Swenglish
Encyclopedia
Swenglish is a colloquial term meaning either:
prosody
that differs from that of English. When Swedish prosody is used in English speech, it makes it sound more melodic, and this is even more apparent when Swedish stress patterns are used on English words. This is one of the most apparent causes of Swenglish.
There are words that are similar in meaning and pronunciation, that have different stress patterns. For example, verbs that end with -era in Swedish are often French loanwords, where the French word ends with a stressed -er. The Swedish word gets its stress point at the same place, but this is not true in English. A native Swedish speaker might mispronounce generate as [dʒɛnəɹˈeɪt] by following the pattern of the Swedish generera ([jɛnɛrˈeːra]).
Swedish lacks many common English phonemes. These are sometimes replaced by similar-sounding Swedish phonemes, or other English phonemes that are easier to pronounce. Standard Swedish does not have any diphthong
vowels, but many more monophthong
vowels than English. For example, when using the nearest Swedish vowels for the English words "beer
" and "bear
", a native Swedish speaker might pronounce both as [beːr]. In general, Swenglish will sound very articulated, due to Swedish vowels being more strongly articulated and not as often reduced to schwa
s.
Swedish also lacks some common consonant phonemes, such as [θ] (voiceless dental fricative
), which is typically replaced by [f] (voiceless labiodental fricative
) or [t] (voiceless alveolar stop), leading to "three" being pronounced as "free" or "tree
". Other missing consonants include [ð] (voiced dental fricative
), [z] (voiced alveolar fricative
) and [dʒ] (voiced palato-alveolar affricate).
s have a more specific meaning in Swedish than the original English, such as keyboard meaning only ’electronic keyboard
, synthesizer
’. Compare the list of Swedish-English false friends on Swedish Wikipedia.
Many Swedish compounds and expressions translate directly into English, but many others do not, even if the translations can be understood. For instance, the Swedish ta med means ’bring’, but is often translated as the literal "take with". In June 2010, BP
's Swedish chairman Carl-Henric Svanberg
famously caused a PR uproar after the Deepwater Horizon oil spill
by referring to the common people
as "the small people", drawing upon the Swedish phrase den lilla människan.
- EnglishEnglish languageEnglish is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
spoken with a heavy SwedishSwedish languageSwedish is a North Germanic language, spoken by approximately 10 million people, predominantly in Sweden and parts of Finland, especially along its coast and on the Åland islands. It is largely mutually intelligible with Norwegian and Danish...
accentAccent (linguistics)In linguistics, an accent is a manner of pronunciation peculiar to a particular individual, location, or nation.An accent may identify the locality in which its speakers reside , the socio-economic status of its speakers, their ethnicity, their caste or social class, their first language In... - English spoken or written as heavily influenced by Swedish vocabularyVocabularyA person's vocabulary is the set of words within a language that are familiar to that person. A vocabulary usually develops with age, and serves as a useful and fundamental tool for communication and acquiring knowledge...
, grammarGrammarIn linguistics, grammar is the set of structural rules that govern the composition of clauses, phrases, and words in any given natural language. The term refers also to the study of such rules, and this field includes morphology, syntax, and phonology, often complemented by phonetics, semantics,...
, or syntaxSyntaxIn linguistics, syntax is the study of the principles and rules for constructing phrases and sentences in natural languages....
English heavily influenced by Swedish
Pronunciation
Swedish is characterised by a strong word stress and phrasePhrase
In everyday speech, a phrase may refer to any group of words. In linguistics, a phrase is a group of words which form a constituent and so function as a single unit in the syntax of a sentence. A phrase is lower on the grammatical hierarchy than a clause....
prosody
Prosody (linguistics)
In linguistics, prosody is the rhythm, stress, and intonation of speech. Prosody may reflect various features of the speaker or the utterance: the emotional state of the speaker; the form of the utterance ; the presence of irony or sarcasm; emphasis, contrast, and focus; or other elements of...
that differs from that of English. When Swedish prosody is used in English speech, it makes it sound more melodic, and this is even more apparent when Swedish stress patterns are used on English words. This is one of the most apparent causes of Swenglish.
There are words that are similar in meaning and pronunciation, that have different stress patterns. For example, verbs that end with -era in Swedish are often French loanwords, where the French word ends with a stressed -er. The Swedish word gets its stress point at the same place, but this is not true in English. A native Swedish speaker might mispronounce generate as [dʒɛnəɹˈeɪt] by following the pattern of the Swedish generera ([jɛnɛrˈeːra]).
Swedish lacks many common English phonemes. These are sometimes replaced by similar-sounding Swedish phonemes, or other English phonemes that are easier to pronounce. Standard Swedish does not have any diphthong
Diphthong
A diphthong , also known as a gliding vowel, refers to two adjacent vowel sounds occurring within the same syllable. Technically, a diphthong is a vowel with two different targets: That is, the tongue moves during the pronunciation of the vowel...
vowels, but many more monophthong
Monophthong
A monophthong is a pure vowel sound, one whose articulation at both beginning and end is relatively fixed, and which does not glide up or down towards a new position of articulation....
vowels than English. For example, when using the nearest Swedish vowels for the English words "beer
Beer
Beer is the world's most widely consumed andprobably oldest alcoholic beverage; it is the third most popular drink overall, after water and tea. It is produced by the brewing and fermentation of sugars, mainly derived from malted cereal grains, most commonly malted barley and malted wheat...
