Estonian Swedish (Swedish: estlandssvenska; Estonian: rannarootsi keel, lit. 'Coastal Swedish') are the eastern varieties of Swedish that were spoken in the formerly Swedish-populated areas of Estonia (locally known as Aiboland) on the islands of Ormsö (Vormsi), Ösel (Saaremaa), Dagö (Hiiumaa) and Runö (Ruhnu), and the peninsula (former island) of Nuckö (Noarootsi), by the local Estonian Swedes.[2]
| Estonian Swedish | |
|---|---|
| estlandssvenska | |
Estonian Swedes on Ruhnu, 1937
| |
| Region | Estonia, Ukraine |
Native speakers | Unknown[1] |
| |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | – |
| Glottolog | esto1259 |
| IETF | sv-EE |
Until the evacuation of the Estonian Swedes near the end of World War II, both Swedish and Estonian were commonly spoken on the named islands. It is not clear if there are any native speakers left.[3] After Estonia's independence following the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Estonian Swedish experienced a revival, with courses in the language being offered on Dagö and Ösel.
Currently, the number of native speakers is unknown, but assumed to be low.[1]
The Gammalsvenska dialect of Swedish spoken in Ukraine is an archaic dialect of Estonian Swedish, having been brought to the village of Gammalsvenskby in the late 1700s by settlers from Dagö.[4]
Noarootsi Swedish is written with the same letters as Standard Swedish with a few phonetic additions:[5]
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