 | This article needs additional citations for verification .(January 2007) |
Swedish dialects are the various forms of the Swedish language, particularly those that differ considerably from Standard Swedish.
| | This article needs additional citations for verification .(January 2007) |
Swedish dialects are the various forms of the Swedish language, particularly those that differ considerably from Standard Swedish.
The linguistic definition of a Swedish traditional dialect, in the literature merely called 'dialect', is a local variant that has not been heavily influenced by Standard Swedish and that can trace a separate development back to Old Norse. Many of the genuine rural dialects have very distinct phonetic and grammatical features, such as plural forms of verbs or archaic case inflections. These dialects can be nearly incomprehensible to most Swedes, and most of their speakers are also fluent in Standard Swedish.
The different dialects are often so localized that they are limited to individual parishes and are referred to by Swedish linguists as sockenmål (lit. "parish speech"). They are generally separated into the six traditional dialect groups, with common characteristics of prosody, grammar and vocabulary. [1] The color represents the core area and the samples are from Svenska Dagbladet's dialect project.
The areas with mixed colors as stripes are transitional areas. [2] The parts in yellow with coloured dots represent various distinct dialect areas which are not easily defined as belonging to any of the six major groups above. [2] The areas west of the core for Norrland dialects, west of Svealand dialects and north of Götaland dialects are related to each of these, respectively, indicated by the colour of the dots. Samples from these areas: Jämtland, Föllinge socken [3] (related to Norrland dialects), Dalarna, Älvdalens socken [4] (related to Svealand dialects) and Värmland, Nordmarks härad, Töcksmarks socken [5] (related to Götaland dialects). The dialects of this category have in common that they all show more or less strong Norwegian influences, especially the dialects in Härjedalen, Northwestern Jämtland and Northwestern Dalarna. Dialects often show similarities along traditional travelling routes such as the great rivers in Northern Sweden, which start in the mountains at the Norwegian border and then follow a South-Easterly path towards the Bothnian Sea. The grey area does not have any independently developed Swedish dialect.
Here is a summary of some of the most important differences between the major groups. [2]
| Feature | South Swedish dialects | Götaland dialects | Svealand dialects | Norrland dialects | Finland Swedish dialects | Gotland dialects |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Diphthongs | Secondary in most of the area | No | No | Primary everywhere, secondary in north | Primary and secondary | Primary and secondary |
| Long a > å | Yes (secondary diphthong) | Yes | Yes | Yes (changed back to long a in north) | Only partially | No |
| p, t, k > b, d, g | In most of the area | No | No | No | No | No |
| Intervocalic g > j or w | In most of the area | No | No | No | No | No |
| Ending vowel -a | Remains | Weakened in parts of the area | Remains | Vowel balance | Vowel balance | Weakened in most of the area |
| Dropping of -r in plur. | Yes | Yes | No | In north | No | No |
| Allophone of r | Back | Back and front | Front | Front | Front | Front |
| Postpos. poss. pron. | No | Only family words | Only family words | Yes | Yes | Only family words |
| Softening initial g, k, sk | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| Dropping of -n | No | Yes | Only in a small part of the area | Yes | No | Yes |
| Dropping of -t | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| "Thick" l, also of rd | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | restricted to some areas | No |
| Supradentals | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | restricted to some areas | No |
| Dropping of -de in pret. | In parts of the area | In parts of the area | Yes | Yes | Yes | Only -e is dropped |
| Prolong. vowel in short stemmed words, also in front of p, t, k, s | Yes | Yes | No | Some of the system of short stemmed words preserved | Some of the system of short stemmed words preserved | No |
| Stem vowel i, y > e, ö, also in long stemmed words and in front of i, u | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No |
| Vowel balance | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | No |
Note that this table does not hold for the distinct (dotted) or transitional (striped) areas.
Götaland dialects are mostly used in Västergötland, Dalsland, northern Halland, northern Småland and Östergötland although they are also heard in Bohuslän, Värmland (a special case, in many ways), and Öland. Examples of Götaland dialect features are vowel reduction, vowel shortening in front of endings and loss of -r in suffixes (as in hästa' (hästar = horses)).
A characteristic of Svealand dialects is the coalescence of the alveolar trill with following dental and alveolar consonants — also over word-boundaries — that transforms them into retroflex consonants that in some cases reduces the distinction between words (as for instance vana—varna, i.e. "habit" — "warn"). This feature is also found in East Norwegian, North Swedish and in some dialects of Scottish Gaelic.
The following dialect groups are sometimes classified as "Swedish" in the broadest sense (North Scandinavian): [6]
Dalecarlian is intermediate in some respects between East and West Scandinavian. Scanian, a dialect of East Danish, is South Scandinavian, along with Danish, East Danish, and Jutish.
Swedish is a North Germanic language from the Indo-European language family, spoken predominantly in Sweden and parts of Finland. It has at least 10 million native speakers, making it the fourth most spoken Germanic language, and the first among its type in the Nordic countries overall.
