Editing Danish language (section)

== Dialects ==
{{Main|Dialects of Danish}}
[[File:Danishdialectmap.png|thumb|left|upright=1.15|Map of Danish dialects]]
[[File:Denmark-stoed.png|right|thumb|A map showing the distribution of stød in Danish dialects: Dialects in the pink areas have {{lang|da|stød}}, as in standard Danish, while those in the green ones have tones, as in Swedish and Norwegian. Dialects in the blue areas have (like Icelandic, German, and English) neither {{lang|da|stød}} nor tones.]]
[[File:Denmark-gender.png|thumb|right|The distribution of one, two, and three grammatical genders in Danish dialects. In Zealand, the transition from three to two genders has happened fairly recently. West of the red line, the definite article goes before the word as in English or German; east of the line it takes the form of a suffix.]]
Standard Danish ({{lang|da|rigsdansk}}) is the language based on dialects spoken in and around the capital, [[Copenhagen]]. Unlike Swedish and Norwegian, Danish does not have more than one regional speech norm. More than 25% of all Danish speakers live in the metropolitan area of the capital, and most government agencies, institutions, and major businesses keep their main offices in Copenhagen, which has resulted in a very homogeneous national speech norm.{{sfn|Pedersen|2003}}{{sfn|Torp|2006}}

Danish dialects can be divided into the traditional dialects, which differ from modern Standard Danish in both phonology and grammar, and the Danish accents or regional languages, which are local varieties of the Standard language distinguished mostly by pronunciation and local vocabulary colored by traditional dialects. Traditional dialects are now mostly extinct in Denmark, with only the oldest generations still speaking them.{{sfn|Kristiansen|1998}}{{sfn|Pedersen|2003}}

Danish traditional dialects are divided into three main dialect areas:
* [[Insular Danish]] ({{lang|da|ømål}}), including dialects of the [[Danish islands]] of Zealand, Funen, Lolland, Falster, and Møn<ref>{{cite web |last1=Quist |first1=Pia |title=Hvor mange dialekter er der i Danmark? |url=https://dialekt.ku.dk/dialekter/hvor_mange_danske_dialekter/ |website=dialekt.ku.dk |publisher=University of Copenhagen |access-date=17 January 2023 |language=da |date=26 September 2006 |archive-date=17 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230117210547/https://dialekt.ku.dk/dialekter/hvor_mange_danske_dialekter/ |url-status=live }}</ref>
* [[Jutlandic]] ({{lang|da|jysk}}), further divided in North, East, West, and [[South Jutlandic]]{{sfn|Nielsen|1959}}
* [[East Danish]] ({{lang|da|østdansk}}), including dialects of [[Bornholmsk dialect|Bornholm]] ({{lang|da|bornholmsk}}), [[Scanian dialect|Scania]], Halland and Blekinge{{Sfn|Prince|1924}}

Jutlandic is further divided into [[South Jutlandic|Southern Jutlandic]] and Northern Jutlandic, with Northern Jutlandic subdivided into North Jutlandic and West Jutlandic. Insular Danish is divided into Zealand, Funen, Møn, and Lolland-Falster dialect areas―each with additional internal variation. Bornholmian is the only Eastern Danish dialect spoken in Denmark. Since the Swedish conquest of the Eastern Danish provinces [[Scania|Skåne]], [[Halland]] and [[Blekinge]] in 1645/1658, the Eastern Danish dialects there have come under heavy Swedish influence. Many residents now speak regional variants of [[Standard Swedish]]. However, many researchers still consider the dialects in Scania, Halland ({{lang|da|hallandsk}}) and Blekinge ({{lang|da|blekingsk}}) as part of the East Danish dialect group.<ref>Niels Åge Nielsen: Dansk dialektantologi. Bind 1: Østdansk og ømål, København 1978</ref><ref>Harry Perridon: ''Dialects and written language in Old Nordic II: Old Danish and Old Swedish'', I: Oskar Bandle, Kurt Braunmuller, Ernst Hakon Jahr, Allan Karker, Hans-Peter Naumann og Ulf Teleman: ''The Nordic Languages: An International Handbook of the History of the North Germanic Languages'', Berlin 2003, {{ISBN|3-11-014876-5}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.denstoredanske.dk/Samfund,_jura_og_politik/Sprog/Dansk/danske_dialekter |title=danske dialekter &#124; Gyldendal – Den Store Danske |language=da |publisher=Denstoredanske.dk |access-date=2013-09-22 |archive-date=6 October 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131006010817/http://www.denstoredanske.dk/Samfund,_jura_og_politik/Sprog/Dansk/danske_dialekter |url-status=live }}</ref> The Swedish National Encyclopedia from 1995 classifies Scanian as ''an Eastern Danish dialect with South Swedish elements''.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Hallberg |first1=Göran |title=Dialekter – Uppslagsverk – NE.se |url=https://www.ne.se/uppslagsverk/encyklopedi/l%C3%A5ng/sk%C3%A5ne/dialekter |website=www.ne.se |publisher=Nationalencyclopedin |access-date=17 January 2023 |archive-date=17 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230117210544/https://www.ne.se/uppslagsverk/encyklopedi/l%C3%A5ng/sk%C3%A5ne/dialekter |url-status=live }}</ref>

