Elfdalian is traditionally spoken in a small part of the region of Dalarna, known as Älvdalen in Swedish and Övdaln in Elfdalian. But using linguistic and archeological data, including runes, Elfdalian experts have tracked the language back to the last phase of ancient Nordic – spoken across Scandinavia between the sixth and eighth centuries...While runes had became obsolete in most of Sweden as early as the 14th century, there is evidence of runes being used in Älvdalen as late as 1909, making it the last place in the world where they were used.
Elfdalian
What has been considered a dialect in central Sweden, the form “Elfdalian” is now recognized as a distinct Nordic language.
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2 comments:
How fun it would be to list that as one of one's languages! People would think you made it up, or maybe that Tolkien did.
I tend to be a lumper, and would classify Icelandic, both Norwegians, Danish, and Swedish as dialects of a single Scandic language. The history of those nations prevents them from calling them the same, but they are mutually intelligible after a couple of drinks.
Making more distinctions is not necessarily a terrible thing, however. For matters of law and medicine where precision is needed, dialect can matter. Yet those sectors of vocabulary are often the most similar to their neighbors anyway.
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