110-625: Patronymic Ragnarsson is the patronymic of the Scandinavian given name Ragnar . It remains in use as a true patronymic in Iceland, and as a surname in Sweden. Patronymic [ edit ] Baldur Ragnarsson (born 1930), Icelandic poet and author of Esperanto works Halfdan Ragnarsson (died 877), Viking chief and one of the sons of Ragnar Lodbrok with Aslaug Ubbe Ragnarsson (died 878), Norse leader during
220-501: A 2007 statistical analysis made by Fjalar Finnäs , the population of the minority group is stable, and may even be increasing slightly in total numbers since more parents from bilingual families tend to register their children as Swedish speakers. It is estimated that 70% of bilingual families—that is, ones with one parent Finnish-speaking and the other Swedish-speaking—register their children as Swedish-speaking. The Swedish term finlandssvensk (literally 'Finland's-Swede'), which
330-566: A West Scandinavian branch, consisting of Norwegian , Faroese and Icelandic and, thirdly, an Old Gutnish branch. Norwegian settlers brought Old West Norse to Iceland and the Faroe Islands around 800. Of the modern Scandinavian languages, written Icelandic is closest to this ancient language. An additional language, known as Norn , developed on Orkney and Shetland after Vikings had settled there around 800, but this language became extinct around 1700. In medieval times, speakers of all
440-493: A construct of eager promoters of the Finnish language from the higher strata of society, mainly with Swedish-speaking family backgrounds. A later development, especially at the beginning of the 20th century, was the adoption or translation or modification of Swedish surnames into Finnish ( fennicization ). This was generally done throughout the entire society. In upper-class families it was predominantly in cadet branches of families that
550-622: A continental group (Danish, Norwegian and Swedish). The division between Insular Nordic ( önordiska / ønordisk / øynordisk ) and Continental Scandinavian ( Skandinavisk ) is based on mutual intelligibility between the two groups and developed due to different influences, particularly the political union of Denmark and Norway (1536–1814) which led to significant Danish influence on central and eastern Norwegian dialects ( Bokmål or Dano-Norwegian ). The North Germanic languages are national languages in Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden, whereas
660-403: A distinct nationality . They speak Finland Swedish , which encompasses both a standard language and distinct dialects that are mutually intelligible with the dialects spoken in Sweden and, to a lesser extent, other Scandinavian languages . According to Statistics Finland , Swedish is the mother tongue of about 260,000 people in mainland Finland and of about 26,000 people in Åland ,
770-559: A francophone period), for example the Old Swedish word vindöga 'window' was replaced by fönster (from Middle Low German), whereas native vindue was kept in Danish. Norwegians, who spoke (and still speak) the Norwegian dialects derived from Old Norse, would say vindauga or similar. The written language of Denmark-Norway however, was based on the dialect of Copenhagen and thus had vindue . On
880-540: A high degree of functional bilingualism. Clerical families in the whole seem to have been more fluent in Finnish than the burghers as whole. In the Middle Ages , commerce in the Swedish realm, including Finland, was dominated by German merchants who immigrated in large numbers to the cities and towns of Sweden and Finland. As a result, the wealthier burghers in Sweden (and in cities as Turku (Åbo) and Vyborg (Viborg)) during
990-634: A matter of language and de-emphasising the "Swedish part" of Finland-Swedish identity, i.e. their relations to Sweden. Among Finnish Americans the term Swede-Finn became dominant before the independence of Finland in 1917, and the term has remained common to the present, despite later immigrants tending to use different terms such as Finland-Swede . The expressions Swedish-speaking Finns , Swedes of Finland , Finland Swedes , Finnish Swedes , and Swedish Finns are all used in academic literature. The first Swedish arrivals in Finland have often been linked to
1100-459: A more significant extent than the West Germanic languages do. These lexical, grammatical, and morphological similarities can be outlined in the table below. Given the aforementioned homogeneity, there exists some discussion on whether the continental group should be considered one or several languages. The Continental Scandinavian languages are often cited as proof of the aphorism " A language
1210-538: A poor command of Norwegian and Swedish. They do somewhat better with Danish, as they are taught Danish in school (Icelandic is not mutually intelligible with Scandinavian languages, nor any language, not even Faroese, which is though closest). When speakers of Faroese and Icelandic were tested on how well they understood the three Continental Scandinavian languages, the test results were as follows (maximum score 10.0): The North Germanic languages share many lexical, grammatical, phonological, and morphological similarities, to
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#17328447303611320-403: A self-governing archipelago off the west coast of Finland, where Swedish is the sole official language . Swedish-speakers comprise 5.2% of the total Finnish population or about 4.9% without Åland. The proportion has been steadily diminishing since the early 19th century, when Swedish was the mother tongue of approximately 15% of the population and considered a prestige language . According to
1430-593: A separate language by many linguists. Traditionally regarded as a Swedish dialect, but by several criteria closer to West Scandinavian dialects, Elfdalian is a separate language by the standard of mutual intelligibility. Traveller Danish, Rodi, and Swedish Romani are varieties of Danish, Norwegian and Swedish with Romani vocabulary or Para-Romani known collectively as the Scandoromani language . They are spoken by Norwegian and Swedish Travellers . The Scando-Romani varieties in Sweden and Norway combine elements from
