Bornholm Dialect

The Bornholm dialect is an East Danish dialect. It is spoken on the island of Bornholm in the Baltic Sea. The phonology and vocabulary of the dialect are quite different from that of Standard Danish.

Unlike in Standard Danish, Bornholmian does not have the glottal stop which can create minimal pairs by its presence or absence.  In addition, Bornholmian has a labiovelar approximant /w/ and a voiced alveolar fricative /z/.  Bornholmian dialect also has long consonants, a feature which it shares with Swedish but not with Danish.

The dialect of Bornholm also has numerous differences in vocabulary. Compare the following:

Standard Danish

en stol stolen stole stolene (a chair the chair chairs the chairs)
et hus huset huse husene (a house the house houses the houses)

Bornholm Dialect

enj stol stolinj stola stolana (a chair the chair chairs the chairs)
et huz huzed huz huzen (a house the house houses the houses)

The dialect of Bornholm is very different from that of Standard Danish. It is so different that Danes from other parts of the country find it difficult to understand. However, all residents of Bornholm can speak Standard Danish, and do so when they speak with Danes who are not from Bornholm.