SWEDEN, Language and Literature of. The
Swedish is one of the Scandinavian tongues, and as
such belongs to the Germanic (or Teutonic) branch of the family of the Indo-European languages. (See .) Though Old Norse proper was the speech of the whole Scandinavian peninsula and of Denmark until the 11th century, its dialects varied considerably even in the most primitive times, and out of one or more of those ancient dialects the modern Swedish was developed. The change was so slow that the Icelandic lays and sagas were still understood at the Swedish courts as late as the 14th century. (See .) In its earlier stages the Swedish was influenced by the German through the commercial connection of Sweden with the Hanseatic towns, by the Latin through the Catholic priesthood and the monastic institutions, and by the Danish through the political union of Sweden and Denmark subsequent to the pact of Calmar (1397). The reformation again subjected it to German influences, but it was less affected by them than was the Danish. The language was greatly purified and a multitude of foreign vocables driven out by the efforts of the zealous Icelandic scholars of the latter half of the 17th and first quarter of the 18th century. But later in the last century the French tastes prevalent at the court and in the literature introduced a large number of Gallic words, many of which, however, have been since superseded by genuine Scandinavian derivatives. Several dialects are now spoken. In the northern provinces the approximation to the Old Norse or Icelandic
forms is much more marked than in the southern, where Danish and German influences have been felt; the southern dialects of Scania and Blekinge have great similarity to the Danish, and that of Dalecarlia presents the greatest departure from the written language, while that of Södermanland approaches it the nearest. Swedish is also the language of the educated classes, and partly of the press, in the Russian grand duchy of Finland.—The Swedish alphabet has 28 letters, the same as in English, with the omission of w (in Swedish formerly the equivalent of v, by which it is now generally replaced) and the addition of ä, å, ö. Formerly the German character was mostly used in Swedish works, but now the Latin character prevails, though the former is still sometimes to be found. A letter peculiar to the Swedish is å, which is pronounced almost like the English o in note. The vowels a, e, i, ä, and ö are pronounced as in German; o has two sounds, either similar to that of the English o in move, but intermediate between o and u, or equivalent to the English a in fall. The sound of u is intermediate between the German u and ü. Y is pronounced almost like the German ü. G before e, i, y, ä, ö, has a sound like the English y in you. J has the same sound. D, g, h, and l before j, and h and f before v, are mute. K before e, i, y, ä, ö, is soft and pronounced like ch in much. Sk before the same letters, and the combinations skj, sj, stj, are pronounced like the English sh. The indefinite article en (masc. and fem.) and ett (neut.) is placed before the noun; as en häst, a horse, ett bord, a table. The definite article is den in the masculine and feminine, det in the neuter, and de in the plural for all genders; but it is also expressed by only adding in the singular number en or n to masculine and feminine substantives, and et or t to the neuter, and in the plural ne, na, a, en; or, thirdly, both these ways may be combined, as den mannen, the man, det bordet, the table, de hästarne, the horses. Substantives have a distinct case ending only in the genitive, which is formed by the addition of s. The plural of substantives is formed by adding or, ar, er, or en; and in some words the singular and plural are alike. The adjectives are formed after two declensions, the first of which has a separate form for the neuter gender, while the second has only one form for all the three genders. The second person singular pronoun is used in conversation only among intimates or when addressing inferiors; otherwise the title of the person addressed, or Herr (sir, Mr.), Fru (madam), or Mamsell or Fröken (miss), with the verb in the third person, must be used; thus: Have you seen the book? Har Herrn (Has the Mr.) sett boken? Verbs have a strong and a weak form of conjugation, and two simple tenses, present and imperfect. The passive is formed by adding s to the active; as, att skära, to cut, at skäras, to be cut; jag kallar, I call, jag kallas, I am