Funny - this is the exact same thing I've been studying the last few days!

I've been trying to learn to write nynorsk, here is one attempt:

http://nn.wikipedia.org/wiki/H%C3%A1rbar%C3%B0slj%C3%B3%C3%B0

Sogn is a nynorsk heartland and I'd like to learn the basics of
pronunciation there. I've been listening to "Walfar, ein Windir", a
musician from Sogn. The lyrics from the CD can be found on the Web in some
pseudo-phonetic writing, here's one example:

Ho skjain å blainkte i maonaskjine.
Å no saog han Londamyrstrådle so laog å sov,
styggjele stort å hadde braitt seg midt ut yve myri.

This sounds strikingly Icelandic.

Hún skein og blikkaði í mánaskini.
Og nú sá hann Lundamýrartröllið sem lá og svaf,
styggilega stórt og hafði breitt sig mitt út yfir mýri.

The change /ll/ > /dl/ makes one feel especially close to home. Note that
this change not only happened in Iceland, the Faroes and in Sogn but also
in Shetland: "delivra wus fro adlu idlu" or "Trettì merkè vath ru godle".
In the Orkneys too, I'm sure, though I don't know if the scant sources
furnish an example.

Regards,
Haukur

> Ok, notice first that this language is called sognamålet. According
> to my source (who speaks it), it is pronounced sognamaúle (the t is
> here silent). The aú sound is identical to Icelandic á and occurs
> where the chanracter aa/å is found. Notice also the genitive
> plural 'sogna', over against Dano-Norwegian 'sogne'. Notice that the
> pronunciation is sogna, not songna (but written sogne), as is the
> case everywhere else in Norway (and Denmark), with the exception of
> a few neighboring areas to Sogn. Furthermore, note that long o
> (written ó in Icelandic) is no longer just a long version of short
> o, but a new diphthong (oú - the same sound as in Icelandic). Notice
> that a > á (aú) before nk/ng (as in Icelandic):laong taong baong
> (Ice: löng töng banki). Notice u > ú (written o in Sogn) before
> nk/ng: tong monk (Ice þung(ur) munkur) o here = ú. Notice ll > dl:
> kalla (pronounced kadla - as in Icelandic) - but this rule goes even
> further in Sogn than in Icelandic: 'kenna' is pronounced 'kenna' in
> Icelandic, 'kedna' in Sogn. Lastly, rn > dn is completed in Sogn,
> but not yet in Icelandic (headed that way though): born korn
> (Icelandic börn korn) are pronounced bodn kodn. Icelandic
> pronunciation of börn is something like bördn (but bödn is
> occuring). Notice also the comments in the link I provided about the
> dative, that it is still living in Voss, Sunnfjord, Sognfjøra, and
> in parts of Indre Sogn (all neighboring areas). Notice also nn > dn
> in many environments (se link). So, it is really not that surprising
> that folk thus speaking are often mistaken for being Icelanders who
> are speaking Norwegian. Lastly, notice also that this language just
> has stress on the first syllable (like Icelandic), and lacks the
> quality called 'tonefall' in Norwegian. This quality produces the
> unique sing-song effect in Norwegian dialects and is notoriously
> difficult to learn. There are many local variations and folk tend to
> find them charming, but can't reproduce them. In Soganmålet, there
> is the staccato instead (just like in Icelandic). Hearing Sognamålet
> has given me a whole new ideas about ON pronunciation history. Now,
> as we can see that Sognamålet and Icelandic agree on the consonants,
> and on the vowels so far, lets see where they disagree. Ok, au is au
> (au not aú, like Ice á/Sogn å, but a plus u - an original ON sound
> preserved in Sogn, but not in Icelandic, which says ey here). This
> one is tricky. aa/á and au are very diffent sounds in Sogn, but the
> first is = Ice. á, while au is an archaic survival of the original
> ON sound in this instance, which Ice. once had (after hearing it and
> comparing it to Ice. au (=ey), I can almost hear how the change went
> into effect, as they are quite close in a way, especially after loss
> of original ey in Icelandic (>ei, but written ey). So, essentially,
> there is one more diphthong in Sogn (both Ice. and Sogn have more
> than ON, which had only 3, but both also write only the 3 old ones
> as real diphthongs). ei is ei. _but_ (please note): in Icelandic not
> only is ey ei, but y is i and ý is í. Big changes? Well, some would
> call Icelandic pronunciation totally isolated and unlike ON. Not so
> fast. Many Norwegian dialect pronounce ey as ei, y as i and ý as í,
> including parts of Sogn, parts of Nordmøre, etc.etc., even though it
> is not a majority pronunciation. Thus, there is really _nothing_
> isolated about Icelandic prounuciation with the possible exception
> of au=ey (I am uncertain about this one, but will ask about it). So,
> one should note that the pronunciation preserved by the descendants
> of the last ON speakers in Norway agrees with Icelandic to a degree
> that is shocking, in near total contradiction on a very large number
> of point with the entirety of modern mainland Scandinavia. It should
> be obvious that West Norse was heading a certain way by the time of
> black death, and that the pronunciations that survived the black
> death (when most folk died, causing radical changes in society and
> language) in Iceland, Norway, and Faroes were extremely similar, and
> that not much separates them even today.
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