Rinkeby Swedish
Encyclopedia
Rinkeby Swedish is any of a number of varieties
of Swedish
spoken mainly in suburb
s with a high proportion of immigrants and immigrant descendants, which emerged as a linguistic phenomenon in the 1980s. Rinkeby
in Stockholm
is one such suburb, but the term Rinkeby Swedish may sometimes be used for similar varieties in other Swedish cities as well. The Swedish Language Council
recommends the term shobresvenska ("Sho Bre Swedish", from its expression "Sho bre!", meaning "Hello!" or "Hi!"). The one magazine in Sweden published in these varieties, Gringo, proposes 'miljonsvenska' ("Million Swedish") based on the Million Programme
. Swedish Language Council
recommends "förortssvenska" (suburban Swedish).
, dialect
, ethnolect
, or maybe a "multiethnolect". Since the number of influencing languages involved is rather large, and extremely few speakers are likely to be fluent in more than a few of these, the definition of pidgin language may appear more accurate than that of mixed language
. The varieties may also be characterized as a register
for informal communication between peers, since the speakers often use them only in specific social contexts and switch to other varieties where appropriate.
s where immigrants and immigrant descendants are concentrated, and can be interpreted as expressions of youth culture: The language is a marker of belonging to a certain subculture
and at the same time opposition to a perceived mainstream non-immigrant culture that seems not to value the immigrant descendants.
Rinkeby Swedish and similar varieties thus express belonging to the rather large group of youths with roots in other countries that have grown up in immigrant neighborhoods in a post-industrial society
and with a disproportionately high unemployment
rate for youths with immigrant background. Except for the fact that the linguistic distance
is greater, Kotsinas sees in principle no difference from the suburban and urban working class varieties that followed industrial revolution
and urbanization
a century ago.
Many words from Rinkeby Swedish have now been incorporated into all kinds of other Swedish youth slang
and are used by many young people without immigrant heritage as a marker of group solidarity and identity.
, Malmö
, and Gothenburg
with a predominantly immigrant population. These variants tend to be based on the local town accents, or on the variety of Standard Swedish
taught in school. These varieties can be described as having a somewhat simplified version of the Swedish grammar
and a richness of loanword
s from the languages of the countries the speakers' parents or grandparents originated in: mainly Turkish
, with traces of Kurdish
, Arabic
, Greek
, Persian
, Serbo-Croatian
, Syriac, and to some extent Latin American Spanish
. Many English
words and some English grammar are also used, due to a fairly widespread identification with African American
s and the appreciation of rap and hip hop music
and culture.
Example:
In the translated sentence above the speaker of Rinkeby Swedish makes use of Arabic, Serbo-Croatian, Turkish, Swedish, Turkish again and finally Spanish. To exemplify further: The word aina is derived from Turkish slang for police, aynasız, which literally means without mirror.
Especially among younger speakers, the different varieties show a considerable variation in vocabulary and to some extent in grammar and syntax. However, they all share some grammatical
similarities, such as discarding the Verb-second word order
of Standard Swedish, instead using subject–verb–object word order
after an adverb
or adverbial phrase (as in English
, compare Idag jag tog bussen ("Today I took the bus") to Standard Swedish Idag tog jag bussen ("Today took I the bus").
Furthermore, speakers of Rinkeby Swedish are growing up and while many are just kids, more and more are reaching their thirties.