1540-415: A small minority usually leads to functional bilingualism. Swedish-speaking Finns are more fluent in Finnish than Finnish-speakers are in Swedish due to the practical matter of living in a predominantly Finnish-speaking country. In big cities with a significant Swedish-speaking population such as Helsinki and Turku , most of them are fluent in both Swedish and Finnish. Although in some municipalities Swedish
1650-518: A strong mutual intelligibility where cross-border communication in native languages is very common, particularly between the latter two. Approximately 20 million people in the Nordic countries speak a Scandinavian language as their native language, including an approximately 5% minority in Finland . Besides being the only North Germanic language with official status in two separate sovereign states, Swedish
1760-461: Is a dialect with an army and navy ". The differences in dialects within the countries of Norway, Sweden, and Denmark can often be greater than the differences across the borders, but the political independence of these countries leads continental Scandinavian to be classified into Norwegian , Swedish , and Danish in the popular mind as well as among most linguists. The generally agreed upon language border is, in other words, politically shaped. This
1870-452: Is also because of the strong influence of the standard languages , particularly in Denmark and Sweden. Even if the language policy of Norway has been more tolerant of rural dialectal variation in formal language, the prestige dialect often referred to as "Eastern Urban Norwegian", spoken mainly in and around the Oslo region, is sometimes considered normative. The influence of a standard Norwegian
1980-458: 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 term North Germanic languages is used in comparative linguistics , whereas the term Scandinavian languages appears in studies of the modern standard languages and the dialect continuum of Scandinavia . Danish, Norwegian and Swedish are close enough to form
2090-727: Is also spoken by the North Schleswig Germans , and German is a recognized minority language in this region. German is the primary language among the Danish minority of Southern Schleswig , and likewise, Danish is the primary language of the North Schleswig Germans. Both minority groups are highly bilingual. Traditionally, Danish and German were the two official languages of Denmark–Norway ; laws and other official instruments for use in Denmark and Norway were written in Danish, and local administrators spoke Danish or Norwegian. German
2200-614: Is also the most spoken of the languages overall. 15% of the population in Greenland speak Danish as a first language. This language branch is separated from the West Germanic languages , consisting of languages like English, Dutch, and German to the south, and does not include Finnish to the east, which belongs to the completely unrelated Uralic language family . The modern languages and their dialects in this group are: The Germanic languages are traditionally divided into three groups: West , East and North Germanic. Their exact relation
2310-510: Is different from Wikidata All set index articles Scandinavian languages Continental Scandinavian languages: Insular Nordic languages: 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
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#17328447303612420-597: Is difficult to determine from the sparse evidence of runic inscriptions, and they remained mutually intelligible to some degree during the Migration Period , so that some individual varieties are difficult to classify. Dialects with the features assigned to the northern group formed from the Proto-Germanic language in the late Pre-Roman Iron Age in Northern Europe . Eventually, around the year 200 AD, speakers of
2530-536: Is nevertheless less so than in Denmark and Sweden, since the prestige dialect in Norway has moved geographically several times over the past 200 years. The organised formation of Nynorsk out of western Norwegian dialects after Norway became independent from Denmark in 1814 intensified the politico-linguistic divisions. The Nordic Council has on several occasions referred to the (Germanic) languages spoken in Scandinavia as
2640-580: Is not widely understood and often not made. In literature regarding to international law and minority rights, a view that the Swedish-speakers in Finland not only constitute an ethnic minority but a distinct nationality has also been presented. Marriages between Swedish- and Finnish-speakers are nowadays very common. According to a study commissioned by the Swedish Assembly of Finland in 2005, 48.5% of all families with children where at least one of
2750-440: Is similar to Nynorsk and is used by a very small minority. Swedish-speaking population of Finland The Swedish-speaking population of Finland (whose members are called by many names —see below ; Swedish : finlandssvenskar ; Finnish : suomenruotsalaiset ) is a linguistic minority in Finland . They maintain a strong identity and are seen either as a separate cultural, ethnic or linguistic group or, occasionally,
2860-423: Is the only official language, Finnish is the dominant language in most towns and at most employers in Finland. In areas with a Finnish-speaking majority, Finnish is most often used when interacting with strangers and known Finnish speakers. However, 50% of all Swedish speakers live in areas in which Swedish is the majority language and in which they can use Swedish in all or most contexts (see demographics below). Of
2970-536: Is used by the group itself, does not have an established English translation. The Society of Swedish Authors in Finland and the main political institutions for the Swedish-speaking minority, such as the Swedish People's Party and Swedish Assembly of Finland , use the expression Swedish-speaking population of Finland , but Swedish-speaking NGOs often use the term Finland-Swedes . The Research Institute for
3080-530: The Finnish nobility consisting of about 6000 persons, of which about two thirds are Swedish-speakers. Still the majority of the Swedish-speaking Finns have traditionally been farmers and fishermen from the Finnish coastal municipalities and archipelago. Finland is a bilingual country according to its constitution . This means that members of the Swedish language minority have the right to communicate with
