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## INTRODUCTION

Anita Berit Hansen University of Copenhagen berit@hum.ku.dk

Erling Strudsholm University of Copenhagen struds@hum.ku.dk

## 1. Background for this issue

In late autumn 2021, the Department of English, Germanic and Romance Studies at the University of Copenhagen hosted a conference on linguistic variation  on  the  occasion  of  the  centenary  of  Eugenio  Coseriu's  birth (1921-2021),  in  collaboration  with  the  Embassy  of  Romania  in  the Kingdom of Denmark. The event brought together international scholars to discuss new perspectives on diasystematic variation in European languages,  while  also  acknowledging  the  heritage  from  Coseriu.  Three thematic  sessions  formed  the  core  of  the  program:  1)  Coseriu  and  the diasystem revisited, 2) variation in the new media, 3) diaphasic variation in a language learning perspective. 1

Coseriu's most influential works (1952 to 1958, see for instance van Deyck 2015:566) were published while he lived in Uruguay, but the course of  his  career  brought  him  from  his  native  town,  Mihăileni  in  Romania (situated today in the Republic of Moldovia), to Italy and - after the SouthAmerican  period  -  to  Spain,  Portugal  and  Germany,  where  he  held  a position as a Professor of Romance linguistics in Tübingen from 1963 until his retirement in 1991. This predominantly European attachment, combined with his contribution to the study of variation in language, made the centenary of his birth an important event for our research group Norm, Variation,  Language  Change ,  formed  in  2012  by  scholars  from  the Department of English, Germanic and Romance Studies. 2

1 https://engerom.ku.dk/english/research/norm-variation-language-

change/calendar/linguistic-variation-in-european-languages/

2 https://engerom.ku.dk/english/research/norm-variation-language-change/

Coseriu's interest in 'parole' as the central object of study for the discipline  of  linguistics,  as  opposed  to  the  focus  on  'langue'  in  the Saussurian  tradition,  as  well  as  in  the  various  axes  of  patterning  of  the observed variation, was not completely unique in the 1950's. He is often identified with the construction of the 'diasystem', but obviously built on concepts  and  ideas  developed  by  Flydal  (1952).  And,  as  is  clear  in Weinreich,  Labov  &  Herzog  (1968:160-161)  in  their  manifesto  for empirical foundations for the study of language change, inspiration to look for systematicity within variation in spoken language was present already in Fries & Pike (1949). Nevertheless, Coseriu's contribution to the field of linguistics - with its integration of more abstract concepts such as that of knowledge,  norm  and  tradition  -  has  been  fundamental  not  only  for variational linguistics but also for pragmatics and text linguistics.

## 2. The diasystematic approach

The prevalent model of the diasystem includes five different parameters for linguistic  variation  (see,  for  instance,  Gadet  2007).  The  'diachronic' dimension regards variation over time. The 'diatopic' variation concerns geographic  variation  -  not  only  traditional  dialect  research  focusing  on different regional varieties but also differences between country and city and between centre and periphery of a large city. The 'diastratic' variation relates to socially determined differences such as age, gender, social status and level of education. The 'diaphasic' variation from formal to informal register  is  conditioned  by  the  communication  situation.  Finally,  the 'diamesic'  variation  depends  on  the  choice  of  communication  channel, primarily a distinction between oral and written presentation (Strudsholm 2009).

There are several relations between the different dimensions of the diasystem, and it is often difficult to keep the different dimensions separate. They also have a number of common features and mutual influence on each other.  Thus,  on  the  one  hand,  certain  connections  can  be  established between high style, formal language and standard written language, and on the other between low style, informal language and spontaneous spoken language. Finally, there is a tendency to categorize diatopically strongly marked language as a low variant with little social status, i.e. the use of dialect and regional variants is diastratically conditioned. It is thus often practically  impossible  to  separate  diatopic  from  diastratic  variation,  and DIAMESIA

DIASTRATIA

diastratic  from  diaphasic  variation.  A  diastratic  marking  almost  always implies a diatopically marked one, and in some cultures it is often difficult to imagine an informal language without regional features. Parallel to the decline of the dialects, the subject of dialect research has largely shifted from the diastratic to the diaphasic. While the dialect speaker previously used the dialect because he/she could not do anything else, the dialect in many contexts will now be used as an alternative code that is chosen in certain contexts, perhaps to emphasize a certain affiliation.

