Kalix language
Encyclopedia
The Kalix Language, is a Germanic
, North Germanic
language spoken in the Kalix Municipality
along with Sami
, Finnish
, Meänkieli
and the national standard language Swedish
. Like other Scandinavian languages, Kalix Language originates in Proto-Norse
and dialects of Old Norse
, spoken by immigrating Germanic settlers during the Viking Age
. It has three grammatical gender
s, two plural forms of indefinite
nouns, and broad usage of definite nouns. Nouns are also inflected differently in dative
and accusative
case, and there are three forms of expressing genitive
. Most verb
s are conjugated differently in singular and plural, while most adjective
s are not. Some adjectives can though be serially joined with nouns and some have two plural forms. A pleonastic article is also always used before people's and pet's names.
cultures have been present around Kalix for several thousand years, the Kalix language is a development from Germanic
speaking settlers, arriving along the coast of the Scandinavian peninsula
. The Kalix river
is called 'Gáláseatnu' in the Northern Sami language and "kölis" in Kalix (spelled "Chalis" by Olaus Magnus
in 1539). The name similarity strongly suggests that it is of Sami origin, and that the first arriving Germanic speaking settlers thus were in contact with Sami people, already present in the area.
speakers in between. This suggests movement along both sides of the Bothnian Bay
, and a relatively peaceful relationship between the three different groups, Germanic, Sami and Finnic, long before all of them fell under state control.
The Germanic settlers spoke a north dialectal development of proto-Norse
, related to, but not equal to the Old Norse
spoken by Vikings many hundred kilometers down the Scandinavian coast. Old Norse is rather well preserved in runestones and later also in a Bible translation. But few runic inscriptions have been found north of Svealand
, and none at all in what is now the counties of Västerbotten
and Norrbotten
. This suggests that the farming settlers finally reaching Kalix had little or no contact with Vikings during the Viking age, and most probably already by then had developed different lingual features, some of which are still preserved in modern Kalix Language.
came to the relatively non-organized and free Germanic settlers, who until then might have been practising variants of Norse mythology
. The magnificent Kalix stone church has been dated to the mid 1400s, but it probably had a wooden building as predecessor. The area must anyway have had a substantial population by that time to fill the church. This population probably spoke an early form of the Kalix language. Priests began registering all family relationships in the villages, and since this new era we have better knowledge of the local history, also from preserved documents and maps used for taxation. Colonization escalated under the Swedish Empire
.
. This was a rather peaceful language education
, but in the early 1930s parents were told to speak standard Swedish to their children. This idea has been proved to be wrong by later research in multilingualism
. However, it had a huge influence on many small societies like Kalix. The same standardization of language took place in many parts of Sweden.
river valley was settled by Finnic language
Meänkieli
speakers, evidently arriving along the coastline from the southeast. A sharp language border is found between the villages Säivis
and Sangis
, where the latter traditionally uses the Kalix language. To the north, the Sami
Northern Sami language has been spoken. So the Kalix language has traditionally been literally surrounded by Uralic languages
, which has had remarkably few influences.
on the Scandinavian Peninsula
, and more locally along the coastline of the Bothnian Bay
. Kalix language is very much related to nearby languages/dialects westwards Råneå
, Luleå
, Piteå
, Skellefteå
, northwards Overkalix
etc., basically mutually intelligible
with Kalix language. The Overkalix language differs mainly in a few vocal shifts, and the reason why the two areas has developed distinct characteristics is believed to be that the Kalix river makes a geographic formation near the villages Morjärv and Övermorjärv, which has led to a small communication barrier. Eastwards there are several dialects spoken in the archipelago in Finland, especially in Ostrobothnia
, which has obvious similarities with Kalix language, making it evident that people have moved in both directions along the coast of the Bothnian bay. Grammatical similarities can also be found as far away as in Troms
, at the north border of Scandinavia, not present in standard Swedish nor Norwegian bokmål, which proves Germanic contact by foot between the two coasts. The pleonastic determined article, a "he" or "she" always put before people's names, is a good example.
