Central Scandinavian dialectography from a diachronic perspective

The aim of the present dissertation is to analyse and contextualise the shared phonological features of several varieties spoken across the Norwegian-Swedish border, arguing for the existence of a Central Scandinavian dialect group. Such group appears to be characterised by the partial participation to innovations that are typical of either Western or Eastern Scandinavian, by the presence of independent innovations and by a set of conservative features. More precisely, the varieties of interest are spoken in part of the counties of Trøndelag and Innlandet in Norway and Jämtland, Härjedalen and Dalarna in Sweden, where field investigations have been conducted via the administration of questionnaires and the recording of interviews. The collected data is then compared to older recordings and transcriptions retrieved via archival research, thus providing diachronic depth to the study.