The morphological expression of case
in Övdalian
Peter Svenonius | CASTL, University of Tromsø – The Arctic University of Norway
The purpose of this paper is to document and describe the case system of the most conservative variety of Övdalian still spoken (‘Traditional Övdalian,’ TÖ). The system is compared with the four-case system of Old Swedish (OS) and the three-case system of Classical Övdalian (CÖ) described by Levander (1909). I argue that TÖ distinguishes three cases, but in full noun phrases, only manifests a two-case system, where Dative case is opposed to a Direct case comprising nominative and accusative functions. Pronouns generally show a different alignment, distinguishing nominative from objective cases. I focus on the nominal suffixes, which distinguish gender, number, definiteness, and case, as well as declension class. I argue that TÖ nouns have only one suffix, where OS had three, and CÖ was in transition between two suffixes and one. I examine the patterns of syncretism, and suggest that some can be explained in terms of markedness cooccurrence restrictions, but not others. I also briefly discuss adnominal modifiers (determiners and adjectives).
References
Åfarli, Tor Anders & Fjøsne, Eldfrid Haaker
2012 Weak dative case in Norwegian dialect syntax.
Studia Linguistica 66(2): 75–93.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Åkerberg, Bengt
2000 Ulum Dalska Grammatik 2000. Ulum Dalska.
[URL]![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Åkerberg, Bengt
2012 Älvdalsk grammatik. Centrumtryck, Mora. With
Gunnar Nyström.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Baerman, Matthew
2009 Case syncretism. In
The Oxford Handbook of Case,
Andrej Malchukov &
Andrew Spencer (eds), 219–230. Oxford: OUP.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Bandle, Oskar, Braunmüller, Kurt, Håkon Jahr, Ernst, Karker, Allan, Naumann, Hans-Peter & Teleman, Ulf
(eds) 2002 The Nordic Languages: An International Handbook of the History of the North Germanic Languages, Vol. 1. Berlin: Walter De Gruyter.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Blake, Barry J
2001 Case. Cambridge: CUP.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Bobaljik, Jonathan David & Jonas, Dianne
1996 Subject positions and the roles of TP.
Linguistic Inquiry 27(2): 195–236.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Bonet, Eulalia
1991 Morphology after Syntax: Pronominal Clitics in Romance. PhD dissertation, MIT.
Borer, Hagit
2005 Structuring Sense, 1: In Name Only. Oxford: OUP.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Bossong, Georg
1991 Differential object marking in Romance and beyond. In
New Analyses in Romance Linguistics: Selected Papers from the XVIII Linguistic Symposium on Romance Languages [
Current Issues in Linguistic Theory 69],
Dieter Wanner &
Douglas A. Kibbee (eds), 143–170. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Bye, Patrik & Svenonius, Peter
2012 Non-concatenative morphology as epiphenomenon. In
The Morphology and Phonology of Exponence,
Jochen Trommer (ed.), 427–495. Oxford: OUP.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Caha, Pavel
2009 The Nanosyntax of Case. PhD dissertation, University of Tromsø.
Carstairs, Andrew
1987 Allomorphy in Inflexion. London: Croom Helm.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Dahl, Östen & Koptjevskaja-Tamm, Maria
2006 The resilient dative and other remarkable cases in Scandinavian vernaculars.
Sprachtypologie und Universalienforschung (STUF) 59(1): 56–75.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Dalrymple, Mary & Nikolaeva, Irina
2011 Objects and Information Structure. Cambridge: CUP.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
DeLancey, Scott
1981 An interpretation of split ergativity and related patterns.
Language 57(3): 626–657.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Delsing, Lars-Olof
2002 The morphology of Old Nordic, II: Old Swedish and Old Danish. In
Bandle,
et al. (eds), Vol. 1, 925–939.
Delsing, Lars-Olof
2003 Syntaktisk variation i nordiska nominalfraser. In
Dialektsyntaktiska studier av den nordiska nominalfrasen,
Øystein Alexander Vangsnes,
Anders Holmberg &
Lars-Olof Delsing (eds),11–64. Oslo: Novus.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Dixon, Robert M.W
1972 The Dyirbal Language of North Queensland. Cambridge: CUP.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Dixon, Robert M.W
1994 Ergativity. Cambridge: CUP.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Eythórsson, Thórhallur, Johannessen, Janne Bondi, Laake, Signe & Åfarli, Tor A
2012 Dative case in Norwegian, Icelandic and Faroese: Preservation and non-preservation.
Journal of Nordic Linguistics 35(3): 219–249.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Faarlund, Jan Terje
2004 The Syntax of Old Norse. Oxford: OUP.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Faarlund, Jan Terje
2009 On the history of definiteness marking in Scandinavian.
Journal of Linguistics 45(3): 617–639.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Garbacz, Piotr
2010 Word Order in Övdalian: A Study in Variation and Change. PhD dissertation, Lund University.
Halle, Morris
1997 Distributed morphology: Impoverishment and fission.
MIT Working Papers in Linguistics 30: 425–449.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Haspelmath, Martin
2009 Terminology of case. In
The Oxford Handbook of Case,
Andrej Malchukov &
Andrew Spencer (eds), 505–517. Oxford: OUP.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Helgander, John
1996 Mobilitet och språkförändring. Exemplet Övre Dalarna och det vidare perspektivet. Falun, Högskolan Dalarna. Rapport 1996: 3.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Helgander, John
2005 Älvdalsmål i förändring – några reflektioner kring en fallstudie. In
Rapport från Fuost konferensn um övdalskų/Första konferensen om älvdalska,
Gunnar Nyström. Uppsala Universitet.
