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## F UNIC : A N ENREGISTERED LANGUAGE VARIETY IN THE CENTRAL PART OF D ENMARK

Kirstine Boas Aarhus University boas@cc.au.dk

## Abstract

This article investigates the use of Funic regional dialect among adolescents in Funen, Denmark. Drawing on linguistic ethnographic fieldwork, the study explores how Funic speech functions as an enregistered variety. Through an analysis of interviews,  group  work  and  self-recordings,  the  study  finds  that  the  two  Funic forms  -  rising  tones  and  absence  of  stød  -  have  the  potential  to  index  social qualities such as humor, localness and daftness/being an oaf, and that these Funic forms can be used strategically to carry out social functions such as managing face, using politeness strategies and overall perform a local, Funic identity. The stylized use of Funic speech suggests a shift towards a marked, performative dialect use, and that adolescents actively engage with regional speech as a resource for social positioning.

Keywords: Funic speech, enregisterment, regional dialect, indexicality, dialect use, social meaning, sociodialectology

## 1. Introduction 1

The dialectal landscape in Denmark has been strongly homogenized since the mid-20th century (Grondelaers and Kristiansen 2013, Gregersen and Kristiansen 2015). This tendency has also been found elsewhere in Europe, e.g. in Norway (Røyneland 2009), in England (Britain 2009), and in the Netherlands  (Heeringa  and  Hinskens  2015).  In  Denmark,  each  new generation appears to have a decreasing use of traditional regional and local variation  than  the  former  (Schøning  and  Pedersen  2009,  Jensen  and Maegaard 2010, 2012). Nevertheless, recent studies indicate that adolescents continue to use regional dialects as marked speech, in contrast to the older generations who use dialects as unmarked speech (Larsen and Stæhr  2020).  The  same  tendency  has  for  example  been  found  in  the Netherlands, where dialectal variants have been enregistered, so they can be  used  as  stylized  speech  to  index  localness  (Doreleijers  2024).  These studies  show  that  adolescents  use  regional  variation  to  either  carry  out certain social functions or to index certain social characteristics.

1 Thank you to the 34 pupils at Skårup Skole for allowing me to be a part of your lives for a few months. You were all extremely kind and open, and I will always be very grateful for that. I am also very grateful to Mette-Marie Møller Svendsen for helping me out with drawing a map, to my supervisors for feedback on drafts for the article and to the two anonymous reviewers for reading the draft closely and helping me improve it significantly.

During the last decade, sociodialectological studies have examined adolescents'  use  of  regional  dialect  in  the  Danish  peripheral  regions  of Southern Jutland (Monka 2013; 2020), Western Jutland (Schøning 2017), Northern  Jutland  (Mortensen  2020)  and  Bornholm  (Stæhr  and  Larsen 2020).  Several  studies  of  the  correlations  between  language  style  and identity  have  also  been  carried  out  in  the  capital  city  of  Denmark, Copenhagen (e.g. Gregersen and Pedersen 1991; Quist 2005), leaving the central  region  of  Denmark  largely  unstudied  when  it  comes  to  regional language use and identity construction. Historical sociolinguistics suggests that  regional  dialects  tend  to  persist  and  thrive  the  longest  in  peripheral areas where linguistic influence from outsiders is limited (Wells 1982:10; Pietikäinen et al. 2016). This makes the presence of an actively used dialect in  the  peripheries  plausible.  We  do  not  know  how  young  speakers  use regional dialect outside of the most peripheral Danish areas, where local varieties  can  be  presumed  to  be  most  resilient.  No  studies  to  date  have examined dialect use in Funen, which is a highly interesting area, as it lies in the middle of Denmark, connected by bridges to each side with the rest of  Denmark.  Investigating  whether  Funic  adolescents  use  enregistered Funic speech will thus provide us with a more nuanced knowledge of local identity constructions across different types of geographical areas.

This study addresses that gap by investigating regional dialect use on the  island  of  Funen  (Fyn),  specifically  in  a  town  near  Svendborg. Svendborg is located in Southern Funen, and is a large town known for attracting  residents  from  all  around  the  country  -  particularly  from Copenhagen - due to its affordable housing prices in a cozy old trading town  close  to  the  nature  and  the  sea.  The  towns  around  Svendborg experience the same tendency. These demographic circumstances suggest a linguistic landscape where dialectal forms are at risk of vanishing unless the locals actively want to preserve them.

## Scandinavian Studies in Language, 16(1), 2025 (1-39)

Danish  sociolinguist  Marie  Maegaard  has  observed  that  in  'some places in Denmark, speakers use more dialect than in others, but little is known  about  how  these  speakers  use  dialect  and  what  they  use  it  for' (2020:6). We do not know much about the nature of the dialect spoken today, e.g. do they use local variants, regional variants, or hyperdialectal variants? If they were to local variants (and no regional or hyperdialectal variants) it would mean the traditional dialect had been very well preserved in this area. If they were to use regional variants, it would suggest that local differences in Funic have become erased to some extent, and that Funicspeakers today speak a regional variant of Standard Danish rather than a local  dialect.  There  is  also  the  possibility  that  they  use  hyperdialectal variants.  Hyperdialectisms  often  occur  in  varieties  experiencing  dialect loss. This happens because sometimes the result of dialect loss is not dialect death,  but  instead  an  emergence  of  new  linguistic  forms  merged  from different dialects (Trudgill 1988:553). A case of hyperdialectism would be when a speaker exaggerates or overgeneralizes a linguistic form and ends up producing something that does not usually or traditionally occur in the given variety (Doreleijers and Swanenberg 2023:39). If the pupils were to use hyperdialectic variants it would either be in the form of new additions to what they perceive as Funic dialect today (but something that did not exist in the traditional dialects), or as Funic features applied in a context where they traditionally would not have appeared. If the pupils were to use hyperdialectism it would suggest an interest in appearing local through the use  of  linguistic  forms,  but  a  poor  knowledge  of  the  actual  traditional dialect with the result that they 'make up a new one'. A fourth scenario is that some of the dialect has been passed on, and that traditional forms and hyperdialectisms  co-exist,  given  that  the  pupils  are  interested  in  using Funic.

