Rural Versus Urban Styling Social Position Among Rural Danish Youth Schøning, Signe Wedel
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
Rural versus Urban Styling social position among rural Danish youth Schøning, Signe Wedel Publication date: 2017 Document version Other version Document license: CC BY-NC-ND Citation for published version (APA): Schøning, S. W. (2017). Rural versus Urban: Styling social position among rural Danish youth. Det Humanistiske Fakultet, Københavns Universitet. Download date: 25. Sep. 2021 Rural versus Urban - Styling social position among rural Danish youth SIGNE WEDEL SCHØNING University of Copenhagen 1 For Jesper, Johan & Vilde 2 CONTENT TRANSCRIPTION CONVENTIONS 5 CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 7 1.1 FOCUS OF THIS PROJECT 10 1.2 IDEOLOGY 12 1.3 THESIS OUTLINE 13 CHAPTER 2: IDEOLOGIES OF THE URBAN-RURAL DICHOTOMY 18 2.1 RURAL SOCIOLINGUSITICS: LANGUAGE AS STRUCTURE 18 2.2 URBAN SOCIOLINGUISTICS: LANGUAGE AS EMERGENT SOCIAL RESOURCES 23 2.3 THE REPRODUCTION OF THE IDEOLOGICAL SPLIT IN RURAL AND URBAN SOCIOLINGUISTICS 26 2.4 THE LINGUISTIC ETHNOGRAPHY APPROACH 30 CHAPTER 3: SITUATING OKSBØL 35 3.1 FIELD DESCRIPTION 36 3.2 THE SOCIAL ENVIRONMENT AMONG 13-15 YEAR-OLDS 37 3.3 TAKING A FIELDWORKER POSITION 39 3.4 DATA DESCRIPTION 41 3.5 OKSBØL AS A RURAL PERIPHERY 43 3.6 ESTABLISHED IDEOLOGIES ABOUT THE RURAL 48 3.7 SUMMING UP 59 CHAPTER 4: THEORETICAL FOUNDATIONS: THE FORMATION OF IDEOLOGICALLY LOADED STEREOTYPES 62 4.1 HISTORICAL INDEXICALITY FORMATIONS: THE PROCESS OF ENREGISTERMENT 64 4.2 DIFFERENT LEVELS OF IDEOLOGICAL DISTINCTION: ORDERS OF INDEXICALITY 68 4.2.1 INDEXICAL VALENCE: THE INDEXICAL FIELD AND DIRECT/INDIRECT INDEXICALITY 71 4.3 THE SITUATED REANIMATION OF LANGUAGE IDEOLOGY: STYLISATION 73 4.4 CONCLUDING REMARKS 77 CHAPTER 5: UNMARKED SPEECH PRACTICES AMONG CONTEMPORARY WEST JUTLANDIC YOUTH 79 5.1 THE SOCIOLINGUISTIC LANDSCAPE OF PRESENT-DAY DENMARK 81 5.2 NARRATIVES ON UNMARKED SPEECH PRACTICES 83 5.3 VARIABLE DESCRIPTIONS 89 5.4 RESULTS 94 5.5 CONTEMPORARY WEST JUTLANDIC AS IDEOLOGY 98 CHAPTER 6: DIALECT AS A LATE-MODERN PHENOMENON 100 6.1 STYLISED VESTJYSK AS PERFORMABLE SIGNS 103 6.2 INTERGENERATIONAL DIALECT VARIATION: DIALECT LEVELLING WITHIN THE FAMILY 105 6.3 THE COEXISTENCE OF TWO DISTINCT REGISTERS 108 6.4 SITUATED EMPLOYMENTS OF STYLISED VESTJYSK 111 6.4.1 DIALECT IN ACADEMIC SHORTCOMINGS 111 3 6.4.2 DIALECT IN PRETEND DISCUSSIONS 116 6.4.3 DIALECT IN TRANSGRESSIONS OF PHYSICAL INTEGRITY 120 6.4.4 DIALECT IN DECONSTRUCTIONS OF SELF-CLAIMED AUTHORITY 126 6.5 THE CHARACTEROLOGICAL FIGURE OF STYLISED VESTJYSK 130 CHAPTER 7: STYLISED KØBENHAVNSK AND THE LOCAL ENREGISTERMENT OF AN IDEOLOGICALLY HEGEMONIC RESOURCE 134 7.1 IDENTIFYING STYLISED KØBENHAVNSK AS DATA 137 7.2 LINGUISTIC TOPICALISATION 138 7.3 STYLISED KØBENHAVNSK AS PERFORMABLE SIGNS 140 7.4 SITUATED EMPLOYMENTS OF STYLISED KØBENHAVNSK 144 7.4.1 STYLISED KØBENHAVNSK IN NEGATIVE EVALUATION OF LINGUISTIC FORMS 144 7.4.2 STYLISED KØBENHAVNSK IN REJECTIONS OF IMMATURITY 150 7.4.3 STYLISED KØBENHAVNSK IN NEGOTIATIONS OF PEER RECOGNITION 156 7.4.4 STYLISED KØBENHAVNSK IN DISTANCE TO AUTHORITATIVE NORMS 163 7.5 STYLISED KØBENHAVNSK AS AN INDEXICAL FIELD 173 CHAPTER 8: SOCIAL ALIGNMENT IN LARGE-SCALE STRUCTURES 177 8.1 THEORETICAL AND METHODOLOGICAL IMPLICATIONS 178 8.2 STYLING OLD AND NEW 180 8.3 STYLING