Swedish orthography

Among phonological (sound-based) written languages such as Swedish, the degree of conformity between the graphemes of writing and phonemes of speech can vary.

For example, there are several different graphemes for the sj-sound (as in själ, skäl, and stjäl) and the tj-sound (as in kära and tjära).

This is because Swedish consonants adhere in large part to a traditional orthography, which reflects an older spoken language.

For example, drift is spelled according to pronunciation, even though the morphologically oriented principle would suggest drivt (from the verb driva).

The phoneme [ɧ] is a sound that has arisen in Swedish since changes to ⟨sj⟩, ⟨sk⟩, ⟨skj⟩, ⟨ssj⟩, and ⟨stj⟩ were completely carried out at the end of the 18th century.

Traditional spelling therefore often results in a large difference between written and spoken language (deep orthography).

The letter m is not doubled at the end of the word, so the short and long stressed vowels before m are not distinguished in writing.

For example: fem ('five') has a short e. Exceptions: damm 'dam', lamm 'lamb', ramm 'ram' are written with mm to distinguish them from dam 'dame', lam 'lame', ram 'frame'.

Derivatives of dom 'doom' and Rom 'Rome' conserve the single m. Also, the double m is simplified before another consonant: gammal 'old' — gamla (plural or definite form).

Some words have a final single n after short vowels: den, in, igen, han, hon, kan, man, men, mun, ton, vän, än.

Some sounds ([ɧ], [ɕ], [j], also [s] in loanwords: s, c, sc, z, ps) are spelled in multiple ways following tradition, see above.

The first changes that took place in written Swedish were the disappearance of the ⟨þ⟩ (thorn) character, which in the late 14th century was replaced with the digraphs ⟨th⟩ and ⟨dh⟩.

During the 15th century, an increasing number of books of learning were produced at Vadstena Abbey,[10] which was operated by the Bridgettine Order founded by Bridget of Sweden.

A permanently established orthography did not exist in the Middle Ages, and toward the end of this period, people were often liberal with consonants which were often doubled, as in ffonger (fånge), aff (av) and hwss (hus).

[13] One change in the spelling at this time was that ⟨gh⟩ (indicating [ɣ]) disappeared, because this sound no longer existed in the spoken language.

[16] During the 18th century, the written language was influenced by authors like Dalin, linguistic scholars like Jesper Swedberg, Eric Alstrin, Johan Ihre, Sven Hof, and Abraham Sahlstedt, and printers like Lars Salvius.

[17] Cooperation between academics and printers in the 18th century resulted in an increased uniformity in Swedish orthography.

[19][20] The 19th century brought an ever more advanced etymological analysis of words, to form their "correct" spelling based on their origin.

For example, there was a debate on whether nämligen should be spelled as such or as nemligen, depending on whether the original German word was nehmlich or nämlich.

This implied that, for example, the letter ⟨g⟩ should no longer be used to indicate both [ɡ] and [j] and that sounds which can be written with several spellings such as [j], [ɕ], and [ɧ] should also be changed.

[23][24] The same year Hazelius released his work, linguist Johan Erik Rydqvist published "Ljudlagar och skriflagar".

When the sixth edition of SAOL was released in 1889, it accepted kvarn for qvarn, järn for jern, makt for magt, etc., following the views put forth by Academy member Esaias Tegnér Jr.[6] Unlike the five previous, this edition of SAOL was, by royal order, used as the norm for spelling education in schools.

In SAOL 1874–1900, which were not printed in Fraktur, the number of words using ⟨w⟩ was very small, and primarily tied to names (clown, darwinism, schweizeri).

In the liberal administration of 1905, one of the most active members in the teacher's association, Fridtjuv Berg, became education minister.

In the eighth edition of SAOL (1923), the Swedish Academy listed alternative spellings with ⟨dt⟩ (with the note "SvAk.")

[29] Today, SAOL intends to be "a collection of recommendations in large part based on established practice, and also a desire to adapt additions to the language to the existing Swedish norms for spelling, inflection, and word choice.