Berruto (1993:11) proposes a relationship between the dimensions in the  sense  that  one  interacts  within  the  other:  the  diastratia  within  the diatopy, the  diaphasia within  the  diastratia,  and  the  diamesia  within  the diaphasia. In connection with a child's linguistic development, it learns a social variation from the region it grows up in, and within this variation, it learns to use different registers and behave in different situations. Finally, the fundamental dichotomy between speaking and writing is taught.

Figure 1 (Berruto 1993:11)

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## 3. The articles in this issue

The  following  seven  contributions  all  relate  to  different  aspects  of Coseriu's thinking and to diasystematic variation.

In  her  article, On  the  interrelationship  between  linguistics  and philosophy in Eugenio Coseriu's scientific thinking , Araceli López Serena aims to show the close interrelationship between philosophy and linguistics in Eugenio Coseriu's scientific thinking and to clarify to what extent the concepts  and  categories  with  which  Coseriu  approaches  the  problem  of linguistic change come not from linguistics but from philosophy. Based on citations from one of his most important works, Synchrony, Diachrony and History (SDH) from 1958, ALS shows the relation between the linguistic and the philosophical dimension of theorisation in Coseriu's approach to language, and his advocacy of the differentiation between human sciences and natural sciences. This approach is expressed in Coseriu's differentiation between different problems of linguistic change and their correlation with different types of scientific questions. Furthermore, ALS argues that SDH cannot only be conceived as a mere treatise on the problem of linguistic change, but also needs to be recognised as a fundamental work for the general understanding of the epistemological principles of Coseriu's linguistic theory.

In their paper, Between  linguistic geography  and  structural linguistics: The development of Eugenio Coseriu's variational approach in the 1950s , Viggo Bank Jensen and Lorenzo Cigana attempt to reconstruct Coseriu's framework of variation during the 1950s. The authors start from Coseriu's understanding of Pisani's notions of 'isoglos' and 'system of isoglosses', and how these ideas are gradually being replaced by 'language architecture' and 'functional language' in the adaptation of the Norwegian linguist  Leiv  Flydal's  diasystem  with  its  classification  into  diachronic, diatopic  and  diastratic  variation.  After  that,  the  authors  discuss  the relationship between Coseriu's variational linguistics and three concepts 'connotation', 'architecture' and 'diasystems' - developed, respectively, by Hjelmslev, Flydal and Weinreich. Finally, the authors speculate on the reasons  and  the  implications  of  Coseriu's  failure  to  acknowledge  Uriel Weinreich as an important source for variational linguistics.

In her contribution The Diasystematic Status of the Diatopic Axis , Lene Schøsler focuses on the diatopic dimension, intending to show that this level cannot be considered independently of the other dimensions of the diasystem. After a presentation of the traditional understanding of the variation axes, the author raises questions as to whether the diatopic axis is permanent or subject to change, and whether diatopy can be investigated independently of the other axes. She provides a number of examples from the history of the French language in order to show the change of status of diatopy in the course of history  and  the  interdependence  between diachrony, diatopy and diastracy. She proposes an integrated view of the different axes of variation and claims that diasystematic factors are subject to change and that the dimensions are mutually dependent. Use of dialectal features can be an option that not only implies anchoring in the linguistic space, but also diastratic and diaphasic features. The different diasystematic  levels  do  not  represent  oppositions  but  a  co-presence; consequently, diatopy cannot be separated from the other dimensions of variation.

As  the  title  suggests,  the  subject  of  Axel  Bohmann's  paper, Diatopic variation in digital space: What Twitter can tell us about Texas English dialect areas , is geographic variation in Texas English, on the basis of Twitter, and presents an approach that foregrounds a functional and/or stylistic  interpretation  of  the  variation  rather  than  considering  it  a  clear geographical index. Bohmann's analysis is based on 45 linguistic features in over 3 million tweets from across the state. He identifies two dimensions of variation that pattern in geographically meaningful ways. The first of these relates to creative uses of typography and distinguishes high scores in urban centres compared to rural areas. The second dimension concerns characteristics of interpersonal, spoken discourse and shows an East-West geographical divide. In addition to diatopic variation in Texas, the analysis also includes diastratic and diaphasic variation.

Taking us to the  text  linguistic  level  of  Coseriu's  theory,  Flavia Teoc gives an example of how uses of metaphors in texts can change as a consequence of cultural changes ( Battle as a sacred game ). The analysis focusses on the genre of praise poetry, composed by so-called skalds, that was typical of old Norse tradition whenever a king had won an important battle  over  an  enemy  or  when  he  had  died  in  one.  Metaphors  used  to describe these battles,  however,  seem to  undergo transformations in the eleventh  century,  alongside  the  change  from  pagan  Viking  beliefs  to  a Christian  world-view.  This  transition  period  is  exemplified  by  extracts from  early  and  later  poems  from  the  time.  From  alluding  to  the  harsh weather or loud noises and fierce screaming which the warrior had to face (battle  as  storm  or  battle  as  senna),  metaphors  change  to  more  rulegoverned game allusions in which the fight is between good and evil (battle as a sacred game). The analysis also reflects upon the repeated use of such metaphors as ready-made discourse units that contribute to the creation of meaning  for  the  whole  texts,  and  thus  integrates  Coseriu's  theory  of repeated speech.