, with many characteristics similar to the German language
.
s exist:
Basically, words that in their definite form end with an "n" are masculine, an "e" is neuter, and all vowel except "e" are feminine.
General ending for words following the nouns are in feminine "-ar", masculine "-en", neuter "-e" or "-t", and plural "-er". Ex.
For masculine nouns, the four forms are e.g. "in bi:l" (a car) "to bi:il" (two cars) "naer bi:lo" (some cars), "mytji bi:lan" (many cars), and "bi:lan" (the cars). Neuter definitive plural ending is "-a". Non-enumerative words e.g. "i höus" (a house), "i gåLv" (a floor) are exceptions lacking the "-o" form.
is separated from the Accusative
and Nominative case
, e.g. feminine: "Din jär SkåoLa, je siti ini skå:oLn" (there is the school, I am sitting in the school), masculine: "je sei tjälarn, he lik na ini tjälaro" (I see the basement, it's something in the basement).
Several forms of Genitive case
s exists, e.g. "Je ha ons Enok bi:l" (I have Enok's car), "je fick bre:ve än Anna" (I got Anna's letter), "kLåk:a gran:o" (The neighbor’s clock).
s are equal in singular and plural, similar to English but distinct from many other Scandinavian languages, e.g.:
"dö:rn jär ipi" (the door is open) and "doran jåra ipi" (the doors are open), "bå:ne jär vötchin" (the child is awake) and "bå:na jåra vötchin" (the children are awake), "do jär wälkymin heit" (she is welcome here) and "di jåra wälkymin heit" (they are welcome here).
Other adjectives differs in singular and plural, and have two plural forms, e.g. "flaska jär rö:" (the flask is red), "rö:a flasko, so jåra rö:ö" (red flasks, that are red).
Adjectives can also be joined with nouns, e.g. "råLkafötren" (dirty feet), or serially joined, e.g. "lilvåckerstäinta" (the little beautiful girl).
(LMA), developed by Johan August Lundell
was used to write Kalix language, while the most widely used informal form of writing is based on the Latin alphabet with a few added symbols (Kalix variant), including letters å, ä, ö, capitalized L or bolded l, apostrophe ´ or colon : for marking long or diacritic accents, etc. Since no formal standard has been developed, slight differences can be found among different writers. Recent language projects have used The Kalix Alphabet, a simplified form of the IPA
, compatible with modern Internet technology, making pronunciation more accurate. The community has not yet agreed on an official writing standard. While early scientific LMA writing is the most accurate system for dwelling into Scandinavian language phonetics, it has been used as a reference for the development of IPA based script.
Germanic languages
The Germanic languages constitute a sub-branch of the Indo-European language family. The common ancestor of all of the languages in this branch is called Proto-Germanic , which was spoken in approximately the mid-1st millennium BC in Iron Age northern Europe...
, North Germanic
North Germanic languages
The North Germanic languages or Scandinavian languages, the languages of Scandinavians, make up one of the three branches of the Germanic languages, a sub-family of the Indo-European languages, along with the West Germanic languages and the extinct East Germanic languages...
language spoken in the Kalix Municipality
Kalix Municipality
Kalix Municipality is a municipality in Norrbotten County in northern Sweden. Its seat is located in Kalix.In 1924 Töre Municipality was detached from Nederkalix Municipality, forming a municipality of its own...
along with Sami
Sami languages
Sami or Saami is a general name for a group of Uralic languages spoken by the Sami people in parts of northern Finland, Norway, Sweden and extreme northwestern Russia, in Northern Europe. Sami is frequently and erroneously believed to be a single language. Several names are used for the Sami...
, Finnish
Finnish language
Finnish is the language spoken by the majority of the population in Finland Primarily for use by restaurant menus and by ethnic Finns outside Finland. It is one of the two official languages of Finland and an official minority language in Sweden. In Sweden, both standard Finnish and Meänkieli, a...
, Meänkieli
Meänkieli
Meänkieli is the name used in Sweden for Finnish dialects spoken in the northernmost parts of the country, around the valley of the Torne River....
and the national standard language Swedish
Standard Swedish
Standard Swedish denotes Swedish as a spoken and written standard language. While Swedish as a written language is uniform and standardized, the spoken standard may vary considerably from region to region...
