Dalecarlian interjections
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Interjections are words, that people sometimes insert in their speech, and which may be used: to express feelings, to imitate sounds, when greeting, to get attention, to confirm, to deny etc.
Feelings: Oj!, Fý!, Jaflar!, Kneflen!, Uff!, Van!, Hjalpvár Herra!, Vassara!, Oskjett! Au au au!, Onno, onno!
(These usually translates into 'Ugh!', 'Oh!', 'Damn!' etc.)Imitating: B[aelig´]! (= "lamb's sound"); Nøff! (= "pig's sound"); Vof! (= "dog's sound"); Sss!; Kjoff!<p> Greeting: Hej! (= 'Hello!'), Góðmorgun! [gu`mo'run] (= 'Good morning!'), Hej þâ! (= 'Bye!'), Høj! (= 'Hi!'), Góðnát! [gu`natt] (= 'Good night!')<p> Attention: Prro! (making a horse listening); Skál! (= 'Cheers!'); Hallo! (= 'Hey!') <p> Confirming: Ja!, Jú!, Ææñ!, Mm! (all meaning 'Yes!')<p> Denying: Naj!, Æñ-æñ! (both meaning 'No!')<p> Thanking: Tákk! (= 'Thanks!'), Kj[aelig´]r tákk før! (= 'Thank you very much!') </blockquote> Note here that the greeting Hej! is the only word in Dalecarlian where the h- can be pronunced: [Ejj] or [hEjj]. (This probably means it is borrowed from Modern Swedish - the traditional Dalecarlian "default" greeting is Góðdag! [gu`dA:G] (= 'Good day!'). ) From some of the oldest found Dalecarlian runic carvings one can see that the h- became silent sometime in the 17th century. As a result, the hågål (Old Norse: "hagall" = 'hail') rune turned from representing the h- and "soft g"-sounds to represent the å-sound (hågål > ågål).
