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A report on L3 dialect study in Oslo: methodology and first results

Kamil Malarski, Chloe Castle, Isabel Nadine Jensen 6 July 2023

ADIM - CLIMAD project meeting, Tromsø

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Very short background

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Background

  • Dialectal variation in L1 / L2 / L3 often absent in discussions on multilingual acquisition
  • Only second-generation in-migrants orient themselves towards community standards (Labov 2014)
  • Their parents’ phonological systems are governed by idiosyncratic and idiolectal structures (Labov 2014)
  • L2 speakers more likely to shift dialect than L1 speakers (Gnevsheva et al. 2022)
  • L2 dialect shift very common in migrant communities in Norway (Sætermo and Sollid 2020)
  • Polish migrants in Manchester shift towards regional STRUT when social factors are met�(Drummond 2016)

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Research questions

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Research questions

  • What are the language patterns & language behaviours of first-generation�Polish migrants living in Norway?
  • To what extent do they use the dialect from the place they live?
  • To what extent does their L3 Norwegian differ between Oslo and Tromsø?
  • Does dialect use differ from accent use?
  • Do they style-shift? (formal vs. informal)

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Study design

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Procedure

  • Three parts: PL – EN – NO
  • Recorded interviews (c. 20 – 45 minutes)
  • Quiet lab rooms, conference rooms and classrooms
  • UiO and Polish school
  • Different speech styles:
    • Semi-spontaneous
    • Narrating a story
    • Reading passage (The North Wind and the Sun)
    • Wordlist
    • Translation tasks
  • Extended Sociodemographic questionnaire
  • Language proficiency tests (EN + NO)

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Study design (PL – EN – NO)

  • pl
  • 2–5 minutes
  • Reading passage
  • Picture description
  • Storytelling (childhood)
  • Wordlist
  • en
  • 3–6 minutes
  • Reading passage
  • Picture description
  • Storytelling (last�summer abroad)
  • Wordlist
  • no
  • 8–20 minutes
  • Reading passage
  • Picture description
  • Storytelling (daily routine)
  • Storytelling (breakfast)
  • Storytelling (hobbies)
  • Wordlist 1
  • Wordlist 2
  • Minimal pairs
  • Translation task

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Analysis

  • Dialect score ~ L2 proficiency + L3 proficiency + naturalistic / formal + profession + area of residence + % of Norwegian friends + NO proficiency of partner’s + ties with Poland + education + perception of Oslo dialect + …

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Dialect score

  • 0–6: Morphological features + Lexical features + Phonological features

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Analyses

  • Participants profiles based on questionnaires
  • Impressionistic rating for dialect score
  • Raters’ score for dialect
  • Dialect tasks 1, 2, 3 (% score / rate)
  • Spontaneous speech (phonology + morphology + lexicon)
  • Acoustic analysis of vowels NO1 – NO2 (style variation)
  • Acoustic analysis PL – EN – NO (cross-linguistic)
  • Qualitative analysis + Case studies

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Tasks in Tromsø

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Dialect task 1 (PL – NO translation)

  • Mieszkam w Oslo (Jeg / Æ)
  • Mieszkam w Tromsø (Jeg / Æ)
  • Mówię po norwesku (Jeg / Æ)
  • Wasze dzieci (deres / dåkkers)
  • Ich auta (deres / dæmmes)
  • Kto tam jest?�(hvem or kem + V2/V3 in questions)
  • Co to jest?�(hva or ka + V2/V3 in questions)
  • Gdzie jesteśmy?�(hvor or kor + V2/V3 in questions)
  • Dam Ci książkę (deg or dæ)
  • Lubisz mnie? (meg or mæ)
  • Ona biega (ho or hun)
  • On pracuje [Distractor]
  • Ona jedzie (ho or hun)
  • Oni mają kota (dem or dæm)

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Dialect task 1 (PL – NO translation)

  • I live in Oslo (Jeg / Æ)
  • I live in Tromsø (Jeg / Æ)
  • I speak Norwegian (Jeg / Æ)
  • Your children (deres / dåkkers)
  • Your cars (deres / dæmmes)
  • Who is it? / Who is over there?�(hvem or kem + V2/V3 in questions)
  • What is it?�(hva or ka + V2/V3 in questions)
  • Where are you?�(hvor or kor + V2/V3 in questions)
  • I’ll give you a book (deg or dæ)
  • Do you like me? (meg or mæ)
  • She runs (ho or hun)
  • He works [Distractor]
  • She drives (ho or hun)
  • They do not have a cat�(dem or dæm)

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Dialect task 2 (minimal pairs)

  • gjenta / jenta
  • løpe / løpet
  • rote / rotet
  • kaste / kastet
  • tegne / tegnet
  • skjære / kjære
  • hat / hatt
  • tak / takk
  • flyte / flytte
  • bøter / bøtter
  • føl / føll
  • supe / suppe
  • slippe / slippet
  • stoppe / stoppet

