Scania
A Region in Europe
Comments by Scanian
Regional Institute
on the Swedish Report to the Council of Europe
on the Framework Convention
for the Protection of National Minorities
In Section 2, article 1, the Swedish government states that it is "very interested in promoting international co-operation to protect Sweden’s inhabitants from all forms of discrimination and also to promote diversity and tolerance". With this said, we cannot understand why the Swedish state do not still support organisations such as UNPO, FUEN and FEMP. These three organisations have taken a clear standing in the question of the Scanian language.
In article 3, the Swedish government states that "there are no limitation in Swedish law regarding the right for persons who belong to a national minority to choose to be treated or not to be treated as such and nor is such a choice linked to any disadvantages under Swedish law". It is however evident that the Swedish Television only accepts Standard Swedish in both national and regional broadcasting. The regional news transmitted in parts of Scania (provinces Scania and Blekinge for Swedish Television and the province Scania for TV4) nowadays accept Scanian speakers, but offers them to use a speech trainer three to four times a year in order to speak as much Standard Swedish as possible. The Swedish Radio has become more liberal the latest decades and you can today hear Scanian journalists, but not using Scanian words.
The Scanian language easily fulfills the criteria’s in the Swedish Government Bill 1998/99143 National Minorities in Sweden.
First criteria – Groups with a
pronounced affinity that have a non-dominating position in society.
The Scanians counts to 1,2
million people (2000), with 10% of the population coming from other States
and a number of settlers from other parts of Sweden.
Second criteria – Religious,
linguistic, traditional and/or cultural belonging.
In the beginning, the
language spoken in Scandinavia was called "norrön tunga". The various ways
of speaking it in Sweden, Norway, Denmark and gradually also in Iceland and
elsewhere, were thus dialects of Scandinavian. For long periods, the region
of Scania was an independent country and kingdom and had its own language,
Scanian. This language lived on when Scania during the 9th Century was
incorporated into the Danish kingdom. On the Danish isles, primarily
Sealand, another language was spoken, and on Jutland a third. There was not
yet a uniform Danish language, "The King's Danish" is a written
construction, mainly based on the Danish of the isles that was formed during
the 16th and 17th centuries. When 3/4 of Scania became a Swedish province in
1658 (the forth province Bornholm was given back to Denmark in 1660) the
language spoken in Scania was Scanian, closely related to the two other
Danish languages and totally unaffected by the Swedish language. A fierce
and brutal regime followed for more than 60 years, trying to eradicate
everything Danish in Scania. The Swedish government unilaterally abolished
the Scanian law; Swedes took over the administration of the three remaining
provinces of Scania (Halland, Scania and Blekinge), thus implementing the
Swedish language. But Scanians still spoke Scanian in daily life and it is
therefore incorrect to call the Scanian language "a Swedish dialect"; the
language had never been Swedish and it included the island of Bornholm that
was still Danish. The common term used in Swedish textbooks, "south Swedish
dialects", for the popular languages spoken in southern Sweden is thus
extremely misleading.
The history of the Scanian
language
The Scanian Law is the
oldest of all the laws in the Danish kingdom. It was probably created during
the 12th century and was in force not only in Scania (the provinces of
Halland, Scania, Blekinge, and Bornholm) but also for a century or so in the
centre of the Danish kingdom on the islands, while the Jutland Law and the
more recent Sealand Law were formed. This means that the Scanian language
had a strong influence of the formation of the written Danish language. The
same applies to a great extent to the Danish translation of the Bible.
Professor Johs Brøndum-Nielsen, professor of philosophy in Copenhagen,
showed in his thesis "Sproglig Forfatterbestemmelse" (Determination of
Linguistic Authorship") (1914) that the Danish translation of the New
Testament, printed in 1524, was the work of three individuals Chr. Vinter
from Jutland, Hans Mikkelsen and Henrik Smith from Scania. Through the Bible
translation, Scanian thus also had a strong influence in the development of
the written Danish language. The island Danish had trouble asserting itself.
As late as in the 17th century, a Danish grammarian warned against
influences from Scanian in order to protect "proper Danish".