HIGH AND LOW 181 8.4 THE YOUNG AND DYNAMIC WEST JUTLANDERS 184 8.5 THE REPRODUCTION OF STRUCTURES OF POWER 187 8.6 FINAL REMARKS 189 ENGLISH ABSTRACT 191 DANSK ABSTRAKT 192 REFERENCES 193 APPENDICES 207 4 Transcription conventions Conversational features [] Overlapping speech = Latching between two speaker turns (.) Short pause (0.5) Timed pause xxx Incomprehensible speech Unknown Unidentified speaker {uncertain} Uncertain transcription ((ler)) Laughter, audible non-verbal activities, comments on transcription or linguistic features hh Audible in- or out-breath - Self- and/or other-interruption : Prolongation of preceding sound stress Speaker emphasis on sounds or words LOUD Speech noticeably louder than surrounding speech °quiet° Speech noticeably quieter than surrounding speech >fast< Speech noticeably faster than surrounding speech <slow> Speech noticeably slower than surrounding speech Prosodic features Intonation Intonation contours different from Contemporary West Jutlandic ↑ Sentence pitch raise ↓ Sentence pitch fall → Continuous sentence intonational tone/pitch woꜛrd Local pitch rise within a word or a significantly high onset woꜜrd Local pitch fall within a word or a significantly low onset Phonological features [ŋ] As in “ikke”/”ikke også” [s+] Exaggerated fronting of /s/ 5 [uә] Diphthongisation of [oː] [Ɂ] West Jutlandic stød [ɑ] “Dark” /a/, exaggerated opening of [a] [ʌ] Lowered [o] [ˈ] Stød after-tone [’] Stronger stød (“stylistic shortening”) than in Contemporary West Jutlandic The phonological features are used in accordance with Grønnum (2005). They are noted in the Danish transcripts and not in the English translations. Features representing different registers Bold Stylised utterances Italics English in original transcript Dialect Classical West Jutlandic dialect features Kbhsk Stylised københavnsk features Jysk Exaggerated Contemporary West Jutlandic German German intonation Note on translation: The translation of the Danish episodes into English foregrounds the semantic meaning. Consequently, word and phrases are not necessarily directly translated, but in such cases I comment on the translation in the following analysis. 6 Chapter 1: Introduction This project focuses on linguistic practices among adolescents living in the small provincial town Oksbøl in the Western-most part of Denmark. It looks at how they manage their routine activities, and how they structure their social worlds through language use expressive of ideological perceptions of sameness and difference, appropriateness versus inappropriateness and high versus low social status. In the episode below, Jonas, Kim and Mikkel employ marked and exaggerated linguistic features associated with a Copenhagen intonation and the local dialect. None of the speech forms feature in the boys` unmarked speech practices. The juxtaposition of dialects and Copenhagen-based Standard Danish reflects widely known ideologies and assumptions about differences between urban and rural Denmark (e.g. Pedersen 2003, 2005, also Britain forthc. Coupland 2001). They are therefore “part of a system of distinction” (Irvine 2001: 22, original italics). The episode highlights how the boys map linguistic features associated with Copenhagen speech and the local dialect onto distinctive places, and how they, in so doing, designate both the linguistic forms and places as indexical of individual