Phonology

The Kalix dialect has, according to Rutberg, 18 vowel monophtongs, 10 vowel diphthongs, and 29
consonants. It is also identified by its very common diacritic accent, where a vowel is repeated and stressed
twice. Many vowels can be represented by distinct IPA characters, some of which are listed in the table
below:

IPA Ex.IPA Ex.Latin Translation

i iːln i:ln the fire

ɪ hɪn hin here

y snyːn sny:n the snow

ʏ ʏvɪ yvi over

e ve:r ve:r weather

ɛ mɛstɛ meste almost

æ ʝæɾ jär is (singular)

ø røː rö: red (singular)

œ nœ nö now

ʉ hʉl hul was going to

ʊ ʝʊ jo yes/well

a anar anar another

ɑ lɑːk la:k long

ɒ kɒm kom came

ɔ gɔːɳ gå:rn the yard

Grammar

The Kalix dialect has an extensive inflection, with many characteristics similar to the German language.

Noun gender

Three grammatical genders exist:

Feminine: e.g. "ha:ta" (the hand), "nagla" (the nail), "å:dra" (the vein), "sköuldra" (the shoulder), "påp:a"
(the father), "måm:a" (the mother), "kjat:a" (the cat). But also "kuno" (the woman), "stuo" (the cottage),
"sögo" (the saga).
Masculine: e.g. "ståoLn" (the stool), "fåotn" (the foot), "armen" (the arm), "armboan" (the elbow),
"tåomen" (the thumb), "måon" (the mouth).

Neuter: "öe"/"öge" (the eye), "öre" (the ear), "höure" (the head), "bene" (the leg), "feingre" (the finger),
"kni:e" (the knee), "bån:e" (the child).

Basically, words that in their definite form end with an "n" are masculine, an "e" is neuter, and all vowel
except "e" are feminine.

General ending for words following the nouns are in feminine "-ar", masculine "-en", neuter "-e" or "-t",
and plural "-er". Ex.

Feminine: "he jär menar stuo" (it is my cottage) "hö ha:ar eingar på:på" (she had no dad), "hukar kuno?"
(which woman?), "woLar viko" (every week)

Masculine: "men ståoLn" (my stool), "anworn da" (every second day), "in tuken fåot" (such a foot)

Neuter: "i lätet bån" (a little child), "tuke schwammeL" (such bullshit), "i anne å:r" (another year)

Plural: "tuker stäinto" (such girls), "huker då:a?" (which days?), "einger feingro" (no fingers)

Definite and indefinite nouns

The definite noun form is used in a broader sense than in other Scandinavian languages, widespread in all
dialects spoken in northern Scandinavia. Some examples:

"je skå nå:åp i gröut ve bera" – I'll pick some (of the) berries,

"kunin jåra ät som kåran" – (the) women are not like (the) men.

Definiteviness can be divided into four categories depending on the noun's plural form. Examples of usage
with the feminine word "i fLa:ask" (a bottle / a flask):

Enumerating indefinite, equal to singular or differs on accent only: "je ha:ar to fLa:ask" (I had two flasks), "i
döusin fLa:ask" (a dozen flasks), "je ha fLe:r fLa:ask än di:" (I have more flasks than you), "ma:ak fLa:ask"
(many flasks).

Non-enumerating indefinite, "-o" ending: "he jär naer/einger/in del fLasko ini tjälaro" (there are
some/no/some flasks in the cellar), "aar fLasko" (other flasks), "tuker fLasko" (such flasks), "he jär la:ka
fLasko ini tjälaro" (there are long flasks in the cellar).

Definite usage, "-en" ending: "he jär mytji fLasken ini tjälaro" (there are a lot of flasks in the cellar), "å:åll
fLasken jåra bå:årt" (all flasks are gone), "höundratale å fLasken" (hundreds of flasks), "he var fLasken
ållostans" (there were flasks everywhere), "whiskeyfLasken" (wiskey flasks), "we hå:å la:kfLasken å
röundfLasken" (we have long flasks and round flasks), "di ha:ar snört fLasken ållostans" (they had thrown
flasks everywhere).
Definite "-en": "ta ve de fLasken då do gja öut" (take the flasks with you when you go out)

For masculine nouns, the four forms are e.g. "in bi:l" (a car) "to bi:il" (two cars) "naer bi:lo" (some cars),
"mytji bi:lan" (many cars), and "bi:lan" (the cars). Neuter definitive plural ending is "-a". Non-enumerative
words e.g. "i höus" (a house), "i gåLv" (a floor) are exceptions lacking the "-o" form.

Case

Dative is separated from the Accusative and Nominative case, e.g. feminine: "Din jär SkåoLa, je siti ini
skå:oLn" (there is the school, I am sitting in the school), masculine: "je sei tjälarn, he lik na ini tjälaro" (I see
the basement, it's something in the basement).

Several forms of Genitive cases exists, e.g. "Je ha ons Enok bi:l" (I have Enok's car), "je fick bre:ve än Anna"
(I got Anna's letter), "kLåk:a gran:o" (The neighbor’s clock).

Verbs

Verbs are conjugated in singular and plural, unlike modern standard Swedish: "hån jär" (he is) but "di jåra"
(they are), "hö löut se" (she leans herself) but "di lö:ut se" (they lean themselves), "je far" (I go) but "we
fåra" (we go), "je vil" (I want) but "di vili" (they want). But there are irregular verbs which does not differ,
e.g. "je liot fåra" (I have to go) / "we liot fåra" (we have to go).

Adjectives

Most Adjectives are equal in singular and plural, similar to English but distinct from many other
Scandinavian languages, e.g.: "dö:rn jär ipi" (the door is open) and "doran jåra ipi" (the doors are open),
"bå:ne jär vötchin" (the child is awake) and "bå:na jåra vötchin" (the children are awake), "do jär wälkymin
heit" (she is welcome here) and "di jåra wälkymin heit" (they are welcome here).

Other adjectives differs in singular and plural, and have two plural forms, e.g. "flaska jär rö:" (the flask is
red), "rö:a flasko, so jåra rö:ö" (red flasks, that are red).

Adjectives can also be joined with nouns, e.g. "råLkafötren" (dirty feet), or serially joined, e.g.
"lilvåckerstäinta" (the little beautiful girl).

Pleonastic article

The pleonastic article is widespread among languages in the area, as far north as Troms.[8] A "he" / "him"
or "she" / "her" is always put before people's names, pet's names, and words like e.g. father and mother.
e.g. "on far å na måor" (mom and dad). The pleonastic article differs in many aspects, by both grammatical
gender and case, e.g. "en Erik dji matn åt o Lars" (Eric gives food to Lars), "a Brit skå tåLa ve en Anna" (Brit
will talk to Anna).
Writing systems, orthography

In early scientific literature, a phonetic alphabet landsmålsalfabetet (LMA), developed by Johan August
Lundell was used to write Kalix dialect, while the most widely used informal form of writing is based on the
Latin alphabet with a few added symbols (Kalix variant), including letters å, ä, ö, capitalized L or bolded l,
apostrophe ´ or colon : for marking long or diacritic accents, etc.[1] Since no formal standard has been
developed, slight differences can be found among different writers. Recent language projects have used the
Kalix Alphabet,[10] a simplified form of the IPA, compatible with modern Internet technology, making
pronunciation more accurate. The community has not yet agreed on an official writing standard. While
early scientific LMA writing is the most accurate system for dwelling into Scandinavian language phonetics,
it has been used as a reference for the development of an IPA-based script.