Editing Scandinavia (section)

== Languages ==
Two language groups have coexisted on the [[Scandinavian Peninsula]] since prehistory—the [[North Germanic languages]] (Scandinavian languages) and the [[Uralic languages]], [[Sámi languages|Sámi]] and [[Finnish language|Finnish]].<ref>{{cite book| author = Dirmid R. F. Collis| title = Arctic languages: an awakening| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=TUhiAAAAMAAJ| year = 1990| publisher = Unipub| isbn = 978-92-3-102661-4| page = 440| access-date = 23 April 2023| archive-date = 23 April 2023| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20230423132240/https://books.google.com/books?id=TUhiAAAAMAAJ| url-status = live}}</ref>

Most people in Scandinavia today speak Scandinavian languages that evolved from [[Old Norse]], originally spoken by ancient Germanic tribes in southern Scandinavia. The Continental Scandinavian languages—[[Danish language|Danish]], [[Norwegian language|Norwegian]] and [[Swedish language|Swedish]]—form a [[dialect continuum]] and are considered mutually intelligible. The Insular Scandinavian languages—[[Faroese language|Faroese]] and [[Icelandic language|Icelandic]]—on the other hand, are only partially intelligible to speakers of the continental Scandinavian languages.

The Uralic languages are linguistically unrelated to the Scandinavian languages. Finnish is the majority language in Finland, and a recognized minority language in Sweden. [[Meänkieli]] and [[Kven language|Kven]], sometimes considered as dialects of Finnish, are recognized minority languages in Sweden and Norway, respectively. The [[Sámi languages]] are indigenous minority languages in Scandinavia, spoken by the [[Sámi peoples|Sámi people]] in northern Scandinavia.

=== North Germanic languages ===
{{main|North Germanic languages}}
[[File:Nordiska språk.PNG|thumb|
Continental Scandinavian languages:
{{legend|#6262ff|Danish}}
{{legend|#0000ff|Norwegian}}
{{legend|#00009f|Swedish}}
Insular Scandinavian languages:
{{legend|#00ffff|Faroese}}
{{legend|#00ff00|Icelandic}}]]
The North Germanic languages of Scandinavia are traditionally divided into an East Scandinavian branch (Danish and Swedish) and a West Scandinavian branch (Norwegian, Icelandic and Faroese),<ref>{{cite book| title = Aschehoug og Gyldendals store norske leksikon: Nar – Pd| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=YdRoPgAACAAJ| year = 1999| publisher=Kunnskapsforlaget | isbn = 978-82-573-0703-5| access-date = 23 April 2023| archive-date = 23 April 2023| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20230423132223/https://books.google.com/books?id=YdRoPgAACAAJ| url-status = live}}</ref><ref>Gordon, Raymond G., Jr. (ed.), 2005. ''Ethnologue: Languages of the World,'' Fifteenth edition. Dallas, Tex.: SIL International</ref> but because of changes appearing in the languages since 1600 the East Scandinavian and West Scandinavian branches are now usually reconfigured into Insular Scandinavian ({{lang|sv|ö-nordisk}}/{{lang|no|øy-nordisk}}) featuring Icelandic and Faroese<ref>Jónsson, Jóhannes Gísli and Thórhallur Eythórsson (2004). [http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract;jsessionid=72768CEEDB6A49E6E7A7224C321A3A45.tomcat1?fromPage=online&aid=355925 "Variation in subject case marking in Insular Scandinavian"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160504233812/http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract;jsessionid=72768CEEDB6A49E6E7A7224C321A3A45.tomcat1?fromPage=online&aid=355925 |date=4 May 2016 }}. Nordic Journal of Linguistics (2005), 28: 223–245 Cambridge University Press. Retrieved 9 November 2007.</ref> and Continental Scandinavian ({{lang|sv|Skandinavisk}}), comprising Danish, Norwegian and Swedish.<ref name="Heine 2006">{{cite book| author = Bernd Heine| author-link=Bernd Heine| author2 = Tania Kuteva| author2-link=Tania Kuteva|title = The changing languages of Europe| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=EF5wAAAAIAAJ| year = 2006| publisher = Oxford University Press, US| isbn = 978-0-19-929734-4| access-date = 23 April 2023| archive-date = 23 April 2023| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20230423132202/https://books.google.com/books?id=EF5wAAAAIAAJ| url-status = live}}</ref>

The modern division is based on the degree of mutual comprehensibility between the languages in the two branches.<ref name="Torp">{{cite book| author = Iben Stampe Sletten| author2 = Nordisk Ministerråd| title = Nordens sprog med rødder og fødder| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=YinXAAAACAAJ| year = 2005| isbn = 978-92-893-1041-3| page = 2| publisher = Nordic Council of Ministers| access-date = 23 April 2023| archive-date = 23 April 2023| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20230423132203/https://books.google.com/books?id=YinXAAAACAAJ| url-status = live}}</ref> The populations of the Scandinavian countries, with common Scandinavian roots in language, can—at least with some training—understand each other's [[standard language]]s as they appear in print and are heard on radio and television.

