Standard Swedish
Encyclopedia
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. Several prestige dialect
s have developed around the major urban centers of Stockholm
, Helsinki
, Gothenburg
and Malmö
-Lund
.
Rikssvenska has come to mean all Swedish as spoken in Sweden as opposed to the Finland Swedish spoken in Finland. For speakers in Sweden, this term however often, perhaps primarily, indicates "non-dialectal" (spoken) Swedish. The term Sweden Swedish
(sverigesvenska) is sometimes used instead, as a parallel to the term Finland Swedish. There is however no common agreement on how rikssvenska should sound. What appears as rikssvenska to one Swede may appear dialectal to another. (Etymologically, "rik-" is a cognate
of the German
Reich
.) National Swedish TV and radio news broadcasts that are often produced in Stockholm have historically preferred commentators speaking what is seen as rikssvenska, though this has gradually been relaxed. Undoubtedly, mass media broadcasts have had an important influence on the concept of rikssvenska.
The meaning of högsvenska (literally "High Swedish") was formerly the same as for rikssvenska, i.e. the most prestigious dialect spoken in (the capital of) Sweden. During the 20th century, its meaning changed and it now denotes the prestige dialect of the Swedish speakers in Helsinki
.
Until the late 19th/early 20th century, Swedish was the primary language of status, government, and education in Finland, although spoken as a first language by a relatively small minority. Since the 1970s, both domestic languages have been mandatory subjects
for all Finnish pupils in primary and secondary schools, although the requirement to include Swedish in the upper-secondary final examination was dropped in 2004.
Although Swedish phonology
is in principle uniform, its phonetic
realizations are not. Contrary to the situation in German
, Danish
, and Finnish
, there is no uniform spoken Standard Swedish. Instead, there are (at least) three regional standard varieties
(acrolects or prestige dialect
s), i.e. the most intelligible or prestigious forms of spoken Swedish, each within their area. No commonly accepted terms exist, not even in Swedish, but they will be designated in the following manner in this article (listed in order of the number of speakers):
These standard varieties are primarily used for communication with people from distant towns and regions as well as in more formal contexts such as public speeches, artists' performances, and in broadcast media. They are signified by differences in prosody
as well as phonetics
.
A Westcoast variety, centered in Gothenburg
, has a prosody that is close to that of southern Norwegian dialects and may be considered a separate standard variety, Western Swedish, with 2 million speakers. Although the regional dialects of the area are more closely related to those of Southern Sweden, the prestige dialect is closer to the Central Swedish Standard variety (although with a typically western intonation). The boundary of the area goes in the South through Northern Halland
, Northwestern Småland
and follows Lake Vättern
in the East. Its northern boundary goes through Värmland
. An exception is the island of Gotland
(50 000 people) has its own dialect with roots in Old Gutnish
.
The boundary for the South Swedish Standard goes, unless the Westcoast variety is included, through Northern Halland
and Northern Småland
approximately at the latitude of Jönköping
at the southern tip of Lake Vättern across the Scandinavian Peninsula.
and dictionary compilation.
In Sweden, the Swedish Language Council
is similarly funded by the Swedish government and may be said to have a semi-official status as a regulatory body being a joint effort that includes the Swedish Academy
, Swedish Radio, Swedish Broadcasting Corporation and several other organizations representing journalists, teachers, actors, writers and translators. The recommendations of these bodies are not legally binding, though they are generally respected.
It may be argued that singing and acting instructors at the theater academies in Stockholm, Malmö, Gothenburg, and Luleå all teach the Central Swedish Standard; although on scenes outside of Stockholm–Uppsala, adherence to this standard may appear less strict. The theater academy of Finland teaches in Finnish and Finland Swedish.
Valley region around Stockholm
, the capital of Sweden.
In Sweden the concept of a unified standard language based on a high prestige dialect spoken in the capital region was primarily understood in terms of the written language as exemplified with the Swedification of the Danish and Norwegian provinces that were acquired in the 17th century. The people were taught Swedish hymns and prayers, but with a phonology
that remained largely Danish
or Norwegian
.
