Written and spoken Swedish

As in many languages, the written and spoken variants of Swedish exhibit a number of notable differences. It could be argued that spoken Swedish represents the authentic form, with written Swedish serving as a codified distillation of numerous spoken varieties – a standardised medium that enables communication across regions and social groups. Speech has functioned independently for millennia, whereas written language is necessarily dependent on a spoken medium. Colloquial forms are noted throughout this grammar, and paragraph 12.2.1.5 outlines some specific differences in spelling and pronunciation. Additionally, however, the following paragraphs give a brief overview of constructions and lexical choices characteristic of spoken and written Swedish, respectively.