sound ancient.
For me as a Swedish speaking Finn it is interesting to notice that Elfdalian has preserved the 'kortstavighet' that is short vowel followed by short consonant in 2:55 'jätå', an Old Germanic feature that I thought was preserved only in Finland Swedish (fara, vara etc with short vowel). I heard this also in some other clips. That makes it sound really old.
Having short syllables is common in Dalecarlia and in Norrland.
I live in sweden but I never heard of it... Always fun to learn new things.
As a swede, i literally can only understand a couple words from this. Its crazy that we dont get taught this, it should definititvly be a language
I could of course be wrong, but I would venture Älvdalen refers to the geography (pretty common theme in Swedish names) which would roughly translate to Rivervale.
I am Swedish, and I had no idea about this dialect.
And we loooooove talking about dialects in Sweden, that is is a true mystery how this one is not more known.
Native Swedish speaker here. Couldn't understand a thing from the speech. From the writing it would have been possible to grasp what the text is about. Much like the situation with Danish actually. "Kamelåså!“ 😂
Elfdalian is not as unique as people think, it's very similar to the other dialects in Ovansiljan, especially Våmhusmål.
*Elfdalian:*
”Men uą, ukin wask!” saggd Mumun, fuost gaundjin ą̊ såg Masse. Eð war ienn morgun, straks etter juolę. Eð war liuotkollt og eð add snieð um ną̊tę. Mumun war ą̊ weg aut etter wiðim, og eð war dą̊ ą̊ fikk sją̊ ienn liuotmagran katt, so såt upą̊ baurstinnum. Eð war ann ą̊ kolld för ”wastjin”. Masse kuogäð ą̊ kelindję so kam og djikk yvyr gardn. Ann tainkt: ”Ir ą̊ farlin, truo? Eð ir fell best pass sig!” Mumun stelld frą̊ sig wiðåkordjin og byrd ą̊ glåmå min Masse: - ”Al du it kumå jųot so ig ną̊r að klå dig? Uą, ur kollt eð ir! Friuos du it? Eld du unggrun, kannstji?”
*Våmhusmål:*
"Men oj, oj, oj, ukin ienn wisäl!" sadd Mormor fuost gaundjin ą̊ så Missä. Eð wa ienn morgun tras että jölį. Eð wa rässklit kollt o eð add snitt undä nåtį. Mormor wa ą̊ weg aut että wiðn, dą̊ ą̊ fikk sjǫ̈ iena magra kattu, so såt upą̊ erberstinnä. Eð wa änä ą̊ kolld fe "wisäl". Kattą så ą̊ kelindsį so kam o djikk yvy gardn. Ą̊ taintjäd: "Ir ą̊ fallin, truo? Eð ir naug best te pass sig!" Mormor stelld frą̊ si wiðåkordjin o byrd ą̊ tålå wið Missä: - "Ska du int kumå jöt so ig fą̊ klå ði? Uff, ur kollt eð ir! Frjös du int? Ir du unggrun, kannstsi?"
*Orsamål:*
”Men öj, öj, öj, ukön eländin stakkar!” sad Momo föst göndjön o såg Måssä. Ed war jenn mörgon trast ettör joli. Ed war räskli köllt ö ed add snitt um noti. Momo war o weg ait ettör widem, ö ed wa do o fikk sjå jenå färskretjeli mågra kattu, sö såt uppo ärbresbrun. Ed war onå o kölltä fär ”stakkarn”. Katta såg o kelindji sö kåm ö djikk evör gardn. Ånn tenktä: ”Ir o fallin, tro? Ed ir nug best te pass si!” Momo stelld fro si widåkördjön ö bird o tålå mi Måssä: - ”Ska du int kumå jot sö i fo kläi di? Uff, ur költ ed ir! Fros du int? Ir du unggrön, kånnstji?”