During the latter half of the 19th century, the use of a standardized written language increased with each new innovation of communication and transportation. It was however not until the 1960s, when the major demographic situation of Sweden had changed from a quite rural and agrarian society to the highly urbanized society it is today, that the spoken varieties
closed up towards unified dialects whose vocabulary and grammatical rules adhered to that of the (written) Standard Swedish. The different phonologies, particularly the different realizations of the tonal word accents, have however proved to be more variable.
With respect to other aspects of the spoken language, there are developments towards a unification that however is not always the effect of standardization or centripetal influence. So for instance has realization of fricatives in the Central Swedish Standard undergone a change in recent decades moving in the direction of the Southern Standard rather than that of northern Sweden and Finland.
in 1809/1812 drastically decreased communication between Sweden and Finland, although Swedish remained the language of administration and higher education until Finnish was given equal status with it at the end of the 19th century. The position of Swedish gradually eroded in the 20th century as population shifts due to industrialization and war caused increasing numbers of ethnic Finns to move to the traditional coastal and urban Swedish enclaves. In reaction, Swedish-speaking Finns renewed their cultural and linguistic connections with Sweden and a Högsvenska based on the current variety spoken by educated mainland Swedes emerged. However, alienation between the two countries due to lack of tangible support from Sweden during the two World Wars, the Finnish Civil War
, and the Åland crisis
gradually lead to Högsvenska being seen as the prestige dialect
of Finland Swedish. In the second half of the 20th century, tensions between center and periphery in Finland made the concept of a spoken standard variety
less popular, and the spoken Swedish in Ostrobothnia
again oriented towards Sweden, particularly when switching
to more elevated register
s, resulting in a relation between Standard Swedish as spoken in Western versus Southern Finland that by and large echoed the relation between Standard Swedish as spoken in Central versus Southern Sweden.
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...
as a spoken and written standard language
Standard language
A standard language is a language variety used by a group of people in their public discourse. Alternatively, varieties become standard by undergoing a process of standardization, during which it is organized for description in grammars and dictionaries and encoded in such reference works...
. While Swedish as a written language is uniform and standardized, the spoken standard may vary considerably from region to region. Several prestige dialect
Prestige dialect
In sociolinguistics, prestige describes the level of respect accorded to a language or dialect as compared to that of other languages or dialects in a speech community. The concept of prestige in sociolinguistics is closely related to that of prestige or class within a society...
s have developed around the major urban centers of 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...
, Helsinki
Helsinki
Helsinki is the capital and largest city in Finland. It is in the region of Uusimaa, located in southern Finland, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, an arm of the Baltic Sea. The population of the city of Helsinki is , making it by far the most populous municipality in Finland. Helsinki is...
, 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...
and 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...
-Lund
Lund
-Main sights:During the 12th and 13th centuries, when the town was the seat of the archbishop, many churches and monasteries were built. At its peak, Lund had 27 churches, but most of them were demolished as result of the Reformation in 1536. Several medieval buildings remain, including Lund...
.
Rikssvenska and högsvenska
In Swedish, the terms rikssvenska "Realm Swedish" and högsvenska "High Swedish" are used in Sweden and Finland respectively, particularly by non-linguists, and both terms are ambiguous. The direct translation of standardsvenska "Standard Swedish" is less common and primarily used in scholarly contexts.Rikssvenska has come to mean all Swedish as spoken in Sweden as opposed to the Finland Swedish spoken in Finland. For speakers in Sweden, this term however often, perhaps primarily, indicates "non-dialectal" (spoken) Swedish. The term Sweden Swedish
Sweden Swedish
Sweden Swedish is a term sometimes used to distinguish the Swedish as spoken in Sweden from Finland Swedish, Estonia Swedish or other variants of the same language as spoken in other countries, regardless of dialects....
(sverigesvenska) is sometimes used instead, as a parallel to the term Finland Swedish. There is however no common agreement on how rikssvenska should sound. What appears as rikssvenska to one Swede may appear dialectal to another. (Etymologically, "rik-" is a cognate
Cognate
In linguistics, cognates are words that have a common etymological origin. This learned term derives from the Latin cognatus . Cognates within the same language are called doublets. Strictly speaking, loanwords from another language are usually not meant by the term, e.g...
of the German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
Reich
Reich
Reich is a German word cognate with the English rich, but also used to designate an empire, realm, or nation. The qualitative connotation from the German is " sovereign state." It is the word traditionally used for a variety of sovereign entities, including Germany in many periods of its history...
