Reading the runes Could Swedish 'dialect' be an ancient language?

It is a distinct language that has survived against the odds for centuries in a tiny pocket of central Sweden, where just 2,500 people speak it today. And yet, despite bearing little resemblance to Swedish, Elfdalian is considered to be only a dialect of the country's dominant language.

- Miranda Bryant

Now researchers say they have uncovered groundbreaking information about the roots of Elfdalian that they hope could bolster its standing and help it acquire official recognition as a minority language.

Elfdalian is traditionally spoken in a small area, known as Älvdalen in Swedish and Övdaln in Elfdalian, which is part of the region of Dalarna. But using linguistic and archeological data including runes, Elfdalian experts have tracked the language back to the last phase of ancient Nordic - spoken across Scandinavia between the sixth and eighth centuries.

They believe it was imported to hunter-gatherers in the Swedish region of Dalarna from farmers based in the region of Uppland, which became an international base for trade, who started adopting the language. At the time, the hunter-gatherers of Dalarna spoke a language referred to by linguists as "paleo north Scandinavian".