Modern Gutnish

Facts

  • Language: Modern Gutnish
  • Alternate names: gutniska, gutamål
  • Language code: dswer
  • Language family: Indo-European, Classical Indo-European, Germanic, Northwest Germanic, North Germanic, North Scandinavian, East-Central Swedic, East Swedic
  • Dialect of: Swedish
  • Number of speakers: 2,000-5,000
  • Script: Latin script

More information:

    Introduction

    Modern Gutnish refers to the original language spoken on parts of the islands of Gotland and Fårö. It is the successor of the Gutnish language that used both as a spoken and written language until late medieval times. Today Gutnish still exists as a spoken language, but is to some degree mixed with Swedish, Danish and German. It is an open issue whether modern Gutnish is to be considered an independent language or merely a Scandinavian dialect. It derives however its origin from Old Gutnish, which is a separate branch of the Old Norse language family.

    Gutnish exists in two variants,

    1. Laumal (mainland Gotland)
    2. and Faroymal on Fårö.
    The Faroymal is considered most archaic of the two forms. Gutnish is not to be confused with Gotlandic, which is the local form of Swedish spoken by most Gotlanders today.

    The Modern Gutnish verb

    Verbs are conjugated by tense and mood:

    Verbs are divided into strong verbs and weak verbs. Strong verbs form the past tense with a vowel shift and weak verbs with a -d suffix.

    Sample verb: varä

    INDICATIVE IMPERATIVE
    Present Past Perfect Pluperfect
    jär var har vart hadd vart var! (Sg/Pl.2)