.) National Swedish TV and radio news broadcasts that are often produced in Stockholm have historically preferred commentators speaking what is seen as rikssvenska, though this has gradually been relaxed. Undoubtedly, mass media broadcasts have had an important influence on the concept of rikssvenska.
The meaning of högsvenska (literally "High Swedish") was formerly the same as for rikssvenska, i.e. the most prestigious dialect spoken in (the capital of) Sweden. During the 20th century, its meaning changed and it now denotes the prestige dialect of the Swedish speakers in Helsinki
Helsinki
Helsinki is the capital and largest city in Finland. It is in the region of Uusimaa, located in southern Finland, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, an arm of the Baltic Sea. The population of the city of Helsinki is , making it by far the most populous municipality in Finland. Helsinki is...
.
Until the late 19th/early 20th century, Swedish was the primary language of status, government, and education in Finland, although spoken as a first language by a relatively small minority. Since the 1970s, both domestic languages have been mandatory subjects
Mandatory Swedish
In Finland, Swedish is a mandatory school subject for Finnish-speaking pupils in the last three years of the primary education . It is also mandatory in high schools, vocational schools, and vocational universities. Furthermore, all Finnish-speaking university graduates must demonstrate a certain...
for all Finnish pupils in primary and secondary schools, although the requirement to include Swedish in the upper-secondary final examination was dropped in 2004.
Regional standards and rural dialects
Swedish linguists reserve the term "dialect" for rural dialects with roots that can be traced back to Old Swedish. However, among Swedish speakers in general, other regional standards are considered to be "dialects".Although Swedish phonology
Swedish phonology
The phonology of Swedish is notable for having a large vowel inventory, with nine vowels distinguished in quality and to some degree quantity, making 17 vowel phonemes in most dialects. Swedish pronunciation of consonants is similar to that of other Germanic languages...
is in principle uniform, its phonetic
Phonetics
Phonetics is a branch of linguistics that comprises the study of the sounds of human speech, or—in the case of sign languages—the equivalent aspects of sign. It is concerned with the physical properties of speech sounds or signs : their physiological production, acoustic properties, auditory...
realizations are not. Contrary to the situation in German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
, 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...
, and 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...
, there is no uniform spoken Standard Swedish. Instead, there are (at least) three regional standard varieties
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...
(acrolects or prestige dialect
Prestige dialect
In sociolinguistics, prestige describes the level of respect accorded to a language or dialect as compared to that of other languages or dialects in a speech community. The concept of prestige in sociolinguistics is closely related to that of prestige or class within a society...
s), i.e. the most intelligible or prestigious forms of spoken Swedish, each within their area. No commonly accepted terms exist, not even in Swedish, but they will be designated in the following manner in this article (listed in order of the number of speakers):
- Central Swedish (5-7 million speakers)
- South Swedish (2-4 million)
- Finland Swedish (300 000)
These standard varieties are primarily used for communication with people from distant towns and regions as well as in more formal contexts such as public speeches, artists' performances, and in broadcast media. They are signified by differences in prosody
Prosody (linguistics)
In linguistics, prosody is the rhythm, stress, and intonation of speech. Prosody may reflect various features of the speaker or the utterance: the emotional state of the speaker; the form of the utterance ; the presence of irony or sarcasm; emphasis, contrast, and focus; or other elements of...
as well as phonetics
Phonetics
Phonetics is a branch of linguistics that comprises the study of the sounds of human speech, or—in the case of sign languages—the equivalent aspects of sign. It is concerned with the physical properties of speech sounds or signs : their physiological production, acoustic properties, auditory...
.
A Westcoast variety, centered in 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...
, has a prosody that is close to that of southern Norwegian dialects and may be considered a separate standard variety, Western Swedish, with 2 million speakers. Although the regional dialects of the area are more closely related to those of Southern Sweden, the prestige dialect is closer to the Central Swedish Standard variety (although with a typically western intonation). The boundary of the area goes in the South through Northern Halland
Halland
' is one of the traditional provinces of Sweden , on the western coast of Sweden. It borders Västergötland, Småland, Scania and the sea of Kattegat.-Administration:...
