naming a language

[Henrik Rosenkvist]

Dear Funknetters,

the last couple of years me and some of my colleagues have been working 
with a language variety which traditionally has been considered a 
Swedish dialect, but which, from a pure linguistic perspective, probably 
should be considered a language of its own. In the near future, we will 
publish some studies in this field in English, and we have been debating 
what we should call this language in English.

The Swedish name for the dialect is Älvdalska (/älv/ = river, /dal/ = 
valley, -/ska/ = -ish, as in Danish etc.). The speakers themselves say 
"Övdalska". We do not consider /Elfdalian/ an option (it is an exonym 
and has unwanted connotations), but are trying to decide between the 
alternatives  /Oevdalian/ and /Övdalian. /The former may sound archaic, 
but the latter contains the Swedish <ö>.

Considering the great experience in the field of typology which this 
list represents, could you possibly guide us in this matter? We expect 
that our coming work will have some impact, and would like to make the 
right choice from the beginning. So, what is the best choice? Are there 
better English alternatives?

The speakers themselves are quite illitterate when it comes to foreign 
languages, by the way, and they are not able to aid us.

all the best

Henrik R.