Scanian (linguistics)

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Scanian (Template:Audio) is a closely related group of dialects spoken in Skåne (Scania). It is considered by some Scandinavian linguists to be a dialect of Swedish by other Scandinavian linguists to be a dialect of Danish. It is however classified as a separate language by SIL International (ISO 639-3:scy) and is assumed to include not only the dialect of Skåne but also those of Halland (halländska), Blekinge (blekingska), and the Danish island of Bornholm (bornholmsk). This larger definition coincides with the extent of Skåneland (Terra Scania), a term with considerable regionalistic overtones but also historical substance. The middle-age Scanian Law (Skånske Lov) applied to all four provinces and the "landsting", the gathering of all four provinces chose and rendered homage to their king as one unity. The reason Scanian is considered a separate language is mainly historical and ethnic. It does not fulfill most generally accepted modern criteria for being a language separate from Swedish, as it is mutually intelligible with almost all variants of Swedish. It is not regarded as a separate language by Swedes or a majority of Scanians.

Many of the genuine rural dialects have been in decline subsequent to the industrial revolution and urbanization in Sweden. However, Scanian regionalist debaters express the view that Scanian is a suppressed minority language, and as such it should be considered as an official minority language.Template:Fact

Scanian is one of the most distinctive dialects in Sweden. In an internet poll on the website of a major newspaper in which more than 30,000 people have voted, Scanian is currently ranked in second place for most beautiful dialect, but surprisingly also considered the dialect most people consider ugly.Template:Fn

1 History
- 1.1 Modern history
- 1.2 Today
2 Sounds
3 Vocabulary
4 See also
5 References
6 Further reading
7 External links
8 Notes

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History

Before the 18th century, Scanian can be characterized as a dialect of Danish. After the Swedish acquisition of the Danish districts Skåne, Blekinge, and Halland (collectively known as Skåneland) with the Treaty of Roskilde in 1658, a process of Swedification took place, including a switch of language used in churches. A similar change occurred within other newly acquired provinces along the west coast and along the border with Norway. Bornholm was once part of Skåneland, but it was lost by Sweden in 1659. The dialect remained there as a functioning transitional stage between Scanian and Danish. The transformation became more successful during the 20th century with the rising dominance of Swedish language radio and television as well as a concurrent increase in travel from other regions in Sweden. The gradual language transition from Danish to Swedish resulted in a local creolisation of these two languages.

Scanian has acquired many Swedish characteristics since the 18th century. The result of this slow shifting has been a slightly unusual local form of pronunciation and some minor details of grammar and vocabulary that differ from Standard Swedish. The degree of contrast in this respect between Scanian and Swedish is comparable to the differences between American and Australian English Template:Fact.

The characteristic Scanian diphthongs, which do not occur in Danish or Swedish, are believed by some to have originated as a result of the efforts of Scanian natives to copy the Swedish pronunciation. However, linguists reject this explanations for the sound change; at present, there are no universally-accepted theories for why sound changes occur. There is some evidence supporting the assertion that Scanian was a distinct dialect before the Swedish acquisition of most of old Skåneland. One part of that evidence is a letter from the 16th century, where the Danish Bible translators were advised not to employ Scanian translators since their language was not proper Danish.Template:Fact Denmark proper was considered to consist of three parts, one on Jutland in the west, one on Zealand, and the last being Skåneland (terra Scania) in the east (of which today only Bornholm remains), with each having its own Danish dialect.

It has been proposed that the Scanian dialect once possessed many unique words at that time, but this has not been documented. There did, however, exist many distinct Scanian words in the 19th century, which is documented by several Scanian dictionaries that have been recently published. The words and pronunciation differ around Scania, as they were sometimes only spoken by a small number of people in remote villages. Villages close to the sea, for example, such as Falsterbo and Limhamn, had many unique words connected to fishing. Most of these words no longer have any use in the spoken language.

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Modern history

General public and academic interest in the Scanian dialect was first established in the early 19th century with the advent of folkloristics. According to Helmer Lång, the Scanian dialect and its folk stories were not given proper attention, because the Swedes considered them Danish, and the Danes, on the other hand, avoided dealing with this area which they had painfully lost.Template:Fact

In the end of the 19th century, new interest in Scanian arose. An early advocate was Henrik Wranér (1853-1908) who wrote books on the Scanian dialect (Kivikja Snackk..., 1901). His contribution was manifested with his Selected Works (Valda Verk) which was published in 1922-23. His primary successor was Axel Ebbe (1869-1941), who wrote Rijm å rodevelske in Scanian along with a witty translation of the Bible (Bibelsk historie, 1949).

Scanian was not well known north of Skåneland and its adjacent districts until the Scanian movie actor Edvard Persson sang his way into the hearts of the Swedish nation during the 1930s and 1940s. More recently, radio voices Kjell Stensson and Sten Broman have popularized the dialect.

Artists Mikael Wiehe and Björn Afzelius kept their accents as they were traveling and singing around the country. It helped popularize the genre, and other artists followed.

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Today

There are a sizable number of singers and other celebrities that have an unmistakable Scanian accent. Hans Alfredson has been a popular showman, singer and performer during the last 50 years. Thomas Öberg, the singer of Swedish rock group bob hund, is a notable speaker of Scanian and sings with a distinct Scanian accent. The rock band Kal P. Dal, considered a cult favourite in some areas, and rock artist Peps Persson and the band Joddla med Siv are also popular examples of Scanian artists. The folk-singer Danne Stråhed is very popular in some regions, not the least due to his trademark song När en flicka talar skånska ("When a girl speaks Scanian").

Recently there have been published Scanian dictionaries, though generally humorously written. As there is no Scanian language standard, it is always debated which words should be included.

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Sounds

Scanian realizes the phoneme /r/ as a uvular trill, Template:IPA in clear articulation, but in everyday speech more commonly as a voiceless, Template:IPA or voiced uvular fricative, Template:IPA, depending on phonetic context. This is in contrast to the alveolar articulations and retroflex assimilations in most Swedish dialects north of Småland. The realizations of the highly variable and uniquely Swedish fricative Template:IPA also tend to be more velar and less labialized than in other dialects. Though the phonemes of Scanian correspond to those of Standard Swedish and most other Swedish dialects, long vowels have developed into diphthongs which are unique to the region. In the southern parts of Skåne many diphthongs also have a pharyngeal quality, similar to Danish vowels.

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Vocabulary

While the general vocabulary does not differ considerably from Standard Swedish, a few specifically Scanian words exist and are known in all of Scania, occurring frequently among a majority of the speakers.

påg , "boy" (Standard Swedish: pojke, former Danish: poge / pog)
tös, "girl" (Standard Swedish: flicka, Danish: tøs)
rullebör, "wheelbarrow" (Standard Swedish skottkärra, Danish: trillebør)
pantoffel/pantoffla, "potato" (Standard Swedish potatis, Danish: kartoffel)
rälig, "bad" (Standard Swedish ful, äcklig, dialect Danish: rærlig)