Factors influencing the linguistic development in the Øresund region

The paper summarizes post–World War II research on the understanding of Swedish by Danes and vice versa. Self-evaluation results as well as test results point to increased mutual comprehension. Preliminary results from ongoing investigations on both sides of the Øresund are given. They suggest a number of possible future scenarios, the most realistic prediction being that the wellknown language problems may be overcome in enterprises employing both Danes and Swedes. With single speakers employed at predominantly monolingual work places various interlanguage varieties will develop. Whether such varieties will eventually crystallize into one accepted Swedo-Danish interlanguage variety is still an open question.