worldbuzz

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1 Tom04/04/2009, 06:59

Yeah, English is the only screwed up language. It is constantly being changed or amended and not always for the better. The "rules" keep changing for how to spell, pronounce, and write things. They need to set some rules and then leave it alone.

We have ONE symbol that is inserted in words, the dreaded apostrophe. (with an e, not a y) What about all of those weird little symbols Swedish has within words? What about all of these weird exceptions:

Spellings for the sj-phoneme /ɧ/
Due to several phonetic combinations coalescing over recent centuries, the spelling of the the Swedish sje-sound is very eclectic. Some estimates claim that there are over 50 possible different spellings of the sound, though this figure is disputed. Garlén (1988) gives a list of 22 spellings (ch, che, g, ge, gi, ige, j, je, sc, sch, sh, shi, si, sj, sk, skj, ssi, ssj, stg, sti, stj, ti), but many of them are confined to only a few words, often loan words, and most of them (ch, che, g, ge, gi, ige, j, je, sc, sh, shi, si, sk, stg, sti, ti) can correspond to other sounds or sound sequences as well. Some spellings of the sje-sound are as follows:

   * sj in native Swedish words, before both front (e, i, y, ä, ö) and back vowels (a, o, u, å);
   * sk in native Swedish words before front vowels (e, i, y, ä, ö);
   * stj in five words only, all enumerated in the word game "Det är lättare att STJÄLA en STJÄLK än att STJÄLPA en STJÄRNA med STJÄRTEN" (= It is easier to STEAL a STALK than to OVERTURN a STAR with the BEHIND);
   * skj in five words only, of which four enumerated in the word game "I bara SKJORTAN SKJUTER han SKJUTSEN in i SKJULET." (= In just his SHIRT he PUSHES the VEHICLE into the SHED.) The fifth word is skjuvning (for example skjuvspänning = shear stress and skjuvtöjning = shear strain). Skjuva/Skjuvning can also mean pushing a vehicle, but somewhat discouraged to use(rural dialects);
   * stg in three words only: västgöte, östgöte, gästgiveri (each of these has an alternative, more Stockholmish pronunciation with /stj/; /ɧ/ is often considered dialectal pronouncation);
   * sch in a large number of German (in all positions) loanwords;
   * sh in a large number of English (in all positions) loanwords;
   * ch in most French loan words (in final position though often -sch); note that English loan words with this spelling usually use the "tje"-sound;
   * ge in a large number of French loanwords (mostly in the end of the word), like garage, prestige.
   * -tion, -sion, -ssion pronounced /ɧon/, in a large number of words with Latin origin; these words are spelt the same way in English; in a few of these words, the sje-sound is preceded by a t (e.g. nation, rationell); and
   * xj for the sequence /kɧ/ occurs only in the place-name Växjö;
   * rs in native Swedish words, slightly different pronouncation, however, in some southern Swedish dialects and in Finland Swedish, r and s are usually pronounced separately.

2 Bill04/04/2009, 07:04

If you're opposed to Swedes using English, why do you post articles in English? Why do you not have a Swedish blog or a multilingual blog?

I'm just saying, I would think the first step in eliminating English from the Swedish language would be to focus people away from English and more on Swedish since that's the root of the problem.

What I see is that TV programming here is a little Swedish and a whole lot English speaking. It's only natural that the new generation of people watching all of these American TV programs will pick up the slang and use it. I think the same would happen in the US. If Americans were taught Swedish in school, and then given TV Programming to go along with it, it would only be natural for them to start to use Swedish expressions in daily life.

I'm not saying it's right, but it's just how it is. If you want to eliminate it, you'd need to stop teaching the kids English an stop bombarding them with English TV Programming.

I agree with you though, that your people should use their own words sometimes instead of borrowing.