The Swedish language in Parliament

The plan does not address parliament's internal language usage. The closest principle is that nationalism has no place in the party's politics and that cultural heritage issues in the plan concern widening the languages and culture of national minorities, not preserving Swedish's distinctiveness. The plan furthermore wants politics to keep arm's length distance from the content of culture. The position is therefore derived from the closest principle.

• rejects nationalismdecisive»Nationalismen har ingen plats i en demokratisk vänsterpolitik.« (party programme ↗)“Nationalism has no place in a democratic left politics.”
• strengthen minority languages»Utbildningen i, på och om de nationella minoritetsspråken samt de nationella minoriteternas kultur och kulturarv bör utvidgas« (party programme ↗)“Education in, on and about the national minority languages and the national minorities' culture and cultural heritage should be expanded”
• arm's length distance from content»Politiken ska skapa förutsättningar för en bred kultur som kommer alla till del och hålla armlängds avstånd till innehållet.« (2022 manifesto ↗)“Politics should create conditions for broad culture that benefits everyone and keep arm's length distance from the content.”

The documents say nothing about the Riksdag's internal language care or about protecting Swedish against English loanwords. The closest principle is directed oppositely: cultural policy should not direct, cultural life should reflect diversity and special support should be directed to national minorities' languages, not to preserving the majority language's distinctiveness through policy documents. The plan therefore provides no support for the demand.

• support for minority languagesdecisive»I detta ska också ingå att hävda och stödja nationella minoriteters möjligheter att« (party programme ↗)“This should also include upholding and supporting national minorities' opportunities to”
• politics should not direct culture»Kulturpolitikens uppgift är inte att styra konsten.« (party programme ↗)“Cultural policy's task is not to direct art.”
• objective state administration»beakta allas likhet inför lagen och iaktta saklighet och opartiskhet.« (party programme ↗)“respect the equality of all before the law and observe objectivity and impartiality.”

The party programme embraces cultural diversity, points to the imposition of monoculture as historically failed and sees other mother tongues than Swedish as advantages and resources. A policy document meant to preserve Swedish's distinctive character with Icelandic precedent rests on the opposite, preservationist language view. The election manifesto instead highlights minorities' and Sámi people's linguistic rights. The plan therefore speaks against the counter-proposal's demand.

• rejects monoculturedecisive»genomdrivandet av monokulturen som gång på« (party programme ↗)“the imposition of monoculture as having”
• multilingualism as a resource»Andra modersmål än svenska ska ses som fördelar« (party programme ↗)“Other mother tongues than Swedish shall be seen as advantages”
• status of minority languages»stärka nationella minoriteters och urfolket samernas rättigheter« (2022 manifesto ↗)“strengthen national minorities' and the indigenous Sámi people's rights”
• culture is not place-bound»En kultur kan aldrig vara bunden till en« (party programme ↗)“A culture can never be bound to one”

The plan does not address language cultivation or policy documents for the Swedish language. The nearest principle is that politics should refrain from acting as a taste arbiter over cultural content and that the party values openness toward the world rather than linguistic protectionism; the protections the plan seeks to strengthen concern the status of minority languages, not the distinctiveness of the majority language. Based on this, the plan argues against specific policy documents of the Icelandic model.

• political restraint on cultural mattersdecisive»Politiken ska akta sig för att agera smakdomare och diktera kulturens innehåll.« (party programme ↗)“Politics should refrain from acting as a taste arbiter and dictating cultural content.”
• the status of minority languages»Vi vill stärka bland annat äganderätten, diskrimineringsförbudet, minoritetsskyddet och minoritetsspråkens ställning, och grundlagsskydda rätten till abort och reproduktiv hälsa.« (2022 manifesto ↗)“We want to strengthen, among other things, property rights, the prohibition on discrimination, minority protection and the status of minority languages, and constitutionally protect the right to abortion and reproductive health.”
• openness over protectionism»Sverige behöver mer frihandel och internationellt samarbete, inte protektionism och stängda gränser.« (2022 manifesto ↗)“Sweden needs more free trade and international cooperation, not protectionism and closed borders.”

