Swedish language
In the 8th century, a common Germanic language of Scandinavia called Proto-Norse evolved into Old Norse. This language underwent changes that did not spread to all of Scandinavia, creating two similar dialects: Old West Norse and Old East Norse. The dialects of Old East Norse spoken in Sweden are known as Runic Swedish. These dialects are described as runic because the main body of text appears in the runic alphabet. Unlike Proto-Norse, which was written with the Elder Futhark alphabet, Old Norse used the Younger Futhark alphabet containing only 16 letters. Because the number of runes was limited, some runes served multiple phonemes. For instance, the rune for the vowel u also represented o, ø, and y. From 1200 onwards, dialects in Denmark began diverging from those of Sweden. Innovations spread unevenly from Denmark, creating minor dialectal boundaries ranging from Zealand in the south to Norrland and northwestern Finland in the north. An early change separating Runic Danish from other Old East Norse dialects involved shifting the diphthong æi to the monophthong é. This shift is visible in runic inscriptions where older texts read stain while later ones show stin. By the end of this period, these innovations affected most of the Runic Swedish-speaking area except for dialects north and east of Mälardalen.
As of 2006, Swedish was the sole native language of 83% of Swedish residents. In 2007, around 5.5% or approximately 290,000 people in Finland were native speakers of Swedish. The Finnish-Swedish minority concentrates in coastal areas and archipelagos of southern and western Finland. In 19 municipalities, including 16 located in Åland, Swedish serves as the sole official language. Åland county remains an autonomous region of Finland. Rough estimates from 2010 suggest up to 300,000 Swedish-speakers live outside Sweden and Finland. The largest populations exist in the United States with up to 100,000 speakers, followed by the UK, Spain, and Germany each hosting around 30,000. Over three million people speak Swedish as a second language, with about 2,410,000 residing in Finland. According to a European Commission survey, 44% of non-native Finnish respondents considered themselves proficient enough to hold conversations in Swedish. During the 19th and early 20th centuries, significant Swedish-speaking immigrant populations settled in states like Minnesota. By 1940, approximately 6% of Minnesota's population spoke Swedish. Although usage has significantly declined, older generations and rural communities like Lindström and Scandia still retain some knowledge of the language.
Swedish belongs to the North Germanic branch of the Indo-European language family. It falls under East Scandinavian languages alongside Danish, separating it from West Scandinavian languages including Faroese, Icelandic, and Norwegian. Recent analyses divide North Germanic languages into two groups: Insular Scandinavian comprising Faroese and Icelandic, and Continental Scandinavian containing Danish, Norwegian, and Swedish. This division relies on mutual intelligibility due to heavy influence of East Scandinavian particularly Danish on Norwegian during the last millennium. From a linguistic perspective, Danish, Norwegian, and Swedish form a dialect continuum of Scandinavian. Some border dialects such as those in Bohuslän, Dalsland, western Värmland, western Dalarna, Härjedalen, and Jämtland could be described as intermediate dialects of national standard languages. Despite varying pronunciations across regions, vocabulary remains standardized enough that most dialects within Sweden are virtually fully mutually intelligible. The vast geographic distances and historical isolation have caused significant variation in pronunciation among Swedish dialects.
Swedish dialects contain either 17 or 18 vowel phonemes consisting of nine long and nine short vowels. Most long vowels pair phonetically with one of the short vowels differing slightly in quality but maintaining similar characteristics. In many dialects, the short vowel sound pronounced or has merged with the short . There exist 18 consonant phonemes including two that vary considerably depending on dialect and social status. Sequences of alveolar combined with dental consonants result in retroflex consonants in many dialects. Swedish functions as a stress-timed language where time intervals between stressed syllables remain equal. Any stressed syllable carries one of two tones giving Swedish its characteristic sound. Prosody often represents the most noticeable difference between dialects. Standard word order follows verb-second structure meaning the finite verb appears in second position of declarative main clauses. Swedish morphology resembles English with words having comparatively few inflections. The language possesses two genders and generally maintains two grammatical cases: nominative and genitive except for pronouns which also appear in object form. Adjectives display discrete comparative and superlative forms while being inflected according to gender number and definiteness. Definiteness of nouns marks primarily through suffixes complemented by separate definite and indefinite articles.
