Minority languages of Sweden
Encyclopedia
In 1999, the Minority Language Committee of Sweden
formally declared five minority languages of Sweden: Finnish
, Sami language
, Romani, Yiddish
, and Meänkieli (Tornedal Finnish).
The Swedish language
dominates commercial and cultural life in Sweden but did not officially become the country's main language until 2009, when a new language law entered into effect. The need for this legal status had been the subject of protracted debate and proposed legislation was narrowly defeated in 2005.
The minority languages have been legally recognized to protect the cultural and historical heritage of their respective speech communities. These communities are given certain rights on that basis, such as school education in their language, and its use in dealing with governmental agencies.
in 1997.
To be accorded official minority status, a language must have been spoken in Sweden for a significant amount of time. A precise figure has not been revealed, but qualified estimations consider 100 years to be reasonable, based on the included and excluded languages. A significant immigration to Sweden did not start until after World War I
, and many languages currently spoken by a large number of people in Sweden are excluded, among them Arabic
and Persian
.
It is also required that the language be spoken by a significant number of people and be centred in a specific geographical region (the latter, however, not applied for Romani and Yiddish).
Furthermore, it is a condition that the granting of official minority language status should be of cultural benefit to the group speaking it. It is allegedly for this reason that Swedish Sign Language was not included – even though it is a unique language with a history dating back to the 18th century, it was considered to have a sufficiently stable basis already in Swedish culture.
Common culture is yet another criterion for inclusion. A further reason for not granting minority language status to the sign language was that its users do not share a unique cultural heritage since hearing-impaired people come from all backgrounds.
has been spoken in Sweden ever since the (then provincial) borders were drawn in the 13th century. Sweden has always had a significant migration to and from Finland. As the two languages belong to different language families
it is easy to distinguish them, unlike the neighbouring languages Norwegian
and Danish
. The number of Finnish speakers in Sweden today amounts to over 460,000.
Finnish and Meänkieli can be used in the northernmost municipalities of Gällivare
, Haparanda
, Kiruna
, Pajala
and Övertorneå
and its immediate neighbourhood.
On 11 December, 2007, Finnish Broadcasting Company YLE reported, that in Uppsala
, Sweden, speaking Finnish was forbidden from city employees, and that this was the case also with small talk during breaks. According to an agreement between the city council and the trade union "The official working language in the workplace is Swedish. Employees may speak another language privately - even in the workplace. However, it is important to take into account other employees (with different language backgrounds) being present." The Delegation for Sweden Finns has asked The Council of Europe
to determine if the employer has a right to force employees to speak only Swedish.
or Tornionlaaksonsuomi or Tornedalian language is spoken by a population in northern Sweden. It is closely related to and mutually intelligible with Finnish and often considered a dialect thereof, with many loanwords from Swedish. Especially in Finland the distinction of Meänkieli as a separate language is seen as language politics
not based in linguistics (see Kven language
for a similar situation in Norway
). Meänkieli is not intelligible to Swedes. The number of speakers amount to 50,000 or so.
As a minority language, Sami is an official language and may be used in government agencies
, court
s, preschools and nursing home
s in the municipalities
where it is most common.
, the language of Romani people (Gypsies), has been spoken in Sweden since the 16th century. Today about 9,500 people speak it in Sweden. It does not have a geographical center, but is considered to be of historical importance.
was historically a common language of Ashkenazi (Central and Eastern European) Jews. The first Jews were permitted to reside in Sweden during the late 18th century. The population has since grown to 20,000, of which an estimated 3,000 speak Yiddish. The organization Sällskapet för Jiddisch och Jiddischkultur i Sverige (Society for Yiddish and Yiddish Culture in Sweden) has over 200 members, many of whom are native Yiddish speakers, and arranges regular activities for the speech community and in external advocacy of the Yiddish language.
Romani and Yiddish have the position of "historical minority languages" throughout the country, and thus the Swedish state acknowledges a certain obligation to preserve them.http://www.manskligarattigheter.gov.se/dynamaster/file_archive/050216/24a99c86fd734f15c9f722b343cc152e/FaktaJu%5f0415ji.pdf
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
formally declared five minority languages of Sweden: Finnish
Finnish language
Finnish is the language spoken by the majority of the population in Finland Primarily for use by restaurant menus and by ethnic Finns outside Finland. It is one of the two official languages of Finland and an official minority language in Sweden. In Sweden, both standard Finnish and Meänkieli, a...
, Sami language
Sami languages
Sami or Saami is a general name for a group of Uralic languages spoken by the Sami people in parts of northern Finland, Norway, Sweden and extreme northwestern Russia, in Northern Europe. Sami is frequently and erroneously believed to be a single language. Several names are used for the Sami...
, Romani, Yiddish
Yiddish language
Yiddish is a High German language of Ashkenazi Jewish origin, spoken throughout the world. It developed as a fusion of German dialects with Hebrew, Aramaic, Slavic languages and traces of Romance languages...
, and Meänkieli (Tornedal Finnish).
