Hierarchical Dialect Encounters in Norway

Abstract

Abstract Norway is sometimes simplistically described as a sociolinguistic paradise, where the use of dialects is integrated in all social contexts. This article examines the significance of the mother tongue in a hierarchical dialect encounter in Norway. The analysis is based on fieldwork in Tromsø, the largest city in north Norway, and the investigation focuses on a sociolinguistic interview with one speaker, Trond. The micro-level language choices of this speaker are contextualized by a quantitative description of dialect features of the Tromsø dialect. The main question is what role the mother tongue plays in the choice between available variants in dialect encounters involving the northern Tromsø dialect and southeastern Oslo dialect.