3190-815: The Isle of Man , and Norwegian settlements in Normandy . The Old East Norse dialect was spoken in Denmark, Sweden, settlements in Russia, England, and Danish settlements in Normandy. The Old Gutnish dialect was spoken in Gotland and in various settlements in the East. Yet, by 1600, another classification of the North Germanic language branches had arisen from a syntactic point of view, dividing them into an insular group (Icelandic and Faroese) and
3300-543: The Northwest Germanic languages, divided into four main dialects: North Germanic, and the three groups conventionally called "West Germanic", namely Inability of the tree model to explain the existence of some features in the West Germanic languages stimulated the development of an alternative, the so-called wave model . Under this view, the properties that the West Germanic languages have in common separate from
3410-519: The Swedish realm in the 13th century, at a time when that realm was still in the process of being formed . At the time of the Late Middle Ages , Latin was still the language of instruction from the secondary school upwards and in use among the educated class and priests. As Finland was part of Sweden proper for 550 years, Swedish was the language of the nobility, administration and education. Hence
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3520-417: The surname Ragnarsson . If an internal link intending to refer to a specific person led you to this page, you may wish to change that link by adding the person's given name (s) to the link. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ragnarsson&oldid=1188186763 " Category : Surnames Hidden categories: Articles with short description Short description
3630-412: The Øresund Bridge and a larger number of cross-border commuters in the Øresund Region contribute to a better knowledge of spoken Danish and a better knowledge of the unique Danish words among the region's inhabitants. According to the study, youth in this region were able to understand the Danish language (slightly) better than the Norwegian language. But they still could not understand Danish as well as
3740-698: The "Scandinavian language" (singular); for instance, the official newsletter of the Nordic Council is written in the "Scandinavian language". The creation of one unified written language has been considered as highly unlikely, given the failure to agree upon a common standardized language in Norway . However, there is a slight chance of "some uniformization of spelling" between Norway, Sweden and Denmark. All North Germanic languages are descended from Old Norse . Divisions between subfamilies of North Germanic are rarely precisely defined: Most form continuous clines, with adjacent dialects being mutually intelligible and
3850-514: The 13th and 15th centuries, in parallel with events that resulted in Swedish expansion to Norrland and Estonia's coastal area . The origin of the Swedish-speaking population in the territory that today constitutes Finland was a subject of fierce debate in the early 20th century as a part of Finland's language strife . Some Finland-Swede scholars, such as Ralf Saxén [ fi ; sv ] , Knut Hugo Pipping [ fi ; sv ] and Tor Karsten , used place names in trying to prove that
3960-405: The Danish vocabulary and grammar, and was nearly identical to written Danish until the spelling reform of 1907. (For this reason, Bokmål and its unofficial, more conservative variant Riksmål are sometimes considered East Scandinavian, and Nynorsk West Scandinavian via the west–east division shown above.) However, Danish has developed a greater distance between the spoken and written versions of
4070-519: The Helsinki area would choose to integrate in Swedish if they had the option. According to a report by Finland's Swedish think tank, Magma, there is a widespread perception among immigrants that they are more easily integrated in the Swedish-speaking community than in the majority society. However, some immigrants also question whether they ever will be fully accepted as Finland Swedes. Swedish-speaking immigrants also have their own association, Ifisk, and in
4180-455: The Languages of Finland proposes Swedish-speaking Finns , Swedish Finns , or Finland-Swedes , the first of which is the sole form used on the institute's website. Some debators insist for the use of the more traditional English-language form, Finland-Swedes , as they view the labelling of them as Swedish-speaking Finns as a way of depriving them their ethnic affiliation, reducing it to merely
4290-419: The North Germanic branch became distinguishable from the other Germanic language speakers . The early development of this language branch is attested through runic inscriptions. The North Germanic group is characterized by a number of phonological and morphological innovations shared with West Germanic : Some have argued that after East Germanic broke off from the group, the remaining Germanic languages,
4400-540: The North Germanic family tree is divided into two main branches, West Scandinavian languages ( Norwegian , Faroese and Icelandic ) and East Scandinavian languages ( Danish and Swedish ), along with various dialects and varieties. The two branches are derived from the western and eastern dialect groups of Old Norse respectively. There was also an Old Gutnish branch spoken on the island of Gotland . The continental Scandinavian languages (Swedish, Norwegian and Danish) were heavily influenced by Middle Low German during
4510-598: The North Germanic languages are not inherited from a "Proto-West-Germanic" language, but rather spread by language contact among the Germanic languages spoken in central Europe, not reaching those spoken in Scandinavia. Some innovations are not found in West and East Germanic, such as: After the Old Norse period, the North Germanic languages developed into an East Scandinavian branch, consisting of Danish and Swedish ; and, secondly,
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4620-689: The Northern Peoples . Dialectal variation between west and east in Old Norse however was certainly present during the Middle Ages and three dialects had emerged: Old West Norse, Old East Norse and Old Gutnish. Old Icelandic was essentially identical to Old Norwegian , and together they formed the Old West Norse dialect of Old Norse and were also spoken in settlements in Faroe Islands, Ireland , Scotland,