. Like other Scandinavian languages, Kalix Language originates in Proto-Norse
Proto-Norse language
Proto-Norse was an Indo-European language spoken in Scandinavia that is thought to have evolved as a northern dialect of Proto-Germanic over the first centuries AD...
and dialects of Old Norse
Old Norse
Old Norse is a North Germanic language that was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and inhabitants of their overseas settlements during the Viking Age, until about 1300....
, spoken by immigrating Germanic settlers during the Viking Age
Viking Age
Viking Age is the term for the period in European history, especially Northern European and Scandinavian history, spanning the late 8th to 11th centuries. Scandinavian Vikings explored Europe by its oceans and rivers through trade and warfare. The Vikings also reached Iceland, Greenland,...
. It has three grammatical gender
Grammatical gender
Grammatical gender is defined linguistically as a system of classes of nouns which trigger specific types of inflections in associated words, such as adjectives, verbs and others. For a system of noun classes to be a gender system, every noun must belong to one of the classes and there should be...
s, two plural forms of indefinite
Definiteness
In grammatical theory, definiteness is a feature of noun phrases, distinguishing between entities which are specific and identifiable in a given context and entities which are not ....
nouns, and broad usage of definite nouns. Nouns are also inflected differently in dative
Dative case
The dative case is a grammatical case generally used to indicate the noun to whom something is given, as in "George gave Jamie a drink"....
and accusative
Accusative case
The accusative case of a noun is the grammatical case used to mark the direct object of a transitive verb. The same case is used in many languages for the objects of prepositions...
case, and there are three forms of expressing genitive
Genitive case
In grammar, genitive is the grammatical case that marks a noun as modifying another noun...
. Most verb
Verb
A verb, from the Latin verbum meaning word, is a word that in syntax conveys an action , or a state of being . In the usual description of English, the basic form, with or without the particle to, is the infinitive...
s are conjugated differently in singular and plural, while most adjective
Adjective
In grammar, an adjective is a 'describing' word; the main syntactic role of which is to qualify a noun or noun phrase, giving more information about the object signified....
s are not. Some adjectives can though be serially joined with nouns and some have two plural forms. A pleonastic article is also always used before people's and pet's names.
History
While SamiSami people
The Sami people, also spelled Sámi, or Saami, are the arctic indigenous people inhabiting Sápmi, which today encompasses parts of far northern Sweden, Norway, Finland, the Kola Peninsula of Russia, and the border area between south and middle Sweden and Norway. The Sámi are Europe’s northernmost...
cultures have been present around Kalix for several thousand years, the Kalix language is a development from Germanic
Germanic languages
The Germanic languages constitute a sub-branch of the Indo-European language family. The common ancestor of all of the languages in this branch is called Proto-Germanic , which was spoken in approximately the mid-1st millennium BC in Iron Age northern Europe...
speaking settlers, arriving along the coast of the Scandinavian peninsula
Scandinavian Peninsula
The Scandinavian Peninsula is a peninsula in Northern Europe, which today covers Norway, Sweden, and most of northern Finland. Prior to the 17th and 18th centuries, large parts of the southern peninsula—including the core region of Scania from which the peninsula takes its name—were part of...
. The Kalix river
Kalix River
The Kalix River is one of the four major rivers of Norrland, northern Sweden, that are untouched by water power...
is called 'Gáláseatnu' in the Northern Sami language and "kölis" in Kalix (spelled "Chalis" by Olaus Magnus
Olaus Magnus
Olaus Magnus was a Swedish ecclesiastic and writer, who did pioneering work for the interest of Nordic people. He was reported as born in October 1490 in Östergötland, and died on August 1, 1557. Magnus, Latin for the Swedish Stor “great”, is a Latin family name taken personally, and not a...
in 1539). The name similarity strongly suggests that it is of Sami origin, and that the first arriving Germanic speaking settlers thus were in contact with Sami people, already present in the area.
