Minority North Germanic languages in Sweden –

copyright Sven Isaksen

Swedish is one of the Nordic or North Germanic languages, as the national language of
Sweden is shares a close relationship to standard Danish, Riksdansk and to the variety of
Norwegian known as Østnorsk which came from the formal 'Danish' used in Norway, but not
to the traditional dialects of Norse in Norway. Standard Swedish shares a closer link to the
standard Danish and Østnorsk languages than it does to the so called dialects of Swedish in
Sweden. For the Nordic languages, the close political ties between the three countries have
had more influence in the formation of the standard languages than the local dialects spoken
outside of urban areas.
It is very difficult to draw any conclusive dialect maps of Scandinavia, whether or not
Danish, Østnorsk and Swedish are separate languages, or variations of a Scandinavian
standard to suite short distances in geography between the most urbanized areas of these
countries, having little to do with the traditional dialect make up which divides different
districts. In this article attention will be drawn to three unofficial languages in Sweden which
share typical Swedish features of Norse with Swedish, but which can't realistically be called
dialects of standard Swedish.
Some of the differences between dialects or languages in Scandinavia can be looked at in the
comparison of sample sentences, here “I am not a man” is translated into several Norse
dialects.

West Scandinavian (Insular)

eg er ikke mænnj - Shetlandic Mainland Nynorn

jag jar ikke mann - Foula Shetland Nynorn
eg eri ikki ein maður – Faroese
ég er ekki maður – Icelandic
jaaji ari iki inni maaq – Greenlandicized Danish (not a west Norse dialect, local
Greenlandic Danish pronunciation provided by a Greenlandic speaker who has studied how
Danish words are adopted into Greenlandic, this was probably never a true dialect and had a
status similar to Russenorsk in Norway).
The insular languages are most similar to Old Norse. Icelandic is perhaps the most archaic
Nordic language, it had four grammatical cases and nearly its entire vocabulary is based off
the Old Norse lexicon, but it isn't pronounced like the Old Norse dialects were spoken outside
 of Iceland, even if it has largely stayed unchanged in other ways. There are no strongly
defined traditional Icelandic dialects like there are on the continent, the dialects in Icelandic
are few and often spread over large areas. A common difference today between the Reykjavik
region and elsewhere is that hv is pronounced /xv/ and not /kv/.
Faroese also takes its vocabulary mainly from the Old West Norse lexicon, but it has taken
slightly more influence from other languages than Icelandic, particularly when words were
adopted from Danish. Faroese only has 3 cases instead of 4, but its grammar is very similar to
Old Norse grammar. Faroese is also pronounced completely differently to Old West Norse,
like Icelandic it has changed over the centuries, making the pronunciation even more
different from Old Norse than Icelandic but with totally different sound changes. Despite the
Faroe Island's small size, the differences in dialect are equal to or greater than the differences
found in Icelandic.
Nynorn is a form of revived Norn found at http://nornlanguage.x10.mx/. This was an Old
West Norse dialect like Faroese and Icelandic spoken in Orkney and Shetland from about 900
AD to the 19th century in some isolated places. These are two island archipelagos to the north
of Scotland, according to this site the dialect was similar to Icelandic in some respects like its
four grammatical cases. In other ways it was more like Norwegian and Danish.

West Scandinavian (Norway)

eg er ikkje ein mann - Nynorsk, similar to many dialects in West Norway (and elsewhere)
eg e isje ein mann – Stavangersk
eg er isje ein mann – Bergen
eg e ekje en mann – Sognefjord

Northern Western Norwegian

i e kje ein mann – Sunndal, Nordmøre

e e itj æn kar - Rindal
e e kje æn kar – Surnadal

In many parts of Western Norway, like in Bergen and Sunnmøre, the diphthong ei is
pronounced /æi/, but this is not so in Stavanger.
 Trøndersk Norwegian

æ e itj en mainn - Trondheim

e e ittj en mainn - Verdal
æ e itj ein mainn - Straumen
e er it nå mann - Rognes

Northern Norwegian

e e ikkj en majnn – Salten dialekt, Bodø

æ e kkje en majnn – Tromsø

South and Southeastern Norwegian

eg e ikkje ein mann - Northern Telemark

jæi ær ække en mann - Oslo dialect
jæ ærnte en mann - Sarpsborg
je ær ette en mann - Swedish border (South)

Central Scandinavian/Standard Nordic

jag är inte en man – Swedish, in more old fashioned formal speech jag är icke en man.
jeg er ikke en mand – Danish
jeg er ikke en mann - Norwegian Bokmål and Standard Østnorsk
jeg er ikke en mand - Gøtumål Danish (Faroe Islands)