The reason Danish, Swedish and the two official written versions of Norwegian (''Nynorsk'' and ''Bokmål'') are traditionally viewed as different languages, rather than dialects of one common language, is that each is a well-established standard language in its respective country.

Danish, Swedish and Norwegian have since medieval times been influenced to varying degrees by [[Middle Low German]] and standard German. That influence was due not only to proximity, but also to the rule of Denmark—and later Denmark-Norway—over the German-speaking region of Holstein, and to Sweden's close trade with the [[Hanseatic League]].

Norwegians are accustomed to variation and may perceive Danish and Swedish only as slightly more distant dialects. This is because they have two official written standards, in addition to the habit of strongly holding on to local dialects. The people of [[Stockholm]], Sweden and [[Copenhagen]], Denmark have the greatest difficulty in understanding other Scandinavian languages.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20160307122939/http://www.norden.org/en/news-and-events/news/urban-misunderstandings "Urban misunderstandings"], Nordic Council and the Nordic Council of Ministers, Copenhagen.</ref> In the Faroe Islands and Iceland, learning Danish is mandatory. This causes Faroese people as well as Icelandic people to become bilingual in two very distinct North Germanic languages, making it relatively easy for them to understand the other two Mainland Scandinavian languages.<ref>[http://www.norden.org/webb/pressrelease/pressrelease.asp?lang=6&id=1183 Faroese and Norwegians best at understanding Nordic neighbours] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081225105103/http://www.norden.org/webb/pressrelease/pressrelease.asp?lang=6&id=1183 |date=25 December 2008 }}, ''Nordisk Sprogråd'', Nordic Council, 13 January 2005.</ref><ref>[http://www.ismennt.is/vefir/namskra/g/tungumal/danska/inngangur.html Aðalnámskrá grunnskóla: Erlend tungumál] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171020071650/http://www.ismennt.is/vefir/namskra/g/tungumal/danska/inngangur.html |date=20 October 2017 }}, ISMennt, EAN, 1999.</ref>

Although Iceland was under the political control of Denmark until a much later date (1918), very little influence and borrowing from Danish has occurred in the Icelandic language.<ref>{{Cite journal | doi = 10.1023/A:1017918213388| year = 2001| last1 = Holmarsdottir | first1 = H. B. | journal = International Review of Education | volume = 47| issue = 3/4| page = 379|title=Icelandic: A Lesser-Used Language in the Global Community| bibcode = 2001IREdu..47..379H| s2cid = 142851422}}</ref> Icelandic remained the preferred language among the ruling classes in Iceland. Danish was not used for official communications, most of the royal officials were of Icelandic descent and the language of the church and law courts remained Icelandic.<ref>Hálfdanarson, Guðmundur. [http://www.stm.unipi.it/Clioh/tabs/libri/3/01-Halfdanarson_1-14.pdf Icelandic Nationalism: A Non-Violent Paradigm?] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081001152130/http://www.stm.unipi.it/Clioh/tabs/libri/3/01-Halfdanarson_1-14.pdf |date=1 October 2008 }} In ''Nations and Nationalities in Historical Perspective''. Pisa: Edizioni Plus, 2001, p. 3.</ref>

=== Uralic languages ===
==== Finnish ====
[[File:Sami languages large 2.png|thumb|Historically verified distribution of the [[Sámi languages]]]]
The Scandinavian languages are (as a language family) unrelated to Finnish and the [[Sámi languages]], which as [[Uralic languages]] are distantly related each other. Owing to the close proximity, there is still a great deal of borrowing from the Swedish and Norwegian languages in Finnish and Sámi.<ref name="Sapmi" /> The long history of linguistic influence of Swedish on Finnish is also due to the fact that Swedish was the dominant language when Finland was part of Sweden. Finnish-speakers had to learn Swedish in order to advance to higher positions of employment.<ref>{{cite book| author = Suzanne Romaine| title = Bilingualism| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=zp5xiFa_TXQC| year = 1995| publisher = Wiley-Blackwell| isbn = 978-0-631-19539-9| page = 323| access-date = 23 April 2023| archive-date = 23 April 2023| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20230423132203/https://books.google.com/books?id=zp5xiFa_TXQC| url-status = live}}</ref> Swedish spoken in today's Finland includes a lot of words that are borrowed from Finnish, whereas the written language remains closer to that of Sweden.

