Similar to whom? Perspectives on linguistic similarity and difference in gentrifying Oslo

Abstract

Variationism has long been dominant in sociolinguistic studies of cities. However, a variationist approach, which takes discrete, measurable linguistic features as its unit of analysis, cannot account for all the ways that language use becomes socially meaningful in urban contexts. Drawing on two examples from ethnographic fieldwork in a gentrifying neighborhood in Oslo, Norway, this paper shows how linguistic similarity and difference cannot be assumed, but instead rely on uptakes which vary based on the perspectives being brought to an interaction. In the contested context of a gentrifying neighborhood, claims to speak similarly to or differently from others can become an important resource in making larger claims about the social and political situation. We thus need to consider uptake, as well as production, when analyzing how social meaning and axes of differentiation are created through linguistic interaction.