Traditional dialects differ in phonology, grammar, and vocabulary from standard Danish. Phonologically, one of the most diagnostic differences is the presence or absence of {{lang|da|stød}}.{{sfn|Sørensen|2011}} Four main regional variants for the realization of stød are known: In Southeastern Jutlandic, Southernmost Funen, Southern Langeland, and Ærø, no {{lang|da|stød}} is used, but instead a [[pitch accent]] (like in [[Norwegian language|Norwegian]], [[Swedish language|Swedish]] and [[Gutnish]]). South of a line ({{lang|da|stødgrænsen}}, 'the stød border') going through central South Jutland, crossing Southern Funen and central Langeland and north of Lolland-Falster, Møn, Southern Zealand and Bornholm neither {{lang|da|stød}} nor pitch accent exists.<ref name="dialekt">{{cite web |url=http://dialekt.ku.dk/dialekter/dialekttraek/stoed/ |title=Stød |publisher=University of Copenhagen, Center for Dialect Studies |date=22 April 2015 |access-date=27 June 2016 |archive-date=28 September 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200928212024/https://dialekt.ku.dk/dialekter/dialekttraek/stoed/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Most of Jutland and on Zealand use {{lang|da| stød}}, and in Zealandic traditional dialects and regional language, {{lang|da|stød}} occurs more often than in the standard language. In Zealand, the {{lang|da|stød}} line divides Southern Zealand (without {{lang|da|stød}}), an area which used to be directly under the Crown, from the rest of the Island that used to be the property of various noble estates.{{sfn|Ejskjær|1990}}{{sfn|Kroman|1980}}

Grammatically, a dialectally significant feature is the number of grammatical genders. Standard Danish has two genders and the definite form of nouns is formed by the use of [[suffix]]es, while Western Jutlandic has only one gender and the definite form of nouns uses an article before the noun itself, in the same fashion as [[West Germanic languages]]. The Bornholmian dialect has maintained to this day many archaic features, such as a distinction between three [[grammatical gender]]s.{{sfn|Prince|1924}} Insular Danish traditional dialects also conserved three grammatical genders. By 1900, Zealand insular dialects had been reduced to two genders under influence from the standard language, but other Insular varieties, such as Funen dialect had not.{{sfn|Arboe|2008}} Besides using three genders, the old Insular or Funen dialect, could also use personal pronouns (like he and she) in certain cases, particularly referring to animals. A classic example in traditional Funen dialect is the sentence: "Katti, han får unger", literally ''The cat, he is having kittens'', because cat is a masculine noun, thus is referred to as {{lang|da|han}} (he), even if it is a female cat.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://dialekt.ku.dk/dialekter/dialekttraek/navneordenes_koen/|publisher=Copenhagen University, Center for Dialect Research|title=Navneordenes køn|date=22 April 2015|access-date=27 June 2016|archive-date=6 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160306175820/http://dialekt.ku.dk/dialekter/dialekttraek/navneordenes_koen/|url-status=live}}</ref>