Vestlandsk or Vestlandske dialekter (West Norwegian) is a collective term for the

dialects The term dialect (from Latin , , from the Ancient Greek word , 'discourse', from , 'through' and , 'I speak') can refer to either of two distinctly different types of linguistic phenomena: One usage refers to a variety of a language that is a ...

that are spoken on the coast of

western Norway Western Norway ( nb, Vestlandet, Vest-Norge; nn, Vest-Noreg) is the region along the Atlantic coast of southern Norway. It consists of the counties Rogaland, Vestland, and Møre og Romsdal. The region has no official or political-administrativ ...

in the area ranging from

Romsdal Romsdal is a traditional district in the Norwegian county Møre og Romsdal, located between Nordmøre and Sunnmøre. The district of Romsdal comprises Aukra, Fræna, Midsund, Molde, Nesset, Rauma, Sandøy, and Vestnes. It is named after ...

in the north to

Agder Agder is a county (''fylke'') and traditional region in the southern part of Norway. The county was established on 1 January 2020, when the old Vest-Agder and Aust-Agder counties were merged. Since the early 1900s, the term Sørlandet ("south ...

in the south. These dialects can furthermore be split into north-western dialects (''Nordvestlandske dialekter''), south-western dialects (''Sørvestlandske dialekter'') and southern dialects (''Sørlandske dialekter''). *Nordvestlandske dialekter (North-Western dialects) have e-infinitive, and extends from the middle of

Sogn og Fjordane Sogn og Fjordane (; English: "Sogn and Fjordane") was, up to 1 January 2020, a county in western Norway, when it was merged to become part of Vestland county. Bordering previous counties Møre og Romsdal, Oppland, Buskerud, and Hordaland, the cou ...

. Of these, one can mention: ** Jølstramål – centering on

Jølster Jølster is a former municipality in Sogn og Fjordane county, Norway. It was located in the traditional district of Sunnfjord. The administrative centre was the village of Skei. Other villages in the municipality included Helgheim, Ålhus, ...

** Sunnmørsdialekt – collective term for dialects in Sunnmøre ** Romsdalsdialekt – dialect of

*Sørvestlandske dialekter (South-western dialects) have a-infinitive, and extends from the inner

, through

Hordaland Hordaland () was a county in Norway, bordering Sogn og Fjordane, Buskerud, Telemark, and Rogaland counties. Hordaland was the third largest county, after Akershus and Oslo, by population. The county government was the Hordaland County Municipa ...

and

Rogaland Rogaland () is a county in Western Norway, bordering the North Sea to the west and the counties of Vestland to the north, Vestfold og Telemark to the east and Agder to the east and southeast. In 2020, it had a population of 479,892. The admin ...

and western part of

. Of these, one can mention: ** Bergensk, Haugesundsk,

Stavangersk Stavangersk, Stavanger dialect or Stavanger Norwegian ( no, Stavangersk, (Bokmål) or (Nynorsk)) is a dialect of Norwegian used in Stavanger Stavanger (, , American English, US usually , ) is a city and municipalities of Norway, municipali ...

– these are city dialects (''bymål''). They have strong ''simplification'', which is characteristic for all urban dialects (''bydialekter''), but originate from the dialects of the area with which they have much in common. ** Jærsk – dialect in

Jæren Jæren is a Districts of Norway, traditional district in Rogaland county, Norway. The other districts in Rogaland are Dalane, Ryfylke, and Haugalandet. Jæren is one of the 15 districts that comprise Western Norway. At about , Jæren is the large ...

** Strilamål – dialect of Strilelandet, an area around

Bergen Bergen (), historically Bjørgvin, is a city and municipalities of Norway, municipality in Vestland county on the Western Norway, west coast of Norway. , its population is roughly 285,900. Bergen is the list of towns and cities in Norway, secon ...

** Sunnhordlandsdialekt – dialect of

Sunnhordland Sunnhordland is a traditional district in the western region of Norway. The district consists of the southern coastal regions of the old Hordaland county (now part of Vestland county). It includes the areas that surround the mouth of the Hardan ...

*Sørlandske dialekter (Southern dialects) have -voicing,

guttural R Guttural R is the phenomenon whereby a rhotic consonant (an "R-like" sound) is produced in the back of the vocal tract (usually with the uvula) rather than in the front portion thereof and thus as a guttural consonant. Speakers of languages w ...

and a-endings, and is spoken in the eastern part of

and part of

Telemark Telemark is a traditional region, a former county, and a current electoral district in southern Norway. In 2020, Telemark merged with the former county of Vestfold to form the county of Vestfold og Telemark. Telemark borders the traditional ...

References

Other sources

*Jahr, Ernst Håkon (1990) ''Den Store dialektboka'' (Oslo: Novus) *Kristoffersen, Gjert (2000) ''The Phonology of Norwegian'' (Oxford University Press) *Vanvik, Arne (1979) ''Norsk fonetikk'' (Oslo: Universitetet i Oslo) {{Norwegian language Norwegian language Norwegian dialects

See also

References

Other sources