This  article  investigates  if  Funic  is  an  enregistered  variety,  i.e. recognized  and  strategically  used  by  speakers.  The  research  question  is therefore: Do Funic adolescents use marked codeswitches to index social qualities and carry out social functions that differ from what other Danish regional dialects index? Given that social meanings are constructed locally (Johnstone  2004;  Britain  2010),  I  conducted  a  linguistic  ethnographic fieldwork  in  a  9 th grade  class  on  a  South-Funic  primary  school  to understand the field site on its own terms. The analysis draws on fieldnotes and  audio  recordings  made  by  the  pupils  (interviews,  recordings  of schoolwork  the  pupils  did  in  groups  and  the  pupils'  self-recordings). Through a close reading of this data, I examine the social functions of Funic speech within the peer groups on the school and explore what role it plays in their identity construction. The paper first describes the field site, SouthFunen, and the linguistic traits characteristic of this region. It then describes the concept of indexicality, which is central in the analysis. Afterwards I introduce  the  methodology  of  the  fieldwork  and  the  methodological choices behind participant sampling and selection of audio in the analysis. In this section I will also introduce the pupils from the fieldwork and the social structure at the school they went to. The first part of the analysis examines who uses which dialectic features and when, and the second part goes in depth with an excerpt analysis. Lastly, I discuss the results in the light of current sociodialectological results from other Danish regions.

## 1. Background

## 1.1. The field site: South-Funen

Funen is a centrally located Danish island connected by bridges to both Jutland  in  the  west  and  Zealand  to  the  east,  where  the  capital  city Copenhagen is situated. During my fieldwork, it became evident that local orientations  were  split;  approximately  a  quarter  of  the  pupils  wanted  to move westward to Aarhus, another quarter eastward to Copenhagen, while remaining  pupils  preferred  to  stay  on  Funen.  Today,  Funen  is  home  to 500.000  residents  (DS).  The  specific  field  site  for  this  study  is  called Skårup, a town situated below the linguistic stød border (see Figure 1), and geographically  situated  in  proximity  to  the  largest  town  in  the  area, Svendborg,  with  a  population  of  approximately  27.000.  Svendborg  is  a popular destination for people moving away from Copenhagen and other large Danish cities, and it is thus a culturally diverse city with arts, talks, micro-bakeries and influencers promoting it on social media. As a result of the relocations, the language spoken is increasingly standardized (a trend noticed by Pedersen and Hansen 1996). Given my interest in adolescents actively choosing to speak Funic although it is not their default vernacular, these geographical and cultural circumstances in the area around Svendborg were ideal for my field site.

Skårup is a small town with approximately 2000 inhabitants. It has a public school, modern sports facilities, mechanics, repair shops and a local supermarket. The population primarily consists of middle-class families, ROMO

JYLLAND

VEST-

SLESVIG

OSTSI

ANGEL

VENDSYSSE

→ DURSU

Repos

FYN

with a notable concentration of teachers as this area is (and has been) home to teaching seminars, private schools, boarding schools, folk high schools etc. This means that many of the newcomers in Skårup are teachers. They participate in activities such as the local theatre club, courses at the people's college or the gymnastics associations. The folk high school movement and particularly folk high schools focusing on gymnastics - has played a significant  role  on  South-Funen,  also  in  shaping  a  South-Funic  cultural identity.  These  institutions  have  influenced  the  development  of  similar colleges across Denmark. Through conversations I had with local citizens during my stay, it became clear that these activities are a part of the SouthFunic identity, and something a lot of South-Funic residents are proud of engaging themselves in.

Figure 1. This figure shows a map of Denmark with the stød-border shown as a red line. The field site, Skårup, appears as a red dot. Kilde: www.dialekt.ku.dk.

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## 1.1. Funic

The characteristics of Funic dialect has been described thoroughly in the previous decade (Jacobsen 1933; Andersen 1958; Køster 2000; Pedersen and Hansen 1996, and the extensive work of Inge Lise Pedersen). However,

## Scandinavian Studies in Language, 16(1), 2025 (1-39)

there  has  been  made  little  research  on  the  Funic  dialect  in  the  present decade, and we therefore do not know much about how much of the dialect is  still  spoken  and  how  it  is  used.  Traditionally,  the  Funic  dialect  had  a distinct grammar with three genders (instead of two genders as in Standard Danish) and has been phonetically characterized by the absence of soft d [ð], nasalization in certain word endings, and in some cases, nasal vowels. Diphthongization  has  also  been  a  distinguishing  feature  across  different varieties  of  the  Funic  dialect  (Pedersen  2002).  A  particularly  relevant phenomena  is  the  Funic  articulations  of  'stød',  a  prosodic  feature  in Standard Danish realized as laryngealization (Grønnum et al. 2013). This is relevant, as I expect these articulations to be indexically loaded (see Boas 2023b). Stød has a distinctive function, differencing word meanings - for example hund [ˈhunˀ] from the stød-less hun [ˈhun]. In Funic speech, there have been identified three regional variants of stød 2 . One is a rising tonal accent that replaces the glottalized stød. The rising tone is characterized a rapid rising tonal contour or an intonation lying significantly higher than the rest of the sentence. The rising tone thus typically lies a minor third or three  semitones  above  the  rest  of  the  sentence  (Pedersen  2002:46). According to the linguist Poul Andersen (1958), rising tone would typically occur on monosyllables with a high vowels (or the vowel 'o') without a final consonant. This was not traditionally a variant occurring south of the stød  border,  but  despite  this  it  is  used  there  today.  It  could  therefore  be discussed  if  the  use  of  rising  tone  is  a  case  of  hyperdialectism  which 'indicates present-day variation patterns that are opposed to a traditional linguistic  form  associated  with  the  past,  i.e.  deviating  from  a  point  of reference' (Doreleijers and Swanenberg 2023:40). The other variant is a complete absence of stød, which was traditionally found south of the stød border (see Figure 1). The absence of stød typically have a more flat tonal contour than the rising tone, no closing phase and often a vowel perceived to be longer than in the Standard Danish pronunciations (Andersen 1958; Boas 2023a). On Funen, the stød border stretches from Faaborg to Nyborg. North of the border, a weak stød or a rising tone was typically present in the traditional dialects. South of the border, the stød was completely absent in analysis of dialectal use and social meaning.

2 I introduce the two variants, rising tones and absence of stød (non-stød), as they are relevant for this study. The third Funic variant of stød is a tonal stød, which is characterized by a rising-falling tonal contour and a weak closing phase (Andersen 1958:34; Boas 2023a).

400-

300-

200-

300-

200-

Figure 3. A Funic male pronounces 'Fyn'

## Scandinavian Studies in Language, 16(1), 2025 (1-39)

-7000

0

the traditional South-Funic dialect (Andersen 1958; Pedersen 2002; Boas 2023a). The field site for this study is located below the stød border (the red dot in Figure 1), making these variants particularly relevant. The non-stød and the rising tones were among the most frequently used features used by the pupils I observed, and these features will therefore be central to this analysis of dialectal use and social meaning.

Figure 2. A Funic male pronounces 'Fyn' with a rising tone.