4730-550: The Norwegians could, demonstrating once again the relative distance of Swedish from Danish. Youth in Copenhagen had a very poor command of Swedish, showing that the Øresund connection was mostly one-way. The results from the study of how well native youth in different Scandinavian cities did when tested on their knowledge of the other Continental Scandinavian languages are summarized in table format, reproduced below. The maximum score
4840-542: The Nynorsk project (which had as a goal to re-establish a written Norwegian language) would have been much harder to carry out if Norway had been in a union with Sweden instead of with Denmark, simply because the differences would have been smaller. Currently, English loanwords are influencing the languages. A 2005 survey of words used by speakers of the Scandinavian languages showed that the number of English loanwords used in
4950-537: The Scandinavian languages could understand one another to a significant degree, and it was often referred to as a single language, called the "Danish tongue" until the 13th century by some in Sweden and Iceland. In the 16th century, many Danes and Swedes still referred to North Germanic as a single language, which is stated in the introduction to the first Danish translation of the Bible and in Olaus Magnus ' A Description of
5060-496: The Swedish authorities, as opposed to their Finnish counterpart, do not register languages. Another reason is that the natural increase of the Finnish-speakers has been somewhat faster than that of the Swedish-speakers until recent times, when the trend has reversed. During most of the 20th century, marriages across language borders tended to result in children becoming Finnish speakers, and knowledge of Swedish declined. During
5170-434: The Swedish dialects. Nynorsk incorporates much of these words, like byrja (cf. Swedish börja , Danish begynde ), veke (cf. Sw vecka , Dan uge ) and vatn (Sw vatten , Dan vand ) whereas Bokmål has retained the Danish forms ( begynne , uke , vann ). As a result, Nynorsk does not conform to the above east–west split model, since it shares a lot of features with Swedish. According to the Norwegian linguist Arne Torp ,
5280-492: The Swedish language for those parts of the country where Swedish speakers made up the local majority. The Finnish-speaking parties and leadership studiously avoided self-government for Swedish speakers in the Finnish mainland. Of the broader wishes of the Swedish-speaking political movement only cultural concessions—most notably administrative autonomy for Swedish schools and a Swedish diocese —were realized, which nevertheless were sufficient to prevent more thorough conflict between
5390-426: The Swedish settlement in Finland dates back to prehistoric times. Their views were opposed mainly by Heikki Ojansuu [ fi ; sv ] in the 1920s. In 1966, the historian Hämäläinen (as referenced by McRae 1993) addressed the strong correlation between the scholar's mother-tongue and the views on the Scandinavian settlement history of Finland. "Whereas Finnish-speaking scholars tended to deny or minimize
5500-479: The Swedish settlements to Nyland (Uusimaa) . During the 14th century, the population expansion from Sweden proper increasingly took the form of organised mass migration: the new settlers came in large numbers in large ships from various parts of Sweden's Eastern coast, from Småland to Hälsingland. Their departure from Sweden proper to Finland was encouraged and organized by the Swedish authorities. The coast of Ostrobothnia received large-scale Swedish settlements during
5610-456: The Swedish-speakers in Finland, the Swedish People's Party , has defined the Swedish-speaking Finns as a people who express Finnish identity in the Swedish language. The issue is debated: an opposite view is still that the Swedish-speaking Finns are a sub-group of the ethnic Swedes, östsvenskar or "East Swedes". Despite these varying viewpoints, the Swedish-speaking population in Finland in general have their own identity distinct from that of
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#17328447303615720-462: The Swedish-speaking population of Finland, There is a small community of Swedish-speaking immigrants in Finland. Many of them come from Sweden, or have resided there (about 8,500 Swedish citizens live in Finland and around 30,000 residents in Finland were born in Sweden ), while others have opted for Swedish because it is the main language in the city in which they live, or because their partners are Swedish-speaking. About one quarter of immigrants in
5830-468: The Swedish-speaking population. Finland-Swedish folklore along the coast has been traditionally maritime-influenced. The folklore themes are typical in the Nordic context. Stories and tales involving the evil water-spirit are central. The origins of some of the tales have been German and French from which they have been adapted to the Nordic milieu. (Finland)-Swedish folklore has also had a significant impact on
5940-706: The Viking Age Surname [ edit ] Cecilia Ragnarsson (born 1987), Swedish model and beauty pageant titleholder and winner of Miss International Sweden 2010 Huggy Ragnarsson (born Hugrún Ragnarsson), Icelandic-American fashion photographer and former fashion model Julia Ragnarsson (born 1992), Swedish actress Kristjan T. Ragnarsson (born 1943), Icelandic physiatrist Marcus Ragnarsson (born 1971), Swedish professional ice hockey defenseman Ómar Ragnarsson (born 1940), Icelandic politician, environmentalist, entertainer and news reporter [REDACTED] Surname list This page lists people with
6050-510: The archipelago became Swedish-speaking by assimilation. According to another view (e.g. Tarkiainen 2008) the two major areas of Swedish language speakers ( Nyland and Ostrobothnia ) were largely uninhabited at the time of the arrival of Swedes. According to an interpretation based on the results of recent (2008) genome-wide SNP scans and on church records from the early modern period, Swedish-speaking peasantry has been overwhelmingly endogamous . Historian Tarkiainen (2008) presents that from