Sweden is a country in Northern Europe on the Scandinavian Peninsula. It borders Norway to the west ; Finland to the northeast; and the Baltic Sea and Gulf of Bothnia to the south and east. At 450,295 km2 (173,860 sq mi), Sweden is the largest country in Northern Europe, the fifth largest in Europe, and the 55th largest country in the world.
Dalarna County is a county or län in central Sweden (Svealand). It borders on the counties of Uppsala, Jämtland, Gävleborg, Västmanland, Örebro and Värmland. It also borders on the Norwegian counties of Hedmark and Trøndelag to the west. It was formerly known as Kopparberg County until the name was changed to that of the provincial region on 1 January 1997. The province of Dalarna is slightly larger than the county, as the westernmost part of Ljusdal Municipality belongs to it. Prince Gabriel, the son of Prince Carl Philip, is Duke of Dalarna.
The 25 provinces of Sweden are historical, geographical and cultural regions. They have no administrative function, but retain their own cultural identities, dialects and folklore.
The North Germanic languages make up one of the three branches of the Germanic languages—a sub-family of the Indo-European languages—along with the West Germanic languages and the extinct East Germanic languages. The language group is also referred to as the Nordic languages, a direct translation of the most common term used among Danish, Faroese, Icelandic, Norwegian, and Swedish scholars and people.
The counties of Sweden are the administrative subdivisions of Sweden. They are not regarded as geographical areas by Swedes as they are not connected to dialects or identity, which is a role fulfilled by the historical provinces of Sweden. Sweden is today divided into 21 counties; however, the number of counties has varied over time, due to territorial gains/losses and to divisions and/or mergers of existing counties. This level of administrative unit was first established in the 1634 Instrument of Government on Lord Chancellor Count Axel Oxenstierna's initiative, and superseded the landskap, in order to introduce a more efficient administration of the realm. At that time, they were what the translation of län into English literally means: fiefdoms. The county borders often follow the provincial borders, but the Crown often chose to make slight relocations to suit its purposes.
Dalsland is a Swedish traditional province, or landskap, situated in Götaland in southern Sweden. Lying to the west of Lake Vänern, it is bordered by Värmland to the north, Västergötland to the southeast, Bohuslän to the west, and Norway to the northwest.
Dalarna, also referred to by the English exonyms Dalecarlia and the Dales, is a landskap in central Sweden.
Svealand, or Swealand, is the historical core region of Sweden. It is located in south central Sweden and is one of three historical lands of Sweden, bounded to the north by Norrland and to the south by Götaland. Deep forests, Tiveden, Tylöskog, and Kolmården, separated Svealand from Götaland. Historically, its inhabitants were called Svear, from which is derived the English 'Swedes'.
Götaland is one of three lands of Sweden and comprises ten provinces. Geographically it is located in the south of Sweden, bounded to the north by Svealand, with the deep woods of Tiveden, Tylöskog and Kolmården marking the border.
The lands of Sweden are three traditional and historical regions of the country, each consisting of several provinces. The division into lands goes back to the foundation of modern Sweden, when Götaland, the land of the Geats, merged with Svealand, the land of the Swedes, to form the country, while Norrland and Österland were added later. The lands have no administrative function but are still seen by many Swedes as an important part of their identity.
The Swedish Army is the land force of the Swedish Armed Forces. The army's history dates back to the Swedish War of Liberation in 1521.
In the NUTS codes of Sweden (SE), the three levels are:
Elfdalian or Övdalian is a North Germanic language spoken by up to 3,000 people who live or have grown up in the locality of Älvdalen, which is located in the southeastern part of Älvdalen Municipality in northern Dalarna, Sweden.
Scanian is an East Scandinavian language spoken in the province of Scania in southern Sweden.
Dalecarlian is a group of North Germanic languages and dialects spoken in Dalarna County, Sweden. Some Dalecarlian varieties can be regarded as part of the Swedish dialect group in Gästrikland, Uppland, and northern and eastern Västmanland. Others represent a variety characteristic of a midpoint between West and East Scandinavian languages, significantly divergent from Standard Swedish. In the northernmost part of the county, a characteristic dialect reminiscent of eastern Norwegian is spoken. One usually distinguishes between the Dalecarlian Bergslagen dialects, which are spoken in south-eastern Dalarna, and Dalecarlian proper. The dialects are traditionally regarded as part of the Svealand dialect group.
Swedish is the official language of Sweden and is spoken by the vast majority of the 10.23 million inhabitants of the country. It is a North Germanic language and quite similar to its sister Scandinavian languages, Danish and Norwegian, with which it maintains partial mutual intelligibility and forms a dialect 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.
The Swedish football district associations are the local governing bodies of association football in Sweden. District FAs exist to govern all aspects of local football in their defined areas, providing grassroots support to the Swedish Football Association by promoting and administering football, futsal and beach soccer in their respective districts.
Norrland dialects is one of the six major dialect groupings of the Swedish language. It comprises most dialects traditionally spoken in Norrland, except for those of Gästrikland and southern Hälsingland, which are usually classified as Svealand Swedish, as well as those of Härjedalen and northernmost Jämtland, which are usually classified as Norwegian.