Characteristics of the Scanian
language
Scanian has all the characteristics required for being a language – except
its own army. It has old written sources, primarily the Scanian Law that was
in force in all of Scania during the Danish time and that would have
continued to be in force when it came under Swedish rule. The Scanian
language has its own phraseology, its own special words and unique
creations, its own sound developments, its own intonation, and partly, its
own grammar and syntax that distinguish it from Danish and Swedish.
One of the characteristic Scanian sound developments is that "nn" (previously often "nd") turned into "ng" "kvinna" becomes "kvinga" (which in Scanian often means wife or fiancee), "rund" becomes "rung". Even Scanians who believe they speak "official Swedish", usually say "vingögd" not "vindögd" or "vinnögd" as Swedes do. Take a trip to the countryside and talk about the weather. You won't hear a regular Scanian say "vackert väder" (beautiful weather), they say "grannt vär" or the reverse "rälit vär" or "puged vär". This is not how it's said either in Danish or Swedish.
So, in many cases Scanian walked its own paths, we could call it an intermediate path between Danish and Swedish. In order to point this out, in 1985 the Scanian Academy published the "Scanian-Swedish-Danish Dictionary", written by Sten-Bertil Vide and Helmer Lång. This dictionary translated Scanian words not only into Swedish but also into Danish, often with reference to Danish dialects where closely related words occur.
After the Swedish takeover, the Scanian language split into dialects early on as written forms of Scanian were prohibited during the Swedish rule. Ministers of the church were forced to preach their sermons in Swedish and legal affairs had to be conducted in Swedish. There was also a partially successful attempt at dividing the Scanians by creating two counties out of the previous general governorship of Scania, which endured until 1997. It contributed to the linguistic divisions. Even today, we find a pronounced difference in the Scanian language that follows the old county borders. What is remarkable is that the Scanian language in spite of all attempts to eradicate it still lives strongly today. This can also be seen from new constructions such as "döstreg" (deadline, i.e. a translation from English), or "blegaskasill" which is easier to understand if we make it look more Swedish as in "bleck-ask-sill" (tin can herring), and it consequently means canned fish.
That Scanian culture is alive is a fact of daily life. Modern poetry written in various Scanian dialects has naturally contributed to this. Among the names are Henrik Wranér, Nils Ludvig, Daniel Rydsjö and in our own time Birgit Lindström. But most of all, a number of Scanian writers have incorporated many Scanian words in their poems and stories, not just in dialogues but often also in text references Victoria Benedictson, Hans Larsson, Gabriel Jönsson, Fritjof Nilsson Piraten, Max Lundgren – and the most recent Scanian writer Fredrik Ekelund now living in Malmö but originally from Uppsala. A great many Scanian words are now being recorded, thanks to these writers, and in the dictionary of the Swedish Academy we now find typically Scanian words such as "påg", "fälad" and "vång".
Third criteria –
Self-identification
The Scanian culture is
still alive and vivid, which is shown in Scanian festivals, Scanian Culture
Day’s, red-yellow Scanian flags on several homes and a notion of a unique
Scanian mentality shown in films, stories and private jokes.
Fourth criteria – Historical or
long bonds with Sweden.
Three out of four provinces
of Scania has been a part of Sweden since 1658, hence 343 years.
Other comments
In Article 4, the Swedish Government states "there are no provisions
that allow discrimination on the ground of association with a national
minority". Today, it is only possible to correspond with government
authorities as well as local authorities in Standard Swedish. Even popular
Scanian words, known to everyone in Scania, cannot be used. The schools in
Scania are promoting Standard Swedish at the expense of the Scanian
language. Scanian children are taught in school that Scanian words are
"wrong", "not suitable" or even "indecent".
The Scanian pronunciation is still very different from Standard Swedish, and some Scanian schools take as their mission to teach children to speak Standard Swedish, normally with a deplorable result.
Scanian children are taught not to sing in Scanian in kindergartens, but to sing in Standard Swedish, leading to that many children do not know how to sing in their own language and therefore cannot enjoy the Scanian songs that still exist.
This situation can sometime lead to a slightly comical effect, as immigrant who do not have any knowledge in any Scandinavian language settled down in Scania, go to schools in Scania to learn (Standard) Swedish and after exam still do not understand the language spoken in Scania. They either have to re-learn or to move to the Stockholm-area…
In article 5, paragraph 1, section Language, the Swedish Government indicates that the centralistic view on the languages and cultures in Sweden still prevails. The Committee for the Swedish Language is currently working on a proposal how to regulate the Standard Swedish language by law, apparently not taking into considerations the minority or regional languages in Sweden.
