Since the early 20th century, whether Jamtlandic is a dialect or a language has been hotly debated. Proponents of Jamtlandic as a language point to the differences in vocabulary and pronunciation. A great percentage of the Jamtish speakers recognise Jamtish as a language rather than a Swedish dialect. There have been efforts to make the Swedish government recognise it as a minority language just as Yiddish and Sami. One of the more prominent people that have been active in the effort to make Jamtish a recognised language is Bo Oscarsson. Oscarsson has written books about the Jamtish language/dialect and even compiled dictionaries.

Jamtarnas (the jamtlanders) history is both exciting and tragic.From beeing an independant republic in the Viking Age, Jamtland in the 16th and 17th centuries became an item of contention between the Swedish and Danish/Norwegians kingdoms. No less than thirteen times was Jamtland fought over by them during the years 1563 - 1677. The Swedes conquerred Jamtland and began to oppress the Norwegian-minded population of Jamtland. The jamtlanders' language "Jamska", similar to Norwegian, was forbidden but survived to the present, thanks to the Jamtlanders becoming bilingual.