Variety (linguistics)
In sociolinguistics a variety, also called a lect, is a specific form of a language or language cluster. This may include languages, dialects, accents, registers, styles or other sociolinguistic variation, as well as the standard variety itself...
of Swedish
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...
spoken mainly in suburb
Million Programme
The Million Programme is the common name for an ambitious housing programme implemented in Sweden between 1965 and 1974 by the governing Swedish Social Democratic Party to make sure everyone could have a home at a reasonable price. The aim of the programme was to build a million new dwellings in a...
s with a high proportion of immigrants and immigrant descendants, which emerged as a linguistic phenomenon in the 1980s. Rinkeby
Rinkeby
Rinkeby is a district in Rinkeby-Kista borough, Stockholm, Sweden. Rinkeby had 15,051 inhabitants as at December 31, 2007.Rinkeby is noted for its high concentration of immigrants and people with immigrant ancestry...
in Stockholm
Stockholm
Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...
is one such suburb, but the term Rinkeby Swedish may sometimes be used for similar varieties in other Swedish cities as well. The Swedish Language Council
Swedish Language Council
The Swedish Language Council is the primary regulatory body for the advancement and cultivation of the Swedish language. The council is partially funded by the Swedish government and has semi-official status...
recommends the term shobresvenska ("Sho Bre Swedish", from its expression "Sho bre!", meaning "Hello!" or "Hi!"). The one magazine in Sweden published in these varieties, Gringo, proposes 'miljonsvenska' ("Million Swedish") based on the Million Programme
Million Programme
The Million Programme is the common name for an ambitious housing programme implemented in Sweden between 1965 and 1974 by the governing Swedish Social Democratic Party to make sure everyone could have a home at a reasonable price. The aim of the programme was to build a million new dwellings in a...
. Swedish Language Council
Swedish Language Council
The Swedish Language Council is the primary regulatory body for the advancement and cultivation of the Swedish language. The council is partially funded by the Swedish government and has semi-official status...
recommends "förortssvenska" (suburban Swedish).
Classification
Opinions among linguists differ on whether to regard Rinkeby Swedish as a sociolectSociolect
In sociolinguistics, a sociolect or social dialect is a variety of language associated with a social group such as a socioeconomic class, an ethnic group, an age group, etc....
, dialect
Dialect
The term dialect is used in two distinct ways, even by linguists. One usage refers to a variety of a language that is a characteristic of a particular group of the language's speakers. The term is applied most often to regional speech patterns, but a dialect may also be defined by other factors,...
, ethnolect
Ethnolect
Ethnolect is a variety of a language spoken by a certain ethnic/cultural subgroup and serves as a distinguishing mark of social identity. The term combines the concepts of an ethnic group and dialect....
, or maybe a "multiethnolect". Since the number of influencing languages involved is rather large, and extremely few speakers are likely to be fluent in more than a few of these, the definition of pidgin language may appear more accurate than that of mixed language
Mixed language
A mixed language is a language that arises through the fusion of two source languages, normally in situations of thorough bilingualism, so that it is not possible to classify the resulting language as belonging to either of the language families that were its source...
. The varieties may also be characterized as a register
Register (linguistics)
In linguistics, a register is a variety of a language used for a particular purpose or in a particular social setting. For example, when speaking in a formal setting an English speaker may be more likely to adhere more closely to prescribed grammar, pronounce words ending in -ing with a velar nasal...
for informal communication between peers, since the speakers often use them only in specific social contexts and switch to other varieties where appropriate.
Use
Professor Ulla-Britt Kotsinas, a scholar frequently cited on Rinkeby Swedish, argues that these varieties primarily are spoken by teenagers from suburbSuburb
The word suburb mostly refers to a residential area, either existing as part of a city or as a separate residential community within commuting distance of a city . Some suburbs have a degree of administrative autonomy, and most have lower population density than inner city neighborhoods...
s where immigrants and immigrant descendants are concentrated, and can be interpreted as expressions of youth culture: The language is a marker of belonging to a certain subculture
Subculture
In sociology, anthropology and cultural studies, a subculture is a group of people with a culture which differentiates them from the larger culture to which they belong.- Definition :...
and at the same time opposition to a perceived mainstream non-immigrant culture that seems not to value the immigrant descendants.
