New and old social meanings in urban and rural Sweden

Abstract

In this study, we focus on the use of [ɨ:] (sometimes referred to as damped /i/). This variant has different connotations in different parts of Sweden. In some rural areas, it has traditionally indexed place, whereas it has indexed class and gender in Sweden’s second largest city Gothenburg (Bruce 2010, Gross 2018, Svahn & Nilsson 2014). Previous studies have shown that in the urbanization of Sweden, the urban variant [ɨ:] has spread from city centers to other locations in Sweden. In the process, it has begun to index urbanity and modernity (see e.g. Svahn & Nilsson 2014). But what happens to this feature in urban Gothenburg where it traditionally has indexed class and gender alongside place? Does the changing social meaning in other locations also affect Gothenburg?