South Central Scandinavian:

jâ e ønte iń mań – Bornholmsk

 jaj ær ig en mænd - colloquial Danish

Jutlandic (Southwest Peninsulan Scandinavian)

æ e it en man – South Jutlantic (west)

a e it en man - South Jutlandic (east)

Dalecarlian

ig ir ite ien kall – Elfdalian

Bothnian languages (Northern Baltic)

I ger int n man – Nordsjö Bondska

I ger int n kaer – Skellefteå Bondska
je ger int'n kaar – Burträsk Bondska
ja jer int n' kear – Lycksele Bondska
je jär ät kjarn - Kalix Bondska
 Bothnian/Bondska

The Bothnian Languages are a unique group of languages or dialects in the northern Baltic
region. The languages seem to have formed an early Norse dialect long before they developed
regional differences and were influenced by Swedish. The original language was an early
kind of Germanic, it may have once had similarity to the Gutnish language in the southern
Baltic, both languages are typical for using jer or jär instead of är or er in other Norse
dialects.
The Bothnian languages are divided into eastern and western groups, the eastern branch may
include many of the Finlandsvenska dialects in Finland, with the exception of some like
Närpesiska which are certainly Eastern Bothnian and in the same dialect group but were
already their own dialect or language from an early point in time, the other Finlandsvenska
dialects and the Estlandsvenska dialects to the south are slightly different. The eastern
Bothnian dialects include the dialects of Malax and other parts of Eastern Bothnia on the
Baltic coastline of Finland.
The Westrobothnian, or Bondska languages form the western branch in the northwest Baltic.
Several major valleys run inland from the Baltic, along great rivers like the Luleälven and
Piteälven valleys. The inland areas of Swedish Lappland were historically the territory of
Sámi and likely Finnish speaking people, but the coastal region has long been culturally
isolated from the people inland and from other Norse speakers, except those that trade was
maintained with in Eastern Bothnia and in other parts of the Baltic. These northern Nordic
dialects were isolated from the Swedish language but they share similarity with some of the
neighbouring dialects such as Jämtlandic in the south, itself related to the Trøndersk and
northern dialects of Norway which all form a sort of sprachbund, even if the language in
these areas is increasingly influenced by the standard form of language on both sides of the
border.
Bondska has several dialects, a small sentence like “I am not” can be used to show this
variation.

I ger int – Skelleftemål (Skellefteå)

I jär et – Pitebondska/Pitemål
jö jer ånt – Lulemål
djög djer ånt - Koikul Bondska (similar to Lulemål or a sub dialect)
je jär ät – Kalixmål
The Pitemål dialect of Bondska is spoken from the Piteå Skärgård on the Baltic Coast and
follows the Pite Valley inland as far as ancient Scandinavian settlement reached. In the upper
parts of the valley is another, probably more ancient indigenous language, Pite Sámi. Like
Dutch and German, Bothnian s develops into a 'sh' sound before other consonants, written
sch. The phonology is unlike Swedish phonology, the Swedish sh sound does not exist in this
language, and there are far more diphthongs than there are in Swedish. Apocope, the loss of
the final vowel in a word is something that Bondska shares with many of the northern Nordic
languages.
The dative case is used commonly in Bondska, there is variation between the singular and
plural forms of a conjuncted verb, and the addition of pronouns being attached to nouns to
specify their purpose, none of which are in Swedish. The capital L is a retroflex flap or
Swedish “tjock l”.

gu´da – good day

vo häjt dö? - what are you called?
I häjt... – I am called...
vöre ha dö ne? - how are you?
I hav´e bra, og vöre jär´e vä dä? - I am good, and how is it with you?
voda jär dö? - where are you from?
I jär bårrte/bårrta... - I am from (e/a ending depends on gender of place)
kan dö tåLa BoNschka/PijtmåLe/SchWänschka? - can you speak
Bondska/Pitemål/Swedish?
I tåLa et BoNschka – I don't speak Bondska
I kan tåLa PijtmåLe, män I kan et tåLa KuLismåLe – I can speak Pitemål, but I cannot
speak Kalixmål.

