Re: Estonian Swedish

> >
> > One should bear in mind that what was counted as *the* dialect by
> > its lexicographers was the form of language furthest from the
> > standard language. Thus Bornholm has palatalization, which of
> > course doesn't mean that no one there speaks varieties that are
> > palatalized, as in standard Danish, and the reverse for Gotland,
> > of course.
>
> You seem to contest the concept that Lautgesetz equals natural law
> at work in a certain area at a certain time.

If only it were so. I just watched the interesting account on Swedish
TV of the tumultuous transition of Scania etc from Danish to Swedish
rule. I doubt that you could set an exact date at which the total
Scanian population chose to apply a certain soundlaw to their
language. It was a matter of attitude. Even today the distinction
between apical and uvular 'skorrande' /r/ cuts through individual
families, as it does in Danish dialects too (jysk "rive på r'et").

> If Bornholmers have unpalatalized k g I think that is due to school
> rather than having a genuine vernacular.

School, yes, but not a vernacular? The Bornhomers call that way of
speaking 'Rønne-fint'. Why is that not a genuine vernacular?

> Some month ago, on the subject of Emil-in-Lönneberga -e instead of
> -a you proposed a similar thought that not all Scanians had -a and
> that lexicographers had generalized a from Sjaelandic aberrant
> pronunciation.

You should remember that proper Danish ("rigsdansk") was the language
of the cities in Scania in the Danish times. They would have had *-e <
*-a. A lexicographer working at that time would have concluded that
*-a was "proper Scanian". As a matter of fact, I recall (but can't
give you a reference) that some uppsvensk wrote a polemic pamphlet in
the 1680's enthusiastically claiming that the language at least in
North West Scania was closer to that of the Stockholm region than it
was to Danish. The cities were weakened after the Swedish takeover and
their citizens had good reason to show loyalty any way they could.

> Generalized -a today would then be the result of sermons, catechism
> and schools. I doubt this. I think -a is genuine.

Of course -a is genuine. But I think generalized -a is result of
policy, as you mentioned.

> One exception perhaps: the dialect in Falsterbo SW of Malmö. But
> this dialect (when genuine) is Sjaelandic, not Scanian, according to
> dialectologists.

If anything, falstrisk ;-). That argument sounds circular, Sjaellandsk
has -e, Falsterbo has *-e so it's Sjællandsk. The Falsterbo cape had
no particular connection to Sjælland beyond that of the rest of
Scania, other than the herring market, but that was a Hanse thing.

> > To my knowledge
> > no other Swedish dialect was unpalatalized.
>
> Yes. Svealand and Norrland from the 19th century. Or rather, the
> Lautgesetz of palatalization is no longer valid in that area, as
> shown by loans like "kilogram" with a hard k, but with
> palatalized /tj/ in Götaland, including Scania. The same
> for "kex": /keks/ and /tjeks/ respectively.
>
> Earlier loans show general nature law palatalization, uncontested in
> the whole territory, i.e. the cardgame "kille" (with a deck of 42
> cards) which is incontestably pronounced /tjille/. Its etymology is
> thought to be from one of the important cards: "-kin" in (Harle)quin.
>
> As a friend of order Torsten might immediately bring up the
> homograph, meaning "bloke".
>
> Well, that's a mistery. Its etymology is thought to be "kid", young
> goat", everywhere pronounced /tji:d/.
>
> What to make of that?
> Personally I am bound to think that we have to do with
> hypercorrection from literate persons in the no-longer-palatalizing
> area, including the capital with its influence on media.
>
> The same goes for the harbour of "Hällekis" at the southern coast of
> lake Vänern with -kis having a hard /k/. I deem this due to the
> counts Klingspor and the people around them with urbanistic
> pretensions.
>
> Torsten might also add ´"kisse" (Scania "ki:se"), pussycat with a
> hard /k/. My answer is that this is due to it coming from an
> interjection "kiss, kiss!" when calling a cat. Interjections tend to
> fall out of norms.
> Its homonym and homograph "kissa", mingere, is also exceptional due
> to ancient shame of uttering certain body functions.
>
> These are all examples of exceptional hard /k/ in front of e i y ä ö
> I can come up with for the moment.
> I firmly believe in nature laws and exceptions can always be
> explained.
>

Torsten might also note that this proves that palatalization had
stopped in those dialects by that time, and that it had run its course
there, as in all other Swedish dialects.


Torsten