Estonian Swedish ( sv, estlandssvenska; et, rannarootsi keel, lit=Coastal Swedish) are the eastern varieties of Swedish that were spoken in the formerly Swedish-populated areas of

Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, an ...

(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. Until the evacuation of the Estonian Swedes near the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, both Swedish and

Estonian Estonian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Estonia, a country in the Baltic region in northern Europe * Estonians, people from Estonia, or of Estonian descent * Estonian language * Estonian cuisine * Estonian culture See also * ...

were commonly spoken on the named islands. It is not clear if there are any mother-tongue speakers left. After Estonia's independence following the

dissolution of the Soviet Union The dissolution of the Soviet Union, also negatively connoted as rus, Разва́л Сове́тского Сою́за, r=Razvál Sovétskogo Soyúza, ''Ruining of the Soviet Union''. was the process of internal disintegration within the Sov ...

, Estonian Swedish experienced a revival, with courses in the language being offered on Dagö and Ösel. Svenskbygder svatlas

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

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: : Standard Swedish: : 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 (locally ; literally "Old Swedish") is an Estonian Swedish dialect spoken in Gammalsvenskby, Ukraine. History It derives from the Estonian Swedish dialect of the late 1700s as spoken on the island of Dagö (Hiiumaa). While rooted in Swedish ...

dialect of Swedish spoken in Ukraine is an archaic dialect of Estonian Swedish, having been brought to the village of

Gammalsvenskby Gammalsvenskby ( sv, Gammölsvänskbi, label=Gammalsvenska, lit=Old Swedish Village; uk, Старошведське, translit=Staroshvedske; german: Alt-Schwedendorf) is a former village that is now a neighbourhood of Zmiivka ( uk, Зміїв ...

in the late 1700s by settlers from Dagö.

Writing system

Noarootsi Swedish is written with the same letters as Standard Swedish with a few phonetic additions:Brunberg 2010 *Long vowels are indicated with a subscribed macron: . *Long consonants are doubled : . *The /d/ and / n/

rhotics In phonetics, rhotic consonants, or "R-like" sounds, are liquid consonants that are traditionally represented orthographically by symbols derived from the Greek letter rho, including , in the Latin script and , in the Cyrillic script. Th ...

are denoted with a dot below . *The

Voiced retroflex flap The voiced retroflex flap is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is , and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is r`. Features Features of the voiced ...

/ɽ/, called "thick L", is noted with a dot below . *The

voiceless postalveolar fricative A voiceless postalveolar fricative is a type of consonantal sound used in some spoken languages. The International Phonetic Association uses the term ''voiceless postalveolar fricative'' only for the sound , but it also describes the voiceless ...

consonant /ʃ/ is noted with a dot below .

Samples

Writing system

See also

References

Further reading