Standardization as Sociolinguistic Change: A Transversal Study of Three Traditional Dialect Areas

This volume seeks to extend and expand our current understanding of the processes of language standardization, drawing on both quantitative and qualitative approaches to examine how linguistic variation plays out in various ways in everyday life in Denmark. The book compares linguistic variation across three different rural speech communities, underpinned by a transversal framework, which draws upon different methodological and analytical approaches, as well as data from different contexts across different generations, and results in a nuanced and dynamic portrait of language change in one region over time. Examining communities with varying degrees of linguistic variation with this multi-layered framework demonstrates a broader need to re-examine perceptions of language standardization as a unidirectional process, but rather as one shaped by a range of factors at the local level, including language ideologies and mediatization. A concluding chapter by eminent sociolinguist David Britain brings together the conclusions drawn from the preceding chapters and reinforces their wider implications within the field of sociolinguistics. Offering new insights into language standardization and language change, this book will be of particular interest to students and scholars in sociolinguistics, dialectology, and linguistic anthropology.

Marie Maegaard is an Associate Professor at the University of Copenhagen. Her research is primarily concerned with linguistic variation and social meaning. Recent research includes studies of linguistic change in peripheral areas, linguistic and cultural commodification, perception of phonetic variation, and media discourse. She has published articles in major sociolinguistic and linguistic journals, as well as handbook chapters and book chapters for edited volumes. Additionally, she has co-edited several books and special issues on subjects such as linguistic standardization, phonetic variation, and language & gender.

Malene Monka is an Associate Professor at the University of Copenhagen. Her research combines dialectology and sociolinguistics. In her work, Monka has incorporated human geographic understandings of place to gain new insights on processes of dialect leveling. Monka has published extensively in Danish and Nordic journals on dialectology and sociolinguistics, in an edited volume on Place and Belonging (Monka 2018) and in Language in Society (Monka et al. in press).

Kristine Køhler Mortensen holds a postdoc position at the University of Gothenburg. Her research lies within sociolinguistics and multimodal analysis. She has specialized in both online and offline interaction with a particular focus on gender and sexuality. She currently carries a postdoc position at the University of Gothenburg working on a project called "Sexual integration": Sexuality in contemporary global migration in which she focuses on discursive connections between nationalism and sexuality. She has published in several international journals, edited a volume on language and social media (Stæhr & Mortensen), and co-authored two handbook chapters (Mortensen & Milani fortc. a, Mortensen & Milani forthc. b).

Andreas Candefors Stæhr is an Associate Professor at the University of Copenhagen. His research focuses on language and social media, with particular attention to the topics of linguistic normativity, sociolinguistic reflexivity, media ideologies and social positioning among contemporary youth. His current research focuses on the intersection of social media use and family socialization in Copenhagen families; i.e. studying which communicative functions social media serve in the family and how social media affect and facilitate family socialization today. He has published his work in journals such as Language & Communication, Discourse, Context & Media, Language Variation & Change and has book chapters in edited volumes on language and super-diversity.