6160-517: The area. A toponymical analysis from e.g. the Turunmaa archipelago—today largely Swedish-speaking—suggests the existence of a large population of native Finnish speakers up until the early modern age. Whether the Finnish settlements prior to the arrival of the Swedes have been permanent or seasonal is debated. According to another toponymic study, some Finnish villages and farms on the south-western coast and
6270-518: The beginning of the 19th century, attracted Finnish-speaking workers, civil servants and university students from other parts of Finland, as did other Swedish-speaking areas. As a result, the originally unilingual Swedish-speaking coastal regions in the province of Nyland were cut into two parts. There was a smaller migration in the opposite direction, and a few Swedish-speaking "islands" emerged in towns like Tampere , Oulu and Kotka . According to official statistics, Swedish speakers made up 12.9% of
6380-405: The capital region there is a publicly financed project named Delaktig aimed at facilitating integration of immigrants who know or wish to learn Swedish. Most if not all immigrants also wish to be fluent in Finnish due to the fact that it is the dominant language in Finnish society. Swedish speakers have migrated to many parts of the world. One study has shown they are more likely to emigrate than
6490-474: The concept of minority has been increasingly applied to Swedish speakers, even within the Finland-Swedish political discourse. The Swedish nationality movement was effectively mobilized during the aftermath of Finnish independence and the civil war that shortly followed. The Swedish assembly of Finland was founded to protect the linguistic integrity of Swedish-speakers and seek fixed territorial guarantees for
6600-441: The dialects of Western Sweden, Eastern Norway (Østlandet) and Trøndersk. Norwegian has two official written norms, Bokmål and Nynorsk. In addition, there are some unofficial norms. Riksmål is more conservative than Bokmål (that is, closer to Danish) and is used to various extents by numerous people, especially in the cities and by the largest newspaper in Norway, Aftenposten . On the other hand, Høgnorsk (High Norwegian)
6710-503: The earlier part the formation of the Lutheran Church (in its High Church form) was constituted most often of the wealthier strata of the peasantry with the closely linked medieval Finnish nobility and the rising burgher class in the expanding cities. The Church required fluency in Finnish from clergymen serving in predominantly or totally Finnish-speaking parishes (most of the country); consequently clerical families tended to maintain
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#17328447303616820-535: The equality of the Swedish nationality next to the Finnish-speaking nationality and the fact the national languages of Finland were the languages of the respective nationalities of the country, not the languages of the state itself. The concept of minority, although de facto the case for Swedish speakers, was perceived as being against the spirit of the constitution. However, gradually after the Second World War,
6930-424: The ethno-linguistic groups. The urbanization and industrialization that began in the late 19th century increased the interaction between people speaking different languages with each other, especially in the bigger towns. Helsinki ( Helsingfors in Swedish and predominantly used until the late 19th century), named after medieval settlers from the Swedish province of Hälsingland , still mainly Swedish-speaking in
7040-550: The folklore of Finnish speakers. Finland-Swedish literature has a rich legacy. Under the lead of Edith Södergran , who also captivated audiences in the English-speaking world, Gunnar Björling and Elmer Diktonius , the Finland-Swedish modernists of the early 20th century had a significant impact on the whole of Scandinavian modernism. Tove Jansson is perhaps the most renowned example of Finland-Swedish prose. Her Moomin books have fascinated children and adults throughout
7150-400: The form partial self-determination and fixed protection for Swedish language in Swedish-speaking municipalities have been proposed in Finland's Swedish-speaking media. Following an educational reform in the 1970s, both Swedish and Finnish became compulsory school subjects . The school subjects are not called Finnish or Swedish ; the primary language in which lessons are taught depends upon
7260-670: The language group. According to a study undertaken during 2002–2005 and funded by the Nordic Cultural Fund, Swedish speakers in Stockholm and Danish speakers in Copenhagen have the greatest difficulty in understanding other Nordic languages. The study, which focused mainly on native speakers under the age of 25, showed that the lowest ability to comprehend another language is demonstrated by youth in Stockholm in regard to Danish, producing
7370-453: The language, so the differences between spoken Norwegian and spoken Danish are somewhat more significant than the difference between their respective written forms. Written Danish is relatively close to the other Continental Scandinavian languages, but the sound developments of spoken Danish include reduction and assimilation of consonants and vowels, as well as the prosodic feature called stød in Danish, developments which have not occurred in
7480-617: The languages between different parts of the three language areas. Sweden left the Kalmar Union in 1523 due to conflicts with Denmark, leaving two Scandinavian units: The union of Denmark–Norway (ruled from Copenhagen, Denmark) and Sweden (including present-day Finland). The two countries took different sides during several wars until 1814, when the Denmark-Norway unit was disestablished, and made different international contacts. This led to different borrowings from foreign languages (Sweden had
7590-492: The languages has doubled during the last 30 years and is now 1.2%. Icelandic has imported fewer English words than the other North Germanic languages, despite the fact that it is the country that uses English most. The mutual intelligibility between the Continental Scandinavian languages is asymmetrical. Various studies have shown Norwegian speakers to be the best in Scandinavia at understanding other languages within