Rinkeby Swedish and similar varieties thus express belonging to the rather large group of youths with roots in other countries that have grown up in immigrant neighborhoods in a post-industrial society
Post-industrial society
If a nation becomes "post-industrial" it passes through, or dodges, a phase of society predominated by a manufacturing-based economy and moves on to a structure of society based on the provision of information, innovation, finance, and services.-Characteristics:...
and with a disproportionately high unemployment
Unemployment
Unemployment , as defined by the International Labour Organization, occurs when people are without jobs and they have actively sought work within the past four weeks...
rate for youths with immigrant background. Except for the fact that the linguistic distance
Linguistic distance
Linguistic distance is a term loosely used to describe how different one language or dialect is from another. Although there is no uniform approach to quantifying linguistic distance between languages, the concept is used in a variety of linguistic situations, such as learning additional languages,...
is greater, Kotsinas sees in principle no difference from the suburban and urban working class varieties that followed industrial revolution
Industrial Revolution
The Industrial Revolution was a period from the 18th to the 19th century where major changes in agriculture, manufacturing, mining, transportation, and technology had a profound effect on the social, economic and cultural conditions of the times...
and urbanization
Urbanization
Urbanization, urbanisation or urban drift is the physical growth of urban areas as a result of global change. The United Nations projected that half of the world's population would live in urban areas at the end of 2008....
a century ago.
Many words from Rinkeby Swedish have now been incorporated into all kinds of other Swedish youth slang
Slang
Slang is the use of informal words and expressions that are not considered standard in the speaker's language or dialect but are considered more acceptable when used socially. Slang is often to be found in areas of the lexicon that refer to things considered taboo...
and are used by many young people without immigrant heritage as a marker of group solidarity and identity.
Distinctive traits
Variants of Rinkeby Swedish are reported from suburbs of StockholmStockholm
Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...
, Malmö
Malmö
Malmö , in the southernmost province of Scania, is the third most populous city in Sweden, after Stockholm and Gothenburg.Malmö is the seat of Malmö Municipality and the capital of Skåne County...
, and Gothenburg
Gothenburg
Gothenburg is the second-largest city in Sweden and the fifth-largest in the Nordic countries. Situated on the west coast of Sweden, the city proper has a population of 519,399, with 549,839 in the urban area and total of 937,015 inhabitants in the metropolitan area...
with a predominantly immigrant population. These variants tend to be based on the local town accents, or on the variety of Standard Swedish
Standard Swedish
Standard Swedish denotes Swedish as a spoken and written standard language. While Swedish as a written language is uniform and standardized, the spoken standard may vary considerably from region to region...
taught in school. These varieties can be described as having a somewhat simplified version of the Swedish grammar
Grammar
In linguistics, grammar is the set of structural rules that govern the composition of clauses, phrases, and words in any given natural language. The term refers also to the study of such rules, and this field includes morphology, syntax, and phonology, often complemented by phonetics, semantics,...
and a richness of loanword
Loanword
A loanword is a word borrowed from a donor language and incorporated into a recipient language. By contrast, a calque or loan translation is a related concept where the meaning or idiom is borrowed rather than the lexical item itself. The word loanword is itself a calque of the German Lehnwort,...
s from the languages of the countries the speakers' parents or grandparents originated in: mainly Turkish
Turkish language
Turkish is a language spoken as a native language by over 83 million people worldwide, making it the most commonly spoken of the Turkic languages. Its speakers are located predominantly in Turkey and Northern Cyprus with smaller groups in Iraq, Greece, Bulgaria, the Republic of Macedonia, Kosovo,...
, with traces of Kurdish
Kurdish language
Kurdish is a dialect continuum spoken by the Kurds in western Asia. It is part of the Iranian branch of the Indo-Iranian group of Indo-European languages....
, 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...
, Greek
Greek language
Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...
, 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...
, Serbo-Croatian
Serbo-Croatian
Serbo-Croatian or Serbo-Croat, less commonly Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian , is a South Slavic language with multiple standards and the primary language of Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Montenegro...