English Swedish Pite Bondska

I jag I
you singular du dö
he han han
she hon hon
it det/den hä
we vi vä
you plural ni jä
they dom döm
what? vad? vo?
how? hur? vöre?
from where? varifrån? voda?
Swedish language Svenska schWänschka
to travel att resa å räjs
language språk (mål) måL
but men män

Pitebondska has dialects within itself, some speakers do not use the sch sound commonly,
others replace v with w in some words, like wo for vo.
In the present Bondska has influenced the local dialects of Swedish. The city of Kiruna has its
own northern variant of standard Swedish, that has adopted words from the local Meänkieli
and Sámi languages, but also an influence from Bondska as people moved inland to Kiruna
from the coast. The Kiruna dialect is not a traditional Bondska dialect though, jag är inte
would be rendered jag är int.

Dalecarlian

Dalecarlian is a group of languages or dialects in Dalarna. This region of Sweden is very

rural, the mountainous area was quite isolated until relatively recently. This meant the dialects
of the Dalecarlian or Dalmål language were different to even the dialects on the borders to
Dalarna. Dalecarlian was the last language to use runes as a more common writing system,
together with its unique runic alphabet it shares other things in common with old Nordic
languages. Archaic features include the four case system used in Icelandic and Old Norse,
even though Dalecarlian isn't close to Old Norse today and underwent changes not found in
Icelandic or in other Nordic dialects.
Dalecarlian has one officially recognized standard, Elfdalian. Dialects are normally named
after their valley, Elfdalian in Älvdal, Orsamål in the Orsa district etc.

English Old West Norse Swedish Elfdalian Orsamål

I ek jag ig ik
do gera göra djärå djerå
speak tala tala tålå tålå
house hús hus aus aus
The Elfdalian ð is /ð/, like the English 'th' in 'there'. The consonants dj and tj are either /dʒ/ /
and /tʃ/ or /dz/ and /ts/. Nasal vowels have a tail under them./ or /dz/ and /ts/. Nasal vowels have a tail under them.

English Swedish Elfdalian

you singular du du
he han an
she hon ą̊
it det/den eð
we vi wįð
you plural ni ið
they dom dier
I have jag har ig ar
ice is ais
here här jär
I believe jag tror ig truor
no nej näi
say säga saia
over över yvyr
milk mjölk mjotję
is done är gjort ir gart
again igen atte
I shall jag skall ig al
a man en man ien kall
not inte ite
at home hemma iema
give ge djävå
be vara wårå
a/an en/ett ien/ie/iet

Like in Icelandic and Faroese the verbs are conjuncted for more persons.

English Icelandic Swedish Elfdalian

I am ég er jag är ig ir
you are singular þú er du är du ir
he is han er han är an ir
she is hún er hon är ą̊ ir
it is það er det/den är eð ir
we are við erum vi är wįð irum
you are plural þið erið ni är ið irið
they are þeir/þær/þau eru dom är dier irå
 Gutnish

Gutnish is another lesser known Nordic language which has been classed as a Swedish
dialect. The island of Gotland was very important in the medieval era and had its own distinct
dialect from early. The dialect has some things in common with Bothnian, both are spoken in
the Baltic Sea area and might have come from a common group of dialects, but Gutnish is
distinct from Bothnian and still preserves a lot of the Old Norse dialect, although the modern
language has been influenced quite a lot by Swedish. There are also several different dialects
of Gutnish, some more influenced by Swedish than others.

Gutnish, like Setesdalsk in Norway, uses acute accents on vowels to represent where long
vowels have become diphthongs. The language is not too difficult to pronounce for English
speakers. Note that k and g are always hard sounds, and not softened as they are in Swedish.
The Swedish 'sh' sound is a modern addition to the language. ó represents [ou], í comes from
Old Gutnish long i, becoming /ei/ or /æi/ in the modern dialects, but today it has mainly
merged with ei which came from Old Gutnish long e. ý represents öy in Swedish based
orthography..
hvaim jest dú? - who are you?
ja jer ann mann - I am a man
dú jest ann mann – you are a man
ja jer inte ann mann – I'm not a man
ja haitar Svain - I'm called Sven
hvarlains har ír det? - how are you?
sjóen jer stúrar - the sea is big
húset jer stúrt - the house is big
ja gikk forbí býn - I went past the town
óe bat jer pa sjóen meid di andre - our boat is on the sea with the others
sjóen blaist grýnar, u ja fór yvar vatnet – the sea became green, and I went over the water
u ja sag ann mann – and I saw a man
ja skraiv – I wrote

Further reading

The information in all my articles comes from information that I have personally recorded
and researched, but I should like to thank all those friends who have helped me with
corrections and extra details. More information about Elfdalian can be found in the book
Introduktion till Älvdalska by Gunnar Nyström och Yair Sapir.