Swedish Language
The Swedish language is the official language of Sweden, a Scandinavian country bordered by Norway and Finland. Known as Ruotsi and Svenska, Swedish evolved from Old Norse, the language of the Vikings. The Swedish government has long recognized the importance of language development, with initiatives dating back to the 15th century, including the translation of the Bible into Swedish. Written Swedish transitioned from Futhark runes to the Latin alphabet in the early thirteenth century, resulting in a modern alphabet that includes twenty-nine letters, such as å, ä, and ö.
Spoken Swedish features a range of dialects, reflecting the geographical diversity of the country. While Standard Swedish serves as a uniform written language, spoken forms can vary significantly, and the musical quality of the language is enhanced by pitch accents. Swedish is classified as a North Germanic language within the Indo-European family and has been influenced by exposure to other languages throughout its history.
Today, over nine million people speak Swedish, primarily in Sweden, with a notable Swedish-speaking minority in Finland. The language continues to evolve, incorporating English terms influenced by globalization, while the Swedish Academy and Language Council work to maintain its integrity and cultural significance.
Swedish Language
The Swedish language is the official language of Sweden, a Scandinavian country located between Norway and Finland. Also called Ruotsi and Svenska, Swedish is a descendant tongue of Old Norse, the ancient Nordic language of the Vikings. Encouraging language development and maintaining its importance has been an interest of the Swedish government since King Gustav Vasa ordered the Bible to be translated into Swedish in the fifteenth century.
Swedish utilized a writing system called the Futhark runes until the early thirteenth century. With the arrival and adaptation of Christianity, the Latin alphabet was introduced and applied to the Swedish language. The modern Swedish alphabet has twenty-nine letters. It includes the standard twenty-six-letter alphabet, as well as the letters å, ä, and ö.
Early written Swedish consisted mostly of religious texts and poetry. Occasionally, ballads and other forms of literature became popular for short periods of time. Sweden’s first weekly newspaper, the Ordinari Post Tijdender, was published in 1645 during the Thirty Years War. The newspaper is still published and is the oldest continual periodical in history.
Spoken and written Swedish are significantly different. Spoken Swedish has twenty dialects based on geographical regions. They include Eastern Swedish, Elfdalian, Gutniska, Jamska, Northern Swedish, and Southern Swedish. Among these, Elfdalian is most similar to Old Norse. Spoken Swedish is noted for its musical quality, mostly due to its pitch accents, which are also used to differentiate homonyms.
History and Classification
The Swedish language is classified as North Germanic (Nordic) in the Indo-European family of languages. It is derived from the East Norse dialect of Old Norse.
The origins of the Kingdom of Sweden date back to the seventh century. Old Swedish, the first version of the language, formed by the ninth century and lasted until the early sixteenth century. Sweden’s oldest provincial law code dates to circa 1250 and is written in Old Swedish. Viking explorers from Sweden traveled to other Scandinavian countries and Europe. Their exposure to other languages, such as German, French, and Latin, influenced Old Swedish.
New Swedish is the modern form of the language. It was first used during the sixteenth century after Gustav I Vasa led a revolt that dissolved the Kalmar Union, a treaty that had linked Sweden with Denmark and Norway since 1397. With Sweden freed from Danish control, the government and people moved to solidify their linguistic heritage and sought to eliminate Danish influence on the Swedish language.
The Reformation, during which Sweden became a Protestant country, was a major influence on Swedish, especially when the king ordered the Bible to be translated into the Swedish language in 1541. This translation used both Old and New Swedish and drew from Desiderius Erasmus's Latin translation of 1516 and Martin Luther's German translation of 1522. King Vasa's Bible remained in use until 1917 and served as a major source of Swedish language authority.
In the twenty-first century, Standard Swedish continues to be influenced by the English language. Globalization has brought trade, communications, travel, and media to a previously unfathomable level, and Swedes find themselves lacking vocabulary in their native language. Therefore, English words continue to be implemented in areas such as medicine, technology, and economics. The Language Council annually releases a list of new words that have been approved by the Ministry of Culture; these words offer a Swedish alternative to the English vocabulary.
Geographic Distribution and Modern Usage
Sweden has always been sparsely populated, with power and borders fluctuating between various eras. The southern Swedish provinces of Blekinge, Halland, and Skåne were a part of Denmark until 1658, while Finland was considered a Swedish territory from 1155 until 1809. Until 1902, Swedish was the only language in government and education in Finland. East Norse was a common tongue in the English provinces of Scarborough, Grimsby, and York, as well as in Rouen, Ladoga, Novgorod, and Kyiv.
The border with Denmark allowed for the development of languages so similar that many linguists consider one of the three principal dialects of Danish to be a form of the Swedish language. Swedish and Danish are both direct descendants of East Norse. More than ten million people worldwide, the majority of whom live in Sweden, speak the Swedish language. It is also estimated that 290,000 people within the borders of Finland speak Swedish. Finland's constitution appropriates equal, bilingual rights for both Swedish and Finnish, naming both as official languages of the nation. Worldwide, Swedish speakers reside in several countries outside Scandinavia, such as Canada, France, Germany, Spain, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Swedish is also listed as an official language of the European Union and the Nordic Council.
Standard Swedish (standardsvenska) or Realm Swedish (rikssvenska) refers to the non-dialectal, standardized Swedish language. Written Swedish is uniform, but spoken Swedish can vary from region to region. The more rural areas generally utilize dialects that are closer to Old Norse than to standard Swedish. The availability of public education has created book Swedish (boksvenska), which has contributed to the uniformity of the written language. The Swedish government and Language Council continue to regulate the Swedish language, with the Swedish Academy established in the late eighteenth century functioning as an official entity for maintaining its integrity, promoting its cultural significance, and updating the language as new concepts and technologies demand.
Bibliography
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Gooskens, Charlotte. "The Contribution of Linguistic Factors to the Intelligibility of Closely Related Languages." Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, vol. 28, no. 6, 2007, pp. 445-467. Taylor & Francis Online, doi.org/10.2167/jmmd511.0. Accessed 14 Jan. 2025.
Hansen, Johanna. “How Many People Speak Swedish? Exploring the Reach of Sweden's Native Tongue.” Campervan Sweden, www.campervansweden.com/blog/about-sweden/how-many-people-speak-swedish?utm‗source=chatgpt.com. Accessed 14 Jan. 2025.
Landes, David. "Swedish Becomes Official 'Main Language'." The Local, 1 July 2009, www.thelocal.se/20090701/20404. Accessed 14 Jan. 2025.
"Swedish." Ethnologue, www.ethnologue.com/language/swe. Accessed 14 Jan. 2025.