Dalecarlian language

Dalecarlian (Swedish: dalmål) is a group of North Germanic language varieties spoken in Dalarna County, Sweden. Some Dalecarlian varieties can be regarded as part of the Swedish dialect group in Gästrikland, Uppland, and northern and eastern Västmanland. Others represent a variety characteristic of a midpoint between West and East Scandinavian languages, significantly divergent from Standard Swedish. In the northernmost part of the county (i.e., the originally Norwegian parishes of Särna and Idre), a characteristic dialect reminiscent of eastern Norwegian is spoken. One usually distinguishes between the Dalecarlian Bergslagen dialects, which are spoken in south-eastern Dalarna, and Dalecarlian proper. The dialects are traditionally regarded as part of the Svealand dialect group. Officially, they are considered Swedish dialects due to being spoken in a region where Swedish is an official language today. The Swedish government nevertheless acknowledges that the dialects have developed independently from Old Norse, and not from Swedish itself. In everyday speech, many also refer to Dalarna regional variants of Standard Swedish as part of the Dalecarlian dialect. Linguistically speaking, however, they are more accurately described as a lexically and morphologically "national" Swedish with characteristic Dalarna intonation and prosody. In linguistics, one distinguishes between regionally different national languages and genuine dialects, and Dalecarlian as a term is used exclusively for dialects in the latter sense.