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Figure 3. A Funic male pronounces 'Fyn' with an absence of stød (non-stød).

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300-

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f

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n

Rioшю14 kuwiemdlo nonouncos 'Fun'with a Standard Danich ctad

Figure 4. A Funic male pronounces 'Fyn' with a Standard Danish stød.

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## 1.2. Indexicality

The study is situated within the third wave of sociolinguistics which views linguistic practices as socially embedded actions through which speakers position themselves socially. In her paper on the evolution of the field of sociolinguistics  and  the  principles  of  different  sociolinguistic  waves, Penelope  Eckert  -  one  of  the  founders  of  the  third  wave  -  writes: 'speakers  place  themselves  in  the  social  landscape  through  stylistic practice' (Eckert 2012:93-94). Speakers actively construct social meaning by drawing on certain semiotic signs. They can do so, because meaning  is  created  not  only  through  language  but  through  the  cooccurrence  of  linguistic  and  other  semiotic  elements,  such  as  clothing style. A relevant semiotic sign in this paper is certain (regional) linguistic features, that can obtain a certain interpretation and thereby social effect. When doing so one uses the linguistic feature to point explicitly toward a certain  association,  and  this  process  is  called  indexicality  (Silverstein 2003). As Eckert notes, a linguistic feature in a certain salient variety can potentially come to index membership to the speakers of the given variety. Different indexical orders can be associated with a particular feature. An indexical order can be thought of as a layer of meaning. A feature moves from first to second order of indexicality when speakers within a given community start to notice and use the variant as a linguistic marker, and from second to third order of indexicality when specific social characteristics  become  ideologically  linked  to  the  use  of  the  variant (Silverstein  2003;  Eckert  2012).  This  way,  a  feature  can  be  used  to associate ways of 'belonging to, or characteristics or stances associated with,  that  population.  Such  an  index  can  be  used  by  outsiders  call  up

## Scandinavian Studies in Language, 16(1), 2025 (1-39)

·0

stereotypes associated with the population' (Eckert 2012:94). A (regional) linguistic  feature  of  a  variety  that  is  salient,  can  thus  index  different qualities  associated  with  the  stereotypical  speakers  of  this  variety.  The feature can be interpreted in different ways by different groups for two reasons. Firstly, because indexicality is locally constructed (Johnstone and Kiesling 2008; Eckert 2008). A local interpretation of indexical feature means  that  a  certain  population  or  group  of  friends  can  have  varying interpretations of the same feature. Secondly, because linguistic features carry  the  potential  for  indexical  mutability.  Eckert  states  that  once  an indexical  association  is  conventionalized,  the  feature  (or  any  other semiotic sign, such as a pair of trousers etc.) becomes available for further indexical moves (Eckert 2012:94).

For  a  linguistic  feature  to  index  social  meanings,  it  must  be enregistered or in the process of enregisterment. Agha defines enregisterment as an ongoing social process where 'diverse behavioural signs (whether linguistic, non-linguistic, or both) are functionally reanalysed as cultural models of action, as behaviors capable of indexing stereotypic characteristics of particular interactional roles, and of relations among them' (Agha 2007:55). This means that for a linguistic feature to call  upon  stereotypes  it  must  have  undergone  enregisterment.  In  the context of the current study, I question if and how Funic speech is used by adolescents to  invoke  certain  social  meanings  and  functions  associated with  a  process  of  enregisterment.  This  will  be  revealed  in  the  next sections.

## 3. Methods and data

Funic  speakers  are  often  associated  with  a  particular  set  of  cultural stereotypes in Denmark. They are typically viewed as friendly, kind and humoristic  (Ladegaard  2002:52).  Furthermore,  they  are  viewed  as  quite rural  (Bøegh  n.d.)  and  less  cosmopolitan  compared  to  individuals  from larger urban centers. A recent study on Funic stereotypes finds that Funic people are often perceived as warm, accommodating, rural and humorous (Boas et al. forth.). While such stereotypes may not reflect reality, they nonetheless shape the interpretive lens through which youth culture in parts of South-Funen is understood. It was within this sociocultural context that I conducted my fieldwork.

## Scandinavian Studies in Language, 16(1), 2025 (1-39)

The  fieldwork  was  carried  out  in  the  primary  school  in  Skårup located in Southern Funen. I introduced myself and the aim of my stay in overall terms to the entire 9 th grade (35 pupils). A total of 34 pupils aged 15 or 16 years provided informed consent to participate in the study 3 , which they were told included ethnographic observation, note-taking, and audio recordings.  The  pupils  were  informed  that  they  could  withdraw  their consent  at  any  time.  I  explained  that  I  would  be  conducting  individual interviews with interested participants and occasionally record group work sessions. Additionally, the pupils were offered to use a dictaphone to record themselves  outside  the  classroom.  The  interviews  took  place  in  a  cozy room at the school specially  assigned  to  me,  which  was  furnished  with sofas  and  decorated  with  pictures.  I  used  a  Zoom  H5  recorder  for interviews, and Olympus dictaphones for recording group work and selfrecordings.

During the initial days, the pupils were not very engaged. I began to suspect my presentation as a researcher - 10 years older than them and unfamiliar - was creating a social distance. In an attempt to bridge the gap, I visited a nearby H&M shop and asked a young sales assistant to help me select  clothing  for  around  500  DKK  that  might  help  me  appear  more relatable to the pupils. Dressed in a track suit, sneakers, a high ponytail, and golden hoop earrings, I hoped to present myself more on-trend and ingroup (cf. Cheshire 1982; Eckert 2000:71). The next day, the group of girls later referred to as 'the popular girls' (see section 3.1) loudly complimented my new look and asked to borrow the dictaphones to record themselves. From that moment, I was accepted by the pupils and included in the school community,  and  thus  able  to  engage  more  actively  in  the  fieldwork. Adjusting  my  outward  style  can  possibly  have  had  observer  effects, however I  was  always  observing  them  rather  than  participating  in  their social life. This means the shift in style improved my access to data without distorting the interactional patterns among the pupils.

3 I first reached out to the head of the school who consented to the project, and put me in touch with a teacher, whose classes in the 9 th grade I primarily participated in. He forwarded an e-mail to all the parents of the pupils informing them about the aim of my presence in overall terms. They were given the option to contact me for more information or to let me know their children should not be a part of the study. No parents contacted me.

I conducted the fieldwork at the school for six hours a day, five days a week over a five-week period. Although I had initially planned to stay longer, I began to feel that I had developed sufficient familiarity with the pupils and their language practices. At the same  time, I  became increasingly aware of the ethical implications of a stay lasting too long particularly the risk of the pupils forming attachments to me as a friend or an older sibling figure, only for me to eventually leave again. After this intensive period, I returned for 2-3 days three times, spaced a few weeks apart. The first two visits were to finalize a couple of interviews for report building, and the last visit was, after an invitation, to participate in their last day in school.

