Finland Swadish

**Finland Swadish** () is a braid term fir the wheen o Swadis dialecs spake in Finland bi Swadish-spikkin Finns as thair mither tongue. Maist o these dialecs an thaim that are spake in Swaden unnerstaun ilk ither nae bauther, but some ae thaim awa up in Ostrobothnie are a gey bit haurd tae unnerstaun fir Swadish-spikkin fowk frae ither airts. Maist Swadish-spikkin Finns dinna think o Finland Swadish as a leid apairt frae the Swadish o Swaden, an thay kin scrieve Staundart Swadish nae bauther fir Finland Swadish.

Swadish as spoken in Finland is regulatit bi the Swadish Depairtment o the Research Institute fir the Leids o Finland. This regulation includes the offeecially statit aim o keepin Finland Swadish close tae the Swadish as spoken in Swaden an strangly phrased advice against loanwirds an calques frae Finnish, which are uisually incomprehensible tae Swades.

An aften repeatit "fact" is that the municipality wi the heichest proportion o Swadish speakers in the warld, Hammarland (96%, 2004 est.), is locatit in Finland. Korsnäs haes an aw held this title an is aften citit as sic. Housomeivver, as there are nae offeecial statistics on the mither tongue o inhabitants o Swaden, this is haurd or impossible tae verify an shoud probably be taken wi a grain o salt.

In the spoken slang-leid, especially amang young fowk in Finnish-dominatit auries, Finnish loanwirds as well as calques frae Finnish are frequently incorporatit intae Finland Swadish. There are an aw some wirds in Finland Swadish that wad be considered slichtly archaic in Swaden. Some govrenment an public service terms that hae been creatit in recent centuries an aw differ. The same is true o ither new wirds, notably loanwords frae Inglis.

A common mistake made bi mony Swades is tae mistake Finland Swadish fir Swadish wi a Finnish accent, somethin that can be a considerable source o frustration tae maist Swadish-speakin Finns. Ony leid adopts featurs, especially pronunciation habits, frae dominant leids it comes in touch wi, but mony o the traits o Finland Swadish exist an aw in monolingual auries an some are in fact preserved featurs o auld Swadish. The pronunciation o Finland Swadish bi a Swadish-speakin Finn is different frae that o Finnish speakers pronooncin Swadish as a foreign leid.

## History

Frae the 16t century, Swadish wis the main leid o jurisdiction, admeenistration, an heicher education in Finland, but the majority o the population spoke Finnish ootside o these sectors o society, i.e. in normal, daily life. In 1809, when Finland became an autonomous Grand Duchy in the Roushie Empire, Swadish remained the anerlie offeecial leid. In 1863, Finnish an Swadish became offeecial leids wi equal status, an bi the time o Finland's unthirldom in 1917, Finnish clearly dominatit in govrenment an society.

Finland haes syne then been a bilingual kintra wi a Swadish-speakin minority (5.5% o mainland Finland's population in 2006) livin maistly in the coastal auries o soothren, sooth-wastren, an wastren Finland. Durin the 20t century, the urbanization follaein the Industrial Revolution haes led tae lairge majorities o Finnish speakers in aw major ceeties. The caipital Helsinki (in Swadish Helsingfors) became predominantly Finnish speakin as early as aroond 1900. A lairge an important pairt o the Swadish-speakin population nivertheless lives in the caipital.

The autonomous island province o Åland is an exception, being monolingually Swadish speakin accordin tae internaitional treaties. It is a matter o definition whether the Swadish dialects spoken on Åland are tae be considered a kynd o Finland Swadish or nae. Maist Swadish-speakin Finns an linguists consider them tae be closer tae some o the dialects spoken in nearbi pairts o Swaden.

## Offeecial status

Swadish is ane o the twa naitional leids o the republic o Finland, the ither being Finnish. These twa leids hae formally equal status in nearlins aw legislation. The ither minority leids (sic as Sami) are regulatit separately.

Finland Swadish is regulatit bi the Research Institute fir the Leids o Finland. Offeecial Swadish isnae supposed tae be different frae Swadish as foond in Swaden.

Bilingualism o municipalities is regulatit bi the Leid Act o 2003. gin the minority haes increased intae at least 3,000 persons or 8% o residenters, then the municipality must become bilingual. gin the minority haes fawen belaw 3,000 persons an 6% o inhabitants, then the municipality must become monolingual, unless it decides tae keep its bilingual status. At present, anerlie ane sic municipality haes done so, namely Lohja (*Lojo* in Swadish). The status is reviewed ance in a decade, an enactit bi a govrenment decree issued bi the Finnish Cooncil o State.

The kintra's public broadcaster, YLE, provides twa Swadish-leid radio stations, Radio Vega an YLE X3M, as well a TV channel, FST5.

## Phonology
Wi the exception o the dialects spoken in Ostrobothnia alang the wast coast, close tae the Gulf o Bothnie (example: the dialect spoken in Närpes), Finland Swadish is nae pairticularly different frae Central Swadish. The phonology is identical, but it haes slichtly different vouel qualities. The phoneme  is mair centralized an pronooncit like , quite similar tae hou mony American Inglis pronoonce /u/ (as in *moon*). This shoud be compared tae the Central Swadish , which is vera close tae the short vouel  an is mair roondit.

The realization o the heichlie variable phoneme  is mair frontal on the mainland an can vary atween  an , while the realizations on Åland are mair similar tae the velar (an aften destinctly labialized)  in the neighborin pairts o Swaden.  is affricated intae  or  in aw dialects includin in staundart Finland Swadish.

The tonal wird accent, which distinguishes some minimal pairs in maist dialects o Swadish an Norse, is nae present in Finland Swadish (except aroond the parish o Snappertuna, wast o Helsinki). The so-cried "accent 2", uised mainly in wirds wi a twa-syllable ruit, is nae uised at aw; insteid, "accent 1" is uised in aw wirds. Hence, Swaden Swadish minimal pairs like  ("the duck") - wi stress on anerlie the first syllable - an  ("the spirit") - wi baith syllables stressed - are baith pronoonced  in Finland.

## See an aw
* Åland Swadish
* Swadish-speakin Finns
* Swaden Swadish

## References

## Freemit airtins
* SweDia  - a collection o dialect samples o Swadish includin Finland Swadish