*Moramål:*
Men åj, uken wask!” sagd Mårmår föst gåndjen o såg Missan. Ä wa jenn mårgun trast ettär jole. Ä wa ljotkållt, å ä add snjogo upå nåte. Mårmår wa å weg åit ettär wirn, å ä wa då o fikk sjå jenn mågran katt, så såt upå erbresbrune. Ä wa ann o kålled fe ”wastjen”. Missan titted å dora kelindje, så kåm keklendes yvur gardn. Ann tenkt: ”E o falen, tro? Ä e full best pass se.” Mårmår stelled frå se wiråkårdjen å byrd å tålå min Missan: ”Ska int du kumå jon så I når a te klå de? Uj, ur kållt ä e! Frjos du int? E du unggrun, kannstji?”
*Oremål:*
”Men åj, åj, åj, uken eländug stakkärä!” sa Mormor först gônjen o såg Katto. Ä wa jänn môrgun strast ättär jul. Ä wa wale kôllt ô ä add snjoga på nåte. Mormor wa på wäg ôit ättär wid ô ä wa då o fikk si jäna haskle magra katto, sum såt på härbrästrappo. Ä wa ännär o kôlled fô ”stakkärn”. Katta titted på kälinje sum kam ô gikk ywär gåln. O tenkt: ”E o farlen, tro? Ä e nôg bäst ô pass se!” Mormor ställd ifrå se widokôrjen ô byrd ô prata mä Katto: - ”Ska int du kumo jot sô i kann kläi de? Twi, wa kôllt ä e! Fros int du? E du kannstje hungrug?”
*Sollerömål:*
”Men ååj, ukän varäls!” säjd Mormor fösst gåndjän o såg Missan. Ä va iänn mårrgån alldeläs ättär joln. Ä va ljotkållt, å ä add snjoga um nåti. Mormor va upå veg åit fö tä ta inn vid, å ä va då o fikk sjå ie magär katta, så såt upå ärrbäsbrun. Ä va on o kållät fe ”varäls”. Missan glonät å doda kelindji så kam krällnd åitär gardim. Ann tänkt: ”Må'sej um o e falin? Ä e full bäst tä pass si.” Mormor ställät frå si vidåkårrdjän å byrd å prat vi Missan: ”Sa int du kumå jån a mi ä, så i når tä kläj di? Uj, ur kållt ä e! Frjos int du? E du unggrån å, kannstji?”
Here's some Dalecarlian dialects from Nedansiljan:
*Rättviksmål:*
”Men åj, åj, åj, token eländu stakkârô!” sad Momor fåst gånjôn o såg katta. Ä va en mårgån trast ättôr jul. Ä va vådli kâllt å ä add snugâ på nattä. Mormor va på väg ut ättôr vôd å ä va då o fek si e asskli magôr katta, som såt på ârbrôstrappån. Ä va ônom o kalla får ”stakkârn”. Katta titta på tjärinjä som kåm å gek ivir gåln. Ân täntjô: ”Äro o farlin, tro? Ä ä nog bäst tä pass sä!” Mormor ställô frå sä vôdåkårjôn å bôrjô pratâ mâ kattån: ”Skâ dun´t kom it sô je kân kläj dä? Usch, vâ kâllt ä ä! Fris du´nt? Kânstje du ä ungrugin?”
*Leksandsmål:*
”Men åjäjåj, ockän eländig kattstackär” sad Mormor, fôst gångjän o såg Missa. Ä va trast ätt jul. Ä va våli kâllt å, ä, a snöga på nattä. Mormor va på väg ut ätt vôd a, ä, va då o feck si i tôcka oskapli magär katta, som satt på ârbâsbrona. Å ä va o o kallä för kattstackâr. Missä koxä på gumma som kamm gåändäs yvär gåln. O tänkt: ”Äro falin tro? E nôg bäst tä pass sä!” Mormor ställd ifrå sä vôdkorjän å bôrd a språk vô'na. ”Skâ du'nt kom it sä je får klapp dä litä? Usch, varä va kâllt. Frys du'nt? E'nt du ungrug å?”
