Estonian Swedish (; ) are the eastern varieties of the

Swedish language Swedish ( ) is a North Germanic languages, North Germanic language from the Indo-European languages, Indo-European language family, spoken predominantly in Sweden and parts of Finland. It has at least 10 million native speakers, making it the G ...

that were until the mid-20th century spoken in the '' Aiboland'', the coastal areas and islands of western and northern

Estonia Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia, is a country in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, and to the east by Ru ...

which had been inhabited since the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...

by the

Estonian Swedes The Estonian Swedes (, or ''aibofolke'', "island people"; , or ''rannarootslased'', "coastal Swedes") are a Swedish language, Swedish-speaking minority traditionally residing in the coastal areas and islands of what is now western and northern ...

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

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, 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 native speakers left. After Estonia's independence following the

dissolution of the Soviet Union The Soviet Union was formally dissolved as a sovereign state and subject of international law on 26 December 1991 by Declaration No. 142-N of the Soviet of the Republics of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union. Declaration No. 142-Н of ...

, 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.

Usage

The

Gammalsvenska (locally ; literally "Old Swedish") is an Estonian Swedish dialect spoken in the neighborhood of Gammalsvenskby in Zmiivka, Ukraine. Its use has declined since the end of World War II, and most remaining speakers are older residents of Gamma ...

dialect of Swedish spoken in

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

is an archaic dialect of Estonian Swedish, having been brought to the village of Gammalsvenskby in the late 1700s by settlers from Hiiumaa (Dagö).

Writing system

Noarootsi Swedish is written with the same letters as Standard Swedish with a few phonetic additions: *Long vowels are indicated with a subscribed macron: . *Long consonants are doubled : . *The /d/ and /n/ rhotics 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 , a letter ''r'' with tail, and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is r`. Featu ...

/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 Speech, spoken languages. The International Phonetic Association uses the term ''voiceless postalveolar fricative'' only for the sound #Voiceless palato-alveolar frica ...

consonant /ʃ/ is noted with a dot below .

Usage

Writing system

See also

References

Further reading