In article 5, paragraph 1, section Culture the Swedish Government shows that it is the State in Sweden that controls and manage what culture that shall prevail. It is, for example, not possible for the regional board of Scania to support Scanian culture unless it has been approved by the State.
In article 5, paragraph 2, the Swedish Government states that it "…was an important step in the work to counter the negative implications of previous periods of "Swedishisation" and assimilation policy.". It is most extraordinary that the Swedish State still does not recognised the Swedishisation of Scania, carried out during the period of 1660 – 1720, where a vast number of the population – some sources say 25%– of the population was either killed or had to escape to Sealand and Bornholm in the remaining parts of Denmark. Letters and legal protocols have clearly stated the wrongdoings and yet the reaction from the Swedish state is silence.
Furthermore the Swedish Government states, "…the Swedish state shall not pursue a policy oriented towards assimilation." In modern life, research in Scanian language cannot be done at the Universities and University Colleges in Scania, as this is not regarded as subject that would contribute to or enriches the Swedish state.
In article 6, section Consultative meetings, the Swedish Government states that consultative meetings are being held regularly. Furthermore, "various non-governmental organisations have an important role in promoting dialogue and participation on the part of the national minorities both within and outside Sweden". The non-governmental organisation The Foundation for the Future of Scania is a member in both UNPO and FUEN, and in spite of several attempts to participate in those consultative meetings with the Swedish state, this has not been possible since the Swedish state has not granted entrance – without a formal explanation.
In article 10, we happily agree with the Swedish Government that "The historic regional and minority languages are a valuable part of the cultural heritage of Sweden and Europe". We also agree that the language "functions to a large extent as a bearer of culture". To live in a society where ones own regional language is not recognised, resulting in teacher’s ardent struggle to eradicate the Scanian language in schools and the dogmatic view from preschool teachers not to allow the children to even sing in Scanian, is in our view a serious obstruction in creating a free and democratic society.
It is furthermore observable that the Swedish Government actually admits "There are also people who have lost their minority language", without trying to give a solution to this problem.
In article 11, section The Names Act, the Swedish Government states "There is nothing contained in Swedish legislation impeding individuals from detaining their first or surname". During the Swedishisation of Scania, people were forced to change their surname, ending with "-sen" or "-søn" to the more Swedish "-sson", thus Rasmussen became Rasmusson, Jensen became Jönsson and Andersøn became Andersson. Several Scanians have tried to change back to their original surnames but have been rejected by the Swedish Patent and Registration Office. The formal reply has been that "-sen" or "-søn" is not according to Swedish name standard.
In the same section it is stated "Matters are considered on a case-to-case basis", leading to an insecure situation where it never can be taken for granted that the Swedish state will accept and withhold a possible future promise to accept Scanian surnames.
In article 12, the charter states "The Parties shall, where appropriate, take measures in the fields of education and research to foster knowledge of the culture, history, language and religion of their national minorities and of the majority". Clearly, this is an area were Sweden shows how a centralised state really works. There is no teaching in Scania about the region’s history. On the contrary, Scania pupils are taught Swedish history and culture as if it were their own. Scania has only been Swedish for 341 years, but the Swedish school system treats this matter as of no importance, once Swedish – always Swedish.
In a conference for teachers in Scania in Kristianstad, the residence for the Regional Board of Scania, it was clearly stated that teachers should teach Swedish history and not deal with any specific Scanian part, thus treating all parts of Sweden just as Swedish.
In article 14, the Swedish Government states "Education in mother tongue and bilingual education is of great importance as regards supporting and reinforcing minority languages." Today, Scanian children are still taught that their language is "bad", and it is still not allowed to use Scanian words in school.
It is evident that the Swedish
state does not take the matter of protecting and safeguarding regional
languages and cultures seriously. As there are only a few Scanian speakers
alive today, we urge the Swedish state to accept the Scanian language as a
regional language and to accept research and promotion of the Scanian
language.
Scanian Regional Institute, 16 November 2001
Lars Narvselius
Ante Ottosson
Ivar Lærkesen
Hans Wilson
©
SSF