Generic variation? Developments in use of generic pronouns in late 20^th century spoken Danish

TY - JOUR

T1 - Generic variation?

T2 - Developments in use of generic pronouns in late 20th century spoken Danish

AU - Jensen, Torben Juel

N1 - This is an electronic version of an article published in "Acta Linguistica Hafniensia: International Journal of Linguistics" Volume 41, Issue 1. Acta Linguistica Hafniensia is available online at: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/03740460903364128

PY - 2009

Y1 - 2009

N2 - In modern Danish, a handful of pronouns may be used to refer to a generic referent. In recent decades, the second person singular pronoun du has gained ground, apparently in parallel to similar recent developments in other languages. Even though generic du may not be as old as the traditional generic pronoun man, it is not a new variant in Danish if we by “new” mean that it has come into existence within the last 30–40 years. To all appearances, it has been used before the influence from English became significant in the last part of the 20th century, and the generic du as such need therefore not be explained by contact with English, as often assumed.In order to study the spread of the generic use of du we analysed the use of pronouns with generic reference in a large sample of speakers, most of whom were recorded during sociolinguistic interviews twice – the first time in the period 1978–1989 and the second time in 2005–07. The speakers come from four locations in Denmark, and three different age cohorts are represented in the study. The results show both a rise and a decline in the use of generic du in the time interval from the 1970s and 1980s till today in accordance with the hypothesis that the increased use of generic du began in Copenhagen and started spreading from Copenhagen to the rest of the country before the time of the old recordings in the 1980s. However, the use of generic du has peaked, or is about to peak, in the Danish speech community seen as a whole, and the developments in the use of generic pronouns should probably be seen within an overall perspective of stable variation.

AB - In modern Danish, a handful of pronouns may be used to refer to a generic referent. In recent decades, the second person singular pronoun du has gained ground, apparently in parallel to similar recent developments in other languages. Even though generic du may not be as old as the traditional generic pronoun man, it is not a new variant in Danish if we by “new” mean that it has come into existence within the last 30–40 years. To all appearances, it has been used before the influence from English became significant in the last part of the 20th century, and the generic du as such need therefore not be explained by contact with English, as often assumed.In order to study the spread of the generic use of du we analysed the use of pronouns with generic reference in a large sample of speakers, most of whom were recorded during sociolinguistic interviews twice – the first time in the period 1978–1989 and the second time in 2005–07. The speakers come from four locations in Denmark, and three different age cohorts are represented in the study. The results show both a rise and a decline in the use of generic du in the time interval from the 1970s and 1980s till today in accordance with the hypothesis that the increased use of generic du began in Copenhagen and started spreading from Copenhagen to the rest of the country before the time of the old recordings in the 1980s. However, the use of generic du has peaked, or is about to peak, in the Danish speech community seen as a whole, and the developments in the use of generic pronouns should probably be seen within an overall perspective of stable variation.

KW - Faculty of Humanities

KW - sprogforandring

KW - grammatik

KW - pronominer

KW - dansk

KW - sociolingvistik

KW - generic

KW - pronouns

KW - spoken Danish

KW - lifespan language change

KW - real and apparent time studies

KW - spatial dynamics

KW - language variation and change

KW - language change

KW - grammar

KW - pronouns

KW - Danish

KW - sociolinguistics

U2 - 10.1080/03740460903364128

DO - 10.1080/03740460903364128

M3 - Journal article

SN - 0374-0463

VL - 41

SP - 83

EP - 115

JO - Acta Linguistica Hafniensia

JF - Acta Linguistica Hafniensia

ER -