Germanic settlement
Different theories exist as of how exactly the Kalix river valley came to be settled by Germanic speakers. Related Germanic language is also spoken further to the southeast, with areas with mainly FinnicFinnic languages
The term Finnic languages often means the Baltic-Finnic languages, an undisputed branch of the Uralic languages. However, it is also commonly used to mean the Finno-Permic languages, a hypothetical intermediate branch that includes Baltic Finnic, or the more disputed Finno-Volgaic languages....
speakers in between. This suggests movement along both sides of the Bothnian Bay
Bothnian Bay
The Bothnian Bay or Bay of Bothnia is the most northern part of the Gulf of Bothnia, the northern part of the Baltic Sea. Its northernmost point is situated in Töre...
, and a relatively peaceful relationship between the three different groups, Germanic, Sami and Finnic, long before all of them fell under state control.
The Germanic settlers spoke a north dialectal development of proto-Norse
Proto-Norse language
Proto-Norse was an Indo-European language spoken in Scandinavia that is thought to have evolved as a northern dialect of Proto-Germanic over the first centuries AD...
, related to, but not equal to the Old Norse
Old Norse
Old Norse is a North Germanic language that was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and inhabitants of their overseas settlements during the Viking Age, until about 1300....
spoken by Vikings many hundred kilometers down the Scandinavian coast. Old Norse is rather well preserved in runestones and later also in a Bible translation. But few runic inscriptions have been found north of Svealand
Svealand
Svealand , Swealand or Sweden proper is the historical core region of Sweden. It is located in south central Sweden and is one of three lands of Sweden, bounded to the north by Norrland and to the south by Götaland. Deep forests, Tiveden, Tylöskog, Kolmården, separated Svealand from Götaland...
, and none at all in what is now the counties of Västerbotten
Västerbotten County
Västerbotten County is a county or län in the north of Sweden. It borders the counties of Västernorrland, Jämtland, and Norrbotten, as well as the Norwegian county of Nordland and the Gulf of Bothnia.- Provinces :...
and Norrbotten
Norrbotten County
Norrbotten County is the northernmost county or län of Sweden. It borders Västerbotten County to the southwest, the Gulf of Bothnia to the southeast. It also borders the counties of Nordland and Troms in Norway to the northwest, and Lapland Province in Finland to the northeast.The name...
. This suggests that the farming settlers finally reaching Kalix had little or no contact with Vikings during the Viking age, and most probably already by then had developed different lingual features, some of which are still preserved in modern Kalix Language.
Colonization
ChristianityChristianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
came to the relatively non-organized and free Germanic settlers, who until then might have been practising variants of Norse mythology
Norse mythology
Norse mythology, a subset of Germanic mythology, is the overall term for the myths, legends and beliefs about supernatural beings of Norse pagans. It flourished prior to the Christianization of Scandinavia, during the Early Middle Ages, and passed into Nordic folklore, with some aspects surviving...
. The magnificent Kalix stone church has been dated to the mid 1400s, but it probably had a wooden building as predecessor. The area must anyway have had a substantial population by that time to fill the church. This population probably spoke an early form of the Kalix language. Priests began registering all family relationships in the villages, and since this new era we have better knowledge of the local history, also from preserved documents and maps used for taxation. Colonization escalated under the Swedish Empire
Swedish Empire
The Swedish Empire refers to the Kingdom of Sweden between 1561 and 1721 . During this time, Sweden was one of the great European powers. In Swedish, the period is called Stormaktstiden, literally meaning "the Great Power Era"...
.
Modern history
The Swedish school came to Kalix in the 1850s, with the goal of teaching everyone to read, write, speak and understand standard Swedish with its grammarSwedish grammar
Swedish is descended from Old Norse. Compared to its progenitor, Swedish grammar is much less characterized by inflection. Modern Swedish has two genders and no longer conjugates verbs based on person or number...
. This was a rather peaceful language education
Language education
Language education is the teaching and learning of a foreign or second language. Language education is a branch of applied linguistics.- Need for language education :...