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Dialect task 3 (re, pal, <hv> + /r/ before /k/ + v. low + d )

  • Bart (re)
  • Barn (re)
  • har du (re)
  • stor skog (re)
  • garde (re)
  • Morder (re)
  • ikke (p)
  • kveld (p)
  • fjell (p)
  • ball (p)
  • mann (p)
  • kan (p)
  • skodde (p)
  • hva (hv)
  • hvordan (hv)
  • banan (EN-accent)
  • for alle (d)
  • Oslo (d)
  • Tromsø (d)
  • Morsmålsdagen (d)
  • norsk (d)
  • takk (d)
  • park (r b k)
  • varp (r b k)
  • fisk (low /i/ to /e/)
  • sett (low /e/ to /æ/)
  • vann (d)

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Dialect task 4 (vowels)

  • bær, best, bod, bodd, bok, bud, buk, bukk, butt, dag, dyp, ert, fin, født, fot, god, gud, herr, ister, kåt, katt, kott, løp, lys, pøse, rom, sete, sette, skudd, søkk, søt, søtt, ståk, sted, sterk, stikk, stokk, stykk, suss, sverte, sy, synd, tær, tak, takk, tap, tapp, tid, tiger, vær, våt, vatt, vått, ve, vekk, vise, visse�x2
  • /æː/ x3, /ɛ/ x4, /eː/ x2, /oː/ x4, /ɔ/ x4, /ʊ/ x3, /uː/ x3, /ɑː/ x3, /yː/ x3, /y/ x2, /æ/ x4, /iː/ x4, /i/ x2, /ø/ x4, /øː/ x1, /uː/ x2, /ʉː/ x1, /ɑ/ x4, /å:/ x2

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Tasks in Oslo

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Dialect task 1 (PL – NO translation)

  • I live in Oslo (Jeg / I / Æ + /s/-/ʂ/)
  • I live in Tromsø (Jeg / I / Æ)
  • I speak Norwegian
  • Where is the church (kjærke / kirke)
  • We eat a banana (stress shift)
  • We have a car (Vi, Ve / Oss / Mi)
  • We are happy (Vi, Ve / Oss / Mi)
  • This mountain (bærj / berg)
  • These books (demonstrative)
  • A nice hill (hævv / haug)
  • Those cliffs (kløppe / klippe)
  • I am going to a wedding (brølløp / bryllup)

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Dialect task 2 (minimal pairs)

  • gjenta / jenta
  • løpe / løpet
  • rote / rotet
  • kaste / kastet
  • tegne / tegnet
  • skjære / kjære
  • hat / hatt
  • tak / takk
  • flyte / flytte
  • bøter / bøtter
  • føl / føll
  • supe / suppe
  • slippe / slippet
  • stoppe / stoppet

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Dialect task 3 (re, pal, <hv> + d )

  • Bart (re)
  • Barn (re)
  • har du (re)
  • stor skog (re)
  • garde (re)
  • Morder (re)
  • ikke (p)
  • kveld (p)
  • fjell (p)
  • hva (hv)
  • hvordan (hv)
  • banan (EN-accent)
  • Holmenkollen (d)
  • for alle (d)
  • Oslo (/sh/-/s/)
  • Tromsø (d)
  • Morsmålsdagen (d)
  • takk (d, p)
  • mann (d)

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Dialect task 4 (vowels)

  • bær, best, bod, bodd, bok, bud, buk, bukk, butt, dag, dyp, ert, fin, født, fot, god, gud, herr, ister, kåt, katt, kott, løp, lys, pøse, rom, sete, sette, skudd, søkk, søt, søtt, ståk, sted, sterk, stikk, stokk, stykk, suss, sverte, sy, synd, tær, tak, takk, tap, tapp, tid, tiger, vær, våt, vatt, vått, ve, vekk, vise, visse�x2
  • /æː/ x3, /ɛ/ x4, /eː/ x2, /oː/ x4, /ɔ/ x4, /ʊ/ x3, /uː/ x3, /ɑː/ x3, /yː/ x3, /y/ x2, /æ/ x4, /iː/ x4, /i/ x2, /ø/ x4, /øː/ x1, /uː/ x2, /ʉː/ x1, /ɑ/ x4, /å:/ x2

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Participants’ profiles

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Participants’ profiles

  • 39.7 years old on average (between 29 and 62)
  • Many more women (78.125%) than men (18.75%); one person with non-disclosed gender (3.125%)
  • Living in Norway for 11.2 years on average
  • Many having higher-paid or respectable jobs
  • Most speak English well
  • Most speak Norwegian fluently

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Participants’ professions

  • Engineers: 2
  • Teachers: 5
  • Academics: 3
  • Interpreters: 1
  • HR & Administration: 2
  • IT developers: 1
  • Med-related: 2
  • Kindergarten assisstant: 1
  • Own company: 3

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Participants’ social nets

  • Most of them have Norwegian friends
  • 10–20%: 8
  • 20–50%: 4
  • 50–80%: 9
  • 80% and more: 8

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Participants’ ties with PL

  • More than half visit Poland regularly
  • About 25% visit Poland often
  • Most participants open about moving back to Poland one day

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Self-reported fluency in the three languages

v. weak

weak

element.

interm.

good

v. good

fluent

Polish

English

Norwegian

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How have you been learning NO?

