Name
The local name for the dialects is ''jamska''. There is, however, no common term for the dialects in English, and academic sources call them by various names, such as ''jamska'', ''jämtska'', ''Jämtish dialect'', ''Jämtlandic dialect'', ''Jämtland dialects'' or ''dialects of Jämtland''. The endonym ''jamska'' is technically a definite form; the indefinite form ''jaamsk/jamske'' is rarely used.Characteristics
Vowel balance
Like all other central Scandinavian dialects (Trønder dialects, east Norwegian dialects, Norrland dialects, some Finland Swedish dialects), the most characteristic feature of the Jämtland dialects is vowel balance, an event that caused the vowel endings after heavy syllables to weaken and later even drop entirely in some dialects moving the tone over from ending to the root syllable, example Old Norse ''kasta'' > (> "to throw"), while the endings after light syllables instead where reinforced, and even caused a type of umlaut or vowel harmony on the root vowel (example Old Norse ''lifa'' > > > "to live"). According to one theory, this phenomenon has its roots in influence from the neighbouring Saami languages in medieval times.Prosody
The Old Norse phonemic contrast of light and heavy syllables is partly preserved in eastern Jämtland dialects, and to some degree in Western Jämtland dialects and in the Oviken parish in southwestern Jämtland. In eastern Jämtland and in Oviken parish, short stressed syllables are preserved from Old Norse words like ''hǫku'' 'chin', ''lifa'' 'to live', which have evolved to in Fors parish, in Ragunda and Stugun parishes, in Hällesjö parish, and in Oviken parish, while ''lifa'' has become [læ̂ʋa᷈] or similar in all of the parishes. In western Jämtland, the short syllables are less stable, and are often lengthened to long or half-long in accent 2 words, but is preserved in accent 1 words: Old Norse ''svið'' 'burned' has become [sʋɛ̂] in Åre parish, while accent 2 words like Old Norse ''lofa'' 'to promise', ''duna'' 'to make noise', which have evolved to or , and in Undersåker, Kall and Åre parishes.Primary and secondary diphthongs
Central- and southwestern Jämtland dialects have preserved the Old Norse primay diphthongs ''ai'', ''au'', ''ey'', usually with pronunciations like , , . In the Offerdal parish in western Jämtland, ''ai'' and ''ey'' have monophthongized to and , while ''au'' is preserved as [æɵ̯]. Eastern Jämtland dialects (spoken in the parishes Borgvattnet, Ragunda, Fors, Stugun, Håsjö, Hällesjö) have no diphthongs, but have monophthongized ''ai'' to , ''ey'' to , and ''au'' to , , or . Southwestern Jämtland dialects have not only preserved the original diphthongs, but also, similar to Icelandic and some dialects in Norway, diphthongized Old Norse ''á'' to in Myssjö parish, in Hackås and Oviken parishes, and in Berg and Rätan parishes.Voiceless L
The Jämtland dialects, like Icelandic, Faroese, and other northern Scandinavian dialects, have both a voiced and voiceless l-sound. This sound comes from a voiced l that has been partly assimilated by either a preceding ''s'' or ''t'', or a following ''t'': Old Norse ''kirtilinn'' 'gland' has become , or similar, Old Norse ''slíta'' 'to struggle, to pull' has become , or similar, and Old Norse ''allt'' 'all' has become or similar.Orthography
There have been attempts to standardize the orthography of the Jämtland dialects. The attempt that has been the most popular is ''Vägledning för stavning av jamska'' (1994 and 1995) which is the work of the committee ''Akademien för jamska'' consisting of Bodil Bergner, Berta Magnusson and Bo Oscarsson. The most prominent application of this orthography has been to prepare translations of parts of the Bible into the dialect, resulting in the book ''Nagur Bibelteksta på jamska''. An excerpt: Book of Genesis, Genesis 1:26–27: :26''Å Gud saa: ’Lätt oss gjära når mänish, nager som e lik oss. Å dom ske rå öve fishn derri havan å över foglan pyne himmela, å öve tamdjura öve heile jola, å öve all de djur som kravl å rör se på jorn.´ :27''Å Gud skapa mänishan å gjool som n avbild ta se själv. Te kær å kviin skapa n dom.'' The book does not fully follow ''Vägledning för stavning av jamska''. For example, using ''Vägledning för stavning av jamska'' one would spell ''gjæra'' v. 'do; make', not "gjära". Another spelling convention in ''Nagur Bibelteksta på jamska'' is the use of the digraph "sh", in e.g. "mänish" n. 'human being' and "fishn" n. 'the fish', with the same pronunciation as English 'sh' in 'shoe'. Properly using ''Vägledning för stavning av jamska'', this would be spelled ''sch''; see § 26 in the external link below. People writing Jämtland dialects commonly use the letters of the Swedish alphabet, with the addition of æ and ô. The letters c, q, w, x, and z are usually not used.References
Notes
Bibliography
* ''Dä glöm fäll int jamska'', published by Margareta Persson (red.), 1986 *External links