Likewise  sharing  an  interest  in  how  culture  affects  language, Kirsten Jeppesen Kragh and Erling Strudsholm discuss how deep-rooted cultural  differences  may  affect  systems  and  use  of  pronominal  address forms and to what extent the diasystem - with its present five dimensions (referring to the model of Gadet 2007) - is appropriate to catch this type of influence ( Address pronouns in a diasystematic perspective ). Adopting a contrastive approach, the authors first present tables of address forms in modern English, German, Danish, French and Italian, with a brief historical note on their developments. Then - after going through Hofstede's results from comparative business culture analyses for these selected languages the  authors  ponder  over  the  fact  that  the  way  these  group,  especially according  to  the  cultural  parameter  'uncertainty  avoidance',  do  not coincide with the traditional typological division between Romance and German language families. Rather, the German work culture shows similar features to the French and Italian ones, while Danish and English work culture  form  an  opposite  cluster.  Since  this  division,  to  some  extent, matches the differences in use of address pronouns, the authors propose that a 'diacultural' dimension be included in the study of interlinguistic pragmatic variation.

Roberto Paternostro turns to the crucial inclusion of diamesic and diaphasic aspects of language variation within L2-teaching, with special reference to French as a foreign language ( The appropriation of oral/spoken French by L2 learners: variational features and educational perspectives ).  After  summarizing  the  traditional  treatment  of  'oral'  and 'spoken'  French  in  the area of didactics, the author includes  L1 sociolinguistic approaches in order to arrive at a more operational and open view, one that proves to be fruitful in L2-teaching: 'Spoken' should be understood  both  as  produced  in  a  particular  medium  (phonic)  and  as  a palette of different structural organisations, depending on how the speech pertains to the continuum between communicative proximity and distance. The author proposes to start familiarizing learners to particular forms from much earlier on (i.e. from level A1-A2) than suggested by the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (B2), 3 and to build up perceptual  skills  before  productive  ones  in  a  precise  progression.  His fieldwork  carried  out  among  Italophone  French  learners  in  Switzerland gives  examples  of  activities  in  which  B1-learners,  after  a  thorough preparation phase, are able to simulate everyday interactions successfully.

3  https://www.coe.int/en/web/common-european-framework-reference-languages

It is our hope that the present volume will highlight the importance of  Coseriu's  work  as  a  scholar  while  also  opening  up  for  continued discussions  on  the  diasystematic  dimensions  of  linguistic  variation  and their interrelations. The integration of a wide range of modern data types, including  those  represented  by  social  media,  and  the  recent  exchanges between second-language researchers and variationists might prove to be fruitful  new  perspectives  for  the  development  of  our  knowledge  within variational  linguistics  in  the  future.  The  texts  in  this  volume  are  thus  a contribution  to  the  ever-fertile  scientific  field  of  norm,  variation  and language change.

## Acknowledgements

We  sincerely  thank  H.E.  Alexandru  Grădinar,  the  Ambassador  of  Romania  in  the Kingdom  of  Denmark,  for  hosting  the  second  day  of  the  conference,  adding  by  this generous  gesture  to  the  tribute  of  Coseriu.  Our  thanks  also  go  to  the  Department  of English, Germanic and Romance studies at the University of Copenhagen for making it possible to unite specialists in various strands of variational linguistics, as well as to the helpful international reviewers for lending us their expertise in the publication process.

## References

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- Coseriu, Eugenio. 1952. Sistema, norma y habla . Montevideo: Universidad de la República, Facultad de Humanidades y Ciencias, Departamento de Lingüística.
- Coseriu, Eugenio. 1956. La geografia lingüística . Montevideo: Universidad de la República, Facultad de Humanidades y Ciencias, Departamento de Lingüística.
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- Flydal, Leiv. 1952. Remarques sur certains rapports entre le style et l'état de langue. Norsk Tidsskrift for Sprogvidenskap , 16, 241-258.

- Fries, Charles C. & Kenneth L. Pike. 1949. Coexistent phonemic systems. Language . 25 (1). 29-50.
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