The Academy’s Work on the Swedish Language

Gustav III’s main purpose in establishing the Swedish Academy was to safeguard and promote the Swedish language, both in a linguistic and a literary sense. This included not only Swedish spelling and grammar rules but also the literary expression of the language. Central to the work was therefore the creation of a Swedish dictionary and grammar. However, it took some considerable time before suitable working methods were established. The first edition of the Swedish Academy Word List (SAOL) was published in 1874, while the first volume of the Swedish Academy Dictionary (SAOB) appeared in 1893.

Today, SAOL, SAOB and the Swedish Dictionary published by the Swedish Academy (SO) can all be searched online at svenska.se. The complete Swedish Academy Grammar (SAG) is also available for download as a pdf. In addition to its publishing activities, the Academy awards a number of prizes and scholarships with a linguistic focus and has also been involved in various educational projects such as Intensivsvenska (intensivsvenska.se).

The Swedish Academy is also part of Språkvårdsgruppen, a collaborative body for organisations engaged in preserving the Swedish language.

The Swedish Academy Word List (SAOL) was first published in 1874. The current edition is the fourteenth, published in 2015. It contains around 126,000 contemporary Swedish words and includes information on spelling, pronunciation, inflection, style and, in many cases, meaning.

The Swedish Dictionary published by the Swedish Academy (SO) is a description of modern Swedish with an emphasis on the meaning and usage of words, while also including historical information. The first edition of SO was published in 2009, followed by the second in 2021. The dictionary contains around 65,000 definitions, with meanings illustrated by numerous examples. It is also possible to listen to word pronunciations.

The Swedish Academy Dictionary (SAOB) is the result of a long-term project documenting Swedish vocabulary and its development since the time of Gustav Vasa. The first issue appeared in 1893 and the most recent in 2023. An online version is available free of charge at svenska.se.

The Swedish Academy Grammar (SAG) is the standard Swedish grammar, intended for university students, researchers, teachers, professional language users and other members of the public with an interest in the language. It provides a detailed description of the Swedish language, primarily in its written form, using largely traditional concepts and terminology. The grammar consists of four volumes: (1) Introduction, Bibliography, Index; (2) Words; (3) Phrases; (4) Clauses and Sentences.

The Swedish Handbook published by the Swedish Academy (SAS) is a concise, introductory grammar aimed at a broader audience than SAG. Rather than requiring any advanced prior knowledge of grammar on the part of the reader, it simply presupposes an interest in matters of language. Mainly descriptive, it explains Swedish as it actually is rather than how it perhaps ought to be, while also indicating the forms of expression that align best with the norms of so-called ‘careful’ language use.