page_title: Yiddish
section_title: Sweden
hierarchical_section_title: Yiddish / Status as a language / Sweden
caption_attribution_description: English: Masthead of יודישע פאלקסשטימע (YIVO: Yudishe Folksshtime) I digitally photographed this image from a newspaper published in Sweden in 1917 for which no copyright is in effect. The image was both captured and is posted here in JPEG format, according to the instructions at Wikipedia:Preparing images for upload
context_page_description: Yiddish is a High German–derived language historically spoken by the Ashkenazi Jews. It originated during the 9th century in Central Europe, providing the nascent Ashkenazi community with a High German–based vernacular fused with elements taken from Hebrew and Aramaic, as well as Slavic languages and traces of Romance languages. Yiddish writing uses the Hebrew alphabet. As of the 1990s, there were around 1.5–2 million speakers of Yiddish, mostly Hasidic and Haredi Jews.
  The earliest surviving references date from the 12th century and call the language לשון־אַשכּנז‎ or טײַטש‎, a variant of tiutsch, the contemporary name for Middle High German. Colloquially, the language is sometimes called מאַמע־לשון‎, distinguishing it from לשון־קודש‎, meaning Hebrew and Aramaic. The term "Yiddish", short for Yidish Taitsh, did not become the most frequently used designation in the literature until the 18th century. In the late 19th and into the 20th century, the language was more commonly called "Jewish", especially in non-Jewish contexts, but "Yiddish" is again the more common designation today.
  Modern Yiddish has two major forms. Eastern Yiddish is far more common today.
context_section_description: In June 1999, the Swedish Parliament enacted legislation giving Yiddish legal status as one of the country's official minority languages (entering into effect in April 2000). The rights thereby conferred are not detailed, but additional legislation was enacted in June 2006 establishing a new governmental agency, The Swedish National Language Council, the mandate of which instructs it to "collect, preserve, scientifically research, and spread material about the national minority languages", naming them all explicitly, including Yiddish. When announcing this action, the government made an additional statement about "simultaneously commencing completely new initiatives for... Yiddish [and the other minority languages]".
  The Swedish government has published documents in Yiddish detailing the national action plan for human rights. An earlier one provides general information about national minority language policies.
  On 6 September 2007, it became possible to register Internet domains with Yiddish names in the national top-level domain .SE.
  The first Jews were permitted to reside in Sweden during the late 18th century. The Jewish population in Sweden is estimated at around 20,000. Of these, according to various reports and surveys, between 2,000 and 6,000 claim to have at least some knowledge of Yiddish. In 2009, the number of native speakers among these was estimated by linguist Mikael Parkvall to be 750–1,500. It is believed that virtually all native speakers of Yiddish in Sweden today are adults, and most of them elderly.
caption: Banner from the first issue of the Yidishe Folksshtime ("Yiddish People's Voice"), published in Stockholm, 12 January 1917.
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