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Swedish dialects are the various forms of the Swedish language, particularly those that differ considerably from Standard Swedish.
Traditional dialects
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. The color represents the core area and the samples are from Svenska Dagbladet's dialect project.
- South Swedish dialects (dark blue); (Skåne, Perstorps socken, N. Åsbo härad).
- Götaland dialects (red); (Västergötland, Korsberga socken, Vartofta härad, Skaraborgs län).
- Svealand dialects (dark green); (Uppland, Håtuna socken, Håbo härad).
- Norrland dialects (light blue); (Västerbotten, Skellefte socken, Löparnäs).
- Finland Swedish and Estonian Swedish (orange); (Finland, Österbotten, Sideby socken).
- Gotland dialects (light green); (Gotland, När Socken, Gotlands södra härad).
The areas with mixed colors as stripes are transitional areas. 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. 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 (related to Norrland dialects), Dalarna, Älvdalens socken (related to Svealand dialects) and Värmland, Nordmarks härad, Töcksmarks socken (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.
| 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.
- /r/ + /l/ → [ɭ]
- /r/ + /n/ → [ɳ]
- /r/ + /s/ → [ʂ]
- /r/ + /t/ → [ʈ]
- /r/ + /d/ → [ɖ]
Classification
The following dialect groups are sometimes classified as "Swedish" in the broadest sense (North Scandinavian):
- Archaic Gutnish
- Dalecarlian
- Archaic Finnish Swedish, Estonian Swedish, Swedish
- Archaic Norrlandic, Jamtska
Dalecarlian is intermediate in some respects between East and West Scandinavian. The Scanian dialect is southern East Scandinavian, along with Danish and Jutish.
See also
- Norwegian dialects
- Danish dialects
- Scanian dialects
Notes
- Leinonen, Therese (2011). "Aggregate Analysis of Vowel Pronunciation in Swedish Dialects". Oslo Studies in Language. 3 (2): 75–95. doi:10.5617/osla.101.
- Pettersson (1996)
- "Jämtland, Föllinge socken (Litsmålen)". Svenska Dagbladet. 10 January 2003. Archived from the original on 11 February 2003.
- "Dalarna, Älvdalens socken: När luffaren kom till fäboden". Svenska Dagbladet. 9 January 2003. Archived from the original on 11 February 2003.
- "Värmland, Nordmarks härad, Töcksmarks socken: Ett slagsmål mellan svenskar och norrmän". Svenska Dagbladet. 10 January 2003. Archived from the original on 11 February 2003.
- Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin; Bank, Sebastian (2022-05-24). "North Scandinavian". Glottolog. Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology. Archived from the original on 2022-06-28. Retrieved 2022-11-13.
References
- Pettersson, Gertrud (1996). Svenska språket under sjuhundra år: En historia om svenskan och dess utforskande (in Swedish). Lund: Studentlitteratur. ISBN 91-44-48221-3.
External links
- More samples, from many dialects not listed in this article. (Swedish site)
- Dialect map with audio from the Swedish Institute for Language and Folklore.
