Winning the Dialect Popularity Contest: Mass‐mediated Language Ideologies and Local Responses in Rural Valdres, Norway

Abstract

In 2005, Norway's largest national radio network held a first‐of‐its‐kind dialect popularity contest as part of its highly rated summer morning show. Listeners called in to vote for their favorite Norwegian dialect, and after eight weeks of voting and elimination rounds the rural Valdres valley was crowned national dialect champion. Winning the dialect popularity contest has contributed to a renewed sense of pride in using the distinctive local variety, particularly among young people, despite long‐term convergence toward an urban regional norm. Taking the dialect contest as a point of departure, this paper presents theoretical insights into 1) the role of mass media in the reproduction of historically contingent national language ideologies, 2) the local effects and varied uptakes of mass‐mediated ideologies, particularly along generational lines, and 3) the role of sociolinguistic aesthetics in mediating potential language‐ideological contradictions. [dialect, language ideologies, Norwegian, mass media]

A Linguistic Landscape Study of Signage on Nimmanhemin Road, A Lanna Chiang Mai Chill-Out Street

“…Much of the research comes from within sociolinguistics, where scholars have considered how the particular social context of the tourist encounter reflects or challenges existing theories of language use (Cohen and Cooper 1986;Heller 2003;Boudreau and White 2004;Manca 2008;Jaworski 2010). Other related work in sociolinguistics considers the role of language in the broader representation of cultural perspectives, and other identities in tourism destinations (Pietikäinen and Kelly-Holmes 2001;Coupland et al 2005;Cos 2006;Drozdzewski 2011;Thurlow and Jaworski 2011;Strand 2012Strand , 2013Ploner 2013). Studies of linguistic landscape and tourism have contributed to an understanding of how language and tourism are related and how cultural perspectives and other identities in tourism destinations are presented in tourist space.…”

Book Review: The Social Meaning of Language, Dialect and Accent: International Perspectives on Speech Styles by Giles, H., & Watson, B. M. (Eds.)

“…Haugen (who he cites) and Gumperz (1971) both carried out much work to demonstrate the importance of language attitudes toward "local" and "book" Norwegian, as H[igh] and L[ow] languages, respectively. There have also been very interesting results reported for language attitudes toward different local dialects in recent publications (e.g., Røyneland, 2009;Strand, 2012), as well as toward the use of English as a lingua franca (e.g., Rindal, 2010). Because of the high rate of immigration, recent work by Bijvoet and Fraurud (2012) and others has integrated questions, and even map-tasks into examinations of language attitudes in Sweden and Norway, with data providing background for Kristiansen's claims in this chapter.…”

La variación en maya yucateco: un estudio descriptivo desde la dialectología perceptual

“…Ahora bien, son los medios de comunicación los que se han considerado elementos clave para la difusión y fortalecimiento de una variedad. Strand (2012), en su estudio del noruego, describe la influencia directa que los medios pueden ejercer en la percepción dialectal de los hablantes. De la misma manera, Hartley (2005) y Fridland y Bartlett (2006) destacan también la importante función de los medios de comunicación en sus estudios.…”

“…Las investigaciones más recientes sobre dialectología perceptual se han realizado en países desarrollados, como en Estados Unidos (Fridland & Bartlett, 2006;Bucholtz, Bermudez, Fung, Vargas & Edwards, 2008;Preston, 2011Preston, , 2013Evans, 2013); Francia (Kuiper, 2005;Boughton, 2006); Noruega (Røsstad, 2009;Strand, 2012); Austria (Pfrehm, 2010); Alemania (Gessinger, 2010) y el Reino Unido (Hiraga, 2005;Montgomery, 2012;Montgomery & Stoeckle, 2013), principalmente. Las lenguas más estudiadas, por tanto, son el inglés, el francés, el noruego y el alemán.…”