Norrland dialects
As Norrland gradually came to be more and more under Central Swedish influence in the Modern Era, many of the older West Norse characteristics disappeared.
[4] The strong West Norse influences can still be seen today in the toponymy of Norrland in placenames ending in -ånger (Swedish: vik, "harbour").
The former is common in southern Norrland dialects, as in the infinitive ending of verbs (/a/ > /ə/ or /æ/[8]), e.g. kaste ‘to throw’ (Standard Swedish kasta).
In Sweden it occurs in the entire Norrland dialect area with the exception of northern Hälsingland, in Härjedalen and in upper Dalarna.
[11][13] There is evidence to support that vowel balance was once a more geographically widespread phenomenon than in the early 20th century (when traditional dialects were still widely spoken).
[11] It has been suggested by Russian linguist Jurij Kusmenko that the Scandinavian vowel balance arose in contact with Saami languages where a similar phenomenon was previously found.
[22] Vowel harmony has its center of intensity in Eastern Norway, Trøndelag and upper Dalarna, but is also found in Norrland dialects.
[24] In southern Västerbotten dialects, root vowel harmony with original /i/ is common, e.g. in past participles such as lissi ‘read’ (< OSw.
[29][30] Lexical exceptions exist to this rule, notably the word ‘farm’, which is gåḷ in most of Norrland (< OSw.
[34] In many Norrland dialects, the primary stress in compound words is placed on the second element, e.g. Ångermanland neverˈtak ‘birch roof’ or veaˈkast ‘wood pile’.
[35][36] This type of stress is especially found in Ångermanland and Norrbotten,[37] but also further south in northern Uppland and Södertörn, as well as western Åland.
[35][38] Similar stress phenomena are found in western Uusimaa (Nyland) in Finland, as well as in Skåne and southern Halland.
[41] Examples of this usage include Arnäs dialect (Ångermanland) såddä svejjrôgen ‘sowed burn-beaten rye’ (Standard Swedish sådde svedjeråg); Skellefteå (northern Västerbotten) väärm mjölka ‘heat milk’ (Standard Swedish värma mjölk).
This usage also includes “citation uses”, e.g. Ersmark dialect (northern Västerbotten) he kall ve fö sjanostn ‘this we call sand cheese’.
[41] This usage of the definite form is even more widespread and apart from the areas listed above, it is also found in Värmland, southern Finland and parts of Norway.
[45] Dahl also lists a number of other contexts where the definite article is used, including after quantifiers, e.g. Sorsele dialect (southern Västerbotten) tre brödren ‘three brothers’ (Standard Swedish tre bröder); with so called “low referential” singular count nouns, e.g. Burträsk dialect (northern Västerbotten) vi hadd hästn ‘we had a horse’ (Standard Swedish vi hade häst).
In addition, the definite is also often used in instrumental phrases, e.g. Bjurholm dialect (Västerbotten–Ångermanland transitional) ät såppa ve skea ‘eats soup with a spoon’ (Standard Swedish äter soppa med sked),[46] as well as a few other cases.
[49][50] Adjective incorporation may also occur when the adjective represent a more occasional rather than inherent property of the noun, hence Nederkalix dialect (Norrbotten) litn artibåt ‘nice little boat’, lilfåtiståkkar ‘poor little thing’; Vilhelmina dialect (southern Västerbotten) tôkken gammstygggûbb ‘such an ugly old man’.
[55] The preproprial article is obligatory in all traditional dialects in Norrland except for the southernmost regions of Hälsingland and Gästrikland.
[55] Below is a list of common subdialectal divisions of Norrland dialects, beginning in the north and ending in the south.
A notable number of Sami loanwords have found their way into the dialects of Lappmark and the areas just to the south.
For instance, the Siberian jay is locally called koxik as opposed to the Standard Swedish lavskrika.
The Kalix dialects are divided into One difference between these two varieties is that the old consonant clusters mb, nd, and ng have been retained in Överkalix, but not in Nederkalix.
For example, the Standard Swedish kam ("comb" or "crest") is kemb in Överkalix, but kap in Nederkalix.
The consonant clusters mb, nd, and ng are often retained, for example in kamb (Standard Swedish: kam, "comb").
For instance, Standard Swedish öra ("ear") can be ööyr, ääyr, or aajr in various local dialects of Northern Västerbotten.
[60] Southern Västerbotten dialects (Swedish: sydvästerbottniska mål) are spoken along the Ume River from Umeå to Tärna and Sorsele, including Bygdeå and Holmön.
For example, Southern ôger is aur in the Northern dialects (Standard Swedish: ör, "gravelly ground").
One exception is Fredrika parish, which developed a speech closer to Standard Swedish as a result of lying near major immigration routes from Ångermanland.
Other traits are shared with the Ångermanländ dialects, like the "thick n" sound after long vowels in words such as van ("experienced", "habituated to") and måne ("moon").
