Dialect Change in Western Norway – a Comparative Study of the Project Processes of Dialect Change
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
Dialect Change in Western Norway – a comparative study of the project Processes of Dialect Change Lieke Maier 10534245 MA thesis (18 ECTS) MA Language and Society University of Amsterdam August 2019 Supervisor: prof. dr. A.P. (Arjen) Versloot Second reader: prof. dr. P.P.G. (Paul) Boersma Number of words: 19.935 Table of contents 1. Introduction ..................................................................................................................................... 3 2. Background ...................................................................................................................................... 3 2.1 Dialect areas .................................................................................................................................. 4 2.1.1 Western Norwegian ............................................................................................................... 7 2.2 Previous dialect studies ................................................................................................................. 9 2.3 Processes of Dialect Change-project ........................................................................................... 10 2.4 Hypotheses and predictions ........................................................................................................ 11 3. Method .......................................................................................................................................... 13 3.1 Dialects ........................................................................................................................................ 13 3.2 Classification of informants ......................................................................................................... 23 3.3 Linguistic variables ...................................................................................................................... 24 3.4 Presentation of linguistic variables ............................................................................................. 25 4. Analysis .......................................................................................................................................... 40 4.1 Category A ................................................................................................................................... 41 4.1.1 Traditional vs a new variant ................................................................................................. 42 4.1.2 High-status variety vs low-status variety ............................................................................. 44 4.2 Category B ................................................................................................................................... 46 4.2.1 Traditional vs new variant .................................................................................................... 46 4.2.2 High-status variety vs low-status variety ............................................................................. 49 4.3 Category C ................................................................................................................................... 49 4.3.1 Traditional vs new variant .................................................................................................... 50 4.3.2 High-status variety vs low-status variety ............................................................................. 51 4.4 Categories per linguistic variable ................................................................................................ 54 5. Discussion ...................................................................................................................................... 68 6. Conclusion ..................................................................................................................................... 70 References ............................................................................................................................................. 70 APPENDIX .............................................................................................................................................. 74 2 1. Introduction Dialect change in Norway and especially the question in which direction the change is going has in the last decades been the subject of a number of books and studies, and the interest for this subject is still undiminished. In recent years, several dialects in Western Norway have been studied and analysed within a project called Dialektendringsprosessar, ‘Processes of Dialect Change’ with the aim to get a better insight into the actual changes in the Western Norwegian dialect area. In order to reach this goal, dialect studies have been carried out in places where a similar study was carried out a generation ago. The results from the two studies are compared to see how the dialects have developed over these 30 years (Sandøy et al. 2007: 4). The results of the studies within the Processes of Dialect Change-project serve as the source for this paper. In the present study it is not one particular dialect, but rather the complete set of results that are used to answer the following question: what is changing in the language use of speakers of Western Norwegian dialects? Do the same linguistic variables turn up in different dialect studies? Is the change happening at the same pace or are some dialects ahead in the process of change? The structure of the paper is as follows. First, a background is given on the development of Norwegian dialects and important research that has been carried out, followed by a more extensive description of the project Processes of Dialect Change. Next, the hypotheses and predictions are presented, followed by the method that is used in this paper. As a consequence of using data from studies from the project, some methodological choices have already been made. The method elaborates on these methodological choices and how these issues are tackled. Then, the analysis is given, in which three categories are presented that each represent a different stage in the process of change of a linguistic variable. This chapter also raises the question on the direction of the changes within the dialects and the possible forces behind the changes. Lastly, discussion and conclusion complete the paper. 2. Background In this chapter a background is given on the Norwegian dialects. Firstly, 2.1 discusses the history of the dialects and the classification of the different dialect areas. 2.2.1 expands on the dialect area that stands in focus for this thesis, namely Western Norwegian dialects. Then, in 2.2 some previous relevant dialect studies are mentioned before turning to the project Processes of Dialect Change in 2.3, followed by hypotheses and predictions in 2.4. 3 2.1 Dialect areas It is difficult to put a number on how many dialects there are in Norway. From dialect to dialect there are no clear boundaries as to where one dialect stops and the other one begins. Single linguistic features have clearer isoglosses and are easier to define (Jahr 1990: 10). These isoglosses reflect the linguistic developments that affected the Norwegian language in the Middle Ages. In the 13th century, Old Norwegian was more or less a homogeneous language, but around 1600 the dialect areas were established as they currently still exist (Berg 2018: 165). Within a few hundred years, a number of far-reaching linguistic changes happened. In Old Norwegian there were already some geographical differences, mostly phonological, that were typical for Western or Eastern Norwegian. For example, consonant compounds were realized as mn, ft and fs in Eastern Norway (namn, eftir, refsing), and as fn, pt, and ps in Western Norway (nafn, eptir, repsing) (Berg 2018: 168). In the Middle Ages more considerable changes happened that affected the language structure at a deeper level. Most of the changes discussed below separate Eastern Norwegian from Western Norwegian. Phonology An important change that triggered many other developments is the quantity change. Old Norwegian had four possible stressed syllable combinations: a short vowel with a short consonant, a long vowel with a short consonant, a short vowel with a long consonant and a long vowel with a long consonant (VC, V:C, VC: and V:C:). In the quantity change, short syllables were lengthened and the overlong syllables were shortened, so that the options VC and V:C: disappeared. In general, in Western and Southern Norwegian the vowels were lengthened (V:C - /ve:t/) and in Northern and Eastern Norwegian, and also in the Western Norwegian city Bergen, the consonants were lengthened (VC: - /vet:/), and in the most northern part of Norway, both options were possible (Berg 2018: 171). One development that is crucial in the division of eastern and western dialects is level stress. In Eastern Norwegian, disyllabic words with a short consonant in the root syllable were under the effect of level stress, with an even stress on both the root syllable and the ending syllable. Because of this, the ending vowel was maintained and could even be lengthened. Disyllabic words with initial stress reduced the ending vowel to -e, or had apocope. In most modern dialects, level stress is no longer effective, but it can be traced back in the endings of infinitive verb endings and weak feminine substantives. In two areas in Norway the ending vowel was reduced to -e, independently of stress patterns. This happened in Northwestern Norway and in Southern Norway,