*Bodamål:*
”Männ åj, åj, åj, tokin eländu stakkârô.” sad momor fåst gånjôn o såg katta. Ä va enn mårgån trast ättôr juḷ. Ä va vådli kâllt å ä a snugâ på nattä. Momor va på väg ut ättôr vôd å ä va då o fek si e asskḷi magôr kattâ, som såt på hârbrôstrappån. Ä va hônom som o kâllô får ”stakkârn”. Katta tittô på tjärinjä som kåm å gek ivir gåḷn. Ânn täntjô: ”Äro farlin tro? Ä e nog bässt tä pass sä!” Momor ställô frå sä vôdåkårjôn å bôrd å pratâ mâ kattån: ”Skâ du'nt kom hit sô je kânn kḷäjj dä? Usj, vâ kâllt ä e! Fris du'nt? Kânstje du ä hungru?”
And here's two Dalecarlian dialects from Västerdalarna:
*Nåsmål:*
”Hôss, hôrrênn kravil”, sa Morrmo fôsst gånnjên o såg kattn. Hä va enn môrrgo strâss ätt jul. Hä va utgåle kâllt, rent sviut, ô ä add snjögâ ômm nâtta. Morrmo va på väg ut ätt ve, ô ä va då o fekk si enn sô ohâsskle magêr katt sômm satt utå hârrbrästrappên. Hä va hânn o kâll fôr ”kraviln”. Kattn kokkst på gumma sômm kamm gåêndês ivir gåln. Hânn tänkt: ”E o farlen, tro? Hä e nog bässt pass sä!” Morrmo sätt frå sä vekôrrjân ô tog på tal ve kattn: ”Skâ'nt du kômm ina, sô je kânn klå dä? Fi snon, sô kâllt ä e! Fris du? E du hungru tro?”
*Malungsmål:*
”Men ôj, ôj, ôj, hôkken stâkkâr” sa o Mormor fösst gannin o fikk sjå kâtta. Ä va en måro trâst ätt julâ. Ä va ogalä kâllt ô ä âdd snög mä nâttâ sô ä va âlldeles vitt. O Mormor va på väg ut ätt ve, ô ä va då o fikk sjå o da mager kâtta, sôm såt på härbästrâppôn. Ä va ho o kâl fö ”stâkkân”. Kâtta sågt på männistsa sôm kâm gaon yvvy gan. O tänkt: ”E o falä, tro? Ä e full bäst en pâss säg!” O Mormor ställd fro sä´ väkôrin ô tog te ô talô ve kâtta: ”Skâ´nt du kôm jåt, sô i får strök dä´ litä? Usch, sô kâllt ä e! Frös´nt du? Hän e du hungru kâsstsi?”
Danish doesn't have the letter ð, but it has the sound, pretty much in the same positions as Spanish does.
Very nice video but I think the delivery is much too fast. I’m glad to learn about Elfdalian which I had never heard about
I live in Southern Sweden. I was once in call with a dude from the northern part of Sweden. We spent like.. 10 minutes, laughing at each others dialect and the fact we didnt understand what we were saying to each other.. The amount and the depth of dialects in Sweden is pretty crazy. Especially the northern dialects are pretty extreme.
skånska (om det är det du pratar) är ju också ganska svår. jag är från skåne men fattar knappt dialekten själv haha
Bor i mitten av Sverige, så skånska är inte en jätte ovanlig dialekt här så kan förstå det utan problem, men har heller inga problem alls att förstå norrländska.
At first, I was blown away by a that very Swedish sounding melody being incomprehensible to me. With the help of the English translation, I found some of the embedded old style Swedish words (and one English!) though and could understand about half of it. Although that's cheating.
That Kindergarten is almost like the Diwan schools in Brittany, except still developing. Diwan schools are basically a special school that teaches children only Breton up until a certain age (6, I think) and then add French later. Diwan schools started out with only a primary school(?) and later added many different levels of education.
I'm a Swede and I got that it was about Boa snakes, after that I had no clue, but comparing it to the translation makes me understand a few more words. Sjäks månadi for example.
the consonant "dh" (pronounced as "th" in the English words "there, this, these") is also present in Danish, not only Icelandic and Elfdalian. Also in Sweden there are Norwegian dialects to be encountered, for instance Tronderska (Trondheim dialect) which are classified as Swedish simply because they are spoken on Swedish territory.