, but in the early 1930s parents were told to speak standard Swedish to their children. This idea has been proved to be wrong by later research in multilingualism
Multilingualism
Multilingualism is the act of using, or promoting the use of, multiple languages, either by an individual speaker or by a community of speakers. Multilingual speakers outnumber monolingual speakers in the world's population. Multilingualism is becoming a social phenomenon governed by the needs of...
. However, it had a huge influence on many small societies like Kalix. The same standardization of language took place in many parts of Sweden.
Documentation
The oldest preserved manuscripts in Kalix language is a 1879 description of the area, a text which is used as a measurement of genuinity. The Kalix language was first described by a thesis work by Hulda Rutberg, starting the year 1908 and ventilated at Uppsala University in 1924. The book contains many words and an extensive description of phonology and grammar. The language is also covered in later documentation, and by many recordings from the 1960s. The work of communities such as Föreningen Kalix Bygdemål, founded 1992, has kept collecting words and expressions to an extensive word lexicon, and is still active today. Recent projects have made the general public more aware and interested, where young people in Kalix e.g. present the language on the Internet.Geographic relation to Uralic languages
Kalix is the easternmost river valley traditionally completely settled by Germanic-language speakers, while the nearby TornioTornio
Tornio is a town and municipality in Lapland, Finland. The municipality covers an area of of which is water. The population density is , with a total population of . It borders to the Swedish municipality of Haparanda...
river valley was settled by Finnic language
Finnic languages
The term Finnic languages often means the Baltic-Finnic languages, an undisputed branch of the Uralic languages. However, it is also commonly used to mean the Finno-Permic languages, a hypothetical intermediate branch that includes Baltic Finnic, or the more disputed Finno-Volgaic languages....
Meänkieli
Meänkieli
Meänkieli is the name used in Sweden for Finnish dialects spoken in the northernmost parts of the country, around the valley of the Torne River....
speakers, evidently arriving along the coastline from the southeast. A sharp language border is found between the villages Säivis
Haparanda
Haparanda is a locality and the seat of Haparanda Municipality in Norrbotten County, Sweden with 4,778 inhabitants in 2005. It is adjacent to Tornio, Finland...
and Sangis
Sangis
Sangis is a locality situated in Kalix Municipality, Norrbotten County, Sweden with 612 inhabitants in 2005....
, where the latter traditionally uses the Kalix language. To the north, the Sami
Sami languages
Sami or Saami is a general name for a group of Uralic languages spoken by the Sami people in parts of northern Finland, Norway, Sweden and extreme northwestern Russia, in Northern Europe. Sami is frequently and erroneously believed to be a single language. Several names are used for the Sami...
Northern Sami language has been spoken. So the Kalix language has traditionally been literally surrounded by Uralic languages
Uralic languages
The Uralic languages constitute a language family of some three dozen languages spoken by approximately 25 million people. The healthiest Uralic languages in terms of the number of native speakers are Hungarian, Finnish, Estonian, Mari and Udmurt...
, which has had remarkably few influences.
Germanic dialect continuum
Kalix is part of a Germanic and Nordic dialect continuumDialect continuum
A dialect continuum, or dialect area, was defined by Leonard Bloomfield as a range of dialects spoken across some geographical area that differ only slightly between neighboring areas, but as one travels in any direction, these differences accumulate such that speakers from opposite ends of the...
on the Scandinavian Peninsula
Scandinavian Peninsula
The Scandinavian Peninsula is a peninsula in Northern Europe, which today covers Norway, Sweden, and most of northern Finland. Prior to the 17th and 18th centuries, large parts of the southern peninsula—including the core region of Scania from which the peninsula takes its name—were part of...
, and more locally along the coastline of the Bothnian Bay
Bothnian Bay
The Bothnian Bay or Bay of Bothnia is the most northern part of the Gulf of Bothnia, the northern part of the Baltic Sea. Its northernmost point is situated in Töre...
. Kalix language is very much related to nearby languages/dialects westwards Råneå
Råneå
Råneå is a locality situated in Luleå Municipality, Norrbotten County, Sweden with 2,030 inhabitants in 2005....
