| Languages ofSweden | |
|---|---|
 Sign at a library in Swedish andSouthern Sami | |
| Official | Swedish (since 2009) |
| Recognised | Swedish (until 2009) |
| Regional | (Unofficial languages / Dialects)South Swedish,Götamål,Svealand Swedish,Norrland, andGutnish, among others. |
| Minority | (Officially recognised)Finnish,Meänkieli,Romani,Yiddish |
| Immigrant | Arabic,Serbo-Croatian,Greek,Kurdish,Persian,Polish,Spanish,Somali[1] |
| Foreign | English (89%) German (30%) French (11%) |
| Signed | Swedish Sign Language |
| Keyboard layout | |
| Source | Europeans and their Languages (published in 2006, archived from europa.eu) |
Swedish is the official language ofSweden and is spoken by the vast majority of the 10.23 million inhabitants of the country. It is aNorth Germanic language and quite similar to its sisterScandinavian languages,Danish andNorwegian, with which it maintains partial mutual intelligibility and forms adialect continuum. A number of regional Swedish dialects are spoken across the country. In total, more than 200 languages are estimated to be spoken across the country, including regional languages, indigenous Sámi languages, and immigrant languages.[2]
In 2009, theRiksdag passed a national language law recognizing Swedish as themain andcommon language of society, as well as the official language for "international contexts". The law also confirmed the official status of the fivenational minority languages —Finnish,Meänkieli,Romani,Sámi languages andYiddish — andSwedish Sign Language.
For several centuries, Sweden was a larger country than today. At its height in 1658, theSwedish Empire spread across what is currentlyFinland andEstonia and into parts ofPoland,Russia,Latvia,Germany,Denmark, andNorway. Hence, Sweden's linguistic landscape has historically been very different from its current context.
Swedish evolved fromOld Norse around the 14th and 15th century. Swedish dialects were generally much more diverse in the past than they are today. Since the 20th century,Standard Swedish has prevailed throughout the country. TheScandinavian languages can be considered to constitute adialectal continuum and some of the traditionalSwedish dialects such as (Jämtlandic) are similar toNorwegian dialects.
Finnish was the majority language of Sweden's eastern parts, though it was almost exclusively a spoken language. Parts of Finland are also home to a significantSwedish-speaking minority, includingÅland, many of whom speak theFinland Swedish dialect. Finnish became a minority language in western Sweden as many Finnish speakers migrated there for economic reasons.
Estonian was the language of the majority inSwedish Estonia but the province, like Finland, hosted aSwedish-speaking minority and a more significant minority ofGermans.
In medieval Sweden, theLow German language played an important role as a commercial language, serving as thelingua franca of theHanseatic league. As such, Low German influenced Swedish and other languages in the region considerably. In medievalStockholm, half the population were Low German speakers.[3] Low German was also spoken in the 17th-century Swedish territories along the southernBaltic Coast inSwedish Pomerania,Bremen-Verden,Wismar andWildeshausen, as well as by theBaltic Germans in Estonia andSwedish Livonia. Livonia was also inhabited byLatvians,Estonians andLivonians.
InSwedish Ingria, Finnish,Ingrian andVotian were spoken along with Swedish.
Latin, as the language of the Catholic Church, was introduced to Sweden with theChristianization of Sweden, around AD 1000. As in most ofEurope, Latin remained the lingua franca and scholarly language of the educated communities for centuries in Sweden. For instance,Carl Linnaeus's most famous work,Systema Naturae, published in 1735, was written in Latin.
During the 18th century,French was the second language of Europe's upper classes and Sweden was no exception. The Swedish aristocracy often spoke French among themselves andcode-switching between French and Swedish was common. The Swedish KingGustav III was a trueFrancophile and French was the common language at his court. In 1786, Gustav III founded theSwedish Academy to promote and advance the Swedish language and literature.[4]
Aside from what is currently Norway, Sweden largely obtained its current borders in 1809, when it lost its eastern part (Finland) to theRussian Empire. Sweden largely lost its overseas possessions over time, withSwedish Pomerania being ceded to Denmark in exchange forNorway andGuadeloupe was returned toFrance in 1814. As a consequence, Sweden became a rather homogeneous country with the exceptions of the indigenous Sámi people and the Finnish-speakingTornedalians in the northernmost parts of the country.
During the 19th century, Sweden became more industrialised, resulting in important demographic changes. The population doubled and people moved from the countryside to towns and cities. As a consequence of this and factors such as generalised education and mass media, traditional dialects began to make room for the standard language (Standard Swedish). During the same period and until the 1970s, Sweden applied aSwedification policy that limited schooling to Swedish-language instruction and actively discouraged the use of other languages.[5]
As in the rest of Europe and much of the world,English has grown as an important foreign language in Sweden, especially since the Allied victory inWorld War II. During the second half of the 20th century and the first decade of the 21st century, Sweden has received great numbers of immigrants who speak languages other than Swedish (see: "Immigrant languages" below). It is unclear to what degree these communities will hold on to their languages and to what degree they will assimilate.
