Is Elfdalian a language?
Elfdalian or Övdalian (övdalsk or övdalską, pronounced /ˈœvdɐlskãː/ in Elfdalian, älvdalska or älvdalsmål in Swedish) is a North Germanic language variety spoken by up to 3,000 people who live or have grown up in the locality of Älvdalen (Övdaln), which is located in the southeastern part of Älvdalen Municipality in …
Where is Elfdalian spoken?
Elfdalian (övdalsk / övdalską) Elfdalian is a North Germanic language spoken by about 2,500 people in the Älvdalen Municipality (Övdaln) in Northern Dalarna in central Sweden. Elfdalian is considered to be a separate language by some linguists and by SIL International.
Is Norwegian a Germanic language?
Scholars often divide the Germanic languages into three groups: West Germanic, including English, German, and Netherlandic (Dutch); North Germanic, including Danish, Swedish, Icelandic, Norwegian, and Faroese; and East Germanic, now extinct, comprising only Gothic and the languages of the Vandals, Burgundians, and a …
Can Icelanders understand Norwegian?
Of those languages, Norwegian and Faroese (spoken in the Faroe Islands) are the most closely related to Icelandic. Icelanders and Faroese people may be able to understand each other’s languages on the page, as their writing systems and spelling are quite similar.
Did the Frisians invade England?
When the Angles, Saxons, Jutes and Frisians invaded Britain, during the 5th and 6th centuries AD, the area they conquered slowly became known as England (from Angle-land). Before this we cannot accurately use the term ‘England’.
Is Frisian mutually intelligible?
However, modern English and Frisian are not mutually intelligible, nor are Frisian languages intelligible among themselves, due to independent linguistic innovations and foreign influences.
What kind of language was the Elfdalian language?
Sounding to listeners like a beautiful and complex language as spoken by the Elven race in fantasy epics, Elfdalian is actually derived from Old Norse, the language of the Vikings . However, it is radically different from Swedish, writes University of Copenhagen linguist Dr. Guus Kroonen.
Is the Elfdalian language still alive in Sweden?
The ancient Viking language of Elfdalian has been almost entirely wiped out, with an estimate of only 3,000 people in a tiny forest community in Sweden currently keeping it alive. Now, people fight to revive the historic tongue by bringing it back to schools and online before it vanishes completely.
How is Elfdalian similar to Swedish and Norwegian?
Elfdalian is comparable to Swedish and Norwegian in the number and the quality of vowels but also has nasal vowels. It has retained the Old Norse dental, velar and labial voiced fricatives. Alveolo-palatal affricate consonants occur in all Uvǫ Silan (Swedish Ovansiljan, north of Siljan) dialects.
Is the Nativity of Jesus in Elfdalian?
The Nativity of Jesus in Elfdalian, by Lena Willemark, a famous Swedish musician from Älvdalen. Because of its relative isolation, Elfdalian evolved in an entirely different direction than the modern Scandinavian languages. Its sounds, grammar and vocabulary differ radically from Swedish.