SCANDINAVIAN LANGUAGES

languages forming the North Germanic branch of the Germanic languages. The modern standard languages are Danish, Swedish, Norwegian (Dano-Norwegian and New Norwegian), Icelandic, and Faroese. These languages are usually divided into East Scandinavian (Danish and Swedish) and West Scandinavian (Norwegian, Icelandic, and Faroese) groups. They developed from the dialects that arose within Old Scandinavian toward the end of the Viking period (c. 11th century). The earliest written records consist of runic inscriptions, dating from about AD 200 to 800. Icelandic and Faroese, which preserve many of the words and grammatical forms of Old Norse, are the most conservative of the modern Scandinavian languages and are largely unintelligible to other Scandinavians. Norwegians, Swedes, and Danes, on the other hand, are usually able to communicate with each other by speaking or writing their own languages, which have undergone numerous common changes from Old Scandinavian times and consequently have most words and grammatical features in common. From a contemporary point of view, therefore, the Scandinavian languages can be divided into a Mainland branch (Danish, Dano-Norwegian, New Norwegian, Swedish) and an Insular branch (Icelandic and Faroese). Among the characteristics shared by all the Scandinavian languages are a postposed definite article (Norwegian boka the book' formed from bok book' and a the') and the absence of person and number inflection in verbs (er meaning am,' is,' or are'). See also Danish language; Faroese language; Icelandic language; Norwegian language; Old Norse language; Swedish language.