, Luleå
Luleå
- Transportation :Local buses are run by .A passenger train service is available from Luleå Centralstation on Sweden's national SJ railway service northbound to Narvik on the Norwegian coast, or southbound to Stockholm. See Rail transport in Sweden....
, Piteå
Piteå
Piteå is a locality and the seat of Piteå Municipality in Norrbotten County, Sweden. The town has 22,650 inhabitants out of a municipal total of 41,000 in 2008.- Geography :...
, Skellefteå
Skellefteå
-Industry:*Boliden AB, a big mining and smelting company*Alimak*Natural User Interface Technologies AB - NUITEQ, a promising emerging technology start-up company-Sports:*Skellefteå AIK, an ice hockey team in the highest Swedish league, Elitserien....
, northwards Overkalix
Överkalix
Överkalix is a locality and the seat of Överkalix Municipality in Norrbotten County, Sweden with 946 inhabitants in 2005.- Buildings and Structures :* 330 metres tall guyed mast for FM-/TV-broadcasting at 66°18'5" N, 22°51'13" E...
etc., basically mutually intelligible
Mutual intelligibility
In linguistics, mutual intelligibility is recognized as a relationship between languages or dialects in which speakers of different but related languages can readily understand each other without intentional study or extraordinary effort...
with Kalix language. The Overkalix language differs mainly in a few vocal shifts, and the reason why the two areas has developed distinct characteristics is believed to be that the Kalix river makes a geographic formation near the villages Morjärv and Övermorjärv, which has led to a small communication barrier. Eastwards there are several dialects spoken in the archipelago in Finland, especially in Ostrobothnia
Ostrobothnia (region)
Ostrobothnia is a region of Finland. It is located in Western Finland. It borders the regions Central Ostrobothnia, Southern Ostrobothnia, and Satakunta and is one of the four regions making up the historical province of Ostrobothnia....
, which has obvious similarities with Kalix language, making it evident that people have moved in both directions along the coast of the Bothnian bay. Grammatical similarities can also be found as far away as in Troms
Troms
or Romsa is a county in North Norway, bordering Finnmark to the northeast and Nordland in the southwest. To the south is Norrbotten Län in Sweden and further southeast is a shorter border with Lapland Province in Finland. To the west is the Norwegian Sea...
, at the north border of Scandinavia, not present in standard Swedish nor Norwegian bokmål, which proves Germanic contact by foot between the two coasts. The pleonastic determined article, a "he" or "she" always put before people's names, is a good example.
Phonology
The Kalix language has according to Rutberg, 18 vowel monophtongs, 10 vowel diphthongs, and 29 consonants. It is also identified by its very common diacritic accent, where a vowel is repeated and stressed twice. Many vowels can be represented by distinct IPA characters, some of which are listed in the table below:| IPA International Phonetic Alphabet The International Phonetic Alphabet "The acronym 'IPA' strictly refers [...] to the 'International Phonetic Association'. But it is now such a common practice to use the acronym also to refer to the alphabet itself that resistance seems pedantic... | Ex.IPA | Ex.Latin | Translation |
|---|---|---|---|
| i | iːln | i:ln | the fire |
| ɪ | hɪn | hin | here |
| y | snyːn | sny:n | the snow |
| ʏ | ʏvɪ | yvi | over |
| e | ve:r | ve:r | weather |
| ɛ | mɛstɛ | meste | alsmost |
| æ | ʝæɾ | jär | is (singluar) |
| ø | røː | rö: | red (singluar) |
| œ | nœ | nö | now |
| ʉ | hʉl | hul | was going to |
| ʊ | ʝʊ | jo | yes/well |
| a | anar | anar | another |
| ɑ | lɑːk | la:k | long |
| ɒ | kɒm | kom | came |
| ɔ | gɔːɳ | gå:rn | the yard |
Grammar
The Kalix language has an extensive inflectionInflection
In grammar, inflection or inflexion is the modification of a word to express different grammatical categories such as tense, grammatical mood, grammatical voice, aspect, person, number, gender and case...
, with many characteristics similar to the German language
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
.