The danish "dh" isn't exactly the same sound as the English, Icelandic and Elfdalian one, which is a true dental fricative [ð]... the danish one isn't realized as a true fricative (there's no friction), it's actually an approximant since the tongue doesn't even touch the teeth nor the alveoli. I'll quote an extract from the wiki page about danish phonology: " /ð/ - the so-called "soft d" (Danish: blødt d) - is a velarized laminal alveolar approximant [ð̠˕ˠ]. It is acoustically similar to the cardinal vowels [ɯ] and [ɨ] ".
IMHO the sound of the danish /ð/ is really close to the english "dark l" or "velarized l" in "milk" [ɫ].
So phonetically isn't really the same sound, even though the main IPA symbol is the same (ð is used for both voiced dental/alveolar fricatives and voiced dental/alveolar approximants, though the latter has also a diacritic) and this can be confusing at first sight.
@@cius96 Thanks for the info. IMO Danish "stod" is as weird and unnatural as the clics present in some of the African languages.
@@cius96 Speaking of IPA symbols. I remember reading in many Swedish-teaching course books that the vowel "e" in Swedish endings "-en", "-er" and also "-el" is to be pronounced schwa (like the same Dutch endings would be) when in fact it sounds closer to the short open "e" in German Brett (wooden board) (if I'm not mistaken).
@@cius96: "the sound of the danish /ð/ is really close to the english "dark l" or "velarized l" in "milk" [ɫ]." -- you mean "tjockt l, som i älg"? (Referring to how "älg" i pronounced even in some southern Dalecarlian dialects.)
Faroese is also very close to Old Norse, if I may please add this to the video. Otherwise, very nice and good, informative, and educational video! All the best and plenty of success with your channel!
Faroese pronunciation is very far from Old Norse pronunciation.
@@dan74695 Hmm, interesting, thanks for letting me know. But in terms of vocabulary it is still very close because it is also very close to modern Icelandic. All the best and have an excellent December!
@@victorrock1997 Faroese pronunciation is closest to northern and western Norwegian. Have a nice december.
@@dan74695 Yes, that I know and also very close to the dialects from southwestern Norway. But Icelandic is also very close to the southwestern Norwegian dialects given the fact that the vast majority of Norse settlers in Iceland stemmed from southwestern Norway (and also from northern Norway). All the best and thank you for your wish! God Jul! Beste hilsener fra Romania!
As a Swede I can't understand it when spoken but it's close enough to be readable. If you consider translating a text word by word "readable".
I barely understand anything as a swede hearing the story, but after reading the text a couple of times I can kinda understand what it's about.
Faroese speaker here. After reading the text 3 times I only got one word, buotjin, the book, because it's very similar to pronounced Faroese (not close to the written form). As for the rest, I wasn't able to decode one word before reading the translation.
I live in Linköping and speak Övdalska. My family is from Älvdalen. It should really be considered an own language.
Hey, that's cool.
I am from Älvdalen myself.
I would add, that that we do say the ð sound a lot in Danish, still - Like in "Ud" (out) or "Bad" (bath). But we don't have the letter, it somehow turned into a regular d!
I speak swedish and, i could understand the first 6 words of the elfdalian text, the rest was incomprehensible unless i spent a significant amount of time figuring it out
Danish here - I understood/recognized about 5 words without looking and 2 more when reading the translation. The subject itself (about a constrictor snake) makes it very difficult. Context is important. Anyway, I agree, it sounds like a different language, and I would guess it to be a Norwegian dialect, if you didn't tell me.
Eth is still a sound in the dialect of Sunnmøre. Rarely used though. I say it only because im too lazy to say D sometimes.
