Åland dialects () are

dialect A dialect is a Variety (linguistics), variety of language spoken by a particular group of people. This may include dominant and standard language, standardized varieties as well as Vernacular language, vernacular, unwritten, or non-standardize ...

s of Swedish spoken in

Åland Åland ( , ; ) is an Federacy, autonomous and Demilitarized zone, demilitarised region of Finland. Receiving its autonomy by a 1920 decision of the League of Nations, it is the smallest region of Finland by both area () and population (30,54 ...

, an autonomous province of Finland. The Åland dialects have similarities to both

Finland Swedish Finland Swedish or Fenno-Swedish (; ) is a Variety (linguistics), variety of the Swedish language and a closely related group of Swedish dialects spoken in Finland by the Swedish-speaking population of Finland, Swedish-speaking population, common ...

and the historical dialects of

Uppland Uppland is a historical province or ' on the eastern coast of Sweden, just north of Stockholm, the capital. It borders Södermanland, Västmanland and Gästrikland. It is also bounded by lake Mälaren and the Baltic Sea. The name literally ...

, but are generally considered to be part of Eastern Swedish (''östsvenska mål'', varieties of Swedish spoken in Finland and

Estonia Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia, is a country in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, and to the east by Ru ...

). Swedish is the sole official language of Åland, and its status is protected in the , a law that guarantees the islands'

autonomy In developmental psychology and moral, political, and bioethical philosophy, autonomy is the capacity to make an informed, uncoerced decision. Autonomous organizations or institutions are independent or self-governing. Autonomy can also be ...

within Finland.

Phonology

As in Finland Swedish, the tonal word accent that distinguishes certain minimal pairs is not present in Åland. Thus Central Swedish ('the duck') and ('the spirit') are both pronounced .Åländska ord och uttryck
''Bibliotek.ax''. Retrieved 10 April 2009.

Characteristics

Certain expressions are typical of Åland dialects. For example, the double genitive in ("''Whose's'' girl/boy are you?" ( in Standard Swedish)) carries the implication that the asker might know the parents of the person asked, likely in a small society such as Åland. Another characteristic is the substitution of (not) with (no, nobody, none; in Standard Swedish a plural form): ("I have not been there"). A feature that Åland shares with Finland Swedish is the reduction of the words (not), (should) and (must) to , and respectively.

Vocabulary

The dialectal vocabulary of Åland Swedish is composed of words that are either characteristic of Eastern Swedish or have passed out of use (but are still understood) in the Swedish spoken in Sweden. Traces of Finnish, Russian and English can also be found in the dialect because of historical contact. Below is a selection of dialectal words and expressions used in Åland Swedish:

Differences between dialects in Western and Eastern Åland

The Western Åland dialect is characterized by its connection to the dialects of eastern

(

Roslagen Roslagen is the name of the coastal areas of Uppland province in Sweden, which also constitutes the northern part of the Stockholm archipelago. Historically, it was the name for all the coastal areas of the Baltic Sea, including the eastern par ...

). This applies especially to the municipality of

Eckerö Eckerö is a municipality of Åland, an autonomous territory under Finnish sovereignty. The municipality has a population of () and covers an area of of which is water. The population density is . The municipality is unilingually Swedish an ...

. There are several similarities between Eckerö's and Roslagen's dialects, including the initial h-drop whereby, for example, ', ', and ' are pronounced as "''us''", "''itta''", and "''alm''" and an ''h'' sound is atypically inserted before the words ' and ''eta'' ('), producing "''hösa''" and "''heta''", respectively. On the other hand, the Eastern Åland dialects share features with Swedish dialects in

Åboland Åboland () is a sub-region in the archipelago of the Southwest Finland region in south-western Finland. Åboland and Turunmaa are also informal names of the region, but in this context Särkisalo () is normally included and in the Finnish nam ...

and southern Ostrobothnia. Between the dialects of Western and Eastern Åland, there are also several distinctions in vocabulary. For example, in Western Åland, as well as in Uppland, the verb ' and the adjective ' are used. The corresponding words in Eastern Åland are ' and '.

Samples of dialects

-dialect (West Åland) recorded in 2006 (see file för transcription).

Föglö Föglö is a group of islands and municipality in Åland, an autonomous territory of Finland. The municipality has a population of () and covers an area of of which is water. The population density is . The municipality is unilingually Swedis ...

-dialect (East Åland) recorded in 1971 by Per Henrik Solstrand.

References

Bibliography

*Andersson, Sven. ''Notlage, notlösare och notgår: ordens betydelse i åländska folkmål''. Part of ''Skrifter utgivna av Historiska samfundet i Åbo''. 1954. pp. 18–30. *Ramsdahl, Carl. ''Ryska lånord i åländskan''. 1976. *Sundberg, Eva. ''Dialekten i Ålands nordöstra skärgård''. Mariehamn 1993. *Svenblad, Ralf. ''Med åländska ord''. Mariehamn 1996. *Willandt, August. ''Åländskt bygdemål''. 1919.

External links

Ryska lånord i åländskan
(Russian loanwords in Åland Swedish)

{{DEFAULTSORT:Aland Swedish Swedish language Languages of Finland Swedish Finland Swedish