Noun gender
Three Grammatical genderGrammatical gender
Grammatical gender is defined linguistically as a system of classes of nouns which trigger specific types of inflections in associated words, such as adjectives, verbs and others. For a system of noun classes to be a gender system, every noun must belong to one of the classes and there should be...
s exist:
- Feminine: e.g. "ha:ta" (the hand), "nagla" (the nail), "å:dra" (the vein), "sköuldra" (the shoulder), "påp:a" (the father), "måm:a" (the father), "kjat:a" (the cat). But also "kuno" (the woman), "stuo" (the cottage), "sögo" (the saga).
- Masculine: e.g. "ståoLn" (the stool), "fåotn" (the foot), "armen" (the arm), "armboan" (the elbow), "tåomen" (the thumb), "måon" (the mouth).
- Neuter: "öe"/"öge" (the eye), "öre" (the ear), "höure" (the head), "bene" (the leg), "feingre" (the finger), "kni:e" (the knee), "bån:e" (the child).
Basically, words that in their definite form end with an "n" are masculine, an "e" is neuter, and all vowel except "e" are feminine.
General ending for words following the nouns are in feminine "-ar", masculine "-en", neuter "-e" or "-t", and plural "-er". Ex.
- Feminine: "he jär menar stuo" (it is my cottage) "hö ha:ar eingar på:åp" (she had no dad), "hukar kuno?" (which woman?), "woLar viko" (every week)
- Masculine: "men ståoL" (my stool), "anworn da" (every second day), "in tuken fåot" (such a foot)
- Neuter: "i lätet bån" (a little child), "tuke schwammeL" (such bullshit), "i anne å:r" (another year)
- Plural: "tuker stäinto" (such girls), "huker då:a?" (which days?), "einger feingro" (no fingers)
Definite and indefinite nouns
The definite noun form is used in a broader sense than in other Scandinavian languages, widespread in all dialects spoken in northern Scandinavia. Some examples: "je skå nå:åp i gröut ve bera" – I'll pick some (the)berries, "kunin jåra ät som kåran" – (the)women are not like (the)men. Definiteveness can be divided into four categories depending on the noun's plural form. Examples of usage with the feminine word "i fLa:ask" (a bottle / a flask):- Enumerating indefinite, equal to singular or differs on accent only: "je ha:ar to fLa:ask" (I had two flasks), "i döusin fLa:ask" (a dozen flasks), "je ha fLe:r fLa:ask än di:" (I have more flasks than you), "ma:ak fLa:ask" (many flasks).
- Non-enumerating indefinite, "-o" ending: "he jär naer/einger/in del fLasko ini tjälaro" (there are some/no/some flasks in the cellar), "aar fLasko" (other flasks), "tuker fLasko" (such flasks), "he jär la:ka fLasko ini tjälaro" (there are long flasks in the cellar).
- Definite usage, "-en" ending: "he jär mytji fLasken ini tjälaro" (there are a lot of flasks in the cellar), "å:åll fLasken jåra bå:årt" (all flasks are gone), "höundratale å fLasken" (hundreds of flasks), "he var fLasken ållostans" (there were flasks everywhere), "whiskeyfLasken" (wiskey flasks), "we hå:å la:kfLasken å röundfLasken" (we have long flasks and round flasks), "di ha:ar snört fLasken ållostans" (they had thrown flasks everywhere).
- Definite "-en": "ta ve de fLasken då do gja öut" (take the flasks with you when you go out)
For masculine nouns, the four forms are e.g. "in bi:l" (a car) "to bi:il" (two cars) "naer bi:lo" (some cars), "mytji bi:lan" (many cars), and "bi:lan" (the cars). Neuter definitive plural ending is "-a". Non-enumerative words e.g. "i höus" (a house), "i gåLv" (a floor) are exceptions lacking the "-o" form.
Case
DativeDative case
The dative case is a grammatical case generally used to indicate the noun to whom something is given, as in "George gave Jamie a drink"....
is separated from the Accusative
Accusative case
The accusative case of a noun is the grammatical case used to mark the direct object of a transitive verb. The same case is used in many languages for the objects of prepositions...
and Nominative case
Nominative case
The nominative case is one of the grammatical cases of a noun or other part of speech, which generally marks the subject of a verb or the predicate noun or predicate adjective, as opposed to its object or other verb arguments...