In 2009, the Riksdag passed the Language Law (Språklag SFS 2009:600), which contains provisions concerning the Swedish language, the five national minority languages and Swedish Sign Language. Among its provisions is a general mandate to safeguard the Swedish language, linguistic diversity in Sweden, and individuals' access to language.[6]
The Kingdom of Sweden is anation-state for theSwedish people and as such the national language is held in high regard. Of Sweden's roughly 10.5 million people,[7] almost all speak Swedish, with the overwhelming majority of people in Sweden identifying Swedish as their first language (9.5 million, according to SIL'sEthnologue).[8][9] Swedish is also an official language inFinland where it is spoken by a large number ofSwedish-speaking Finns. The language is also spoken to some degree byethnic Swedes living outside Sweden; for example, 48,500 people of Swedish descent in the United States speak the language, according to Ethnologue.[8]
The Language Law of 2009 recognizes Swedish as themain andcommon language of society, as well as being the official language in "international contexts".[6]: 4,5,14
A number ofSwedish dialects exist and are generally classified into six groups, calledsockenmål in Swedish:South Swedish,Götamål,Svealand Swedish,Norrland,Eastern Swedish, andGutnish.[8] As aNorth Germanic language, the Swedish dialects all grew out ofOld Norse, but under differing influences as the language split along East and West Scandinavian branches. In western Sweden, many local dialects, such asJämtlandic andDalecarlian, show greater influence from the West Scandinavian branch of Old Norse andNorwegian. Some dialects are divergent enough from standard Swedish to be considered separate languages.
TheDalecarlian dialect group ofDalarna County varies significantly, ranging from the variations in the northwest of the county similar to the neighboringEast NorwegianØsterdalsmål [no] dialect to versions more similar to Swedish. TheÄlvdalen Municipality has a population of about 1,500 speakers of theElfdalian Dalecarlian dialect.[10]
ModernGutnish orGotlandic exists as a spoken language inGotland andFårö. While influenced by Swedish, Gutnish is descended fromOld Gutnish, which evolved as a separate branch of Old Norse.
Spoken mainly inJämtland, but with a scattered speaker population throughout the rest of Sweden,Jämtlandic orJämska is a West Scandinavian language and part of the Norrlandsockenmål with 95% lexical similarity to Norwegian and Swedish, but is generally more archaic. It has a native speaker population of 30,000.[11]
Spoken in the Swedish province ofScania,Scanian is today generally considered by Swedish linguists to be part of the South Swedish dialect group. It was historically considered by some a dialect ofDanish.[12]
In 1999, the Minority Language Committee of Sweden formally declared five languages asofficial minority languages of Sweden: Finnish, Meänkieli (also known as Tornedal, Tornionlaaksonsuomi or Tornedalian), Romani, Sámi languages (in particular Lule, Northern, and Southern Sámi), and Yiddish.[13] The Language Law of 2009 confirms the recognition of these five languages as "national minority languages".[6]: 7,8 This status enshrines the right of speakers of these languages to receive schooling and other services in their language.
As of 2009[update], there were about 470,000Finnish-speakers in Sweden.[14]Finnish, aUralic language, has long been spoken in Sweden (the same holds true for Swedish in Finland,seeFinland-Swedes,Åland), as Finland was part of the Swedish kingdom for centuries. Ethnic Finns (mainly first- and second-generation immigrants) constitute up to 5% of the population of Sweden. A high concentration of Finnish-speakers (some 16,000) resides inNorrbotten.
Meänkieli is a Finnic language related toFinnish andKven. Spoken by theTornedalian people, it is mutually intelligible with northern dialects of Finnish, but has a higher number of Swedish loan words; it is sometimes considered a dialect of Finnish. Meänkieli is mainly used in the municipalities ofGällivare,Haparanda,Kiruna,Pajala andÖvertorneå, all of which lie in theTorne Valley. Between 40,000 and 70,000 people speak Meänkieli as their first language.
TheSámi people (formerly known as Lapps) are a people indigenous toScandinavia and theKola peninsula (seeSápmi) who speak a related group of languages, five of which —Lule,Northern, andSouthern Sámi, as well as the critically endangeredUme Sámi andPite Sámi— are spoken in Sweden.[15] Like Finnish and Meänkieli, Sámi languages areUralic languages; however, prolonged exposure to Germanic-language-speaking neighbors in Sweden and Norway causes them to have a large number of Germanic loanwords not found in other Uralic languages. Between 15,000 and 20,000 Sámi people live in Sweden of whom 9,000 speak a Sámi language. In Sweden, the largest concentrations of Sámi-language speakers are found in the municipalities ofArjeplog,Gällivare,Jokkmokk,Kiruna, and other parts ofNorrbotten.