, Northwestern Småland
Småland
' is a historical province in southern Sweden.Småland borders Blekinge, Scania or Skåne, Halland, Västergötland, Östergötland and the island Öland in the Baltic Sea. The name Småland literally means Small Lands. . The latinized form Smolandia has been used in other languages...
and follows Lake Vättern
Vättern
Vättern is the second largest lake in Sweden, after Lake Vänern and the sixth largest lake in Europe. It is a long, finger-shaped body of fresh water in south central Sweden to the southeast of Vänern pointing at the tip of Scandinavia....
in the East. Its northern boundary goes through Värmland
Värmland
' is a historical province or landskap in the west of middle Sweden. It borders Västergötland, Dalsland, Dalarna, Västmanland and Närke. It is also bounded by Norway in the west. Latin name versions are Vermelandia and Wermelandia. Although the province's land originally was Götaland, the...
. An exception is the island of Gotland
Gotland
Gotland is a county, province, municipality and diocese of Sweden; it is Sweden's largest island and the largest island in the Baltic Sea. At 3,140 square kilometers in area, the region makes up less than one percent of Sweden's total land area...
(50 000 people) has its own dialect with roots in Old Gutnish
Old Gutnish
Old Gutnish was the dialect of Old Norse that was spoken on the Baltic island of Gotland. It shows sufficient differences from the Old East Norse dialect that it is considered to be a separate branch...
.
The boundary for the South Swedish Standard goes, unless the Westcoast variety is included, through Northern Halland
Halland
' is one of the traditional provinces of Sweden , on the western coast of Sweden. It borders Västergötland, Småland, Scania and the sea of Kattegat.-Administration:...
and Northern Småland
Småland
' is a historical province in southern Sweden.Småland borders Blekinge, Scania or Skåne, Halland, Västergötland, Östergötland and the island Öland in the Baltic Sea. The name Småland literally means Small Lands. . The latinized form Smolandia has been used in other languages...
approximately at the latitude of Jönköping
Jönköping
-Notable people:*Lillian Asplund, RMS Titanic survivor*John Bauer, illustrator, painter*Amy Diamond, singer*Agnetha Fältskog, ABBA*Carl Henrik Fredriksson, editor-in-chief and co-founder of Eurozine*Anders Gustafsson, kayaker, Olympian...
at the southern tip of Lake Vättern across the Scandinavian Peninsula.
Official status
Swedish became Sweden's main official language on 1 July 2009, when a new language law was implemented. The issue of whether Swedish should be declared the official language has been raised in the past, and the parliament voted on the matter in 2005—but the proposal narrowly failed. The Swedish language also has official status in Finland (including the autonomous region of Åland), but no officially sanctioned standard actually exists. However, the Research Institute for the Languages of Finland has the purpose of language planningLanguage planning
Language planning is a deliberate effort to influence the function, structure, or acquisition of languages or language variety within a speech community. It is often associated with government planning, but is also used by a variety of non-governmental organizations, such as grass-roots...
and dictionary compilation.
In Sweden, 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...
is similarly funded by the Swedish government and may be said to have a semi-official status as a regulatory body being a joint effort that includes the Swedish Academy
Swedish Academy
The Swedish Academy , founded in 1786 by King Gustav III, is one of the Royal Academies of Sweden.-History:The Swedish Academy was founded in 1786 by King Gustav III. Modelled after the Académie française, it has 18 members. The motto of the Academy is "Talent and Taste"...
, Swedish Radio, Swedish Broadcasting Corporation and several other organizations representing journalists, teachers, actors, writers and translators. The recommendations of these bodies are not legally binding, though they are generally respected.
It may be argued that singing and acting instructors at the theater academies in Stockholm, Malmö, Gothenburg, and Luleå all teach the Central Swedish Standard; although on scenes outside of Stockholm–Uppsala, adherence to this standard may appear less strict. The theater academy of Finland teaches in Finnish and Finland Swedish.
History
Standard Swedish evolved from the high prestige dialects of the MälarenMälaren
Lake Mälaren is the third-largest lake in Sweden, after Lakes Vänern and Vättern. Its area is 1,140 km² and its greatest depth is 64 m. Mälaren spans 120 kilometers from east to west...
Valley region around 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...
, the capital of Sweden.
