This article will address the topic of Perkerdansk, which has gained great relevance in recent years. Since its origins, Perkerdansk has sparked countless opinions and debates that have polarized society. This is why it is of utmost importance to analyze this phenomenon in depth and objectively, to understand its implications in various areas, from the social to the economic. Likewise, the impact of Perkerdansk in different cultural contexts will be explored, as well as the possible future perspectives that could arise from its evolution. Through reflection and critical analysis, we will seek to shed light on the various facets of Perkerdansk, in order to foster a constructive and enriching debate on this topic.
Perkerdansk, Immigrant Danish or Gadedansk is a multi-ethnolect spoken in Denmark, a variety of Danish associated primarily with youth of Middle Eastern ethnic background. It is a contact variety that includes features of Danish as well as Arabic, Turkish, English and other immigrant languages. Particularly common in urban areas with high densities of immigrant populations, its features have also spread to general youth language in Denmark.
The term "perkerdansk" may be perceived as offensive, just as "perker" may be offensive slang for immigrants and descendants of primarily Middle-eastern origin. However, it may also be used as an endonym.
The following is an example of Danish spoken by two youth in Copenhagen. Speaker A speaks Berber as a first language and speaker B's first language is Kurdish. Nonetheless, their Danish includes elements of Arabic (wallah "I swear") and Turkish (kız "girl", para "money"), and English (I got "I have", -s plural ending on the Turkish word para).
Other non-standard features are grammatical, such as the simplification of grammatical gender system, and syntactical, such as lack of word order inversion in subordinate clauses ("når man er i puberteten, man tænker mere") and after initial sentence adverb ("normalt man går på ungdomsskolen"); Standard Danish is a V2 language, with an exception for subordinate clauses. Phonetic features include the loss of stød in some words and an isochronic shift from being stress-timed to syllable-timed.
The Danish poet Yahya Hassan made creative use of elements of immigrant Danish in his work.