Re-examining the /eː-εː/ merger in Finland-Swedish: Regional and stylistic variation

Title
Re-examining the /eː-εː/ merger in Finland-Swedish: Regional and stylistic variation
Publication Date
2022-07
Author(s)
Strandberg, Janine A E
Gooskens, Charlotte
Schüppert, Anja
Type of document
Journal Article
Language
en
Entity Type
Publication
Publisher
Cambridge University Press
Place of publication
United Kingdom
DOI
10.1017/S0954394522000072
UNE publication id
une:1959.11/56017
Abstract

This article examines regional and stylistic variation in the merger of front vowels /eː/ and /εː/ in Finland-Swedish. The study investigates the merger by comparing formant data from 141 speakers from four Swedish-speaking regions in Finland. Additionally, intra-speaker variation is explored by incorporating samples from three contextual styles. The results indicate cross-regional differences between Finland-Swedish dialects, with a more distinct variant of /εː/ being used on the monolingually Swedish-speaking Åland Islands, compared to other regions. However, the findings show that speakers from mainland Finland also demonstrate significantly different formant values for the vowels, particularly in formal speech styles. These results challenge the assumption of a complete /eː-εː/ merger in Finland-Swedish, instead pointing to a near-merger, whereby two sounds sound the same to speakers, despite them being differentiated in production. The findings also shed new light on stylistic variation in the variety.

Link
Citation
Language Variation and Change, 34(2), p. 183-214
ISSN
1469-8021
0954-3945
Start page
183
End page
214
Rights
Attribution 4.0 International

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