Arising plurals in Swedish: A study of Swedish s-plurals
(2017) ALSK11 20162General Linguistics
- Abstract
- This thesis is a study of Swedish speakers’ use of s-plurals in the formation of both indefinite and definite plurals. The topic is investigated using a quantitive method in the form of an online questionnaire. In comparison to previous studies, a larger number of informants provides this study with the possibility of making generalizations that were not possible before. As such, it brings new important insight into the use and function of s-plurals in Swedish, including confirming the existence of two indefinite s-plurals. Furthermore, the study shows that phonology plays in important role in favoring and disfavoring the use of s-plurals, as well as identifying several sociolinguistic variables that effect the use of s-plurals, such as... (More)
- This thesis is a study of Swedish speakers’ use of s-plurals in the formation of both indefinite and definite plurals. The topic is investigated using a quantitive method in the form of an online questionnaire. In comparison to previous studies, a larger number of informants provides this study with the possibility of making generalizations that were not possible before. As such, it brings new important insight into the use and function of s-plurals in Swedish, including confirming the existence of two indefinite s-plurals. Furthermore, the study shows that phonology plays in important role in favoring and disfavoring the use of s-plurals, as well as identifying several sociolinguistic variables that effect the use of s-plurals, such as age, gender, and regional background. Differences seen between younger and older speakers suggest that s-plurals are becoming more productive in Swedish, and their current use suggests that they have become, or are becoming, default plural markers, which are applied to novel nouns, often with a foreign or original character, which do not yet have a marked lexical entry for plural. (Less)
- Abstract (Swedish)
- Denna uppsats undersöker svensktalares användning av s-plural vid formationen av obestämd- och bestämdform pluralis. Ämnet behandlas genom en kvantitativ studie i form av en internetbaserad enkätundersökning. I jämförelse med tidigare studier så ger en större databas möjligheten att generalisera på ett sätt som inte vad möjligt i tidigare undersökningar. Med det sagt presenterar denna undersökning nya insikter i användningen av s-plural i svenska, samt att bekräfta förekomsten av två obestämda s-pluraler. Undersökningen visar bland annat att fonologi är en viktig faktor som gynnar och missgynnar användandet av s-plural, samt att flera sociolingvistiska faktorer påverkar dess användning, såsom ålder, könsidentitet, och regionalt ursprung.... (More)
- Denna uppsats undersöker svensktalares användning av s-plural vid formationen av obestämd- och bestämdform pluralis. Ämnet behandlas genom en kvantitativ studie i form av en internetbaserad enkätundersökning. I jämförelse med tidigare studier så ger en större databas möjligheten att generalisera på ett sätt som inte vad möjligt i tidigare undersökningar. Med det sagt presenterar denna undersökning nya insikter i användningen av s-plural i svenska, samt att bekräfta förekomsten av två obestämda s-pluraler. Undersökningen visar bland annat att fonologi är en viktig faktor som gynnar och missgynnar användandet av s-plural, samt att flera sociolingvistiska faktorer påverkar dess användning, såsom ålder, könsidentitet, och regionalt ursprung. Den rådande tillämpningen av s-plural i svenska föreslår att plural markören är, eller är på väg att bli, en standardplural för nya ord, ofta med egenartad eller främmande karaktär, vilka saknar en tidigare fastställd pluralform. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/8903357
- author
- Zetterberg, William LU
- supervisor
- organization
- course
- ALSK11 20162
- year
- 2017
- type
- M2 - Bachelor Degree
- subject
- keywords
- linguistics, grammar, morphology, allomorphy, plural, s-plural, plural-s, language change, sociolinguistics
- language
- English
- id
- 8903357
- date added to LUP
- 2017-02-20 09:25:28
- date last changed
- 2017-02-20 09:25:28
@misc{8903357,
abstract = {{This thesis is a study of Swedish speakers’ use of s-plurals in the formation of both indefinite and definite plurals. The topic is investigated using a quantitive method in the form of an online questionnaire. In comparison to previous studies, a larger number of informants provides this study with the possibility of making generalizations that were not possible before. As such, it brings new important insight into the use and function of s-plurals in Swedish, including confirming the existence of two indefinite s-plurals. Furthermore, the study shows that phonology plays in important role in favoring and disfavoring the use of s-plurals, as well as identifying several sociolinguistic variables that effect the use of s-plurals, such as age, gender, and regional background. Differences seen between younger and older speakers suggest that s-plurals are becoming more productive in Swedish, and their current use suggests that they have become, or are becoming, default plural markers, which are applied to novel nouns, often with a foreign or original character, which do not yet have a marked lexical entry for plural.}},
author = {{Zetterberg, William}},
language = {{eng}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{Arising plurals in Swedish: A study of Swedish s-plurals}},
year = {{2017}},
}