The Swedish language
Swedish language
Swedish is a North Germanic language, spoken by approximately 10 million people, predominantly in Sweden and parts of Finland, especially along its coast and on the Åland islands. It is largely mutually intelligible with Norwegian and Danish...
dominates commercial and cultural life in Sweden but did not officially become the country's main language until 2009, when a new language law entered into effect. The need for this legal status had been the subject of protracted debate and proposed legislation was narrowly defeated in 2005.
The minority languages have been legally recognized to protect the cultural and historical heritage of their respective speech communities. These communities are given certain rights on that basis, such as school education in their language, and its use in dealing with governmental agencies.
Criteria for inclusion
These are the criteria established by the Minority Language Committee, influenced by the directives from the European Charter for Regional or Minority LanguagesEuropean Charter for Regional or Minority Languages
The European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages is a European treaty adopted in 1992 under the auspices of the Council of Europe to protect and promote historical regional and minority languages in Europe...
in 1997.
To be accorded official minority status, a language must have been spoken in Sweden for a significant amount of time. A precise figure has not been revealed, but qualified estimations consider 100 years to be reasonable, based on the included and excluded languages. A significant immigration to Sweden did not start until after World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, and many languages currently spoken by a large number of people in Sweden are excluded, among them Arabic
Arabic language
Arabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book...
and Persian
Persian language
Persian is an Iranian language within the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages. It is primarily spoken in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and countries which historically came under Persian influence...
.
It is also required that the language be spoken by a significant number of people and be centred in a specific geographical region (the latter, however, not applied for Romani and Yiddish).
Furthermore, it is a condition that the granting of official minority language status should be of cultural benefit to the group speaking it. It is allegedly for this reason that Swedish Sign Language was not included – even though it is a unique language with a history dating back to the 18th century, it was considered to have a sufficiently stable basis already in Swedish culture.
Common culture is yet another criterion for inclusion. A further reason for not granting minority language status to the sign language was that its users do not share a unique cultural heritage since hearing-impaired people come from all backgrounds.
Standard Finnish
Standard FinnishFinnish language
Finnish is the language spoken by the majority of the population in Finland Primarily for use by restaurant menus and by ethnic Finns outside Finland. It is one of the two official languages of Finland and an official minority language in Sweden. In Sweden, both standard Finnish and Meänkieli, a...
has been spoken in Sweden ever since the (then provincial) borders were drawn in the 13th century. Sweden has always had a significant migration to and from Finland. As the two languages belong to different language families
Language family
A language family is a group of languages related through descent from a common ancestor, called the proto-language of that family. The term 'family' comes from the tree model of language origination in historical linguistics, which makes use of a metaphor comparing languages to people in a...
it is easy to distinguish them, unlike the neighbouring languages Norwegian
Norwegian language
Norwegian is a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Norway, where it is the official language. Together with Swedish and Danish, Norwegian forms a continuum of more or less mutually intelligible local and regional variants .These Scandinavian languages together with the Faroese language...
and Danish
Danish language
Danish is a North Germanic language spoken by around six million people, principally in the country of Denmark. It is also spoken by 50,000 Germans of Danish ethnicity in the northern parts of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, where it holds the status of minority language...
. The number of Finnish speakers in Sweden today amounts to over 460,000.
Finnish and Meänkieli can be used in the northernmost municipalities of Gällivare
Gällivare Municipality
Gällivare Municipality is a municipality in Norrbotten County in northern Sweden. Its seat is located in Gällivare.The municipality is the third largest in Sweden, but it has not been amalgamated with other entities....
, Haparanda
Haparanda Municipality
Haparanda Municipality is a municipality in Norrbotten County in northern Sweden. Its seat is located in Haparanda .In 1967 the "City of Haparanda" was merged with the rural municipalities Karl Gustav and Nedertorneå. Since 1971 Haparanda, like all other municipalities of Sweden, is a municipality...
, Kiruna
Kiruna Municipality
Kiruna Municipality is a municipality in Norrbotten County in northernmost Sweden. Its seat is located in Kiruna...
, Pajala
Pajala Municipality
Pajala Municipality is a municipality in Norrbotten County in northern Sweden, bordering Finland. Its seat is located in Pajala.In 1884 Tärendö was detached from Pajala Municipality, forming a municipality of its own. In 1914 Pajala Municipality was once again split when Junosuando broke away...
and Övertorneå
Övertorneå Municipality
Övertorneå Municipality is a municipality in Norrbotten County in northern Sweden, bordering Finland. Its seat is located in Övertorneå.Until the Finnish War Övertorneå and the Finnish Ylitornio were a single municipality. Following the war, the eastern part of the municipality was ceded to...
and its immediate neighbourhood.
On 11 December, 2007, Finnish Broadcasting Company YLE reported, that in Uppsala
Uppsala
- Economy :Today Uppsala is well established in medical research and recognized for its leading position in biotechnology.*Abbott Medical Optics *GE Healthcare*Pfizer *Phadia, an offshoot of Pharmacia*Fresenius*Q-Med...