The research I conducted is situated within the tradition of linguistic ethnography (Eckert 2000; Moore 2025). Unlike traditional anthropological ethnography, linguistic ethnography focuses specifically on  language  use  and  its  role  in  shaping  social,  cultural,  and  relational practices (Snell et al. 2015; Copland and Creese 2015). My interpretations were  guided  by  the  pupils'  own  behavior  and  language,  and  I  worked consciously  to  avoid  imposing  assumptions  related  to  gender,  school engagement, or interests - an approach in line with Bucholtz (1999:210). I asked  each  pupil  privately  how  they  identified  themselves  in  terms  of gender and whether there was anything else they felt I needed to know in order to understand them correctly.

## 3.1. Participants and sampling decisions

In the analysis I have approached the audio recordings and transcription both  qualitatively  and  quantitatively.  I  have  made  in-depth  analyses  of excerpts and my field observations, and I have counted the amount of times different  pupils  realized  Funic  dialectal  features.  Table  1  shows  which pupils entered the quantitative summaries. Their rows are colored blue.

During the fieldwork the pupils (N=34) agreed to either be recorded or make self-recordings. Table 1 shows the pseudonymized names of the 34 pupils. The grey rows show which social group the pupils named below primarily  belonged  to.  There  were  four  significant  social  groups.  The pupils also identified these groups themselves when I asked them about established social groups (see more in section 3.2.). A number of pupils did not belong to these four groups, but they reported that a lot of them used to have an established social group as well. However, a couple of months

## Scandinavian Studies in Language, 16(1), 2025 (1-39)

before my arrival it dissolved due to internal conflicts that escalated during their summer holiday. Following Eckert's work with Jocks and Burnouts (2000), I decided to focus on individuals from the established social groups as it is within  these kinds  of social groups  the  notable  linguistic constructions  take  place.  This  is  also  why  I  focused  on  the  focal  seven individuals  in  the  quantitative  and  qualitative  analyses;  these  seven individuals were core members - if not 'leaders' - of the different social groups, and I observed that they indeed were frontrunners when it came to how to dress, speak and behave in their groups.

|                  | Interview     | Group work                                       | Self-recording                        |
|------------------|---------------|--------------------------------------------------|---------------------------------------|
| The popular boys |               |                                                  |                                       |
| Mikkel           | x (00:12:57)  | x (00:08:54* + 00:13:16*)                        | x (00:21:17* + 00:05:43*)             |
| Otto             |               | x (00:08:54* + 00:13:16*)                        | x (00:21:17*)                         |
| Adrian           |               | x (00:10:34*)                                    | x (00:21:17* + 00:09:22*)             |
| Per              | x (00:22:10)  | x (00:08:54* + 00:10:34* + 00:13:16*)            | x (00:21:17* + 00:05:43* + 00:09:22*) |
| Buster           |               | x (00:10:34*)                                    | x (00:21:17*)                         |
| The scooter boys |               |                                                  |                                       |
| Benny Bob        | x (00:10:23)  | x (00:13:17* + 00:10:55* + 00:08:49*)            | x (00:10:42* + 00:10:01* + 00:09:50*) |
| Tim              | x (00:13:56*) | x (00:13:17 *+ 00:10:55*)                        | x (00:10:42* + 00:10:01* + 00:09:50*) |
| Torben           |               | x (00:13:17 + 00:10:55* + 00:12:53* + 00:10:58*) |                                       |
| Peter            | x (00:17:55)  | x (00:13:17 + 00:12:53* + 00:10:58*)             |                                       |
| Lars             | x (00:13:56*) | x (00:13:17 + 00:10:55* + 00:09:12*)             | x (00:10:42* + 00:10:01* + 00:09:50*) |

Kirstine Boas

## Scandinavian Studies in Language, 16(1), 2025 (1-39)

| Jes               |              | x (00:13:17 + 00:10:55* + 00:09:12*)   | x (00:10:42* + 00:10:01* + 00:09:50*)   |
|-------------------|--------------|----------------------------------------|-----------------------------------------|
| The popular girls |              |                                        |                                         |
| Trine             |              | x (00:12:36* + 08:58*)                 | x (00:08:41*)                           |
| Vilma             |              | x (00:12:36* + 00:08:58*)              |                                         |
| Celine            | x (00:12:10) | x (00:12:36* + 00:08:58*)              | x (00:08:41* + 00:12:03*)               |
| Frida             | x (00:10:47) | x (00:12:36* + 08:58*)                 | x 08:41* + 12:03*                       |
| Emma              |              | x (00:12:36* + 00:08:58*)              |                                         |
| My                |              | x (00:12:36* + 00:08:58*)              | x (00:12:03*)                           |
| The clever girls  |              |                                        |                                         |
| Brenda            | x (00:10:49) | x (00:07:24* + 00:11:10*)              | x (00:11:00* + 00:07:58*)               |
| Gina              |              | x (00:07:24* + 00:11:10*)              | x (00:11:00* + 00:07:58*)               |
| Sif               |              | x (00:07:24* + 00:11:10*)              |                                         |
| Christina         | x (00:06:02) | x (00:07:24* + 00:11:10*)              |                                         |
| Mille             |              | x (00:07:24* + 00:11:10*)              |                                         |
| Other pupils      |              |                                        |                                         |
| Liam              | x (00:13:18) |                                        | x (00:11:00*)                           |
| Jens              |              | x (00:10:34*)                          | x (00:11:00*)                           |
| Laura             | x (00:11:49) | x (00:08:43*)                          |                                         |
| Eva               |              | x (00:09:12*)                          |                                         |
| Emilie            | x (00:16:10) | x (00:08:43* + 00:09:12*)              |                                         |
| Malene            |              | x (00:08:43* + 00:09:12*)              |                                         |
| Line              |              | x (00:09:31*)                          |                                         |
| Mie               |              | x (00:09:31*)                          | x (00:11:00* + 00:07:58*)               |
| Palle             |              | x (00:09:12*)                          |                                         |
| Mona              |              |                                        | x (00:11:00* + 00:14:17*)               |
| Yasmin            | x (00:07:05) |                                        | x (00:11:00* + 00:14:17*)               |

## Scandinavian Studies in Language, 16(1), 2025 (1-39)

Table 1. The table shows the pseudonymized names of the 34 pupils I observed. If they agreed  to  make  a  recording,  there  is  an  'x'  accompanied  by  a  number  of  minutes indicating  the  length  of  the  recording.  If  there  is  an  asterisk  (*)  after  the  number  of minutes, it means that more than one pupil participated in the recording. These recordings have only been counted once in the total minute count. The grey bars indicate the social groups  the  pupils  belonged  to,  and  the  blue  bars  indicate  the  pupils  selected  for  the quantitative and qualitative analysis in this paper.