social characteristics to be exploited interactionally. The extract closes a longer clarification sequence in which Jonas and Mikkel try to find out more about my job, which Mikkel generally viewed rather tentatively. The following exchange spins off, when the boys ask if I have any colleagues. Extract 1.1: The dark part of Jutland (16:42-17:10) Particiants: Emilie1, Jonas, Kim, Mikkel, Unknown, Signe 01 Mikkel så der er faktisk også so there are actually 02 andre i hele: Danmark others in all: of Denmark 03 der går rundt og siger↓ who go around say↓ 04 Jonas °jeg er sprogforsker° °I research language° 05 Mikkel må jeg høre hvad I siger may I hear what you say 06 Signe ja↓ yes↓ 07 Mikkel nej= no= 08 Signe =men det er mest i =but mostly in 09 København↓ Copenhagen↓ 1 All Participant names, except my own, are pseudonyms 7 10 Jonas <men hvorfor er du så <but then why are you not 11 ikke derovre> there> 12 Mikkel det er fordi hun synes because she thinks it´s 13 det er meget sejere at much cooler being in 14 [være i den MØRKE del af= [the DARK part of= 15 Jonas [kommer xxx [do you xxx 16 Mikkel [=Jylland↓ [=Jutland↓ 17 Signe [nej jeg kommer faktisk [no actually I`m from 18 fra Horne (([o])) Horne (([o])) (1.1) 19 Jonas seriøst seriously (0.8) 20 Signe seriøst ((smiler)) seriously ((smiles)) 21 Jonas BOR [du der do you [LIVE there 22 Mikkel [hun er fra den mørke [she is from the 23 [del af Jylland [dark part of Jutland 24 Signe [nej jeg bor i København [no I live in Copenhagen 25 Kim åh HVAD uh WHAT 26 Uknown [lol [lol 27 Jonas hvad for en del af what part of 28 [Horne (([ɒ])) [Horne (([ɒ])) 29 Emilie [er du kommet hele vejen [have you come all the 30 hertil way here 31 Signe Ho- ikke Horne Ho- not Horne 32 Jonas Horne Horne jeg ve- Horne Horne I kn- 33 jeg ved da godt hvor I do know where Horne 34 [Horne xxx [xxx 35 Mikkel [Horne ((ler)) det hedder [Horne ((laughs)) it´s 36 sgu da Horne fucking Horne ((laughs)) 37 Signe nej↑ no↑ 38 Jonas der er Ho- der er også there is Ho- there is 39 TELTbal i Horne also TENT party in Horne 40 Kim du er så (.) hor:ni↑ you are so (.) hor:ni↑ 8 As way of posing a clarifying question, Mikkel (lines 5, 7) performs a conversation between a researcher like me (someone with an interest in how others talk) and a participant. Mikkel includes a Copenhagen intonation when he voices the researcher´s question “may I hear what you say” (line 5), whereas the intonation in the negative participant response “no” (line 7) corresponds to his unmarked speech. Here, the Copenhagen voice indexes a researcher who carries out a divergent activity and with whom Mikkel disaffiliates. He elaborates this distance in lines 12-14 and 16, as he flags local patriotism when he states that I prefer the dark, but much cooler, Jutland to Copenhagen. With this he introduces a nationally well-known, socio-cultural antagonism between East (Copenhagen) and West (Jutland, Oksbøl) Denmark in which Jutland is stereotypically described as ´mørk` (´dark`), in the sense of being backward and desolate, in contrast to Copenhagen (see also extract 3.3). The boys know that I live in Copenhagen, but when I tell them that I grew up in a very small rural village some 25 kilometres East of Oksbøl (lines 17-18), this new information 1) changes the activity frame from interrogative to teasing (lines 27-40), and alters the boys` social value-ascriptions to me.