Uvular Rs and diphthongs - most people recognise the Scanian dialect, but is it beginning to move closer to standard Swedish like many other dialects? A new doctoral thesis from the University of Gothenburg explores how young people in north-western Skåne speak today.
For generations, Scanian has stood out as one of Sweden's most recognisable dialects, easy to place geographically. While many other dialects have been levelled out and drawn closer to standard Swedish, Scanian has often been described as particularly resistant to such change. But what does it actually sound like among today's youth? Is something happening to the dialect?
This is the starting point for Greta Horn's doctoral thesis, in which she examines the speech of upper secondary school students in north-western Skåne. By analysing spontaneous speech, she maps which dialectal features are used, how frequently they occur, and how the variation relates to the speakers' sense of connection to their hometown - in the past, present and future.
- There's a common assumption that dialects are disappearing, but it's not that simple. My study shows that young people in Skåne use the dialect in different ways, and that there's an active engagement with how they speak, says Greta Horn.
Heterogogeneous group
Among the study's participants, a group of young people stands out - those who identify strongly with the place they live and who also use many traditionally Scanian features. These include the uvular R - the back-of-the-throat, trilled R - diphthongs (as when hus is pronounced hous), and typical pronunciations such as blir → bler and mig → maj.
But far from everyone speaks this way.
- It's a very heterogeneous group. Some use several dialect features, others hardly any at all. For some, it's really only the intonation that reveals they're from Skåne.
Standard Swedish
One discovery made in the study is that the young people who speak the most standard Swedish also exhibit a specific linguistic feature: retroflexion. This means that R + certain following consonants merge into a "thick" version of the consonant when spoken. For example, hörde is pronounced with a retroflex D rather than articulating both R and D separately. This is typical of standard Swedish and rare in traditional Scanian.
- This is an interesting example of how linguistic features can signal more than just geography. They can also express belonging, identity - even aspirations for the future.
The young Scanian
Many of the young people in the study actively distinguish their way of speaking from what they perceive as the "old" dialect, saying that their own speech is something else - something more modern. One participant describes it as "the young Scanian," which also becomes a central concept in the thesis.
- The young Scanian appears not merely to be Scanian spoken by young people, but is perceived as a distinct linguistic variety, says Greta Horn.
Previous linguistic studies have shown that Scanian is relatively stable over time compared to many other Swedish dialects. For example, certain typical features - such as uvular Rs and diphthongs - tend to be preserved longer in Skåne than similar features in other regions. At the same time, research in sociolinguistics points to how young people's language use is often about more than geography - it's also a way to express identity, group affiliation and lifestyle.
Dialect use with markers
Greta Horn's thesis contributes new insights into how these factors interact - not least by showing that even features perceived as "neutral" or standard Swedish can serve as markers in young people's use of dialect.
- I hope this study will contribute to continued discussion about how young people view dialects today - both in Sweden and internationally, says Greta Horn.
The thesis Den unga skånskan. Dialektal variation och platsanknytning hos gymnasieungdomar i nordvästra Skåne ("The young Scanian: Dialectal variation and place attachment among upper secondary school students in north-western Skåne") will be publicly defended on 5 June at 13:15 in lecture hall J222, Humanisten, Renströmsgatan 6, Gothenburg.
Link to the thesis: https://hdl.handle.net/2077/86850
