Language Centre Resources - Danish

An Indo-European language and a member of the North Germanic group (the East Scandinavian branch), spoken by over 5 million people mainly in the Kingdom of Denmark, where it is the official language, as well as in the Faeroe Islands and Greenland, where it also has official status, with some further speakers in north Germany, Canada and the USA.

The earliest written traces of the language are runic inscriptions from the 3rd century, but in the 12th century Danish began to emerge in a form distinct from common Old Norse. The mediaeval literature is particularly famous for its rich stock of ballads. Today the language is spoken in several mutually comprehensible dialects and the standard language, Rigsdansk, was originally based on the sociolect of the upper class of Copenhagen.

Danish is spelt in the Roman alphabet consisting of 29 characters. The spelling system was reformed in 1948.

CLASSIFICATION = Indo-European family     SCRIPT = Roman