7700-447: The last decades the trend has been reversed: many bilingual families chose to register their children as Swedish speakers and put their children in Swedish schools. One motive is the language skills needed during their professional lives. Population statistics do not recognize bilingualism. The Finnish substrate toponyms (place names) within today's Swedish-speaking areas have been interpreted as indicative of earlier Finnish settlements in
7810-480: The late Middle Ages onwards until relatively recent times, Swedish-speaking peasants tended to select their marriage partners from the same parish, often from the same village as themselves. This tends to be the rule among traditional peasant communities everywhere. As tightly knit peasant communities tend to assimilate potential newcomers very quickly, this has meant that most marriages within the Swedish-speaking peasantry during this period were contracted with members of
7920-400: The late Middle Ages tended to be of German origin. In the 19th century, a new wave of immigration came from German-speaking countries predominantly connected to commercial activities, which has formed a notable part of the grand bourgeoisie in Finland to this day. After the Finnish war , Sweden lost Finland to Russia. During the period of Russian sovereignty (1809–1917) the Finnish language
8030-438: The lead of Senator E. N. Setälä who played a major role in the drafting the language act (1922) and the language paragraphs (1919) in the Finnish constitution, interpreted the language provisions so that they are not supposed to suggest the existence of two nationalities. According to this view Finland has two national languages but only one nationality. This view was never shared in the Swedish-speaking political circles and paved
8140-464: The linguistic and cultural revival of 19th century Lithuania where many former Polish speakers expressed their affiliation with the Lithuanian nation by adopting Lithuanian as their spoken language. As the educated class in Finland was almost entirely Swedish-speaking, the first generation of the Finnish nationalists and Fennomans came predominantly from a Swedish-speaking background. The language issue
8250-449: The linguistic rights of Swedish-speaking Finns in practice. The criticism was partly legitimized by the report (2008) conducted by Finnish government which showed severe problems in the practical implementation of the language act. The recent administrative reforms in Finland have caused harsh criticism in the Swedish-speaking media and created fear over the survival of Swedish as an administrative language in Finland. A special status in
8360-431: The lowest ability score in the survey. The greatest variation in results between participants within the same country was also demonstrated by the Swedish speakers in the study. Participants from Malmö , located in the southernmost Swedish province of Scania (Skåne), demonstrated a better understanding of Danish than Swedish speakers to the north. Access to Danish television and radio, direct trains to Copenhagen over
8470-484: The majority, and they wish to be recognized as such. In speaking Swedish, Swedish-speaking Finns predominantly use the Swedish word finländare (approximately translatable as Finlanders ) when referring to all Finnish nationals. The purpose is to use a term that includes both themselves and Finnish-speaking Finns because the Swedish word finnar , in Finland-Swedish usage, implies a Finnish-speaking Finn. In Sweden, this distinction between finländare and finnar
8580-573: The most separated ones not. The Jamtlandic dialects share many characteristics with both Trøndersk and with Norrländska mål. Due to this ambiguous position, it is contested whether Jamtlandic belongs to the West Scandinavian or the East Scandinavian group. Elfdalian (Älvdalen speech), generally considered a Sveamål dialect, today has an official orthography and is, because of a lack of mutual intelligibility with Swedish , considered as
8690-429: The municipality becomes monolingual. In bilingual municipalities, all civil servants must have satisfactory language skill in either Finnish or Swedish (in addition to native-level skill in the other language). Both languages can be used in all communications with the civil servants in such a town. Public signs (such as street and traffic signs, as illustrated) are in both languages in bilingual towns and municipalities with
8800-579: The name in the majority language being on the top. The Swedish-speaking areas in Finnish Mainland do not have fixed territorial protection, unlike the languages of several national minorities in Central Europe such as German in Belgium and North Italy . This has caused a heated debate among Swedish-speaking Finns. The current language act of Finland has been criticized as inadequate instrument to protect
8910-437: The name translations took place. Opposition to the Swedish language was partly based around historical prejudices and conflicts that had sprung up during the 19th century. The intensified language strife and the aspiration to raise the Finnish language and Finnic culture from peasant status to the position of a national language and a national culture gave rise to negative portrayals of Swedish speakers as foreign oppressors of
9020-511: The neighbouring, adjacent Finnish-speaking populations but formed a genetic cluster with the Swedes According to a 2008 Y-DNA study, a Swedish-speaking reference group from Larsmo , Ostrobothnia, differed significantly from the Finnish-speaking sub-populations in the country in terms of Y-STR variation. This study however was comparing one small Swedish-speaking municipality of 4652 inhabitants to Finnish-speaking provinces and only tells about
9130-478: The non-Germanic Finnish is spoken by the majority in Finland. In inter-Nordic contexts, texts are today often presented in three versions: Finnish, Icelandic, and one of the three languages Danish, Norwegian and Swedish. Another official language in the Nordic countries is Greenlandic (in the Eskimo–Aleut family ), the sole official language of Greenland . In Southern Jutland in southwestern Denmark, German