Finland is officially bilingual, with Finnish and Swedish having mostly the same status at national level. Finland's majority population are [[Finns]], whose mother tongue is either Finnish (approximately 95%), Swedish or both. The Swedish-speakers live mainly on the coastline starting from approximately the city of [[Porvoo]] (Sw: Borgå) (in the Gulf of Finland) up to the city of [[Kokkola]] (Sw: Karleby) (in the Bay of Bothnia).{{citation needed|date=April 2021}} The Swedish-speaking population is spread out in pockets in this coastal stretch and constitutes approximately 5% of the Finnish population.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Population and Society |url=https://www.stat.fi/tup/suoluk/suoluk_vaesto_en.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201223155742/http://www.stat.fi/tup/suoluk/suoluk_vaesto_en.html |archive-date=23 December 2020 |access-date=18 June 2022 |website=www.stat.fi}}</ref> The coastal province of [[Ostrobothnia (administrative region)|Ostrobothnia]] has a Swedish-speaking majority, whereas plenty of areas on this coastline are nearly unilingually Finnish, like the region of [[Satakunta]].{{citation needed|date=April 2021}} Åland, an autonomous province of Finland situated in the Baltic Sea between Finland and Sweden, are entirely Swedish-speaking. Children are taught the other official language at school: for Swedish-speakers this is Finnish (usually from the 3rd grade), while for Finnish-speakers it is Swedish (usually from the 3rd, 5th or 7th grade).{{citation needed|date=April 2018}}<ref>{{Cite web|last=Institute|first=Mercator|date=5 November 2020|title=The Swedish language in education in Finland|url=https://www.mercator-research.eu/fileadmin/mercator/documents/regional_dossiers/swedish_in_finland_2nd.pdf|access-date=5 November 2020|archive-date=14 April 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210414152840/https://www.mercator-research.eu/fileadmin/mercator/documents/regional_dossiers/swedish_in_finland_2nd.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref>

Finnish speakers constitute a [[European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages|language minority]] in both Sweden and Norway. [[Meänkieli]] and [[Kven language|Kven]] are Finnish [[dialect]]s mainly spoken in the Swedish part of the [[Torne Valley]] and surrounding areas,<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Winsa |first=Birger |last2=Kunnas |first2=Niina |last3=Arola |first3=Laura |date=2010 |title=Meänkieli in Sweden: An Overview of a Language in Context |url=https://phaidra.univie.ac.at/detail/o:103155 |journal=Working Papers in European Language Diversity |volume=6}}</ref> and in the Norwegian counties of [[Troms]] and [[Finnmark]], respectively.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Kunnas |first=Niina |last2=Räisänen |first2=Anna-Kaisa |title=The Kven language : An Overview of a Language in Context |url=https://phaidra.univie.ac.at/detail/o:105485 |journal=Working Papers in European Language Diversity |volume=15}}</ref> Meänkieli has held an official status as a minority language in Sweden since 2000, and Kven in Norway since 2005.<ref>{{Citation |last=Forsgren |first=Arne |title=kvener |date=2025-04-10 |work=Store norske leksikon |url=https://snl.no/kvener |access-date=2025-04-14 |language=no |last2=Minken |first2=Anne}}</ref>

==== Sámi languages ====
The [[Sámi languages]] are indigenous minority languages in Scandinavia.<ref>{{cite book| author = Oskar Bandle| title = The Nordic languages: an international handbook of the history of the North Germanic languages| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=6b7WwBC5tRAC| date = March 2005| publisher = Walter de Gruyter| isbn = 978-3-11-017149-5| page = 2115| access-date = 23 April 2023| archive-date = 23 April 2023| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20230423132203/https://books.google.com/books?id=6b7WwBC5tRAC| url-status = live}}</ref> They belong to [[Sámi languages|their own]] branch of the [[Uralic languages|Uralic language family]] and are unrelated to the [[North Germanic languages]] other than by limited grammatical (particularly lexical) characteristics resulting from prolonged contact.<ref name="Sapmi">Inez Svonni Fjällström (2006). [http://www.eng.samer.se/servlet/GetDoc?meta_id=1185 "A language with deep roots"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071005152013/http://www.eng.samer.se/servlet/GetDoc?meta_id=1185 |date=5 October 2007 }}.''Sápmi: Language history'', 14 November 2006. Samiskt Informationscentrum Sametinget: "The Scandinavian languages are Northern Germanic languages. [...] Sami belongs to the Finno-Ugric language family. Finnish, Estonian, Livonian and Hungarian belong to the same language family and are consequently related to each other."</ref> Sámi is divided into several languages or dialects.<ref>[http://www.eng.samer.se/servlet/GetDoc?meta_id=1186 www.eng.samer.se – The Sami dialects] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090120081140/http://www.eng.samer.se/servlet/GetDoc?meta_id=1186 |date=20 January 2009 }} ''Sapmi: The Sami dialects''</ref> [[Consonant gradation]] is a feature in both Finnish and northern Sámi dialects, but it is not present in southern Sámi, which is considered to have a different language history. According to the Sámi Information Centre of the [[Sámi Parliament of Sweden]], southern Sámi may have originated in an earlier migration from the south into the Scandinavian Peninsula.<ref name="Sapmi" />

=== Other languages ===
[[German language|German]] is a recognized minority language in Denmark. Recent migration has added even more languages, apart from Sámi languages and variants of the majority language of a neighboring state, [[Yiddish]], [[Romani language|Romani]] Chib/Romanes, [[Scandoromani]] and [[Karelian language|Karelian]] are amongst the languages protected in parts of Scandinavia under the [[European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages]].<ref name="Treaty 148">{{cite web |url= https://www.coe.int/en/web/conventions/full-list/-/conventions/treaty/148/signatures?p_auth=9E1g9uJz |title= Chart of signatures and ratifications of Treaty 148 |website=|publisher = Council of Europe|access-date=4 September 2024 }}</ref>