Revitalisation of Övdalian and the Choice of Literary Language
Revitalisation of Övdalian and the Choice of Literary Language

Summary/Abstract: Övdalian (Swe. älvdalska), an East Scandinavian vernacular that is often considered a separate language, has undergone preservation and revitalisation during the last 30–40 years. An inter-esting aspect of the revitalisation process is the choice of the morphological form of Övdalian used in books, fiction and translations, as the case morphology has changed substantially over the past century. The vast majority of authors have nevertheless opted for a very traditional variant that differs substantially from contemporary spoken Övdalian. This raises questions about whether the revitalisation of Övdalian, of which book production is an important aspect, is a bottom-up process or a top-down imposition of a partly idealised, archaic language (cf. Grenoble and Whaley 2006: 20).

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