Estonian Swedish (Swedish: estlandssvenska; Estonian: rannarootsi keel, lit. 'Coastal Swedish') are the eastern varieties of Swedish that were spoken in the formerly Swedish-populated areas of Estonia (locally known as Aiboland) on the islands of Ormsö (Vormsi), Ösel (Saaremaa), Dagö (Hiiumaa) and Runö (Ruhnu), and the peninsula (former island) of Nuckö (Noarootsi), by the local Estonian Swedes.[1]

Estonian Swedish
Estonian Swedes on Ruhnu, 1937
Region	Estonia, Ukraine
Native speakers	unknown
Language family	Indo-European Germanic North Germanic East Scandinavian Estonian Swedish
Language codes
ISO 639-3	–
Glottolog	esto1259
IETF	sv-EE

Until the evacuation of the Estonian Swedes near the end of World War II, both Swedish and Estonian were commonly spoken on the named islands. It is not clear if there are any mother-tongue speakers left.[2] After Estonia's independence following the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Estonian Swedish experienced a revival, with courses in the language being offered on Dagö and Ösel.

Currently, the number of native speakers is unknown, but assumed to be low.[3]

Samples

Estonian Swedish comprises a number of sub-dialects, for example Nuckömål and Rågömål.

An example of the Nuckömål dialect from the Nordisk familjebok, compared with standard modern Swedish:^{[citation needed]}

Stick tälknin i stolpan o hälvtor stolpan topa kalkan, säte Halmen o Hälma färe kalkan o ker te Nuckö toka.

Standard Swedish:

Stick täljkniven i stolpen och vält stolpen på kälken, sätt Hjälmen och Hjälma för kälken och kör till Nuckö.

English translation:

Stick the paring knife in the pole and turn the pole on the sledge, put the Helmet and Helmets for the sledge and drive to Nuckö.

The Gammalsvenska dialect of Swedish spoken in Ukraine is an archaic dialect of Estonian Swedish, having been brought to the village of Gammalsvenskby in the late 1700s by settlers from Dagö.[4]

Writing system

Noarootsi Swedish is written with the same letters as Standard Swedish with a few phonetic additions:[5]

• Long vowels are indicated with a subscribed macron: ⟨a̱, ä̱, å̱, e̱, i̱, o̱, u̱⟩.
• Long consonants are doubled : ⟨bb, dd, ...⟩.
• The /d/ and / n/ rhotics are denoted with a dot below ⟨ḍ, ṇ⟩.
• The Voiced retroflex flap /ɽ/, called "thick L", is noted with a dot below ⟨ḷ⟩.
• The voiceless postalveolar fricative consonant /ʃ/ is noted with a dot below ⟨ṣ⟩.

See also

• Swedish language
• Standard Swedish
• Finland Swedish
• Swedish dialects
  • Gammalsvenska

References

Further reading

• Axel Olof Freudenthal; Herman Vendell (1887), Ordbok öfver estländsk-svenska dialekterna, Skrifter utgivna av Svenska litteratursällskapet i Finland (in Swedish), Helsinki, ISSN 0039-6842, Wikidata Q112264898

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На других языках

[fr] Suédois de Noarootsi

[ru] Эстонские диалекты шведского языка