" and "bear
Bear
Bears are mammals of the family Ursidae. Bears are classified as caniforms, or doglike carnivorans, with the pinnipeds being their closest living relatives. Although there are only eight living species of bear, they are widespread, appearing in a wide variety of habitats throughout the Northern...
", a native Swedish speaker might pronounce both as [beːr]. In general, Swenglish will sound very articulated, due to Swedish vowels being more strongly articulated and not as often reduced to schwa
Schwa
In linguistics, specifically phonetics and phonology, schwa can mean the following:*An unstressed and toneless neutral vowel sound in some languages, often but not necessarily a mid-central vowel...
s.
Swedish also lacks some common consonant phonemes, such as [θ] (voiceless dental fricative
Voiceless dental fricative
The voiceless dental non-sibilant fricative is a type of consonantal sound used in some spoken languages. It is familiar to English speakers as the 'th' in thing. Though rather rare as a phoneme in the world's inventory of languages, it is encountered in some of the most widespread and influential...
), which is typically replaced by [f] (voiceless labiodental fricative
Voiceless labiodental fricative
The voiceless labiodental fricative is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is .-Features:Features of the voiceless labiodental fricative:...
) or [t] (voiceless alveolar stop), leading to "three" being pronounced as "free" or "tree
Tree
A tree is a perennial woody plant. It is most often defined as a woody plant that has many secondary branches supported clear of the ground on a single main stem or trunk with clear apical dominance. A minimum height specification at maturity is cited by some authors, varying from 3 m to...
". Other missing consonants include [ð] (voiced dental fricative
Voiced dental fricative
The voiced dental non-sibilant fricative is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound, eth, is . The symbol was taken from the Old English letter eth, which could stand for either a voiced or unvoiced...
), [z] (voiced alveolar fricative
Voiced alveolar fricative
The voiced alveolar fricatives are consonantal sounds. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents these sounds depends on whether a sibilant or non-sibilant fricative is being described....
) and [dʒ] (voiced palato-alveolar affricate).
Vocabulary and grammar
As with most non-native speech, native Swedish speakers may pick the wrong word when speaking English based on what sound right in their own language. While Swedish and English share a lot of words both from their Germanic origins and from later French and Latin iunfluence, there are several Swedish-English false friends, such as nacke meaning ’nape, back of the neck’ (similar to English "neck"), and eventuellt meaning ’possibly’ (similar to "eventually"). Some loanwordLoanword
A loanword is a word borrowed from a donor language and incorporated into a recipient language. By contrast, a calque or loan translation is a related concept where the meaning or idiom is borrowed rather than the lexical item itself. The word loanword is itself a calque of the German Lehnwort,...
s have a more specific meaning in Swedish than the original English, such as keyboard meaning only ’electronic keyboard
Electronic keyboard
An electronic keyboard is an electronic or digital keyboard instrument.The major components of a typical modern electronic keyboard are:...
, synthesizer
Synthesizer
A synthesizer is an electronic instrument capable of producing sounds by generating electrical signals of different frequencies. These electrical signals are played through a loudspeaker or set of headphones...
’. Compare the list of Swedish-English false friends on Swedish Wikipedia.
Many Swedish compounds and expressions translate directly into English, but many others do not, even if the translations can be understood. For instance, the Swedish ta med means ’bring’, but is often translated as the literal "take with". In June 2010, BP
BP
BP p.l.c. is a global oil and gas company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the third-largest energy company and fourth-largest company in the world measured by revenues and one of the six oil and gas "supermajors"...
's Swedish chairman Carl-Henric Svanberg
Carl-Henric Svanberg
Carl-Henric Svanberg, born on May 29 1952 in Porjus, Sweden, is a businessman and current Chairman of BP.-Life and career:Svanberg holds a Master's degree in Applied Physics from the Linköping Institute of Technology and a Bachelor's degree in Business Administration from Uppsala University...
famously caused a PR uproar after the Deepwater Horizon oil spill
Deepwater Horizon oil spill
The Deepwater Horizon oil spill is an oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico which flowed unabated for three months in 2010, and continues to leak fresh oil. It is the largest accidental marine oil spill in the history of the petroleum industry...
by referring to the common people
Common People
"Common People" is a song by English alternative rock band Pulp. It was released as a single in 1995, reaching number two on the UK singles chart. It also appears on the band's 1995 album Different Class. The song is about those who were perceived by the songwriter as wanting to be "like common...
as "the small people", drawing upon the Swedish phrase den lilla människan.
See also
- Non-native pronunciations of EnglishNon-native pronunciations of EnglishNon-native pronunciations of English result from the common linguistic phenomenon in which non-native users of any language tend to carry the intonation, phonological processes and pronunciation rules from their mother tongue into their English speech...
- SvorskSvorskSvorsk or Svorska is a term describing a mixture of the Swedish and Norwegian languages....
- SpråkförsvaretSpråkförsvaretSpråkförsvaret is a politically independent network working to strengthen the Swedish language in Sweden and Finland....
- Swedish ChefSwedish ChefThe Swedish Chef is a Muppet that appeared on The Muppet Show. He was operated by Jim Henson and Frank Oz simultaneously and is now puppeteered by Bill Barretta.-Character:...
External links
- Test Your Swenglish. Lists some common mistakes of Swedish speakers of English.