, e.g. feminine: "Din jär SkåoLa, je siti ini skå:oLn" (there is the school, I am sitting in the school), masculine: "je sei tjälarn, he lik na ini tjälaro" (I see the basement, it's something in the basement).
Several forms of Genitive case
Genitive case
In grammar, genitive is the grammatical case that marks a noun as modifying another noun...
s exists, e.g. "Je ha ons Enok bi:l" (I have Enok's car), "je fick bre:ve än Anna" (I got Anna's letter), "kLåk:a gran:o" (The neighbor’s clock).
Verbs
Verbs are conjugated in singular and plural, unlike modern standard Swedish: "hån jär" (he is) but "di jåra" (they are), "hö löut se" (she leans herself) but "di lö:ut se" (they lean themselves), "je far" (I go) but "we fåra" (we go), "je vil" (I want) but "di vili" (they want). But there are irregular verbs which does not differ, e.g. "je liot fåra" (I have to go) / "we liot fåra" (we have to go).Adjectives
Most AdjectiveAdjective
In grammar, an adjective is a 'describing' word; the main syntactic role of which is to qualify a noun or noun phrase, giving more information about the object signified....
s are equal in singular and plural, similar to English but distinct from many other Scandinavian languages, e.g.:
"dö:rn jär ipi" (the door is open) and "doran jåra ipi" (the doors are open), "bå:ne jär vötchin" (the child is awake) and "bå:na jåra vötchin" (the children are awake), "do jär wälkymin heit" (she is welcome here) and "di jåra wälkymin heit" (they are welcome here).
Other adjectives differs in singular and plural, and have two plural forms, e.g. "flaska jär rö:" (the flask is red), "rö:a flasko, so jåra rö:ö" (red flasks, that are red).
Adjectives can also be joined with nouns, e.g. "råLkafötren" (dirty feet), or serially joined, e.g. "lilvåckerstäinta" (the little beautiful girl).
Pleonastic article
The pleonastic article is widespread among languages in the area, as far north as Troms. A "he" / "him" or "she" / "her" is always put before people's names, pet's names, and words like e.g. father and mother. e.g. "on far å na måor" (mom and dad). The pleonastic article differs in many aspects, by both grammatical gender and case, e.g. "en Erik dji matn åt o Lars" (Eric gives food to Lars), "a Brit skå tåLa ve en Anna" (Brit will talk to Anna).Writing systems, orthography
In early scientific literature, a phonetic alphabet landsmålsalfabetetLandsmålsalfabetet
The Swedish Dialect Alphabet is a phonetic alphabet created in 1878 by Johan August Lundell and used for the narrow transcription of Swedish dialects...
(LMA), developed by Johan August Lundell
Johan August Lundell
Johan August Lundell was a Swedish linguist, professor of Slavic languages at Uppsala University. He is known for his work on Swedish dialects and for developing Landsmålsalfabetet, a phonetic alphabet used in dialect research.-Biography:Lundell's parents were Anders Andersson and Carolina Olsdotter...
was used to write Kalix language, while the most widely used informal form of writing is based on the Latin alphabet with a few added symbols (Kalix variant), including letters å, ä, ö, capitalized L or bolded l, apostrophe ´ or colon : for marking long or diacritic accents, etc. Since no formal standard has been developed, slight differences can be found among different writers. Recent language projects have used The Kalix Alphabet, a simplified form of the IPA
International Phonetic Alphabet
The International Phonetic Alphabet "The acronym 'IPA' strictly refers [...] to the 'International Phonetic Association'. But it is now such a common practice to use the acronym also to refer to the alphabet itself that resistance seems pedantic...
, compatible with modern Internet technology, making pronunciation more accurate. The community has not yet agreed on an official writing standard. While early scientific LMA writing is the most accurate system for dwelling into Scandinavian language phonetics, it has been used as a reference for the development of IPA based script.