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Age of onset for NO, EN, PL

Polish

English

Norwegian

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First exploratory analyses

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Participant AJ4708RZ

  • Engineer
  • Speaks EN and NO
  • In his late 50s
  • Lives in Norway for more than 8 years
  • Has learnt Norwegian in a mixed environment (instructed + naturalistic)

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AJ4708RZ (reading task)

Nordavinden og sola kjeklet om hvem av dem som var den sterkeste. Da kom det en mann gående med en varm frakk på seg. De blei enige om at den som først kunne få mannen til å ta av seg frakken skulle gjelde for sterkere enn den andre. Så blåste nordavinden av all si makt, men dess mer han blåste, dess tettere trakk mannen frakken rundt seg, og til sist gav nordavinden opp. Da skinte sola fram så godt og varmt, og straks tok mannen av seg frakken. Og så måtte nordavinden innrømme at sola var den sterkeste av dem.

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AJ4708RZ (picture description)

Ok det var en område med veien trær gress og trehuset og en hund se på liten grå Mus sitter nesten til trær etterpå hun prøve å [jak jest złapać?] Prøv å [catch] Mus mose gå til Polen under trær så og også på denne tiden guttene en ballongen i høyre hånd og handlenett med pølser på venstre Hun kommer gå på veien og guttene ser at hunden slå seg å holde på trær riktig kanskje og ta ut ballongen fra han fordi han var overrasket av situasjonen og ballongen gå opp på trærne så gutter som på den var han kan gjøre til å ta ballongen tilbake i det samme tid hunden ser handlenett fullt av pølse når guttene gå opp på trærne OK private ballongen med hunden åpnet handlenett og ta ut noen pølser men etterpå guttene da går ballongene og var veldig glad at han kan ha det tilbake men i det samme tid med hunden spiste nesten alt pølse så han var også veldig fornøyd på denne situasjonen

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AJ4708RZ (unscripted / semi-spontaneous)

Jeg har ikke så mye Fritid i Norge fordi jeg har to barn men du har barnevernet Fritid er det er det du Hva ønsker du å ha men det er ikke så mye men når jeg har Fritid jeg prøve seg ut på båt på firma min Vi har noen båtklubb seg klubb som vi har noen seilbåter firmaene bygninger er ligger veafjorden så det er ganske god området så men jeg har når jeg har tid men prøver til selv men det er ikke for vinter i vinter Noen ganger jeg gå med sønnen min på ski Dette er typisk norsk også fordi dere ingenting andre kan gjøre i vinteren i Norge faktisk…

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AJ4708RZ vowels

ɔː

ʉː

øː

ɑː

ɑ

13

ɔ

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AJ4708RZ vowels

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AK6923IC (style shifting)

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AK6923IC (style shifting)

  • I live in Oslo (Jeg / Æ)
  • I live in Tromsø (Jeg / Æ)
  • I speak Norwegian (Jeg / Æ)
  • Your children (deres / dåkkers)
  • Your cars (deres / dæmmes)
  • Who is it? / Who is over there?�(hvem or kem + V2/V3 in questions)
  • What is it?�(hva or ka + V2/V3 in questions)
  • Where are you?�(hvor or kor + V2/V3 in questions)
  • I’ll give you a book (deg or dæ)
  • Do you like me? (meg or mæ)
  • She runs (ho or hun)
  • He works [Distractor]
  • She drives (ho or hun)
  • They do not have a cat�(dem or dæm)

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First results

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First results

  • Dialect score ~ % of Norwegian friends + NO proficiency (YES)
  • Clear patterns of style-shifting
  • Clear influence of L3 NO on L2 EN

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What we’ve got

  • Tromsø sample:
    • 11 speakers recorded in November
    • 14 speakers recorded in April & May
    • 18 NO speakers
  • Oslo sample:
    • 32 speakers

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Great if

  • Trondheim sample:
    • 30 speakers
  • Kristiansand sample:
    • 30 speakers

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Questions

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?

  • Is the Oslo dialect more often understood as a regional variety or as the standard?
  • A lot of dialectal variation within Oslo and Tromsø
  • Are the questions asked well?
  • Dialect vs. Native-likeness

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Extras

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Spread of Oslo dialects (Johnsen 2015)

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Spread of Oslo dialects (Johnsen 2015)

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Spread of Oslo dialects (Johnsen 2015)

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