LINGUIST List 21.4493 Tue Nov 09 2010 Diss: Socioling: Hilton: 'Regional Dialect Levelling and Language ...' Editor for this issue: Mfon Udoinyang <mfonlinguistlist.org> To post to LINGUIST, use our convenient web form at http://linguistlist.org/LL/posttolinguist.cfm. Directory         1.     Nanna Hilton , Regional Dialect Levelling and Language Standards: Changes in the Hønefoss dialect Message 1: Regional Dialect Levelling and Language Standards: Changes in the Hønefoss dialect Date: 09-Nov-2010 From: Nanna Hilton <N.H.Hiltonrug.nl> Subject: Regional Dialect Levelling and Language Standards: Changes in the Hønefoss dialect E-mail this message to a friend Institution: University of York Program: Department of Language and Linguistic Science Dissertation Status: Completed Degree Date: 2010 Author: Nanna Haug Hilton Dissertation Title: Regional Dialect Levelling and Language Standards: Changes in the Hønefoss dialect Dissertation URL: http://etheses.whiterose.ac.uk/973/ Linguistic Field(s): Sociolinguistics Dissertation Director: Carmen Llamas Rosalind Temple Sam Hellmuth Dissertation Abstract: This dissertation reports a sociolinguistic investigation of regional dialect levelling and discusses the relationship between this particular type of dialect change and standard language ideologies that speakers hold. The study combines a quantitative variationist investigation of linguistic variation and change in East Norwegian cities Hønefoss and Oslo (Norway's capital city) with experimental and qualitative studies of attitudinal data in Hønefoss. The aim of the study is to shed light on the role that ideologies concerning a standard language (notions held about the superiority of a linguistic variety through its relationship with codification, education or the capital city) play for the loss of localised dialects. Varieties of East Norwegian spoken in the small city Hønefoss and the capital city Oslo are becoming increasingly alike. Oslo speech is an influential factor in the loss in Hønefoss of local linguistic variants in variables 3pl personal pronouns and . The force behind the regional dialect levelling is not the Oslo dialect only, however. Overt and covert attitudinal data show that the influence is twofold and that the codified written variety of Norwegian, Bokmål, largely influences speakers' usage of local variants for linguistic variables stress in loanwords and plural definite article suffixes. The investigation attests that linguistic variants that are associated with the standardised language are becoming more widely used in the East Norway region. Speech that can be directly linked to the codified variety Bokmål holds overt as well as covert prestige to speakers in Hønefoss. Covert positive attitudes towards speech from the capital city, Oslo, are also found. This study indicates that studying speakers' language ideologies is fruitful for understanding language change in progress. The investigation also shows that the social and political context of language must be taken into account in the study of loss of linguistic features. Moreover, the social meaning of particular linguistic features can inform us about the social mechanisms behind dialect change. Read more issues|LINGUIST home page|Top of issue Page Updated: 09-Nov-2010       About LINGUIST    |   Contact Us       While the LINGUIST List makes every effort to ensure the linguistic relevance of sites listed on its pages, it cannot vouch for their contents.