| Petra            |       |       |         |
|------------------|-------|-------|---------|
| Minutes in total | 165,4 | 167,7 | 131,3 4 |

The data collection included field notes, interviews, and audio recordings. Table 1 shows which types of recordings each pupil contributed with and how many minutes each of the recordings were. In total I collected 464,4 minutes (7,74 hours). In total I wrote 52 hand-written pages of fieldnotes equivalent  to  approximately  7800  words 5 .  The  audio  recordings  were transcribed manually, which means I listened to each recording one time at first. Once I decided on the 7 pupils to continue with, I re-listened to their audio  recordings  at  least  twice.  Meanwhile,  I  transcribed  in  Word.  I selected 10-minute audio bites of each of the students (in total I transcribed 200  minutes  of  audio).  I  chose  10  minutes  as  the  interviews  and  selfrecordings rarely were longer than that, and if they were, it would typically be because they went quiet for minutes. Using 10 minutes for each pupil means that it is approximately the same amount of words uttered by each of  them  across  the  recordings.  I  made  a  thematic  analysis  of  the transcriptions  (Braun  and  Clarke  2006;  2022),  meaning  I  labelled  each paragraph or utterance with a keyword. These keywords could be 'humor', 'future  dreams', 'mathematics problems' etc. The thematic analysis is a rigorous approach to systematically detect patterns in qualitative data, and it became evident that the paragraphs and utterances with Funic pronunciations followed a certain pattern where the social functions and meanings exhibited in the analysis became clear. The excerpts selected in the analysis are therefore examples from themes emerging across all the data analyzed. The excerpts will be analyzed inductively in close readings,

4 This is the number of the self-recordings suitable to be a part of the dataset. Several recordings contained information I did not feel comfortable collecting (e.g. with private information), and I deleted them immediately.

5 The handwritten notes as well as the audio recordings are archived safely and are suitable for reuse.

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## Scandinavian Studies in Language, 16(1), 2025 (1-39)

where I first focus on the context of the excerpt, and then turn to linguistic content and its indexical meanings.

## 3.2. Social organization of the pupils

The characteristics of the four established social groups will be introduced more thoroughly in this section. The labels used for the social groups have been  introduced  to  me  by  the  groups  themselves  and  I  have  slightly rephrased them to keep them anonymized. They are therefore primarily emic (invented by the adolescents themselves), but due to minor adjustments also etic to some extent (Cramer 2018). I believe an advantage of emic labelling in sociolinguistic fieldwork studies is that we come closer to the individuals' own perception of themselves, and as researchers we can therefore build a more correct understanding of the participants.

| The popular boys                                                                                                                                                                                   | The popular girls                                                                                                                                           |
|----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Strong feeling of community Go to sports and fitness together Hang out at each other's homes daily Care about school and grades Wear tracksuits and down jackets Expensive gadgets Party a lot     | Wear crop tops and tracksuits Wear a lot of makeup and jewelry Do not care much about school Party a lot The most popular friend group in the entire school |
| Scooter boys                                                                                                                                                                                       | Clever girls                                                                                                                                                |
| Everyone has a scooter Everyone smokes Go to the supermarket in the breaks Ride scooters together after school and meet up to rig the scooters Not invested in school Wear hoodies and track suits | Very dedicated to schoolwork Use a lot of spare time on homework Wear long-sleeved shirts and jeans Use no or minimal make-up Elite sport athletes          |

According  to  Coupland,  a  sociolinguistic  researcher  must  attend  to  a group's norms and values to understand the meaning of linguistic variation within  the  social  group:  'It  is  in  relation  to  group  norms  that  stylistic variation becomes meaningful; it is through individual stylistic choices that group norms are produced and reproduced' (Coupland 2010:198). I will therefore interpret the social meanings within the frames of the individuals' social  identities  and  group  norms  to  better  understand  which  social functions and social meanings the dialectal variation has.

## 4. Analysis

## 4.1. Correlations between social groups

Gender  emerged  as  the  most  significant  variable  in  the  analysis.  The 'popular boys' and the 'scooter boys' frequently engaged in codeswitching to Funic, whereas the 'popular girls' and the 'clever girls' rarely did so. In fact, it happened occasionally that the 'clever girls' perceived Funic speech as  Jutlandic.  This  suggests  that  some  of  the  girls  neither  used  nor  were completely able to recognize Funic speech. The gendered pattern of dialect use  is  consistent  with  previous  research,  which  has  shown  that  female speakers tend to favor Standard Danish forms more than male speakers, and that regional dialects often may index qualities preferred in male friend groups such as masculinity (Pedersen 2002; Schøning 2017).

Figure 5. The figure shows how the four males (Benny Bob, Peter, Mikkel, Per) use Funic non-stød more than the three females (Brenda, Celina and Frida). The percentage shown is the percentage of all words with potential of non-stød across respectively the interviews, school-recordings and self-recordings. NB. Peter never made a selfrecording.

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## Scandinavian Studies in Language, 16(1), 2025 (1-39)

## Scandinavian Studies in Language, 16(1), 2025 (1-39)

Figure 6. The figure shows how the three males (Benny Bob, Peter, Mikkel) use Funic rising tone more than the three females (Brenda, Celina and Frida) and Per. The percentage shown is the percentage of all words with potential for rising tone across the interviews, school-recordings and self-recordings. According to Poul Andersen, a rising tone is most often realized in monosyllables with high vowels (or o) (Andersen 1958, 3637). These are the criteria for words I have considered potential rising tones. NB. Peter never made a self-recording.

<!-- image -->

Figure  5  and  6  illustrates  a  clear  gendered  pattern  in  the  use  of  Funic features  among  the  adolescents.  The  male  pupils  (Benny  Bob,  Peter, Mikkel and Per) generally use more Funic forms than their female peers (Brenda, Celina and Frida). Brenda and Celina occasionally use non-stød, and this happened if they were very nervous or excited about something or tried to make other girls laugh (Boas 2023b). The use of non-stød forms among  the  male  pupils  were  most  prominent  in  their  self-recordings, indicating that there are more occasions and appropriate social contexts to use Funic when they record themselves compared to the recordings made during the school day and during the interviews with me. However, Benny Bob (a 'scooter boy') uses more non-stød in his interview than during the school day compared to Mikkel and Per (both 'popular boys') which could indicate  that  there  are  different  rules  for  when  to  use  dialect  forms depending on the social rules and interpretive framework in the different social groups. Figure 6 shows the use of rising tones which occurred less frequently than the non-stød forms. Here, the gendered pattern continues with one exception: Per does not seem to use rising tone as much as his male peers. There can be several explanations for this. A plausible one, drawing on the work of Monka, Quist and Skovse (2020), is that because he is not from Funen and he orients himself away from Funen in the future (he wishes to move to the USA after high school) he might be less inclined to  use  Funic  forms that carry stronger indexical associations (which the rising  tone  seems  to  be  compared  to  the  non-stød  as  examples  in  the following sections will show).