This article needs additional citations for verification Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources Unsourced material may be challenged and removed Find sources Swedish dialects news newspapers books scholar JSTOR January 2007 Learn how and when to remove this message Swedish dialects are the various forms of the Swedish language particularly those that differ considerably from Standard Swedish Traditional dialectsMap showing the Swedish dialects traditionally spoken Even the northernmost part of Sweden now speaks Swedish and the Estonian dialects are almost extinct 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 sockenmal lit parish speech They are generally separated into the six traditional dialect groups with common characteristics of prosody grammar and vocabulary The color represents the core area and the samples are from Svenska Dagbladet s dialect project South Swedish dialects dark blue Skane Perstorps socken N Asbo harad Gotaland dialects red Vastergotland Korsberga socken Vartofta harad Skaraborgs lan Svealand dialects dark green Uppland Hatuna socken Habo harad Norrland dialects light blue Vasterbotten Skellefte socken Loparnas Finland Swedish and Estonian Swedish orange Finland Osterbotten Sideby socken Gotland dialects light green Gotland Nar Socken Gotlands sodra harad The areas with mixed colors as stripes are transitional areas 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 The areas west of the core for Norrland dialects west of Svealand dialects and north of Gotaland dialects are related to each of these respectively indicated by the colour of the dots Samples from these areas Jamtland Follinge socken related to Norrland dialects Dalarna Alvdalens socken related to Svealand dialects and Varmland Nordmarks harad Tocksmarks socken related to Gotaland dialects The dialects of this category have in common that they all show more or less strong Norwegian influences especially the dialects in Harjedalen Northwestern Jamtland 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 Feature South Swedish dialects Gotaland dialects Svealand dialects Norrland dialects Finland Swedish dialects Gotland dialectsDiphthongs Secondary in most of the area No No Primary everywhere secondary in north Primary and secondary Primary and secondaryLong a gt a Yes secondary diphthong Yes Yes Yes changed back to long a in north Only partially Nop t k gt b d g In most of the area No No No No NoIntervocalic g gt j or w In most of the area No No No No NoEnding vowel a Remains Weakened in parts of the area Remains Vowel balance Vowel balance Weakened in most of the areaDropping of r in plur Yes Yes No In north No NoAllophone of r Back Back and front Front Front Front FrontPostpos poss pron No Only family words Only family words Yes Yes Only family wordsSoftening initial g k sk Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes NoDropping of n No Yes Only in a small part of the area Yes No YesDropping of t No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Thick l also of rd No Yes Yes Yes restricted to some areas NoSupradentals No Yes Yes Yes restricted to some areas NoDropping of de in pret In parts of the area In parts of the area Yes Yes Yes Only e is droppedProlong 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 NoStem vowel i y gt e o also in long stemmed words and in front of i u Yes Yes No No No NoVowel balance No No No Yes Yes No Note that this table does not hold for the distinct dotted or transitional striped areas Gotaland dialects are mostly used in Vastergotland Dalsland northern Halland northern Smaland and Ostergotland although they are also heard in Bohuslan Varmland a special case in many ways and Oland Examples of Gotaland dialect features are vowel reduction vowel shortening in front of endings and loss of r in suffixes as in hasta hastar 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 r l ɭ r n ɳ r s ʂ r t ʈ r d ɖ ClassificationThe following dialect groups are sometimes classified as Swedish in the broadest sense North Scandinavian Archaic Gutnish Dalecarlian Archaic Finnish Swedish Estonian Swedish Swedish Archaic Norrlandic Jamtska Dalecarlian is intermediate in some respects between East and West Scandinavian The Scanian dialect is southern East Scandinavian along with Danish and Jutish See alsoNorwegian dialects Danish dialects Scanian dialectsNotesLeinonen Therese 2011 Aggregate Analysis of Vowel Pronunciation in Swedish Dialects Oslo Studies in Language 3 2 75 95 doi 10 5617 osla 101 Pettersson 1996 Jamtland Follinge socken Litsmalen Svenska Dagbladet 10 January 2003 Archived from the original on 11 February 2003 Dalarna Alvdalens socken Nar luffaren kom till faboden Svenska Dagbladet 9 January 2003 Archived from the original on 11 February 2003 Varmland Nordmarks harad Tocksmarks socken Ett slagsmal mellan svenskar och norrman Svenska Dagbladet 10 January 2003 Archived from the original on 11 February 2003 Hammarstrom Harald Forkel Robert Haspelmath Martin Bank Sebastian 2022 05 24 North Scandinavian Glottolog Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology Archived from the original on 2022 06 28 Retrieved 2022 11 13 ReferencesPettersson Gertrud 1996 Svenska spraket under sjuhundra ar En historia om svenskan och dess utforskande in Swedish Lund Studentlitteratur ISBN 91 44 48221 3 External linksMore samples from many dialects not listed in this article Swedish site Dialect map with audio from the Swedish Institute for Language and Folklore
