This is very probable due to Swedish pressure. In the former version of Ethnologue (15th) Scanian was properly defined as the historical East Danish language in Skåne (Scania propria), Halland, Blekinge and Bornholm, nowadays situated in both Sweden and Denmark.On the SIL:s map depicting Denmark it is clearly visible that the people on the Danish island of Bornholm are suppose to speak Swedish.
According to UNESCO, Scanian is defined as spoken in "The regions of Scania, Halland and Blekinge, Sweden; Bornholm island, Denmark; the original ISO code [scy] for Scanian has been retired on false grounds".
There are several organizations such as FUEN, and UNPO and acknowledging Scanians as a minority within Sweden and Denmark. Recently FUEN unanimously adopted a Scanian language resolution in protection of the Scanian language which was partly reported in the media (1, 2, 3).
The pressure is now on from the Swedish establishment to maintain their Swedification ambitions. It is has obviously now even extended to the Danish island of Bornholm - the very island the Swedes were once kicked out from!
The Swedish credo has therefore been slightly modified and may be expressed as:
"One Swedish nation, one Swedish people, one Swedish history, one Swedish language - now including Bornholm"
I wonder what the Danes are saying?
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Articles/blogs based on this blog entry:
DR Bornholm - Bornholmians speak Swedish (Danish)
Modern Swedish imperialisms (Swedish)
Bornholmian is not Swedish! (Danish)
DR P4 Bornholm - UNESCO: The language on Bornholm is in danger (Danish)
More Danish reactions on contemporary Swedenization policies (Danish)
Was the Danish island Bornholm conqered by Sweden while we were sleeping? (Danish)
Is the Dansih island Bornholm Swedish? (Swedish)
Bornholm's history according to oresunddirekt.com (Swedish)
Email a complaint:
dialekt.dk at University of Copenhagen (dialekt.dk@hum.ku.dk).
DAL at Lund university (dal@sofi.se)
SIL (Editor_Ethnologue@sil.org)
UNESCO Atlas of the World’s Languages in Danger (atlas@unesco.org)
Read other bloggers' opinions about Bornholm, Danmark, Scania, SIL, Skåne, Sverige, UNESCO
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15 comments:
Clearly it complicates the Swedish claim that Scanian is merely a Swedish dialect when it's spoken in two different countries - so rather than accepting the Scanian claim to be a regional language it is easier just to take over Bornholm. It is also clever to conquer Bornholm without letting anyone know about it :-) At least I have not heard of any formal declaration of war between Sweden and Denmark.
Well I suppose now that I'm Swedish I should learn to speak Swedish...
First I've got quite upset, but then I realized that these guys are americans and you can tell them anything and they would believe it. During WWII in aviator maps belonging to the USAF, Bornholm was denoted as a swedish island. Consequently some american aircrew crashlanded their damaged bombers on Bornholm, believing that they were homefree on neutral swedish territory. Of course they were captured by the germans. The mistake was altered on later maps, as should this one.
Yes, where are the Danes?! Are they just as indifferent to the status of Bornholm as they were in 1945, celebrating in the streets while Russian bombs were falling over Nexø and Rønne?
I do disagree that SIl are "just some Americans". This is a political organization that has existed since 1930-something and cooperates with the UN Educational and Unesco. Their information comes from the informers in lobbies, non-govermental organizations, political delegations, groups with various agendas etc. Since they actually changed SIL's 15th edition someone must have set SIL straight and argued that Scanian is NOT a regional language as the entire region are made up of Swedish speakers - so I just wonder who would lobby for that change? I don't think it's a lobbying delegation from Denmark, Scania or Bornholm who provided this new info.
I think Lilli is right - rest of Denmark will probably just laugh it off, it is kinda funny I thought it was funny too - except it is not funny at all when you come to think of it because this is all about Scanias political struggle for recognition and apparently they have a lot working against them.
Oh well I don't think they were that indifferent in 1945 they just didn't know that Bornholm was being bombed. The Bornholmians in Copenhagen were celebrating in the streets too and didn't hear about Bornholm not being free till the day after.
