Vikværsk


Vikværsk, viksk or Wickish is a Norwegian dialect spoken in the outer parts of Oslofjorden; Østfold and Vestfold. Some can be heard in the lower parts of Buskerud, Akershus and Telemark.

The name

Vik means wick or bay, and -vær is a suffix meaning protector, which is a common Norwegian suffix for making demonyms. Ultimately, "Vikværsk" means the language of the inhabitants of the Wick.

Idiosyncrasy

The ending -a, which is used in some grammatical areas as simple past tense, definite form of feminine nouns and so, has changed into -æ/-ä in some parts where Vikværsk is spoken.
The same goes for the plural endings -ær/-är and -æne/-äne in masculinum which is changed from middle Norwegian -ar and -ane.
Another well known phenomenon is the word ente, which is mostly heard in Østfold. This might be an example of the Swedish influence, since the Norwegian word for not is ikke/ikkje and the Swedish word is inte.
Monophthongs are common to the southeast of where the dialect is spoken, and is the only dialect in all of Norway where these has come naturally.

Pronunciation

Thick l exists throughout the whole eastern part of Norway, but should also be mentioned. It has evolved from Old Norse l and rð.

Orthography and alphabet

There is no set orthography for the dialect, so it is mostly written by using the standard Norwegian orthography. However, enthusiasts have experimented with different orthographies, and the most common one is used beneath.

Nouns

Vikværsk

Bokmål

Nynorsk

Verbs

The verbs can now and then be totally foreign for other Norwegians, and it is hard to find a pattern in conjugating them.

Vikværsk

As you see, some irregular verbs have the "-a" ending in infinitive. In many cases, this is the only difference between standard Norwegian and Vikværsk irregular verbs.

Bokmål