[URL]![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Hjelmslev, Louis
1935 La catégorie des cas: Étude de grammaire générale, Vol. 1. Aarhus: Universitetsforlaget.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Iversen, Ragnvald
1922[1973] Norrøn grammatikk, 7th edn. Kristiana: Aschehoug.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Jakobson, Roman
1936 Beitrag zur allgemeinen Kasuslehre.
Travaux du Cercle Linguistique de Prague 6: 240–288.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Lahiri, Aditi, Wetterlin, Allison & Jönsson-Steiner, Elisabet
2005 Sounds definite-ly clitic: Evidence from Scandinavian tone.
Lingue e linguaggio 2: 243–262.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Larsson, Hjalmar
1985 Kunundsin kumb: Lesubuok ǫ dalska. Älvdalen: Published by the author.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Levander, Lars
1909 Älvdalsmålet i dalarna: Ordböjning ock syntax. Stockholm: P.A. Norstedt & Söner.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Levander, Lars
1925 Dalmålet: Beskrivning och historia, I. Uppsala: Appelberg.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Levander, Lars
1928 Dalmålet: Beskrivning och historia, II. Uppsala: Appelberg.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Morén-Duolljá, Bruce
2013 The prosody of Swedish underived nouns: No lexical tones required.
Nordlyd: Tromsø Working Papers in Language and Linguistics 40(1): 196–248.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Müller, Gereon
2005 Syncretism and iconicity in Icelandic noun declensions: A distributed morphology approach.
Yearbook of Morphology 2004: 229–271.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Noreen, Adolf
1884 Altnordische Grammatik I. Halle: Max Niemeyer.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Noreen, Adolf
1904 Altschwedische Grammatik: Mit Einschluss des altgutnischen. Halle: Max Niemeyer.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Noyer, Ralf
1992 Features, Positions and Affixes in Autonomous Morphological Structure. PhD dissertation, MIT.
Nygaard, Marius
1966 Norrøn syntax. Oslo: Emil Moestue Aschehoug.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Nyström, Gunnar
1964 Ett prov på Karlarvsmålet i älvdalen. Utskrift och översättning av bandinspelning jämte kommentarer. Ms, SOFI Uppsala ref. nr 25661.
Pylkkänen, Liina
2008 Introducing Arguments. Cambridge MA: The MIT Press.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Ringmar, Martin
2005 Älvdalska – en önordisk språk ö på fastlandet? In
Rapport från Fuost konferensn um övdalskų/Första konferensen om älvdalska,
Gunnar Nyström (ed.). Uppsala: Uppsala Universitet.
[URL]![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Sandøy, Helge
2000 Vitnemål frå ein dativbrukar. In
Dialekter og folkminnen. Hyllningsskrift till Maj Reinhammar den 17 maj 2000,
Lennart Elmevik (ed.), 231–239.Uppsala: Sällskapet för svensk dialektologi.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Silverstein, Michael
1976 Hierarchy of features and ergativity. In
Grammatical Categories in Australian Languages,
Robert M.W. Dixon (ed), 112–171. Canberra: Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Steensland, Lars
2006 Liten älvdalsk–svensk och svensk–älvdalsk ordbok. Älvdalen: Ulum Dalska.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Stump, Gregory T
2001 Inflectional Morphology: A Theory of Paradigm Structure. Cambridge: CUP.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Svenonius, Peter
2008 The position of adjectives and other phrasal modifiers in the decomposition of DP. In
Adjectives and Adverbs: Syntax, Semantics, and Discourse,
Louise McNally &
Chris Kennedy (eds), 16–42. Oxford: OUP.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Svenonius, Peter
To appear.
Declension class and the Norwegian definite suffix. In
The Morpho-Syntax Phonology Connection,
Vera Gribanova &
Stephanie Shih (eds) Oxford OUP
Thráinsson, Höskuldur, Petersen, Hjalmar P., Jacobsen, Jógvan í Lon & Hansen, Zakaris Svabo
2004 Faroese: An Overview and Reference Grammar. Tórshavn: Føroya Fróðskaparfelag.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Cited by
Cited by 1 other publications
Vangsnes, Øystein Alexander
This list is based on CrossRef data as of 23 june 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers.
Any errors therein should be reported to them.