@ Visselulle
So much for that myth... Thanks.
My grandmother was in Copenhagen at the time of the bombing and all her wedding gifts and equipment was in the family home in Nexø. And she was out in Copenhagen and celebrating and didn't know the house had been bombed to pieces till days later, she also knew people who were killed in the attack and also didn't know about them till later. I am also curious where that myth comes from because I have seen it referred to in many places now.
Maybe it stems from Bornholm being occupied by the Russians for a whole year and wasn't freed till 1946 and the rest of Denmark didn't act on it. Then it has turned into this myth I don't know. I don't really see how Denmark was supposed to fight off the Red Army though - other than ask the allieds for help, which in the end did send the Russian army home.
But lets see how the Danes react to Bornholm being Swedish - I'm curious. So far no one seems to have heard of it in Dk.
On the webpage Öresund direct Swedish tourist are told that the language on Bornholm is often compared to Swedish and that it is a mixture of Swedish and Danish: "Många danskar jämför den bornholmska dialekten med svenskan och det är den sista resten av det språk som talades i de gamla danska provinserna Skåne, Halland och Blekinge. En språklig mix mellan det danska och det svenska."
Well when people in Jutland say Bornholm sound "Swedish" they actually mean Scanian, but who's picky about that. Anyway elegant way of making Scanian an old half-swedish language.
Her er lænke: http://www.oresunddirekt.com/article.aspx?type=article&id=8106
Der er også artikel om SIL's rapport om bornholmsk på DR regionalnyheder her: http://www.dr.dk/Regioner/Bornholm/Nyheder/Bornholm/2009/10/15/144840.htm
Her misforstår de tilsyneladende helt hvad det går ud på og tror det handler om en gruppe kristne amerikanere, der ike ved noget om Bornholm.
Johan kan du ikke lænke til disse to?
Ethnlogue is not very accurate. I think it is too easy for lobbyists to influence them. Of course people do not speak Swedish in Bornholm, as little as people speak Danish in Scania. As a Swede myself I have noticed that the Bornholm dialect is more easily understandable for Swedes than standard Danish. But that is another thing. The dialect in western Värmland may sound "norwegian" to Stockholmers as well as the dialect of eastern Østfold may sound "Swedish" to Oslo people. The Scandinavian languages are very similar and there is always a "continuum" between them. It is tragic that such a mistake by SIL/Ethologue wakes up very unpleasant anti-Swedish hate feelings among some (I hope very few) Danes.
SIL who is responsible for Ethnologue is not in any way an "official" body. The Swedish government has of course nothing to do with the wrong-doings of SIL.
Bert
"The Swedish government has of course nothing to do with the wrong-doings of SIL"
And you know this for a fact? Ridiculous...
SIL International is a global Christian non-profit organization, a so called NGO. They do not represent any governments whatsoever. Formerly they made a bluder trying to make the Scanian dialect into a language. Trying to correct that blunder they made another one. The main purpose of the organisation is to promote the printing of bibles in as many languages as possible.
I think Bert is right it is most likely a Danish or Bornholmian or Greek lobby group who informed SIL about the status of Scanian being really Swedish - I cannot believe it could possibly be any sort of Swedish group who would have such Swedish interests ... duh
Or maybe Bert thinks it's a Jewish-American conspiracy to promote Swedish language all over the region, because Sweden has no interests there LOL
The very simple explaination for Bornholmian being Danish and Scanian being Swedish is of course the national border betwen the two countries. During the last 350 years the language in Bornholm has been heavely influenced by standard Danish and Scanian has been heavely influenced by standard Swedish. These two languages are perhaps "dialects with an army" within a common Scandinavian dialect continuum. If these territories instead had formed a country of its own the dialects could also have developped into a distinct language of its own. But that did not happen. I do think that you very well know that fact. Perhaps you are from Bornholm (you said oct 11 "Well I suppose now that I'm Swedish I should learn to speak Swedish"). Do not worry! I think that almost everybody in Sweden know that Bornholm is a part of Denmark. I also think they respect that fact. And SIL is not "God`s word", even if they are a Christian organization.
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