9240-541: The northern parts of present-day Finland were counted as part of Norrland ). When the Grand Duchy of Finland was formed and Karelia was reunited with Finland, the share of Swedish speakers was 15% of the population. During the 19th century a national awakening occurred in Finland. It was supported by the Russian central administration for practical reasons, as a security measure to weaken Swedish influence in Finland. This trend
9350-422: The origin of two different Y-DNA haplotypes. According to a sociological study published in 1981, the Swedish-speaking Finns meet the four major criteria for a separate ethnic group: self-identification of ethnicity, language, social structure, and ancestry. However, not all Swedish-speaking Finns are willing to self-identify as representatives of a distinct ethnicity. The major political organisation representing
9460-510: The other hand, the word begynde 'begin' (now written begynne in Norwegian Bokmål) was borrowed into Danish and Norwegian, whereas native börja was kept in Swedish. Even though standard Swedish and Danish were moving apart, the dialects were not influenced that much. Thus Norwegian and Swedish remained similar in pronunciation, and words like børja were able to survive in some of the Norwegian dialects whereas vindöga survived in some of
9570-544: The other languages (though the stød corresponds to the changes in pitch in Norwegian and Swedish, which are pitch-accent languages ). Scandinavians are widely expected to understand some of the other spoken Scandinavian languages. There may be some difficulty particularly with elderly dialect speakers, however public radio and television presenters are often well understood by speakers of the other Scandinavian countries, although there are various regional differences of mutual intelligibility for understanding mainstream dialects of
9680-426: The parents was Swedish-speaking were bilingual in the sense of one parent being Swedish- and the other Finnish-speaking (only families living in those municipalities where Swedish was at least a co-official language were included in this study). 67.7% of the children from these bilingual families were registered as Swedish-speaking. The proportion of those who attended schools where Swedish was the language of instruction
9790-428: The peaceful Finnish-speaking peasant. Even though the proportional distribution of Swedish-speakers among different social strata closely reflects that of the general population, there is still a lingering conception of Swedish as a language of the historical upper class culture of Finland. This is reinforced by the fact that Swedish-speakers are statistically overrepresented among " old money " families as well as within
9900-401: The period of Hanseatic expansion . Another way of classifying the languages – focusing on mutual intelligibility rather than the tree-of-life model – posits Norwegian, Danish, and Swedish as Continental Scandinavian , and Faroese and Icelandic as Insular Scandinavian . Because of the long political union between Norway and Denmark, moderate and conservative Norwegian Bokmål share most of
10010-498: The population—both Swedish and Finnish speakers—were farmers, fishermen and other workers. The farmers lived mainly in unilingual areas, while the other workers lived in bilingual areas such as Helsinki. This co-existence gave birth to Helsinki slang —a Finnish slang with novel slang words of Finnish, local and common Swedish and Russian origin. Helsinki was primarily Swedish-speaking until the late 19th century, see further: Fennicization of Helsinki . The Finnish-speaking parties, under
10120-413: The presence of Swedish-speakers before the historically documented Swedish expeditions starting from the 12th century, Swedish-speaking scholars have found archeological and philological evidence for a continuous and Swedish or Germanic presence in Finland from pre-historic times." Since the late 20th century, several Swedish-speaking philologists, archaeologists and historians from Finland have criticized
10230-461: The pupil's mother tongue. This language of instruction is officially and in general practice called the mother tongue ( äidinkieli in Finnish, modersmål in Swedish). The secondary language, as a school subject, is called the other domestic language ( toinen kotimainen kieli in Finnish, andra inhemska språket in Swedish). Lessons in the "other domestic language" usually start in
10340-507: The putative First Swedish Crusade (ca. 1150) which, if it took place, served to expand Christianity and annex Finnish territories to the kingdom of Sweden. Simultaneously the growth of population in Sweden, together with lack of land, resulted in Swedish settlements in Southern and Western coastal areas of Finland. The Second Swedish Crusade against the Tavastians in the 13th century extended
10450-589: The rest of the Finnish population. It is estimated that between the early 1870s and late 1920s, approximately 70,000 Swedish-speaking Finns emigrated to North America. In Minnesota, a number settled on the Iron Range , in Minneapolis-Saint Paul , and in the northeastern part of the state including Duluth and along the North Shore of Lake Superior . Larsmont , Minnesota, a town named after Larsmo , Finland,
10560-428: The same language group. During the time of early immigration by Swedes to the coastal regions (approximately between 1150 and 1350), the situation was different and according to a study from the 1970s (as referenced by Tarkiainen, 2008) the intermarriage rate between local Finns and Swedish newcomers was considerable. According to Tarkiainen, in the areas of initial Swedish immigration, the local Finns were assimilated into
10670-415: The state authorities in their mother tongue. On the municipal level, this right is legally restricted to municipalities with a certain minimum of speakers of the minority language. All Finnish communities and towns are classified as either monolingual or bilingual. When the proportion of the minority language increases to 8% (or 3000), then the municipality is defined as bilingual, and when it falls below 6%,
10780-528: The theories of Germanic / Scandinavian continuity in Finland. Current research has established that the Swedish-speaking population and Swedish place names in Finland date to the Swedish colonisation of Nyland and Ostrobothnia coastal regions of Finland in the 12th and 13th centuries. The proportion of Swedish speakers in Finland has declined since the 18th century, when almost 20% spoke Swedish (these 18th-century statistics excluded Karelia and Kexholm County , which were ceded to Russia in 1743, and
