Arendalsk

Arendalsk, Arendal dialect or Arendal Norwegian (Bokmål and Nynorsk: Arendalsk, Arendalsdialekten; the Arendal dialect: Ændalsk) is a dialect of Norwegian used in Arendal.

Arendalsk
Region	Arendal
Language family	Indo-European Germanic North Germanic West Scandinavian South Norwegian Arendalsk
Language codes
ISO 639-3	–
Glottolog	None

Phonology

• Intervocalic /p, t, k/ are realized as voiced [b, d, ɡ]. This feature appeared in this dialect in the 20th century.[1][2]
• A uvular [ʀ] realization of /r/ was established in Arendal before the 20th century.[1][2]
• /ʀ/ is frequently dropped, so that e.g. Lars becomes Læs.[2]
• The ending ⟨–er⟩ is pronounced [ɔ], so that the word for 'basement' is kjeller in Bokmål, but kjellå in the Arendal dialect.[1][2]

According to the linguist Gjert Kristoffersen, a recent change is that the postvocalic /ʀ/ is vocalized to [æ̯], rather than dropped. The phonetic diphthongs [ʉæ̯] and [uæ̯] may be monophthongized and lowered to, respectively, [œː] and [ɔː], so that the words for 'to do gymnastics' and 'thorn' (which phonemically are, respectively, /ˇtʉʀne/ and /ˇtuʀne/) vary in their phonetic realization between, respectively, [ˇtʉæ̯nə] ~ [ˇtœːnə] and [ˇtuæ̯nə] ~ [ˇtɔːnə]. This process may be extended to mid vowels.[3]

Phonetic realization

Tonemes of the Arendal dialect are the same as those of the Oslo dialect; accent 1 is low-rising, whereas accent 2 is falling-rising.[4]

Notable speakers

• Gjert Kristoffersen[3]
• Rockebandet Ændal, a heavy metal band that sings in the Arendal dialect

References

1. ""E kåmmår hen te du i sta" — Eydehavnportalen". Retrieved 24 July 2015.
2. "Litt om arendalsdialekten - Arendal kommune". Archived from the original on 25 July 2015. Retrieved 24 July 2015.
3. Kristoffersen (2000), p. 36.
4. Kristoffersen (2000), pp. 236–237.

Bibliography

• Kristoffersen, Gjert (2000), The Phonology of Norwegian, Oxford University Press, ISBN 978-0-19-823765-5