Meyer’s accent contours revisited

Do E.A. Meyer’s tonal word accents contours from the Swedish dialects provide a reliable basis for quantitative analysis? Measurements made on acute and grave tone-peaks in a number of dialects spoken in the province of Dalarna suggested that the timing of grave tonal peaks tended to vary systematically from south-east to north-west. The former dialects had relatively late and the latter relatively early tone-peaks. This finding suggests that Meyer’s accent data may be sufficiently accurate to reflect systematic variation within broad dialect areas. Implications for the historical development of the Dalarna dialects are discussed.