A3 Refereed book chapter or chapter in a compilation book
Phonetic quantity as a social marker in urban Finland Swedish
Authors: Therese Leinonen
Editors: Charlotte Gooskens, Renée van Bezoijen
Publishing place: Frankfurt am Main
Publication year: 2013
Book title : Phonetics in Europe: Perception and Production
First page : 181
Last page: 204
Number of pages: 24
ISBN: 978-3-631-63440-0
eISBN: 978-3-653-03517-9
Abstract
Quantity has been considered one of the most salient social markers in Finland Swedish. Extra-long consonants in stressed V:C syllables have been characteristic for the speech of upper class Swedish in Helsinki. In contrast, rural Finland Swedish dialects are characterized by very short consonant durations in V:C sequences.
The aim of this paper is to study phonetic quantity in Swedish spoken in three cities in Finland: Helsinki, Turku and Vaasa. Spontaneous speech data from 40 speakers in two age groups were analyzed. The results show significant differences across the cities. V:/C ratios are significantly lower in Helsinki and Turku than in Vaasa. In Turku, there is a significant difference between older and younger speakers: the older speakers have similar values to the Helsinki speakers, whereas many of the younger speakers have values resembling those of Vaasa speakers.
Vowel duration is the most important cue for discriminating between V:C and VC: sequences in Helsinki and Turku. In Vaasa, on the other hand, vowel duration as well as consonant duration is used for differentiating V:C and VC: sequences.
Quantity has been considered one of the most salient social markers in Finland Swedish. Extra-long consonants in stressed V:C syllables have been characteristic for the speech of upper class Swedish in Helsinki. In contrast, rural Finland Swedish dialects are characterized by very short consonant durations in V:C sequences.
The aim of this paper is to study phonetic quantity in Swedish spoken in three cities in Finland: Helsinki, Turku and Vaasa. Spontaneous speech data from 40 speakers in two age groups were analyzed. The results show significant differences across the cities. V:/C ratios are significantly lower in Helsinki and Turku than in Vaasa. In Turku, there is a significant difference between older and younger speakers: the older speakers have similar values to the Helsinki speakers, whereas many of the younger speakers have values resembling those of Vaasa speakers.
Vowel duration is the most important cue for discriminating between V:C and VC: sequences in Helsinki and Turku. In Vaasa, on the other hand, vowel duration as well as consonant duration is used for differentiating V:C and VC: sequences.
Downloadable publication This is an electronic reprint of the original article. |  |
UTU Research Portal