The Gothenburg dialect ( sv, göteborgska) is the form of

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

spoken in the city of

Gothenburg Gothenburg (; abbreviated Gbg; sv, Göteborg ) is the second-largest city in Sweden, fifth-largest in the Nordic countries, and capital of the Västra Götaland County. It is situated by the Kattegat, on the west coast of Sweden, and has ...

with surroundings, and forms a part of the Götamål dialect area of western Sweden.

History

The origins of the Gothenburg dialect can be traced to the industrialisation of the city in the late 19th century. The demand for factory workers caused rapid population growth through a large influx of people from the countryside, bringing with them their local dialects. These mainly belonged to the Götamål dialects, but also more distant Swedish dialects. As the new urban population adapted their speech, the different dialects mixed to create a new regional standard, and the children of the newcomers to the city—the second generation of Gothenburgers—were the first to natively speak what developed to become the Gothenburg dialect in the late 19th and early 20th century. One of the earliest uses of the word ("the Gothenburg dialect") is found in an 1891 article in the local newspaper ''Göteborgs Weckoblad''. The Gothenburg dialect is as such a relatively new dialect compared to other Götamål dialects. The dialect has been gradually converging with Standard Swedish over time, while some specific aspects of the dialect also have been intensified. At the same time, the dialect is spreading throughout Metropolitan Gothenburg and gaining ground in the more traditional Götamål-speaking areas outside the city. A study of

secondary school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' secondary education, lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) ...

students in the late 1990s found that the strongest dialectal aspects were found among students in the surrounding municipalities rather than in

Gothenburg Municipality Gothenburg Municipality (''Göteborgs kommun'' or ''Göteborgs stad'') is a municipality in Västra Götaland County in western Sweden. Its seat is located in the city of Gothenburg. When the first Swedish local government acts were implement ...

itself. The municipalities of Kungälv,

Kungsbacka Kungsbacka () (old da, Kongsbakke) is a locality and the seat of Kungsbacka Municipality in Halland County, Sweden, with 19,057 inhabitants in 2010. It is one of the most affluent parts of Sweden, in part due to its simultaneous proximity to the ...

Lerum Lerum is a locality and the seat of Lerum Municipality in Västra Götaland County, Sweden. It had 16,855 inhabitants in 2010. Overview Lerum has a station on the Gothenburg commuter rail system and is a suburb of Gothenburg. The river of Säv ...

, and

Stenungsund Stenungsund () is a locality and the seat of Stenungsund Municipality, Västra Götaland County, Sweden with 9,987 inhabitants in 2010. Overview Stenungsund was once only an idyllic bathing and vacation location on the Swedish west coast. A landma ...

now form part of the dialect continuum, while localities on the fringes of the metropolitan area like Uddevalla and Borås hold on to their more traditional dialects, like Västgötska.

Status

Most speakers of the dialect are proud of it, and the Gothenburg dialect is also popular among other Swedes who commonly view it as happy, carefree, open, and sexy.

Citations

References

* * * * * * {{Swedish language Culture in Gothenburg Swedish dialects