Old Norse diphthongs , , and have experienced monophthongization in certain dialects of modern Norwegian. This shift originated in Old East Norse, which is reflected in the fact that Swedish and Danish overwhelmingly exhibit this change. Monophthongization in Norway ends on the coast west of Trondheim and extends southeast in a triangle into central Sweden. Some Norwegian dialects, east of Molde, for example, have lost only and . Leveling (/ in Norwegian) This is a phenomenon in which the root vowel and end vowel in a word approximate each other. For example, the old Norse has become or in certain dialects. There are two varieties in Norwegian dialects – one in which the two vowels become identical, the other where they are only similar. Leveling exists only in inland areas in Southern Norway, and areas around Trondheim. Vowel shift in strong verbs In all but Oslo and coastal areas just south of the capital, the present tense of certain verbs take on a new vowel (umlaut), e.g., becomes (in Oslo, it becomes ). Pronunciation of consonants Eliminating in the plural indefinite form In some areas, the is not pronounced in all or some words in their plural indefinite form. There are four categories: The is retained – most of Eastern Norway, the South-Eastern coast, and across to areas north and east of Stavanger. The disappears altogether – Southern tip of Norway, coastal areas north of Bergen, and inland almost to Trondheim. The is retained in certain words but not in others – coastal areas around Trondheim, and most of Northern Norway The is retained in certain words and in weak feminine nouns, but not in others – one coast area in Nordland. Phonetic realization of Most dialects realize as the alveolar tap or alveolar trill . However, for the last 200 years the uvular approximant has been gaining ground in Western and Southern Norwegian dialects, with Kristiansand, Stavanger, and Bergen as centers. The uvular R has also been adopted in aspiring patricians in and around Oslo, to the point that it was for some time fashionable to "import" governesses from the Kristiansand area. In certain regions, such as Oslo, the flap has become realized as a retroflex flap (generally called "thick L") , which exists only in Norway, a few regions in Sweden, and in completely unrelated languages. The sound coexists with other retroflexions in Norwegian dialects. In some areas