Sognamål dialect

Sognamål (lit.'Sogn language'; pronounced in Sognamål: sognamaol) is a Western Norwegian dialect which is spoken in the area of Sogn. One of the most prominent features of Sognamål is the pronunciation [aʊ] instead of [ɔː] in many words, i.e. exactly how the letter "á" is pronounced in modern Icelandic. The folk/black metal band Windir from Sogndal used the dialect in their lyrics.

Phonology

Consonants

Consonant phonemes
	Labial	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal	m	n
Plosive / Affricate	voiceless	p	t	c͡ç	k
voiced	b	d	ɟ͡ʝ	ɡ
Fricative	voiceless	f	s			h
voiced	v
Trill		r

/m,p,b/ are bilabial, whereas /f,v/ are labiodental.
/p,b,t,d,k,ɡ/ are plosives, whereas /c͡ç,ɟ͡ʝ/ are affricates.
Phonetically, /r/ can be trilled [r] or tapped [ɾ].

Vowels

Monophthong phonemes of Sognamål
	Front	Back
unrounded	rounded
short	long	short	long	short	long
Close	i	iː		ʊ	ʊː
Mid	ɛ	eː	ø	øː	ɔ	ɔː
Open		a	aː

/eː/ is close-mid front [eː]. Its short counterpart is the open-mid front [ɛ].
/ʊ,ʊː/ are close-mid [o,oː].
The long /øː/ is open-mid front [œː], whereas the short /ø/ varies between open-mid front [œ] and near-close front [ʉ̞˖].
/ɔ,ɔː/ are open-mid [ɔ,ɔː].
/a,aː/ are central [ä,äː].

Diphthong phonemes of Sognamål
Starting point	Ending point
Front	Back
unrounded	rounded
short	long	short	long	short	long
Close		iʉ	iʉː
Close-mid	ei	eiː	eʉ	eʉː
Open-mid	ɔi	ɔiː	øy	øyː	oʊ	oʊː
Open	ai	aiː		aʊ	aʊː

/iʉ,iʉː/ are phonetically [iʉ̟,iʉ̟ː].
/ei,eiː/ are phonetically [ei,eiː].
/eʉ,eʉː/ are phonetically [eʉ̟,eʉ̟ː].
/øy,øyː/ are phonetically [œy,œyː].
/ɔi,ɔiː/ are phonetically [ɔ̟i,ɔ̟iː].
/oʊ,oʊː/ are phonetically [ɔo,ɔoː].
/ai,aiː/ are phonetically [äi,äiː].
/aʊ,aʊː/ are phonetically [äo̟,äo̟ː].

Bibliography

Haugen, Ragnhild (2004), (PDF), Bergen: Universitetet i Bergen, archived from (PDF) on June 21, 2024