, Syriac, and to some extent Latin American Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
. Many English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
words and some English grammar are also used, due to a fairly widespread identification with African American
African American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
s and the appreciation of rap and hip hop music
Hip hop music
Hip hop music, also called hip-hop, rap music or hip-hop music, is a musical genre consisting of a stylized rhythmic music that commonly accompanies rapping, a rhythmic and rhyming speech that is chanted...
and culture.
Example:
- Rinkeby Swedish; Yalla bre, aina kommer, çok loco!
- Swedish; Skynda er, polisen kommer, [de är] helt galna!
- English; Hurry up, the police are coming, [they're] completely crazy!
In the translated sentence above the speaker of Rinkeby Swedish makes use of Arabic, Serbo-Croatian, Turkish, Swedish, Turkish again and finally Spanish. To exemplify further: The word aina is derived from Turkish slang for police, aynasız, which literally means without mirror.
Especially among younger speakers, the different varieties show a considerable variation in vocabulary and to some extent in grammar and syntax. However, they all share some grammatical
Grammar
In linguistics, grammar is the set of structural rules that govern the composition of clauses, phrases, and words in any given natural language. The term refers also to the study of such rules, and this field includes morphology, syntax, and phonology, often complemented by phonetics, semantics,...
similarities, such as discarding the Verb-second word order
V2 word order
In syntax, verb-second word order is the rule in some languages that the second constituent of declarative main clauses is always a verb, while this is not necessarily the case in other types of clauses.- V2 effect :...
of Standard Swedish, instead using subject–verb–object word order
Word order
In linguistics, word order typology refers to the study of the order of the syntactic constituents of a language, and how different languages can employ different orders. Correlations between orders found in different syntactic subdomains are also of interest...
after an adverb
Adverb
An adverb is a part of speech that modifies verbs or any part of speech other than a noun . Adverbs can modify verbs, adjectives , clauses, sentences, and other adverbs....
or adverbial phrase (as in English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
, compare Idag jag tog bussen ("Today I took the bus") to Standard Swedish Idag tog jag bussen ("Today took I the bus").
Furthermore, speakers of Rinkeby Swedish are growing up and while many are just kids, more and more are reaching their thirties.
Sample vocabulary
| Phrase | Translation | Origin |
|---|---|---|
| abbo(u) | wow!; oh! | Turkish |
| aina | police (singular and plural) | Turkish aynasız (meaning mirrorless) |
| ajde | come on; let's go; okay; hurry up; affirmative | Serbo-Croatian hajde or Turkish haydi |
| axa | go; accelerate | Swedish accelerera, "to accelerate" |
| bak | check out; look | Turkish bak, imperative Imperative Imperative can mean:*Imperative mood, a grammatical mood expressing commands, direct requests, and prohibitions * A morphological item expressing commands, direct requests, and prohibitions... of "to look" |
| baxa | steal (Stockholm) have sex (Malmö) |
|
| bazz | sexual intercourse | French, baise(r), "to fuck" |
| bre | expression for exaggaration of a sentence or word | Serbo-Croatian |
| brychan, brushan | my brother; my friend; "bro" | brorsan, colloquial Swedish familiar form of brodern, "the brother" |
| chilla (also softa) | (to) chill; take it easy; to be calm | both variants from English |
| çal (tjall) | to steal | Turkish çalmak (çal=steal, imperative) |
| çok (tjock, chok) | much, very | Turkish |
| ey, eo (ey yao) | hey you! (For attention) | English, Hey you |
| fett | cool; nice; very | Swedish for "fat" (noun) |
| flos | money | Arabic |
| gitta | go; get going | Turkish (gitmek) git (go, imperative) |
| guzz / guss | girl | Turkish kız |
| göt | ass; buttocks | Turkish Göt |
| Habibi | lit. darling (used as familiar addressing in Arabic) | Arabic |
