Finland Swedish

Finland Swedish (Swedish: finlandssvenska; Finnish: suomenruotsi ) is a term for the spoken Swedish in Finland. Swedish is the second official language alongside Finnish in Finland. Spoken as a native language is Swedish of 265,000 people on the Finnish mainland, the so-called Finland Sweden, and 25,000 inhabitants of the autonomous province of Åland ( total of 5.5 % of the population ). The Finland-Swedish high-level language differs mainly in pronunciation and parts of the vocabulary of the languages ​​spoken in Sweden Swedish Empire, in the written language but only slightly. The Finland Swedish everyday spoken divided into several, sometimes widely differing dialects. The Åland dialect is the spoken dialects in Sweden closer than those of the Finnish mainland in many ways.

Background

Finland was until 1809 the eastern part of the Swedish kingdom. Until the mid-19th century the sole language of jurisdiction, administrative and high schools and universities in Finland was Swedish therefore ( originally written in Swedish so, for example, the Finnish national anthem ).

1892 Finnish second official language and gained a status that was comparable to that of Swedish.

Until the independence of Finland from Russia in 1917, the importance of the Finnish against the Swedish continued to increase. Since Finnish is prevalent in society, but the Finnish Constitution of 1919 defines both Finnish and Swedish as official languages ​​of Finland. Government employees must be able to communicate in both languages ​​; everyone has the right to elect to communicate in Finnish or Swedish with state authorities or to give evidence.

After the number of Swedish speakers has declined for years, it rises in recent years again. Most children from bilingual families are now swedish educated again. Finnish Although the main language has become; Finland is officially a bilingual country but still, in the Finnish and Swedish have the same rights (an exception is the autonomous Åland, which is monolingual Swedish).

From some Finnish -speaking pupils in the compulsory school -to-learn Swedish often disparagingly referred to as Pakkoruotsi (Finnish "forced - Swedish " ) is called.

Bilingualism

The Finnish municipalities are either purely Finnish-, Swedish-speaking or bilingual pure. At least the latter have both a Finnish and a Swedish name.

According to the Finnish language law ( Kielilaki / Språklag, chap. 1, § 5) of 6 June 2003 to determine the competent minister, " that a municipality is bilingual, if the municipality has both Finnish-speaking and Swedish-speaking population and the minority at least eight percent of the represents the population or 3,000 people. The Minister shall determine that a community is monolingual, when the minority of less than 3000 inhabitants there and their share has fallen below six percent. If the council calls it so, the Minister may specify by regulation that a municipality is bilingual during the next ten-year period, even though they would actually be monolingual. "

The Finland Swedes in the dominated population of Finnish municipalities as Helsinki ( Helsingfors Sr. ) and Turku ( Åbo ) are bilingual from the practical necessity. In the 43 bilingual municipalities (such as Vasa (Finnish Vaasa ) Porvoo ( Porvoo ), Ekenäs ( Tammisaari ), Korsholm ( Mustasaari ) or Jakobstad ( Pietarsaari ) ), of which 22 have a Swedish-speaking majority population, the Swedish language in all matters be used. The three municipalities Korsnäs, Larsmo (Finnish Luoto ) and Närpes ( Närpiö ) on the Finnish mainland are monolingual Swedish.

The Language Act does not apply to the 16 municipalities of the autonomous Swedish-speaking province of Åland.

See also: Finnish Language, List of Swedish and bilingual municipalities of Finland

Differences

Differences to the Kingdom of Sweden ( rikssvenskan ), the Swedish Sweden, exist both in pronunciation, prosody (especially in the speech melody ), vocabulary as well as to a negligible extent in the grammar (syntax and morphology).

While, is spoken by the urban population often formed Finland Swedish, so-called high- Swedish, whose vocabulary very similar to the Swedish Empire, the inhabitants speak old Swedish settlements on the land usually more difficult to understand dialects.

Examples of words that are different from their counterparts in the rich Swedish vocabulary, called Finnlandismen are, for example ( Finland Swedish - rich Swedish):

• Lunta - Fuska ( " mess " )
• Få muntur - få s syl i Vädret ( " to speak " )
• Semla - ljus vetebulle, småfranska ( " bun " )

When communication between speakers of Swedish Empire and Finland Sweden there are some pitfalls, such as false friends. Some examples are ( Finland Swedish - rich Swedish):

• Lumination almost fönstret! - Stäng fönstret! ( " Closing the window ", literally " Open the window fixed !")
• Ni slipper att det göra - ni får Tillfälle göra att det ( " you have the opportunity to do it," rich in Swedish ears " her help but to do it " )

Due to differences in official terminology and colloquial language between the Finland-Swedish and Swedish dialects of the rich Roman soldier had Okänd ( The Unknown Soldier ) by Väinö Linna be specially translated next to the Finland-Swedish translation into Swedish Empire.

Dialects

The rural dialects of Finland are related among Swedish closest to the Norrland, but also exhibit systematic differences among the dialects of Sweden on. On the other hand, there are also large differences between them itself

In the coastal areas of Ostrobothnia, where there are about 100,000 Finland Sweden, the dialects are most pronounced. Comparing it with the strong dialects or regional languages ​​of Sweden (such as Pitemål ( Bondska ) Gutamål and Jämtländisch ), one finds many similarities in terms of their differences from the Swedish kingdom. The most popular dialect in Ostrobothnia is the Närpes.

What all Ostrobothnian dialects the so-called " primary diphthongs " ( -ai, - Oey, au), as they are also found in Nynorsk and Icelandic language. You will also find three genders - as in most rural dialects on the Swedish side, but not in the richest or Finland-Swedish university or a regional language - and words that have been lost to the rich Swedish vocabulary, as well as newly emerged words.

Influence of the Finnish language

In the Finnish-speaking areas, primarily the Finnish language exerts a great influence on the everyday language of Finland Sweden ( and in particular on youth language ), which makes, for example, by so-called Fennizismen noticeable.

Also the high Swedish educated city dwellers was and is influenced by Finnish, thing to remember is mainly due to the prosody. However, other influences on this type of Swedish Finland also came from Latin, German, French and Russian.

In the old purely Swedish settlement regions of Finland, the influence through the centuries- long isolation has remained extremely low.

Special case Åland

The dialects Åland play from a linguistic point of view a special role among Swedish dialects in Finland; because they are, in all material respects, not to Finland Swedish, but for the Swedish Empire. Åland's only official language is Swedish.