Åland dialects

Åland dialects () are dialects of Swedish spoken in Åland, an autonomous region of Finland. The Åland dialects have similarities to both Finland Swedish and the historical dialects of Uppland, but are generally considered to be part of Eastern Swedish (östsvenska mål, varieties of Swedish spoken in Finland and Estonia).

Swedish is the sole official language of Åland,Självstyrelselag för Åland 16.8.1991/1144 – 36 §. Retrieved 10 April 2009. and its status is protected in the , a law that guarantees the islands' autonomy within Finland.

Phonology As in Finland Swedish, the tonal word accent that distinguishes certain minimal pairs is not present in Åland. Thus Central Swedish ('the duck') and ('the spirit') are both pronounced .Åländska ord och uttryck. Bibliotek.ax. Retrieved 10 April 2009.

Characteristics Certain expressions are typical of Åland dialects. For example, the double genitive in ("Whose's girl/boy are you?" ( in Standard Swedish)) carries the implication that the asker might know the parents of the person asked, likely in a small society such as Åland. Another characteristic is the substitution of (not) with (no, nobody, none; in Standard Swedish a plural form): ("I have not been there").

A feature that Åland shares with Finland Swedish is the reduction of the words (not), (should) and (must) to , and respectively.

Vocabulary The dialectal vocabulary of Åland Swedish is composed of words that are either characteristic of Eastern Swedish or have passed out of use (but are still understood) in the Swedish spoken in Sweden. Traces of Finnish, Russian and English can also be found in the dialect because of historical contact.

Below is a selection of dialectal words and expressions used in Åland Swedish:

Åland Swedish Standard Swedish Translation Notes n. batten in standard Swedish means baby. Probably from English batten. n. radiator in standard Swedish means battery. n. jail From Russian (cf. Finnish ) v. wash clothes From , laundry. is archaic in Sweden (cf. Finnish ). n. washing machine See above n. (detached) house A semantic loan from Finnish , 'own home house' interj. yeah Variant form in Sweden, an affirmative answer to a negative question or statement, cf. French si n. Santa Claus v. , fool around, talk rubbish v. , , kick up a fuss, nag, make a noise Archaic in Sweden. From English noise exp. — — Consoling expression used when something does not go as expected v. see Åland Swedish pronunciation of (see Swedish phonology) exp. lit. , i.e. Just watch n. second cousin Possibly a semantic loan from Finnish , 'small cousin' n. electric plug From Russian (), ultimately from German ('cork') v. be clumsy, fumbling adj. very good, awesome n. bucket Archaic in Sweden. Word borrowed from Low German, derived from Latin .

Differences between dialects in Western and Eastern Åland The Western Åland dialect is characterized by its connection to the dialects of eastern Uppland (Roslagen). This applies especially to the municipality of Eckerö. There are several similarities between Eckerö's and Roslagen's dialects, including the initial h-drop whereby, for example, , , and are pronounced as "us", "itta", and "alm" and an h sound is atypically inserted before the words and eta (), producing "hösa" and "heta", respectively. On the other hand, the Eastern Åland dialects share features with Swedish dialects in Åboland and southern Ostrobothnia.

Between the dialects of Western and Eastern Åland, there are also several distinctions in vocabulary. For example, in Western Åland, as well as in Uppland, the verb and the adjective are used. The corresponding words in Eastern Åland are and .

Samples of dialects

Eckerö-dialect (West Åland) recorded in 2006 (see file för transcription).

Föglö-dialect (East Åland) recorded in 1971 by Per Henrik Solstrand.

Åland dialects

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