10890-456: The third, fifth or seventh form of comprehensive school and are a part of the curriculum in all secondary education. In polytechnics and universities , all students are required to pass an examination in the "other domestic language" on a level that enables them to be employed as civil servants in bilingual offices and communities. The actual linguistic abilities of those who have passed the various examinations however vary considerably. Being
11000-573: The total population of Finland of 2.6 million in 1900. By 1950 their proportion had fallen to 8.6% of a total of 4 million people, and by 1990 they formed 5.9% of the country's 5 million people. This sharp decline has since levelled off to more modest annual declines. An important contribution to the decline of Swedish speakers in Finland during the second half of the 20th century was that many Swedish speakers emigrated to Sweden. An estimated 30–50% of all Finnish citizens who moved to Sweden were Swedish-speaking Finns. Reliable statistics are not available, as
11110-490: The two highest estates of the realm , i.e. nobles and priests , had Swedish as their language. In the two minor estates, burghers and peasants , Swedish also held sway, but in a more varying degree depending on regional differences. Most noble families of the medieval period arrived directly from Sweden. A significant minority of the nobility had foreign origins (predominantly German ), but their descendants normally adopted Swedish as their first language. The clergy in
11220-459: The way for a linguistic conflict. Contrary to the Finnish-speaking view the leaders of the Swedish nationality movement ( Axel Lille and others) maintained that the Swedish population of Finland constituted a nationality of its own and the provisions of the constitution act were seen to support the view. The Finnish-speaking political circles denoted the cultural rights of Finland-Swedes as minority rights. The Finland-Swedish political view emphasized
11330-545: The world. On 6 November, Finnish Swedish Heritage Day , a general flag flying day , is celebrated in Finland; the day celebrates the Swedish-speaking population of Finland, their culture, and the bilinguality of Finland. In a 2008 study a joint analysis was performed for the first time on Swedish and Finnish autosomal genotypes. Swedish-speakers from Ostrobothnia (reference population of the study representing 40% of all Swedish-speakers in Finland) did not differ significantly from
11440-502: Was 10.0: Faroese speakers (of the Insular Scandinavian languages group) are even better than the Norwegians at comprehending two or more languages within the Continental Scandinavian languages group, scoring high in both Danish (which they study at school) and Norwegian and having the highest score on a Scandinavian language other than their native language, as well as the highest average score. Icelandic speakers, in contrast, have
11550-532: Was even higher. The Finnish authorities classify a person as a Swedish- or Finnish-speaker based only upon that person's (or parent's) own choice, which can be changed at any time. It is only possible to be registered either as Swedish- or Finnish-speaking, not both as in Canada, for example. It is significantly more common nowadays than it used to be for children from bilingual families to be registered as Swedish-speaking. Areas of modern-day Finland were integrated into
11660-919: Was founded by Swedish-speaking Finns in the early 1900s. For a number of reasons, including geographical and linguistic reasons, Sweden has traditionally been the number one destination for Swedish-speaking emigrants. In one study covering the period 2000–2015, over half of the 26,000 Swedish-speaking Finns who had moved abroad moved to Sweden. There are about 200,000 Swedish-speaking Finns living in Sweden ( Sverigefinlandssvenskar ), according to Finnish broadcaster Yle . Due to noticeable differences between Finland Swedish and Swedish as spoken in Sweden, Swedish-speaking Finns have been mistaken for non-native speakers and have been required to take language courses. Groups, particularly Finlandssvenskarnas riksförbund i Sverige [ sv ] (Fris), an interest group, have campaigned for decades in Sweden for recognition as an official national minority group, in addition to
11770-449: Was not primarily an issue of ethnicity, but an ideological and philosophical issue as to what language policy would best preserve Finland as a nation. This also explains why so many academically educated Swedish speakers changed to Finnish: it was motivated by ideology. Both parties had the same patriotic objectives, but their methods were completely the opposite. The language strife would continue up until World War II . The majority of
11880-409: Was promoted by the Russian authorities as a way to sever the cultural and emotional ties with Sweden and to counter the threat of a reunion with Sweden. Consequently, the Finnish language began to replace Swedish in the administrative and cultural sphere during the later part of the 19th century. The rise of the Finnish language to an increasingly prevalent position in society was, at the outset, mainly
11990-557: Was reinforced by the general wave of nationalism in Europe in the mid-19th century. As a result, under the influence of the German idea of one national language, a strong movement arose that promoted the use of the Finnish language in education, research and administration. Many influential Swedish-speaking families learned Finnish, fennicized their names and changed their everyday language to Finnish. This linguistic change had many similarities with
12100-536: Was the administrative language of Holstein and the Duchy of Schleswig . Sami languages form an unrelated group that has coexisted with the North Germanic language group in Scandinavia since prehistory. Sami, like Finnish , is part of the group of the Uralic languages . During centuries of interaction, Finnish and Sami have imported many more loanwords from North Germanic languages than vice versa. In historical linguistics,
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