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Dialect development in a melting pot: The formation of a new culture and a new dialect in the industrial town of Høyanger

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 October 2009

Randi Solheim
Randi Solheim*
Affiliation:
Sør-Trøndelag, University College, Faculty of Teacher and Interpreter Education, Rotvoll allé, NO-7004 Trondheim, Norway. randi.solheim@hist.no
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Abstract

The article describes new dialect formation in Høyanger, a small industrial town located in the county of Sogn og Fjordane on the west coast of Norway, where an aluminium industry was established in 1916. Four generations of dialect development are studied from a synchronic and a diachronic point of view, based on older real-time data as well as new fieldwork. Qualitative interviews with informants at different ages shed light on linguistic choices made in complex dialect contact situations, particularly at the decisive second stage of koineization. Local and social embeddings are essential for the interpretations of the results because the linguistic changes seem to be dependent on dynamic relations between language and society. The results are interesting as a contribution to recent debate on the role of identity and social factors in new dialect formation. Related to more general processes of linguistic change, the article also discusses further development of the focused dialect.

Keywords

dialect contactdialect levellingHøyangerkoineizationlinguistic compromises
Type
Research Article
Information
Nordic Journal of Linguistics , Volume 32 , Special Issue 2: Sociolinguistics , December 2009 , pp. 191 - 206
Copyright
Copyright © Nordic Association of Linguistics 2009

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