Popular Geopolitics and the Conceptualization of Linguistic Norm Centres
Inger Schoonderbeek Hansen & Yonatan Goldshtein
Abstract
This article challenges the prevalent idea of Copenhagen as the only linguistic norm centre in Denmark. It is based on an experimental study of language attitudes conducted in Salling, a peninsula in North-Western Jutland. The experiment consisted of three tasks aimed at accessing the conscious and subconscious language attitudes of the participants. We found that our participants consistently upgraded local and regional voices over voices from Copenhagen, an outcome not previously observed in a Danish context. The results are contextualized through sociolinguistic interviews, adding new insights to the description of the complex situation of sociolinguistic change and the geopolitics of language in Denmark.
Keywords: Experimental sociolinguistics, language attitudes, linguistic norm centres, glocalization