| Idiit (Idi-it) | Idiot | Swedish word play |
| common word ending | ||
| jalla | hurry; get moving | Arabic (abbreviation of "ya Allah") |
| keff | bad, negative | |
| khalas (challas) | enough; stop; let's go | Arabic |
| knatch | small piece of cannabis | possibly from dialectal Swedish knerts, "small piece (of matter)" |
| len | friend; mate | Turkish lan |
| loco | crazy | Spanish |
| mannen | familiar addressing, "hey, man; my man; friend" | Swedish, possibly an English calque Calque In linguistics, a calque or loan translation is a word or phrase borrowed from another language by literal, word-for-word or root-for-root translation.-Calque:... |
| para | money | Serbian Serbian language Serbian is a form of Serbo-Croatian, a South Slavic language, spoken by Serbs in Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Croatia and neighbouring countries.... para < Turkish paralar |
| sho | greeting, can be used as "hello" or "goodbye" (means "what" in arabic). | Arabic |
| shishko | overweight | Turkish Şişko (fat) |
| shuno, shunne, shurda | guy; dude; bloke | |
| soft (adj.) / softa (verb) | cool, good, nice (or calm down if used as a verb) | English |
| tagga | get away | synonymous with gitta |
| wallah | I swear to God | Arabic |
| zingi | black person | Arabic zangi/zingi, originally "Zanzibar native", later evolved into term for black people |
Literary use
Quite recently several fiction books written in a literary imitation of Rinkeby Swedish have been published in Sweden:- Till vår ära by Alejandro Leiva Wenger; (To our honour)
- Ett öga rött by Jonas Hassen KhemiriJonas Hassen KhemiriJonas Hassen Khemiri is an award-winning Swedish novelist and playwright. He has been named one of the most important Swedish writers of his generation.-Career:...
; (One eye red) - Shoo Bre by Douglas Foley
- Kalla det vad fan du vill by Marjaneh Bakhtiari. (Call it whatever the hell you want)
- Gringo, Swedish magazine published quarterly, and also comes with free newspaper MetroMetro InternationalMetro International is a Swedish media company based in Luxembourg that publishes the Metro newspapers. Metro International's advertising sales have grown at a compound annual growth rate of 41% since launch of the first newspaper edition in 1995. It is a freesheet, meaning that distribution is...
every Monday. gringo.se
See also
- Swedish hip hopSwedish hip hopEmerging in the first half of the 1980s, Swedish hip hop was first heard from the cities of Stockholm and Malmö. In the early days, most rappers in Sweden rapped in English. Funkalics and The Latin Kings, two very different acts united by their innovative use of the Swedish language, debuted a...
- Post-war SwedenPost-war SwedenThis article covers the history of Sweden from the end of World War II to 1967.-Overview:Sweden emerged unharmed by World War II. The Swedish non-alignment policy officially remained – Sweden rejected NATO membership but joined the United Nations and later EFTA...
- Swedish dialectsSwedish dialectsSwedish dialects can be categorized into Traditional Dialects and Modern Dialects .-Traditional dialects:...
- Kebab NorwegianKebab NorwegianKebab Norwegian is a variety of Norwegian that incorporates words from languages of non-Western immigrants to Norway, such as Kurdish, Arabic, Pashto, Persian, Punjabi. Kebab Norwegian is mainly used by immigrant youths and those growing up with immigrant youths in the eastern parts of Oslo.Kebab...
- EbonicsAfrican American Vernacular EnglishAfrican American Vernacular English —also called African American English; less precisely Black English, Black Vernacular, Black English Vernacular , or Black Vernacular English —is an African American variety of American English...
External links
- Language and language use among young people in multilingual urban settings - a research project at Gothenburg UniversityGothenburg UniversityThe University of Gothenburg is a university in Sweden's second largest city, Gothenburg.- Character :The University of Gothenburg is the third-oldest Swedish university, and with 24,900 full-time students it is also among the largest universities in the Nordic countries...