{{språk|namn=älvdalska|inhemskt namn=övdalska
|familycolor=#efefef
|stat=Sverige
|region=Dalarna
|talare=cirka 3000
|status=utdöende
|språkfamilj=indoeuropeiskt<br>
&nbsp;germanskt<br>
&nbsp;&nbsp;nordiskt<br>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;'''älvdalska'''
|land=
|myndighet=Råðdjärum, älvdalska språkrådet[http://www.ehf.se/ulumdalska/index4.html]
}}

thumb|right|Målet talas i södra delen av Älvdalens kommun i [[Dalarna]]

'''Älvdalska''' (även: ''älvdalsmål''; ''övdalsk'' på älvdalska), svenskt lokalmål (huruvida det är en dialekt eller ett språk är en omstridd fråga) som talas och används i Älvdalen i norra Dalarna. Det har länge ansetts som en dialekt, men har på senare tid fått egen ortografi.

Det finns cirka 3 000 personer som fortfarande talar älvdalska och numera finns böcker och tidningar tryckta på älvdalska. Älvdalskan har utvecklats ur det gemensamma nordiska språk, som för över 1 000-1 500 år sedan talades i hela norra Europa. Många språkforskare menar att älvdalskan är mera svensk än det vi i dagligt tal kallar svenska, som är en blandning av de dialekter som talades i Mälardalen, där Sveriges politiska och ekonomiska makt funnits sedan medeltiden, men också starkt påverkat av plattyska.

===Språkliga särdrag===
Målet särskiljer sig från flertalet andra moderna nasala vokaler (till exempel ''buotję'' 'boken'), mer utvecklad kasusböjning (till exempel ''wargen ietter Grobien'' nominativ 'vargen heter Gråben', ''ig såg wardjin'' ackusativ 'jag såg vargen', ''ig djäv wardjem tjyöt'' dativ 'jag ger vargen kött', ''wardjemes bien ir åv'' genitiv 'vargens ben är av'), kvantitetssystem med fyra stavelsetyper (dvs enstavighet, kortstavighet, långstavighet samt överlångstavighet; svenska har bara de två stavelsetyperna  enstavighet och långstavighet), bland annat &eth;-konsonantsystem (motsvarar engelskans tonande ''th'' i ''father'', till exempel ''guoð'' 'god'), m.m. Älvdalskan har också nya, sekundära diftonger — vilket tidigare var vanligt bland svenska dialekter och som fortlever i bl.a. gutniskan — vilka är ''ai'' (ur äldre långt ''i'', till exempel ''baita'' 'bita'), ''uo'' (ur äldre långt ''o'', till exempel ''suol'' 'sol'), ''au'' (ur äldre långt ''u'', till exempel ''aus'' 'hus'), ''åy'' (ur äldre långt ''y'', till exempel ''åysa'' 'hysa'), ''yö'' (ur äldre långt ''ö'', till exempel ''myöta'' 'möta') samt ''ie'' (ur äldre långt ''e'' som i sin tur kommer ur den primära fornnordiska diftongen ''æi'', till exempel ''stien'' 'sten'); dessutom har älvdalska triftongen ''iuo'' (ur äldre obetonat ''i'' + betonat långt ''o'', till exempel ''biuoða'' 'bjuda').

{{Infobox Language
|name=Elfdalian
|nativename=Övdalsk
|familycolor=Indo-European
|states=Sweden
|region=Elfdalia (Dalecarlia County) (Northern Europe)
|speakers=Around 3000
|fam2=Germanic
|fam3=North Germanic
|fam4=East Scandinavian
|fam4=Dalecarlian language
|agency=Råðdjärum, älvdalska språkrådet[http://www.ehf.se/ulumdalska/index4.html]<br>(semi-official)
|iso1=|iso2=elf|iso3=elf}}

thumb|left|Älvdalen Municipality in [[Dalarna; Elfdalian is spoken in the southeastern half.]]

'''Elfdalian''' (''Övdalsk'' or ''Övdalską'' in Elfdalian, ''Älvdalska'' or ''Älvdalsmål'' in Swedish) is a linguistic variety of the  Scandinavian language branch spoken in the old parish of Övdaln, which is located in the south-eastern part of Älvdalen Municipality in Northern Dalarna, Sweden. 

Traditionally regarded as a Swedish dialect, Elfdalian is today regarded by several linguists as a separate language. As some other Dalecarlian vernaculars spoken north of the Lake Siljan, Elfdalian retains numerous old grammatical and phonological features that have not changed considerably since Old Norse and is considered to be the most conservative and best preserved vernacular within the Dalecarlian branch.

Elfdalian has around 3,000 speakers and its existence is severely threatened. However, it is possible that it will receive an official status as a minority language in Sweden, which would entail numerous protections and encourage its use in schools and by writers and artists. In 2007 the Swedish Parliament was due to address this issue, but it has apparently not yet been treated ([http://www.multietn.uu.se/information/elfdalian_english.html source]). 

==Grammar==

===Morphology===

Elfdalian has a highly complex morphological structure, partially inherited from its Old Norse ancestor. Thus, it has personal conjugations on the verb, three genders, and makes case distinctions. As in other Scandinavian languages, nouns have definite (def.) and indefinite (indef.) forms. The length of the root syllable plays a major role in the Elfdalian declensional and conjugational system. The conjugation of ''warg'' 'wolf' (long-syllabic, strong masculine noun) was as follows in what is sometimes called "Classic Elfdalian" (as described by Levander 1909):

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| ''warg'' 'wolf'
! sg.indef.
! sg.def.
! pl.indef.
! pl.def. 
|-
| '''nominative'''
| warg
| wargen
| warger
| wargär
|-
| '''accusative'''
| warg
| wardjin
| warga
| wargą
|-
| '''dative'''
| wardje
| wardjem
| wargum
| wargum(e)
|-
| '''genitive'''
| (wardjes)
| wardjemes
| —
| wargumes
|}

Today the distinction between nominative and accusative may have been lost in full nouns, and the genitive has generally been replaced by ''-es'' forms (see Dahl & Koptjevskaja-Tamm 2005); but many speakers retain the distinct dative case, used especially after prepositions and also certain verbs (such as ''jåpa'', 'help').

===Syntax===

Unlike other Swedish vernaculars, the syntax of Elfdalian was investigated in the early 20th century (Levander 1909). However, although Elfdalian syntax attracts increased attention, a majority of the syntactic phenomena is still uncharted. In May/June 2007 a group of linguists from the pan-Scandinavian NORMS network<ref>[http://norms.uit.no/ Nordic Center of Excellence in Microcomparative Syntax]</ref> conducted a fieldwork in Älvdalen especially aimed at investigating the syntactic properties of the language. 

Presented with the help of generative syntax, the following interesting Elfdalian features can be pointed out: 

Null referential subjects are grammatical, but only 1st and 2nd person plural (Rosenkvist 2006), and 1st person plural pronouns cannot be covert unless directly in front of the finite verb. Verb raising occurs, although there is variation between generations (Garbacz 2006). Especially intriguing are the multiple subjects (Levander 1909:109), which seem to occur in clauses with the adverbial sakta ('actually') or the verb lär ('is possible'):

Du ir sakt du uvendes duktin dalsk.

you are advl. you very good speak-Övdalian

’you are actually very good at speaking Övdalian’

This has recently been studied more closely from a generative perspective in Rosenkvist (2007).