Given  that  the  majority  of  adolescents  who  actively  use  Funic variants are male, and in line with the study's focus on the meanings and functions of the use of Funic, the analysis will concentrate on the male friend groups' use of Funic.

## 4.2. Social meanings and functions of Funic speech

The  analysis  will  argue  that  the  social  meanings  and  functions  are purposely  invoked  and  created  by  the  Funic  adolescents.  The  social meanings are localness, humor and being daft and an oaf. The functions are different facework strategies.

## 4.2.1. A sense of localness

We  know  from  sociodialectology  that  language  and  place  are  closely related, as dialects, for example, belong to geographically limited areas. Newer research shows that dialectic speech forms play a crucial role in constructing local identity in societies all around the world (e.g. Johnstone 2011;  Mortensen  2020).  This  article  argues  that  Funic  speech  plays  a central role in shaping local identity among adolescents in Skårup. In the following sections I look further into the social meanings the use of Funic can index that correlate with stereotypical Funic characteristics.

Being Funic seemed to be something that most of the adolescents were  quite aware  of. The  boys  engaged  actively  in  practices that strengthened their relation to the island. The popular boys cheered on OB (the regional football team), and they often wore football team t-shirts to school. A lot of them had chosen to go to boarding schools on Funen after finishing the primary school in Skårup, because they wanted to stay on the

## Kirstine Boas Scandinavian Studies in Language, 16(1), 2025 (1-39)

island.  The  scooter  boys  were  not  interested  in  sports.  Instead,  they frequently referred to the cult 'local' movie Polle fra Snave ,  a  fictional movie about a Funic man, Polle, who is presented as funny and naïve. They quoted lines from the movie in everyday situations and jokingly compared each other to characters, which seemed to serve a cultural reference point for their self-understanding. For instance, after riding around Skårup on their  scooters,  they  would  answer  my  questions  about  their  ride  with phrases like 'total i orden køretur-tur' (totally OK drive-drive) which is a direct reference to the DJ, Harske Hubbi, from the Polle fra Snave movie, who claims he has a 'total I orden musiksmag-smag' (totally OK music taste-taste).

Furthermore, the boys appeared conscious of their use of Funic. It was thus not like a default vernacular style for them, but rather a register they  could  stylize  to  call  upon  certain  social  meanings  in  certain  social situations. During an interview with Per, one of the popular boys, I asked him why he believed that they codeswitched to Funic sometimes.

## Excerpt 1:

|    |     | Danish transcription                                                                                                          | English translation                                                                                             |
|----|-----|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| 01 | INT | hvorfor tror du, at nogle i klassen nogle gange snakker fynsk?                                                                | why do you think some in the class speak Funic sometimes?                                                       |
| 02 | Per | årh (0.5) det er mest drengene der gør det                                                                                    | oh (0.5) it is mostly the boys who do that                                                                      |
| 03 | INT | det har jeg også lagt mærke til. hvis du skal mærke efter i dig selv, hvorfor tror du så at I drenge taler fynsk nogle gange? | i've noticed that too. if you are looking into yourself, why would you say that you boys sometimes speak Funic? |
| 04 | Per | der er vel en slags kærlighed til det, altså til at være fra Fyn, og så gør vi samtidig lidt grin med det                     | I guess there is a kind of love for it, I mean being from Funen, and at the same time we make a bit fun of it   |
| 05 | INT | mmm, okay, det giver mening                                                                                                   | mmm, okay, that makes sense                                                                                     |
| 06 | Per | ja man virker bare sådan mere fynsk-agtig når man siger noget på fynsk og det synes vi                                        | yeah you just seem more Funic-ish when you say something in Funic, and we believe that is quite fun             |

## Kirstine Boas

## Scandinavian Studies in Language, 16(1), 2025 (1-39)

|   07 | INT   | hvordan er man fynsk- agtig, synes du? sådan hvad karakteriserer ligesom en fynsk-agtig person? how are you would you say? like would you say characterizes a person?   | Funic-ish, what Funic-ish                                                     |
|------|-------|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|   08 | Per   | mm, det ved jeg ik (0.8) måske både lidt sjov men også lidt bondsk og gammel i det                                                                                      | mm, I don't know (0.8) maybe both a bit fun but also a bit rural and old- ish |

Per's response highlights the gender pattern in the Funic speech practices and substitutes the findings in section 4.1. In line 02, he links the use of Funic specifically to the boys in the class, implicitly excluding most of the girls from using Funic this way. When asked why they choose to speak Funic, Per addresses two explanations. First, he states that they speak Funic out of love for being from Funen (line 04). While this is not necessarily the same as being proud of being from Funen, they are still embracing what it means to them to be from Funen, including speaking the dialect in socially meaningful contexts. Second, he notes that they also make 'fun of it' (line 04). He reveals what it is they make fun of in line 08, where he, after some considerations, expresses that being Funic to him is associated with being fun,  rural  and  old.  He  adds  that  speaking  Funic  makes  the  boys  appear 'more Funic-ish' (line 06). Following Eckert's notion on how local speech can index characteristics associated with local stereotypes (Eckert 2012:94) this can be interpreted as an example of the regional dialect serving as a resource for indexing regional identity. Johnstone and colleagues similarly observe  in  their  study  of  Pittsburghese  that  'regional  forms  are  now increasingly heard as signals of authentic local identity and can be used to project  localness  (…)  some  'markers',  in  other  words,  have  become stereotypes'  (2006:93).  Per's  phrasing  -  that  they  'do  that'  (line  02)  when he talks about the boys speaking with regional forms, indicates that it is a practice indeed. He adds that it makes them appear more Funic when they speak Funic. This comment reflects that they use enregistered features from the regional dialect to project localness. In the following sections I will elaborate on what Funic forms the adolescents use to call upon these traits.