Romani (also known as Rromani Ćhib) is a family ofIndo-Aryan languages spoken by theRomani people, a nomadic ethnic group originating in northern India. Several dialects of Romani are spoken and Swedish, including theScandoromaniPara-Romani admixture of Scandinavian languages and Romani. Around 90% of Sweden's Romani people speak a form of Romani, meaning that there are approximately 9,500 ćhib speakers. In Sweden, there is no major geographic center for Romani, as there is for Finnish, Sámi, or Meänkieli, but it is considered to be of historical importance by the Swedish government and as such the government is seen as having an obligation to preserve them, a distinction also held by Yiddish.[16] Because of this, the Swedish government has helped develop and publish a significant number of books and educational materials in Romani.[17]
Yiddish is aGermanic language with significant Hebrew and Slavic influence, written with a variant of the Hebrew alphabet (seeYiddish orthography) and, formerly spoken by mostAshkenazic Jews (although most now speak the language of the country in which they live). Although the Jewish population of Sweden was traditionallySephardic, after the 18th century, Ashkenazic immigration increased bringing with them the Yiddish language (SeeHistory of the Jews in Sweden). Like Romani, it is seen by the government as a language of historical importance. The organisationSällskapet för Jiddisch och Jiddischkultur i Sverige (Society for Yiddish and Yiddish Culture in Sweden) has more than 200 members, many of whom are mother-tongue Yiddish speakers, and arranges regular activities for the speech community and in external advocacy for the Yiddish language.
As of 2009[update], the Jewish population in Sweden was estimated at around 20,000, about 2,000–6,000 of whom claim to have at least some knowledge of Yiddish. The number of native speakers among these has been estimated by linguist Mikael Parkvall to be 750–1,500. It is believed that virtually all native speakers of Yiddish in Sweden today are adults, and most of them elderly.[18]
Swedish Sign Language (SSL) is an officially recognized language[6]: 9 and is used by theDeaf community in Sweden. SSL was developed in the early 1800s, possibly with some influence fromBritish Sign Language. It has influenced the development of sign languages in Finland, Portugal, and Eritrea (seeSwedish Sign Language family).
Since theMiddle Ages until the end ofWorld War II,Germany was usually the country outside Scandinavia with the closest cultural, commercial and political relations withSweden. Thus, study of theGerman language had always been promoted by the Swedish state as the primary foreign language. Many of Sweden's administrative and social institutions, including the education system, were organised along the German and Prussian model, as many Swedish pioneering intellectuals of the 17th century were educated in German universities. This changed after the end of the Second World War, when it was no longer acceptable to emphasise a closer link with defeated Germany.
A majority of Swedes, especially those born afterWorld War II, are able to understand and speakEnglish thanks to trade links, the popularity of overseas travel, a strong American influence, especially in regards to arts and culture, and the tradition ofsubtitling rather than dubbing foreign television shows and films. English, whether in American,Commonwealth (Australian, Canadian, andKiwi) or British dialects, has been a compulsory subject forsecondary school students studyingnatural sciences as early as 1849 and has been a compulsory subject for all Swedish students since 1952, when it replacedGerman.[21]
Depending on local school authorities, English is currently a compulsory subject fromthird untilninth grade, and all students continue to study English in secondary school for at least another year. Most students also learn one and sometimes two additional languages; the most popular beingGerman,French andSpanish. From the autumn semester 2014,Mandarin Chinese is proposed as a fourth additional language.[22] SomeDanish andNorwegian are also taught as part of Swedish language learning to emphasize differences and similarities between the languages.
There is currently an ongoing debate among linguists whether English should be considered a foreign language,second language or transcultural language in Sweden (and other Scandinavian countries)[23] due to its widespread use in education[24] and society in general.[25][26] This has also triggered opposition: in 2002 the Swedish government proposed an action plan to strengthen the status of Swedish[27][28] and in 2009 Swedish was announced the official language of the country for the first time in its history. Since 2011, Swedes have consistently been ranked among the best non-native English speakers in the world byEF Education First'sEnglish Proficiency Index, placing first on the Index in 2012, 2013, 2015 and 2018.[29][30]
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Like many developed European countries from the late 1940s to the 1970s, Sweden has received tens of thousands of guest workers from countries in Southern Europe and the Middle East. Second- and third-generation Swedes of Southern European or Middle Eastern descent have adopted Swedish as their main tongue or in addition to their immigrant languages, such asArabic,Bulgarian,Greek,Italian,Bosnian/Serbian/Croatian, andTurkish.
In 2016, language-learning serviceDuolingo shared first-party statistics which showed that most of the people using the service to study Swedish were actually located in Sweden, and that Sweden-based users were taking the Swedish course for English speakers more than any other course available on the service; the staff determined that both of these facts were a result of Sweden's large immigrant population.[31][non-primary source needed]
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"De största invandrarspråken är arabiska, turkiska, persiska, spanska, grekiska och ex-jugoslaviska språk"; "The largest immigrant languages are Arabic, Turkish, Persian, Spanish, Greek and ex-Yugoslav languages". Note that Finnish in deed is one of the most spoken immigrant languages but not classified as such by theInstitutet för språk och folkminnen since it has acquired status as an official minority language.
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