In Sweden the concept of a unified standard language based on a high prestige dialect spoken in the capital region was primarily understood in terms of the written language as exemplified with the Swedification of the Danish and Norwegian provinces that were acquired in the 17th century. The people were taught Swedish hymns and prayers, but with a phonology
Phonology
Phonology is, broadly speaking, the subdiscipline of linguistics concerned with the sounds of language. That is, it is the systematic use of sound to encode meaning in any spoken human language, or the field of linguistics studying this use...
that remained largely Danish
Danish phonology
- Consonants :Modern Standard Danish has the following 21 consonants:The Danish allophones can be analyzed into 15 distinctive consonant phonemes, , where have different pronunciation in syllable onset vs. syllable coda....
or Norwegian
Norwegian phonology
The sound system of Norwegian resembles that of Swedish. There is considerable variation among the dialects, but the variant generally taught to foreign students is Standard Eastern Norwegian, which is the one described in this article.-Consonants:...
.
During the latter half of the 19th century, the use of a standardized written language increased with each new innovation of communication and transportation. It was however not until the 1960s, when the major demographic situation of Sweden had changed from a quite rural and agrarian society to the highly urbanized society it is today, that the spoken varieties
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...
closed up towards unified dialects whose vocabulary and grammatical rules adhered to that of the (written) Standard Swedish. The different phonologies, particularly the different realizations of the tonal word accents, have however proved to be more variable.
With respect to other aspects of the spoken language, there are developments towards a unification that however is not always the effect of standardization or centripetal influence. So for instance has realization of fricatives in the Central Swedish Standard undergone a change in recent decades moving in the direction of the Southern Standard rather than that of northern Sweden and Finland.
Finland
The creation of the autonomous Russian Grand Duchy of FinlandGrand Duchy of Finland
The Grand Duchy of Finland was the predecessor state of modern Finland. It existed 1809–1917 as part of the Russian Empire and was ruled by the Russian czar as Grand Prince.- History :...
in 1809/1812 drastically decreased communication between Sweden and Finland, although Swedish remained the language of administration and higher education until Finnish was given equal status with it at the end of the 19th century. The position of Swedish gradually eroded in the 20th century as population shifts due to industrialization and war caused increasing numbers of ethnic Finns to move to the traditional coastal and urban Swedish enclaves. In reaction, Swedish-speaking Finns renewed their cultural and linguistic connections with Sweden and a Högsvenska based on the current variety spoken by educated mainland Swedes emerged. However, alienation between the two countries due to lack of tangible support from Sweden during the two World Wars, the Finnish Civil War
Finnish Civil War
The Finnish Civil War was a part of the national, political and social turmoil caused by World War I in Europe. The Civil War concerned control and leadership of The Grand Duchy of Finland as it achieved independence from Russia after the October Revolution in Petrograd...
, and the Åland crisis
Åland crisis
The Åland crisis was one of the first issues put up for arbitration by the League of Nations on its formation. The Åland Islands' population's demand for self-determination was not met and sovereignty over the islands was retained by Finland, but international guarantees were given to allow the...
gradually lead to Högsvenska being seen as the prestige dialect
Prestige dialect
In sociolinguistics, prestige describes the level of respect accorded to a language or dialect as compared to that of other languages or dialects in a speech community. The concept of prestige in sociolinguistics is closely related to that of prestige or class within a society...
of Finland Swedish. In the second half of the 20th century, tensions between center and periphery in Finland made the concept of a spoken standard variety
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...
less popular, and the spoken Swedish in Ostrobothnia
Ostrobothnia (region)
Ostrobothnia is a region of Finland. It is located in Western Finland. It borders the regions Central Ostrobothnia, Southern Ostrobothnia, and Satakunta and is one of the four regions making up the historical province of Ostrobothnia....
again oriented towards Sweden, particularly when switching
Code-switching
In linguistics, code-switching is the concurrent use of more than one language, or language variety, in conversation. Multilinguals—people who speak more than one language—sometimes use elements of multiple languages in conversing with each other...
to more elevated 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...
s, resulting in a relation between Standard Swedish as spoken in Western versus Southern Finland that by and large echoed the relation between Standard Swedish as spoken in Central versus Southern Sweden.
External links
- The official website of the Swedish Language Council (mostly in Swedish with some sections in English, Finnish, French and German)