Grammaticalization in the North: Noun Phrase Morphosyntax in Scandinavian Vernaculars
Author: Östen Dahl
Publisher: Stockholm University
Publication date: 2007
Number of pages: 261
Format / Quality: PDF - Excellent
Size: 5.3 Mb

The two Swedish parishes of Älvdalen and Överkalix enjoy certain fame for harbouring the most incomprehensible of all traditional Swedish dialects; indeed, the distance to Standard Swedish is great enough for it to be more natural to think of them as separate languages.

Although the geographical distance from Älvdalen to Överkalix is almost a thousand kilometres, and the two varieties have developed in quite different directions, there are still a number of striking similarities between them. Given their generally conservative character, it is not astonishing to find many features that have been retained from older periods of the language and which can also be found in other geographically peripheral Scandinavian varieties.