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Elfdalian

Posted: Wed Mar 26, 2025 7:51 pm
by Sukhoiman
Hey Micael,

Was this that atypical language you mentioned (regd Swedish-Norwegian border, isolated atypical etc) in a thread some while ago?
juni.png
From: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Ger ... ligibility

More info:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elfdalian

It looks like it bears some similarity with Icelandic and Faroese (i.e today's Nordic languages closest to old Norse) with that shared "ð" coda

Re: Elfdalian

Posted: Wed Mar 26, 2025 9:02 pm
by Nik_SpeakerToCats
Uh, was German translation correct ? Seemed to be Polish / in-fix rather than Reverse-Polish / post-fix, so verbs / adjectives weren't all piled up at end...

( Half a century along, I still get goose-bumps at sight of 'Formal German'... )

Re: Elfdalian

Posted: Wed Mar 26, 2025 10:12 pm
by Micael
Yep, that’s the one. It does have some similarity with Icelandic and Faroese but it’s a separate language branch so to speak. It has retained some aspects from old Norse, and one or two things from proto-Germanic that even old Norse didn’t keep. Other aspects are a mix of old east and west Norse traits, but also a bunch of separate developments over time that has distanced it from all the others in some regards.

Re: Elfdalian

Posted: Wed Mar 26, 2025 10:46 pm
by Sukhoiman
yeah I just watched the Jackson Crawford vid on it just now too heh,

Re: Elfdalian

Posted: Thu Mar 27, 2025 5:58 am
by Micael
Sukhoiman wrote: Wed Mar 26, 2025 10:46 pm yeah I just watched the Jackson Crawford vid on it just now too heh,
Two other videos to watch:
https://youtu.be/dmY7xC4_08Y

https://youtu.be/64ZcmML8Zps

Re: Elfdalian

Posted: Thu Mar 27, 2025 2:35 pm
by Jotun
Nik_SpeakerToCats wrote: Wed Mar 26, 2025 9:02 pm Uh, was German translation correct ? Seemed to be Polish / in-fix rather than Reverse-Polish / post-fix, so verbs / adjectives weren't all piled up at end...

( Half a century along, I still get goose-bumps at sight of 'Formal German'... )
Yes, it is correct.

I read it before I saw the German translation, and it almost read like Plattdeutsch.

Re: Elfdalian

Posted: Thu Mar 27, 2025 6:30 pm
by Micael
Jotun wrote: Thu Mar 27, 2025 2:35 pm
Nik_SpeakerToCats wrote: Wed Mar 26, 2025 9:02 pm Uh, was German translation correct ? Seemed to be Polish / in-fix rather than Reverse-Polish / post-fix, so verbs / adjectives weren't all piled up at end...

( Half a century along, I still get goose-bumps at sight of 'Formal German'... )
Yes, it is correct.

I read it before I saw the German translation, and it almost read like Plattdeutsch.

There are some Plattdeutsch influence in Elfdalian, but more so in standard Swedish as I understand it. About 40% of modern Swedish vocabulary stem from medieval Plattdeutsch words, along with an influence on the grammar. While there’s been some divergence since then a Plattdeutsch speaker should have a notable head start in learning Swedish, a Hochdeutsch speaker as well but the words/spellings tends to be further removed in that case.

Re: Elfdalian

Posted: Thu Mar 27, 2025 11:23 pm
by Sukhoiman
Micael wrote: Thu Mar 27, 2025 5:58 am
Sukhoiman wrote: Wed Mar 26, 2025 10:46 pm yeah I just watched the Jackson Crawford vid on it just now too heh,
Two other videos to watch:
https://youtu.be/dmY7xC4_08Y

https://youtu.be/64ZcmML8Zps
Thanks!