Traditional division identifies six main groups of Swedish dialects including Norrland dialects Finland Swedish Svealand dialects Gotland dialects Götaland dialects and South Swedish dialects. Genuine rural dialects such as those from Orsa in Dalarna or Närpes in Österbotten possess distinct phonetic and grammatical features like plural verb forms or archaic case inflections. These dialects can be near-incomprehensible to majority Swedes though their speakers usually fluently use Standard Swedish. Different dialects are often so localized they remain limited to individual parishes referred to as sockenmål or parish speech. Modern scholars reject romanticized nationalist views suggesting only rural variants qualify as genuine dialects. No dialect remained unchanged undisturbed by minimum influences from surrounding dialects or standard language especially after late 19th century mass media advent. Differences today better described by a scale running from standard language to rural dialect where same person's speech may vary depending on situation. All Swedish dialects except highly diverging forms in Dalarna Norrbotten and some Gotland varieties form part of common mutually intelligible continuum potentially including Norwegian and some Danish dialects. In 2005 poll conducted by Swedish Retail Institute, 54% believed rikssvenska variety preferred when speaking with salesmen over phone despite alternatives like gotländska or skånska being offered.
Modern Swedish begins with advent of printing press and European Reformation. After assuming power new monarch Gustav Vasa ordered Swedish translation of Bible. New Testament published in 1526 followed by full Bible translation in 1541 known as Gustav Vasa Bible. Main translators included Laurentius Andreæ and brothers Laurentius and Olaus Petri. The Vasa Bible established use of vowels å ä ö and spelling ck replacing kk distinguishing it clearly from Danish Bible perhaps intentionally given ongoing rivalry between countries. All three translators originated from central Sweden adding specific Central Swedish features to new Bible. Spelling became more inconsistent during remainder of century until 17th century when discussion began around time first grammars written. Capitalization depended on authors background with German-influenced writers capitalizing all nouns while others capitalized sparsely. Orthography finally stabilized becoming almost completely uniform by time of 1906 spelling reform. Plural verb forms appeared decreasingly in formal writing into 1950s when removed from all official recommendations. A very significant change occurred late 1960s with so-called du-reform allowing direct address using pronoun du instead of formal ni or titles like herr fru fröken. Reform completed just few years from late 1960s to early 1970s resulting from sweeping social attitude changes rather than centralized political decree.
Continue Browsing
Common questions
When did the Swedish language evolve from Proto-Norse?
The Swedish language evolved from Proto-Norse during the 8th century. This evolution created Old Norse which later split into dialects including Runic Swedish spoken in Sweden.
What percentage of Swedish residents spoke Swedish as a native language in 2006?
As of 2006, Swedish was the sole native language of 83% of Swedish residents. Approximately 5.5% or 290,000 people in Finland were also native speakers of Swedish in 2007.
Which countries have the largest populations of Swedish speakers outside Sweden and Finland?
The United States hosts up to 100,000 Swedish speakers followed by the UK Spain and Germany each hosting around 30,000. Over three million people speak Swedish as a second language with about 2,410,000 residing in Finland.
How many vowel phonemes do Swedish dialects contain according to linguistic analysis?
Swedish dialects contain either 17 or 18 vowel phonemes consisting of nine long and nine short vowels. Most long vowels pair phonetically with one of the short vowels differing slightly in quality but maintaining similar characteristics.
When was the full Bible translation known as Gustav Vasa Bible published?
The full Bible translation known as Gustav Vasa Bible was published on the 1st of May 1541. The New Testament had been published earlier on the 1st of January 1526 under the order of monarch Gustav Vasa.