## 4.2.2 Humor

Humor, playfulness and making others laugh occasionally seemed to be central social values among many of the pupils, particularly within the male

## Scandinavian Studies in Language, 16(1), 2025 (1-39)

friend  groups.  However,  what  was  considered  humorous  varied  across social groups and appeared to be part of a broader stylistic performance. For example, the 'scooter boys' often joked about each other's perceived lack of intelligence, while the 'popular girls' tended to tease each other about their dating lives. Among the boys, codeswitching to Funic played a key role in the humorous interactions. Funic features would often be a part of utterances intended to make others laugh and smile, suggesting that the dialect served as a resource for performing group-specific humor.

This section focuses on two members of the 'popular boys' group: Mikkel  and  Per.  Mikkel  is  a  clever  and  driven  adolescent  who  in  an interview describes himself as:

'Uhm, clever and kind ... and very 'on'. I mean, I like to be a part of things, if I can put it like that (…). And I don't want to do any ... don't want to step on any … I mean I try to be friends with everyone even though I'm not always interested in them. It is important to me to have a good reputation'.

After observing Mikkel's social skills it became clear that he was able to balance being ambitious in school while also being close friends with the fraction of the popular boys' group who did not involve themselves that much in schoolwork. This meant that he was liked by everyone: among his peers who invited him to parties every weekend, and among the teachers who asked him to teach a P.E. lesson about handball, which he plays at a high  level  in  his  sparetime.  Mikkel's  ability  to  balance  academic  and physical ambition with social popularity made him a central figure in the class.

## Excerpt 2 6 :

|    |        | Danish transcription                                | English translation                         |
|----|--------|-----------------------------------------------------|---------------------------------------------|
| 01 | INT    | hvorfor hva spiller du på banen                     | why what do you play in the field           |
| 02 | Mikkel | jeg spiller (.) bagspiller (x det har jeg aldrig x) | I play (.) left back (x I've never x)       |
| 03 | INT    | *uh nice* (0.3) jeg var altid på højre *fløj*       | *uh nice* (0.3) I was always right *winger* |

Kirstine Boas Scandinavian Studies in Language, 16(1), 2025 (1-39)

[he he he he]

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In excerpt 2, Mikkel discussed his position as a handball player, a position that suggests he is quite a talented player. Drawing on my own experience as  a  handball  player,  I  responded  that  I  used  to  play  the  right  wing  (a position often used for the less talented players, as it does either require a lot of talent or a left-handed person to play it well). Mikkel immediately identified the ambiguity, and that I probably was not a particularly good player. To understand what happened next in the conversation, one must keep in mind that it was important to Mikkel that everyone felt at ease in this company. He made a code-switch to Funic as he said '[go: te de jo]' (if  you were good at it , ey ).  He used non-stød to pronounce 'good' and rising  tone  to  pronounce  'it'.  He  smiled  as  he  said  it.  The  code-switch brought  me  to  laugh,  and  the  conversation  thus  took  a  humoristic  turn initiated by Mikkel. Such a situation suggests that Funic features can have a humoristic social function. Funic people are often portrayed as humoristic and fun (Ladegaard 2002; Bøegh n.d.; Boas et al. forth.). When a linguistic feature is used like this, to evoke stereotypical traits, it suggests that the variety is  enregistered  to  a  third  order  of  indexicality  (Silverstein  2003; Eckert 2019). In this case, Funic speech is not only a regional dialectal form, but an enregistered semiotic resource used to index humor.

Mikkel's  use  of  Funic  can  also  be  interpreted  as  an  example  of facework: a politeness strategy to help me save face in a moment where the comparison  between  our  levels  of  handball  skills  could  have  become uncomfortable. As it is important for him to be friends with everyone and uphold a good reputation, humor becomes a strategic tool for him to make the differences between us become more fun and he thereby reinforces the cohesion  between  us.  Per  and  Buster  are  also  members  of  the  'popular boys', and they too care about the image they portray to others as well as ensuring  themselves  the  best  possible  options  for  their  future.  Per  has

## Scandinavian Studies in Language, 16(1), 2025 (1-39)

already started two small businesses at the age of 15, and he aims to be either an engineer, an astronaut or an entrepreneur when he grows up. He knows this means he probably must live in USA for a period of time. Buster is not as ambitious career-wise; however, he is very ambitious in his social life. He is very popular among both the boys in the class, and certainly also among the girls (this information was reported by the girls). In line with Mikkel, he described himself in an interview: 'I really enjoy that people like me, and … if that's okay to say ... it's honestly also important for me to make sure everyone is happy when they are around me and I think that is something other people like'. In excerpt 3, Per and Buster are interacting. They are welcoming their friend home, who has been travelling to a Pacific island for several weeks. The classroom is filled with pupils who are all swarming around the friend who is back from vacation. Per and Buster both attempt  to  cut  through  the  noise  and  gain  his  attention  by  making  him laugh. They do so by commenting on his new tan.

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In excerpt 3, Per attempts to gain his friend's attention by commenting on his  tan,  using  the  English  word  'black'  (line  01)  instead  of  the  Danish 'sort'. He stylizes the pronunciation both by saying it loud and with a tense release of the initial /b/. There can be several reasons why he chooses to pronounce his utterance this way, but the context taken into consideration, it  is  likely  that  he  tried  to  attract  attention  and  possibly  provoke.  If  an individual uses a certain style that indexes qualities associated with a social group  one  would  not  typically  associate  a  given  speaker  with,  they  are 'crossing' (Rampton 1995). When crossing, an individual can draw on the characteristics  typically  associated  with  this  population  (Rampton  1995; Bucholtz and Hall 2004; Auer 2006; Coupland 2013). It seems that that is what Per does, as he utters that the light skin of his friend has become

## Scandinavian Studies in Language, 16(1), 2025 (1-39)

'black'. It can be interpreted as provoking and socially incorrect behavior for someone not black to call another person black. In this situation it is likely  an  attempt  to  receive  a  reaction  from  his  peers,  who  often  find slightly  boundary  seeking  language-use  humorous.  However,  it  goes relatively unnoticed, and this is when Buster utters his comment with Funic pronunciations.  Buster  does  not  respond  directly  to  Per's  utterance  but turns to their mutual friend and asks him if he will donate (some of his tan), using a non-stød pronunciation on 'donate'. He uses the Funic pronunciation  to  underline  the  humor  intended  (because  one  obviously cannot donate tan). Contrary to Per, Buster's utterance makes their friends laugh, including the friend who returned from vacation. In this case, the Funic pronunciation is both intended and interpreted as humoristic.

Both Mikkel and Buster temporarily use Funic features in a highly stylized manner, where single words are pronounced in Funic but not entire utterances.  The  same  pattern  of  dialect  use  has  been  observed  on Bornholm: 'local dialect  is  not  used  as  an  unmarked  everyday  register. Instead, the young people speak Standard Danish and only use dialect in very specific contexts and with specific functions, usually highly stylized' (Maegaard 2020:1). Variants structured and used like this are never random (Blommaert and Varis 2011:4), and because the examples show that Funic in certain situations is used to call upon humor and laughs, humor seems to be a very central element in the linguistic practice of adolescents using Funic today.

