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Which Scandinavian languages are classified as East Scandinavian?
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Scandinavian languages
Distribution of the Germanic languages in Europe.
The Scandinavian languages are traditionally divided into two primary groups based on historical and linguistic developments. The East Scandinavian group consists of:
- Danish12
- Swedish13
This classification distinguishes these languages from the West Scandinavian group, which includes Norwegian, Icelandic, and Faroese. Historically, the East Scandinavian branch is characterized by certain linguistic innovations, such as the monophthongization of specific Old Scandinavian diphthongs and the development of the pronoun jak (the modern jeg in Danish and jag in Swedish) for "I," in contrast to the more conservative features retained in the West Scandinavian area.14