Apocope in Northern Norwegian Dialects

One well-known feature of northern Norwegian dialects is apocope. Apocope is the loss of vowels. In northern Norwegian dialects, it is common in verb endings and at the end of words. It is a type of vowel lenition or weakening.

The use of apocope can vary from one dialect to another. An example of a sentence without apocope is  Han vil synge en vise og jeg skal kjøpe en kake. This sentence means He wants to sing a song and I want to buy a cake. It is typical of the Norwegian spoken in Oslo and other parts of southeastern Norway.

In many northern Norwegian dialects, the sentence is as follows: Han vil søng ei vis og e skal kjøp ei kak. Notice the use of apocope. The final vowel of the infinitive synge (sing), the noun vise (song), the infinitive kjøp (buy) and kake (cake) are missing. The apocope of northern Norwegian dialects reduces the number of syllables.

Apocope is a common phonological process in many Norwegian dialects. The deleted vowel is always unstressed. It is also common in many northern Swedish dialects.