ETT SPRÅK MED RÖTTER I FLER LÄNDER ÄN ETT – OM SVENSKAN SOM ETT PLURICENTRISKT SPRÅK

Abstract

Swedish is one of several pluricentric languages in the world. In both Sweden and Finland there are people who use Swedish as their mother tongue alongside Finnish as a second language. The language variety of the Swedish-speaking Finns is called Finland-Swedish and has been studied for more than a century. It has also been, and still is, an object of language maintenance and language planning. In this contribution, the concept of pluricentrism is explained using the example of Swedish. Sweden-Swedish is generally known as the dominant variety and Finland-Swedish the dominated version. While the difference between the two is noticeable when the language is spoken, in writing, the same standards apply. However, fiction written by Finland-Swedish authors often uses non-standard elements that are considered typical Finland-Swedish, including loans from local dialects and slang, and sometimes from Finnish. The same can be said about authors in Belgium writing in Belgian Dutch and aiming at what could be called sociolinguistic realism. The choice of the author may or may not coincide with the language policy of the publisher in question. At the end of this contribution, a few Finland-Swedish authors express their thoughts about the cooperation between authors and editors in relation to the correctness of language and style.