I speak Swedish and five other Germanic languages (High German, Mecklenburg Plattdeutsch, Flemish/Dutch, English, Danish) and can read and understand many dialects and historical forms (Old English, North and West Frisian, Swiss German, Middle Low German , Middle High German, Icelandic,Norwegian, Gotlanska). If you know the story of the Little Prince, and you know a few Germanic languages , you can understand Elfdalian… but it is not simply a “dialect” of Swedish. I cannot imagine any Swede off the street could understand much of it at all
I can't find the video that you mention at 2:02 :(
This is the same for a lot of old dialects in Sweden. Where I live we had Westrobothnian (bondska) which I remember my great grandparents speaking and which I couldn't understand at all as a kid. This was also replaced by standard Swedish in schools, ridiculed as "bondska" (which basically means the language of farmers, as opposed to Swedish which was the language of the educated) and almost disappeared as a living dialect, as today most people here just speak standard Swedish where only pronounciation is somewhat influenced by Westrobothnian. There have been similar attempts to keep it alive in later years though, like students being able to take Westrobothnian classes in school.
But in the end, it's more of a curiosity these days - you need standard Swedish for anything you do, so you can't really function in society speaking Westrobothnian. When you can't really use a language or dialect for anything in your daily life, sadly is seems like it's just a matter of time before it disappears as there are no real reasons to keep it alive (other than for its own sake, which isn't really enough of a reason for anyone other than those who are really interested in the language or dialect for its own sake).
Is there a link to that "I Love Languages" video?
We speak a similar language here in Överkalix even though it is going extinct, try to find a film called "Wir Bellum - en film om landet bortom" a film about Älvdalsmålet, Gotländska i När socken på sydöstra Gotland, Överkalixmålet and Träslövläge på halländska västkusten who share a similar language. An example of the similarities between Älvdalska och Överkalixmålet: Katn tytser int um dar ed rajner og snair. And in Överkalix we say: Kätta titts änt om da ne rajn å sni. The cat doesn't like when it's raining and snowing. 🙂
Interesting video, wonder why I have missed it? Hope your Estonian is getting better ;-)
It could have been written in Elfdalian.
My sister is married to an Elfdalian man and boy is it confusing to be around them when they "forget" that I dont speak it :D I have to have my nephews/nieces translate for me. And to trust that they translate it correctly :D
One interesting thing to mention is that the Elfdalian people were never really your typical vikings. This is because they lived in one place for a very long time and there was enough room between the neighbors. And the outsiders were too far away. This meant they never really had any reason to either defend or attack someone and have basically lived like farmers since forever.
They didnt really have access to water travel either even though they have an extremely long river. This is because the river is extremely rocky, it has a strong current and doesnt really break off. So if you went down the river it was hard to go back up again. And you wouldnt want to attack someone that has direct access to you because there is only one way you couldve come from. So Elfdalian basically just became a peaceful place with traders and farmers. This is also why their language never really changed as it was hard to leave and come back. So they didnt really have a lot of outside contact except for travelers.
Source: Half my relatives are from there and they make up about 90% of my close relatives. And out roots go a bit too far back because i am related to way too many people from there. Good thing there isnt incest in atleast the last 3 generations.
You should do a video of "Närpesiska", an old swedish dialekt spoken i some villages in western Finland.
It's not realated to finish at all but is not understandable for a Swedish speaker either.
Österbottniska i dess extremaste form lol
I am a native Swedish speaker who's also learning old Norse as a hobby. Calling Älvdalska a dialect of modern Swedish or even of old Norse is ridiculous. Yes it has some features from old Norse like the ð sound, but other than that it's not very reminiscent of old Norse or modern Swedish at all. It's basically a wild mix of all northern/eastern/western baltic-bordering languages combined into one.
I thought I understood one word Åvenad thinking it meant turn, return, or turn back like Swedish vända or återvända. Then I jumped back and read the English text and nope I did not understand anything. Listening to it again in the context of the English text, I could pick out a few words that sounded similar to Swedish but it was so far off that I can not see how anyone would call this a dialect. Great video thank you.
Mad cool.
So i speak fluently Danish and understood like 60 or 75 % of that example from listening but the text looked like some lord of the rings fantasy
I’m Danish too and I understod some of the written Elfdalian, but spoken it sounds to me like a gibbirish form of Swedish/Dutch/Finnish mixture.
Swede here. I understood 1 word. I think. Even the spelling is different, it looks like icelandic to me. Very cool.
it was easy for me to understad since i understand the "gutamål" dialect. The grammar in both älvdalska and gutamål are similar, which is a remnant of old swedish