Abstract

This book presents, for the first time, an overarching, trans-Scandinavian, comprehensive and comparable account of linguistic developments and practices in late modern urban contact zones. The book aims to capture the multilingual realities of all young people in urban contexts, whether they are of migrant descent or not. Taking a multi-layered approach to linguistic practices, chapters in the book include structural and phonological analyses of new linguistic practices, examine how these practices and their practitioners are perceived, and discuss the sociolinguistic potentials of speakers when constructing, challenging and negotiating identities. The book also contains three short overview articles describing studies of multilingual practices in Sweden, Denmark and Norway. The editors have aimed to make Scandinavian research on urban multilingualism accessible to scholars and students who don’t speak Scandinavian languages, and also to make a valuable contribution to the global study of multilingualism.

A must for everybody who wants a full picture of ethnolectal structures and stylistic practices in Scandinavia - a volume full of new insights from empirical research.

Pia Quist is Associate Professor at the Department of Scandinavian Research at University of Copenhagen. She has an MA in Nordic Philology and Political science, and a PhD in sociolinguistics. Her research interests include urban sociolinguistics, multilingualism, gender and language, and youth and language. She has published her research on multilingual practices in national and international journals and anthologies.

Bente Ailin Svendsen is Associate Professor and Director of Research at the Department of Linguistics and Scandinavian Studies at the University of Oslo. She has carried out research on second language acquisition, multilingualism among migrant children and adults, and language use and identity constructions among adolescents in multilingual urban contexts. Her work has previously appeared in the International Journal of Bilingualism, and one of her articles on multilingualism won the Norwegian Language Award 2009.

This book is unique - a stimulating exposé of the latest research on new linguistic practices and developments in late modern urban contact zones in three comparable countries: Denmark, Norway and Sweden. The authors succeed in presenting an interesting array of various analytical approaches for investigating the impact of migration, from the scrutiny of grammar to the exploration of the language of hip hop. A must read for those interested in multilingualism in the urban space.