Marie Maegaard

Indexical meanings of [s+] among Copenhagen youth: Social perception of a phonetic variant in different prosodic contexts

It is well documented that the same sociolinguistic feature can be used as a sociolinguistic resource with different indexical potentials in different linguistic as well as social contexts. Often, however, indexical meanings of a specific feature are related to or derived from one another. In this article we present the results of a perceptual study of indexical meanings of alveolar versus fronted (s)—[s] versus [sþ]—in different registers. The data consist of responses to male speakers’ use of [s] and [sþ] respectively, in two different registers that may be labelled “modern Copenhagen speech” and “street language.” Results show that the [sþ] indexes femininity and gayness when it occurs in “modern Copenhagen,” whereas the (s)-variation has a different and less significant effect when occurring in “street language.” We discuss the implications for theories of indexical fields and the relation between features and clusters of features in speakers’ perceptions. (Indexical meaning, phonetic variation, fronted /s/, perception of sexual orientation and ethnicity, matched guise technique).

The long and short of (æ)-variation in Danish – a panel study of short (æ)-variants in Danish in real time

After a brief introduction on studies of real time change in general, we focus on the well-known variable of short (æ) in Danish. We study this variation in the speech of 43 speakers from Næstved and Copenhagen respectively. The 43 informants were recorded twice with an interval of around 20 years. They were at the time of the first recording between 25 and 40 years of age and may thus be classified as adults past the critical age for language change. The study shows that speakers do indeed change during their life span but that the changes are not predictable in the sense that some speakers show an increased use of the innovative variant, while others show a decrease. The consequences for the apparent time hypothesis as well as for the Labovian model of linguistic change are discussed.

Past participles of strong verbs in Jutland Danish: A real-time study of regionalization and standardization

��������� � �� ���������� The article presents a real-time study of standardization and regionalization processes with respect to the use of past participles of strong verbs in the western part of Denmark. Analyses of a large corpus of recordings of informants from two localities show that the use of the dialectal en form of the past participle suffix has been in decline during the last 30 years. The en forms are replaced by three other forms, one of which is (partly) dialectal, one regional and one standard Danish. The study indicates that a regionalization process has taken place prior to the time period studied, but that it has now been overtaken by a Copenhagen-based standardization process. The study also shows interesting differences between the two localities, arguably due to the geographical location and size, and to the status of the different participle forms in the traditional local dialects.

Language attitudes, norm and gender a presentation of the method and results from a language attitude study

Abstract This paper deals with the more traditional sociolinguistic area of language attitudes. Based on data from the city of Århus, Denmark, I discuss the methods used in speaker evaluation experiments. The paper presents both a methodological discussion and the results of a study using the described techniques. The method is a mainly qualitative version of ‘the verbal guise technique’, and involves young people in Århus. Twelve speech samples (six female and six male voices) were used for this experiment, representing three different accents. The aim is to investigate the possibility of the Århus accent being a linguistic norm ideal among the young people in Århus. The results show that this does not seem to be the case, and that speakers are evaluated differently according to both accent and gender.

Introduction: Tracing the origin of /s/ variation

Abstract This paper provides an introduction to the papers in this special issue on the sociophonetics of /s/. We begin by reviewing some of the principal findings on variation in the production and perception of /s/, summarizing studies in sociolinguistics, experimental phonetics, and laboratory phonology. We go on to identify similarities in the meanings associated with /s/ variation cross-linguistically, and briefly describe how theories of sound symbolism may help us to account for these patterns. We conclude this introductory article with a summary of the contributions to the special issue and a discussion of how together these articles help us to better understand that origin and trajectory of socially meaningful sociophonetic variation.

On the influence of coronal sibilants and stops on the perception of social meanings in Copenhagen Danish

Abstract Previous studies have shown that the same sociolinguistic feature can be used as a sociolinguistic resource with different indexical potentials in different linguistic as well as social contexts. In this paper we present the results of a perceptual study of indexical meanings of fronted and palatalized variants of /t/ in combination with fronted /s/ in different registers of Copenhagen Danish. The data consist of responses to male speakers’ use of the two variants of /t/ in two different registers that we label “modern Copenhagen speech” and “street language.” Results show that the palatalized /t/ affects the indexicality of fronted /s/ with respect to perceived femininity and gayness when it occurs in “modern Copenhagen,” where fronted /s/ has previously been shown to index these traits. However, the variation has a different and less significant effect when occurring in “street language.” Furthermore, the effect is only found in “modern Copenhagen” if the speaker has not previously been heard to produce a fronted /s/. We discuss the implications for theories of the relation between features and clusters of features in listeners’ perceptions.