Swedish is spoken in Sweden and eastern Finland and there are three major dialects, namely South Swedish, Finland Swedish, and Central Swedish. Swedish is characterized by 18 consonants, a fairly large number of consonant clusters occurring both word-initially and word finally, nine distinctive vowel qualities which contrast for length in stressed syllables, and two phonologically distinctive tonal configurations. The standard script of Swedish is the Latin script plus three additional letters. Studies of children’s acquisition of Swedish demonstrate that most typically developing children master the phonological components by the age of five. Researchers have focused on children with speech sound disorders and cleft lip and palate. Common speech assessments include Nya Fonemtestet, LINUS and The Swedish Intelligibility in Context Scale. Intervention includes auditory discrimination, minimal pairs (including both receptive and expressive training), phonological awareness, and articulatory training.

Key words: 
Swedish, multilingual, communication, speech, language, children’s development, interdisciplinary, international communities, assessment, intervention

Book chapter:
Strömbergsson, S., & Lundeborg Hammarström, I. (2025). Swedish speech development. In S. McLeod (Ed.). The Oxford handbook of speech development in languages of the world. Oxford University Press.

Language overview presentation:

• Strömbergsson, S., & Lundeborg Hammarström, I. (2024). Swedish: Multilingual children’s speech development. Charles Sturt University, Australia. https://www.csu.edu.au/research/multilingual-speech/languages
• Video Swedish [Swedish version] – Children’s Speech Development
• Video Swedish [English version] – Children’s Speech Development
• PowerPoint: Swedish [Swedish version] – Children’s Speech Development (pdf)
• PowerPoint: Swedish [English version] – Children’s Speech Development (pdf)

This presentation relates to the following United Nations Sustainable Development Goals:

• SDG 3: Good Health and Well-being
• SDG 4: Quality Education
• SDG 10: Reduced Inequalities
• SDG 17: Partnerships to Achieve the Goals