The plan establishes that Swedish should be the society's bearing language, but combines this with multilingual services and sees language skills as increasingly important in an open world. According to the election manifesto, cultural policy should not interfere with content, and cultural heritage is described as something constantly developed by the present age. The counter-proposal's language-protecting policy documents and Icelandic example do not follow from these commitments.

• Swedish as the society's bearing languagedecisive»Svenska är och ska vara det samhällsbärande språket.« (party programme ↗)“Swedish is and should be the society's bearing language.”
• openness to the outside world»Språkkunskaper blir allt viktigare i en öppen värld.« (party programme ↗)“Language skills are becoming increasingly important in an open world.”
• policy should not direct culture»Kulturpolitiken ska utgå från frihet, mångfald och kvalitet men ska inte lägga sig i innehållet i kulturen.« (2022 manifesto ↗)“Cultural policy should be based on freedom, diversity and quality but should not interfere with the content of culture.”
• living cultural heritage»traditioner, dialekter och annat – utvecklas ständigt genom att samtiden ger sitt bidrag.« (party programme ↗)“traditions, dialects and other – are constantly developed as the present age makes its contribution.”

The party programme counts the Swedish language among stewardship responsibilities and wants its status as the majority language to be constitutionally protected, and tasks cultural policy with preserving the valuable cultural heritage. To counteract written language being hollowed out by English is in line with this. The plan says nothing about the Riksdag's internal governing documents, so the support is derived.

• cherish the Swedish languagedecisive»det svenska språket, vars ställning som majoritetsspråk bör vara grundlagsskyddat« (party programme ↗)“the Swedish language, whose status as majority language should be constitutionally protected”
• preserve the cultural heritage»En god kulturpolitik måste sträva efter att ta tillvara det värdefulla kulturella arv« (party programme ↗)“Good cultural policy must strive to preserve the valuable cultural heritage”
• cultural values as community»som behövs för att bevara och vidareutveckla en civiliserad identitet och samhörighet« (party programme ↗)“needed to preserve and develop a civilised identity and sense of community”

The plan takes no explicit position on what the committee actually decided — often because the committee's reason was procedural. The stance is derived and fully cited, but it does not show the party broke a commitment.

The plan says nothing about the Riksdag's internal language use or about the relationship between Swedish and English; its language commitments concern knowledge of Swedish among pupils and newly arrived. The closest principle is that politics should prioritize its basic mission and exclude other things, and that more policy documents is not a moderate response. Based on that principle, the plan does not support the demand for special policy documents and a review of the language's peculiarity.

• hard prioritizationsdecisive»Vi vet vad som måste göras – och vad som får vänta.« (2022 manifesto ↗)“We know what must be done – and what can wait.”
• limited political ambition»Politiken har en viktig uppgift att prioritera och välja bort« (party programme ↗)“Politics has an important task to prioritize and exclude”
• Swedish language's status»Där alla barn får lära sig bra svenska tidigt.« (2022 manifesto ↗)“Where all children learn good Swedish early.”

The plan counts language as central to Swedish culture and requires that Swedish culture be preserved, maintained, and promoted, and that cohesion around national identity be strengthened. The counter-proposal's demands for policy documents and a review to preserve the Swedish language's distinctiveness follow from this cultural heritage commitment. The plan, however, says nothing about the Riksdag's internal writing rules, so the coverage is derived.

• preserve Swedish culturedecisive»Sverigedemokraterna vill värna, vårda och visa svensk kultur.« (2022 manifesto ↗)“Sweden Democrats want to preserve, maintain, and promote Swedish culture.”
• language as cultural infrastructure»Socialt överförda levnadsmönster, gemensamma referensramar, språk och uttryck, idétradition och normer som förenar människor är infrastrukturen för förståelse och kommunikation mellan människor.« (2022 manifesto ↗)“Socially transmitted lifestyles, shared frames of reference, language and expression, tradition of ideas, and norms that unite people are the infrastructure for understanding and communication between people.”
• national cohesion»Skapa sammanhållning kring den svenska kulturen och den nationella identiteten« (2022 manifesto ↗)“Create cohesion around Swedish culture and national identity”
• shared language defines the nation»identitet, gemensamt språk och gemensam kultur.« (party programme ↗)“identity, shared language, and shared culture.”