Editing Danish language (section)

== Classification ==
Danish is a [[Germanic languages|Germanic language]] of the [[North Germanic languages|North Germanic branch]]. Other names for this group are the Nordic{{sfn|Vikør|2002}} or Scandinavian languages. Along with Swedish, Danish descends from the Eastern dialects of the [[Old Norse language]]; Danish and Swedish are also classified as East Scandinavian or East Nordic languages.{{sfn|Torp|2006}}{{sfn|Rischel|2012|pp=809–810}}

Scandinavian languages are often considered a [[dialect continuum]], where no sharp dividing lines are seen between the different vernacular languages.{{sfn|Torp|2006}}

Like Norwegian and Swedish, Danish was significantly influenced by Low German in the Middle Ages, and has been influenced by English since the turn of the 20th century.{{sfn|Torp|2006}}

Danish itself can be divided into three main dialect areas: [[Jutlandic dialect|Jutlandic]] (West Danish), [[Insular Danish]] (including the standard variety), and [[East Danish]] (including [[Bornholmsk dialect|Bornholmian]] and [[Scanian dialect|Scanian]]). According to the view that Scandinavian is a dialect continuum, East Danish can be considered intermediary between Danish and Swedish, while Scanian can be considered a Swedified East Danish dialect, and Bornholmian is its closest relative.{{sfn|Torp|2006}}

{{North Germanic clade}}

=== Vocabulary ===
[[File:VW Passat of the Danish military police.jpg|thumb|Danish label reading {{lang|da|militærpoliti,}} "military police", on a police vehicle]]
Approximately 2,000 uncompounded Danish words are derived from [[Old Norse language|Old Norse]] and ultimately from [[Proto Indo-European]]. Of these 2,000, 1,200 are nouns, 500 are verbs and 180 are adjectives.{{sfn|Haberland|1994|pp=346–347}} Danish has also absorbed many [[loanwords]], most of which were borrowed from [[Low German]] of the [[Late Middle Ages]]. Out of the 500 most frequently used Danish words, 100 are loans from Middle Low German; this is because Low German was the second official language of Denmark–Norway.<ref name=Sproget>{{cite web|url=http://sproget.dk/raad-og-regler/artikler-mv/svarbase/SV00001479|title=Antal arveord og låneord|first=Anita Ågerup|last=Jervelund|publisher=Dansk Sprognævns svarbase|year=2008|access-date=7 April 2016|archive-date=4 April 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160404215753/http://sproget.dk/raad-og-regler/artikler-mv/svarbase/SV00001479|url-status=live}}</ref> In the 17th and 18th centuries, [[German language|standard German]] and [[French language|French]] superseded Low German influence, and in the 20th century, English became the main supplier of loanwords, especially after [[World War II]]. Although many old Nordic words remain, some were replaced with borrowed synonyms, for example {{lang|da|æde}} (to eat) was mostly supplanted by the Low German {{lang|da|spise}}. As well as loanwords, new words can be freely formed by compounding existing words. In standard texts of contemporary Danish, Middle Low German loans account for about 16–17% of the vocabulary, Graeco-Latin loans 4–8%, French 2–4% and English about 1%.<ref name=Sproget/>

Danish and English are both Germanic languages. Danish is a North Germanic language descended from Old Norse, and English is a West Germanic language descended from Old English. Old Norse exerted a strong influence on Old English in the early medieval period.

The shared Germanic heritage of Danish and English is demonstrated with many common words that are very similar in the two languages. For example, when written, commonly used Danish verbs, nouns, and prepositions such as {{lang|da|have}}, {{lang|da|over}}, {{lang|da|under}}, {{lang|da|for}}, {{lang|da|give}}, {{lang|da|flag}}, {{lang|da|salt}}, and {{lang|da|arm}} are easily recognizable to English speakers.{{sfn|Bredsdorff|1958|pp=6–10}} Similarly, some other words are almost identical to their [[Scots language|Scots]] equivalents, e.g. {{lang|da|kirke}} (Scots {{lang|sco|kirk}}, i.e., 'church') or {{lang|da|barn}} (Scots and northern English ''bairn'', i.e. 'child'). In addition, the word {{lang|da|by}}, meaning ‘village’ or ‘town’, occurs in many English place-names, such as ''Whitby'' and ''Selby'', as remnants of the [[Danelaw|Viking occupation]]. During that period English adopted ‘are’, the third person plural form of the verb ‘to be’, as well as the personal pronouns ‘they’, ‘them’ and ‘their’ from contemporary Old Norse.

=== Mutual intelligibility ===
Danish is largely [[mutually intelligible]] with [[Norwegian language|Norwegian]] and [[Swedish language|Swedish]]. A proficient speaker of any of the three languages can often understand the others fairly well, though studies have shown that the mutual intelligibility is asymmetric: Norwegian speakers generally understand both Danish and Swedish far better than Swedes or Danes understand each other. Concomitantly, Swedes and Danes understand Norwegian better than they understand each other's languages.{{sfn|Åkesson|2005}}

Norwegian occupies the middle position in terms of intelligibility because of its shared border with Sweden, resulting in a similarity in pronunciation, combined with the long tradition of having Danish as a written language, which has led to similarities in vocabulary.{{sfn|Torp|2006|pp=70–72}} Among younger Danes, Copenhageners are worse at understanding Swedish than Danes from the provinces. In general, younger Danes are not as good at understanding the neighboring languages as the young in Norway and Sweden.{{sfn|Åkesson|2005}}