, Sweden, speaking Finnish was forbidden from city employees, and that this was the case also with small talk during breaks. According to an agreement between the city council and the trade union "The official working language in the workplace is Swedish. Employees may speak another language privately - even in the workplace. However, it is important to take into account other employees (with different language backgrounds) being present." The Delegation for Sweden Finns has asked The Council of Europe
Council of Europe
The Council of Europe is an international organisation promoting co-operation between all countries of Europe in the areas of legal standards, human rights, democratic development, the rule of law and cultural co-operation...
to determine if the employer has a right to force employees to speak only Swedish.
Meänkieli
MeänkieliMeänkieli
Meänkieli is the name used in Sweden for Finnish dialects spoken in the northernmost parts of the country, around the valley of the Torne River....
or Tornionlaaksonsuomi or Tornedalian language is spoken by a population in northern Sweden. It is closely related to and mutually intelligible with Finnish and often considered a dialect thereof, with many loanwords from Swedish. Especially in Finland the distinction of Meänkieli as a separate language is seen as language politics
Language politics
Language politics is a term used to describe political consequences of linguistic differences between people, or on occasion the political consequences of the way a language is spoken and what words are used. It means language can express some authority. Examples include:*Recognition of a...
not based in linguistics (see Kven language
Kven language
The Kven language is a Finnic language spoken in Northern Norway by the Kven people. For political and historical reasons it received the status of a minority language in 2005 within the framework of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
for a similar situation in Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
). Meänkieli is not intelligible to Swedes. The number of speakers amount to 50,000 or so.
Sami languages
The Sami languages are actually not one language, even though they are commonly referred to as such. In Sweden, three Sámi languages are spoken, with the other 7 Sámi languages being spoken in Norway, Russia and Finland. The history of the Sami languages can be traced back at least 2,000 years. In total, they are spoken by a minimum of 40,000 people throughout the four countries.As a minority language, Sami is an official language and may be used in government agencies
Government agencies in Sweden
The Government agencies in Sweden are state controlled organizations who act independently to carry out the policies of the Swedish Government. The Government Ministries are relatively small and merely policy-making organizations, allowed to control agencies by policy decisions but not by direct...
, court
Court
A court is a form of tribunal, often a governmental institution, with the authority to adjudicate legal disputes between parties and carry out the administration of justice in civil, criminal, and administrative matters in accordance with the rule of law...
s, preschools and nursing home
Nursing home
A nursing home, convalescent home, skilled nursing unit , care home, rest home, or old people's home provides a type of care of residents: it is a place of residence for people who require constant nursing care and have significant deficiencies with activities of daily living...
s in the municipalities
Municipalities of Sweden
The municipalities of Sweden are the local government entities of Sweden. The current 290 municipalities are organized into 21 counties...
where it is most common.
Romani
Romani chibRomani language
Romani or Romany, Gypsy or Gipsy is any of several languages of the Romani people. They are Indic, sometimes classified in the "Central" or "Northwestern" zone, and sometimes treated as a branch of their own....
, the language of Romani people (Gypsies), has been spoken in Sweden since the 16th century. Today about 9,500 people speak it in Sweden. It does not have a geographical center, but is considered to be of historical importance.
Yiddish
YiddishYiddish language
Yiddish is a High German language of Ashkenazi Jewish origin, spoken throughout the world. It developed as a fusion of German dialects with Hebrew, Aramaic, Slavic languages and traces of Romance languages...
was historically a common language of Ashkenazi (Central and Eastern European) Jews. The first Jews were permitted to reside in Sweden during the late 18th century. The population has since grown to 20,000, of which an estimated 3,000 speak Yiddish. The organization Sällskapet för Jiddisch och Jiddischkultur i Sverige (Society for Yiddish and Yiddish Culture in Sweden) has over 200 members, many of whom are native Yiddish speakers, and arranges regular activities for the speech community and in external advocacy of the Yiddish language.
Romani and Yiddish have the position of "historical minority languages" throughout the country, and thus the Swedish state acknowledges a certain obligation to preserve them.http://www.manskligarattigheter.gov.se/dynamaster/file_archive/050216/24a99c86fd734f15c9f722b343cc152e/FaktaJu%5f0415ji.pdf
See also
- Languages of SwedenLanguages of SwedenSwedish is the official language of Sweden and is spoken by the vast majority of the nine million inhabitants of the country. It is a North Germanic language and quite similar to its sister North Germanic Languages, Danish and Norwegian.- History :...
- Demographics of SwedenDemographics of SwedenThe demographics of Sweden is about the demographic features of the population of Sweden, including population growth, population density, ethnicity, education level, health of the populace, economic status, religious affiliations and other aspects of the population...
- Language policyLanguage policyMany countries have a language policy designed to favour or discourage the use of a particular language or set of languages. Although nations historically have used language policies most often to promote one official language at the expense of others, many countries now have policies designed to...
- Languages of the European UnionLanguages of the European UnionThe languages of the European Union are languages used by people within the member states of the European Union. They include the twenty-three official languages of the European Union along with a range of others...