## 4.2.3 Being daft/an oaf

The  'scooter  boys'  position  themselves  in  opposition  to  many  of  the expectations  placed  on  them  from  the  school  and  society,  and  they established their own standards for what was valuable and meaningful for them to spend time on. This was particularly the case within the school system, where I observed their behavior. To them it was unimportant to be on time every morning or after the breaks, it was unimportant to achieve high  grades,  or  to  have  prepared  homework,  and  it  was  unimportant  to participate actively in class. They did, on the other hand, have youth jobs at the local mechanic or supermarket, where it was important to excel, do a good job and earn money to improve their scooters. Opposite the group of popular boys, the scooter boys did not mind portraying themselves as naive, even a bit stupid, and as someone who did not aspire to meet the expectations to them from society (mostly represented by their teachers and parents).  In  the  following  conversation  two  of  the  scooter  boys  are recording themselves as they have left the school campus to go to the local supermarket.  Here,  they  discuss  the  new  scooter  one  of  them  plans  on acquiring soon, and how he does not plan on riding on it within the legal speed limits. This conversation exemplifies an oaf identity that is central to this social group, but also a characteristic trait that several of the informants expressed  they  associated  with  rural  Funic  people.  As  they  discuss  the illegal scooter and how they plan on driving it, the use of Funic non-stød gradually increases during their conversation.

## Excerpt 4:

|    |      | Danish transcription                                                       | English translation                                                           |
|----|------|----------------------------------------------------------------------------|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| 01 | BB   | en Yogger AS?                                                              | A Yogger AS?                                                                  |
| 02 | Lars | ja fordi det har jeg faktisk lovet mig selv.                               | yeah because I've actually promised myself that.                              |
| 03 | BB   | vil du så købe den lovligt fra start af ? eller?                           | will you buy it legally from the beginning? or?                               |
| 04 | Lars | ! " # $ % & nej! ! " # $ % & den jeg har kigget på egå, den kører 100 plus | ! " # $ % & no! ! " # $ % & the one I've looked at, right, it goes a 100 plus |
| 05 | BB   | he he                                                                      | He he                                                                         |
| 06 | Lars | min mor sagde jaa, men det fint nok Lars                                   | my mom said yeaah but it's all right Lars                                     |
| 07 | BB   | ja?                                                                        | yeah?                                                                         |
| 08 | Lars | bare du kører ordentligt !                                                 | as long as you drive properly                                                 |
| 09 | BB   | du kommer du ik til he he                                                  | you're not going to do that he he                                             |
| 10 | Lars | nej! overho't ik! det skal være baghjul hele vejen til Skårup              | no! not at all ! it is going to be the rear wheel all the way to Skårup       |
| 11 | BB   | flyver med 90 km/t på baghjul forbi *uklart*                               | flying with 90 km/h on the rear wheel across *unclear*                        |
| 12 | Lars | hvorfor ik 100 kilometer? bare forbi skolen, map map maaap mh mh mh mmmm   | why not 100 kilometers? just past the school map map maaap mh mh mh mmmm      |

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## Kirstine Boas

## Scandinavian Studies in Language, 16(1), 2025 (1-39)

|   13 | BB   | he he og så lige ta et barn me på vejen å hårh der var sgu da et bump der ik normalt var der he he and then hit a child on the road oh he there was a bump here that wasn't here   |
|------|------|------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|   14 | Lars | he he he he he he                                                                                                                                                                  |

During  the  interviews,  I  consistently  asked  the  pupils  how  they  would characterize the different social groups in their class. All the pupils talked about  the  'scooter  boys'  as  'bøvede',  a  Danish  adjective  which  loosely could be translated into 'oaf' or the adjective 'daft', referring to a laidback, uncultivated, unintelligent, rude and silly behavior. Members of the group themselves would, laughingly, also use that adjective to describe themselves, indicating that they were quite aware of the social signals they projected. Their humor is also quite outspoken as it shows in excerpt 4, and it seems as if the dafter they become, the more Funic they speak. Benny Bob makes the first codeswitch to a Funic variant in line 03, when he asks if Lars plans to buy his new scooter legally. Choosing to switch at this exact time in the interaction suggests that Benny Bob is aware that this question is on the border of what is socially acceptable. When using Funic he draws on  the  indexes  to  humor  and  a  self-awareness  of  the  oaf  scooterboystereotype;  Lars  seems  to  perceive  the  intention  of  his  codeswitch  as  a humorous  mitigation  of  a boundary-seeking  question  as he replies laughingly with a 'No!' (line 04). He then continues to joke about how he is going to drive the scooter illegally, using Funic forms occasionally (line 10-13). In line 13 Benny Bob makes a dark joke about driving the scooter so fast he accidentally runs over a child outside the school. As previous work shows (Boas 2023b), Funic forms can be used by different social groups to mitigate dark humor and statements in a way that makes them socially more acceptable. This is also the case in line 13. Lars' laughter in line  14  suggests  he  interprets  the  utterance  in  this  way.  This  is  also  an example  of  the  scooter  boys  acting  as 'politeness  oafs'  (discussed  in Kiesling  2007),  which  are  characterized  by  direct  commands  and  being unpolite.  The  scooter  boys  are  quite  direct  in  their  communication  with each other and make statements and jokes that are not polite or politically correct. Kiesling argues that this kind of linguistic behavior sets men up to perform masculinity, as politeness can be interpreted as powerless or as feminine  behavior  in  some  social  groups  (Kiesling  2007:667).  The  oaf

## Scandinavian Studies in Language, 16(1), 2025 (1-39)

behavior  could  therefore  be  interpreted  as  a  part  of  a  masculinity performance among the scooter boys.

In excerpt 1, the 'popular boy' Per stated that being Funic to him meant that one was old, rural and fun. Although the humor portrayed in excerpt 4 is both related to rurality and fun, it would probably be more correct in this case to categorize it as humor used to project daft or oaf characteristics. To Per this did not seem to correlate with his understanding of what being Funic indexes. He nor the rest of the 'popular boys' used Funic  if  they  portrayed  themselves  as  oafs.  It  thus  indicates  that  the indexical field of social meanings related to Funic speech can be expanded and that it consists of different social meanings with potential to be realized differently  depending on what each social group or individual associate with  a  stereotypical  Funic  stereotype.  In  future  research,  I  will  test  this perceptually  to  elicit  which  social  meanings  the  different  social  groups associate with Funic speech.

## 4.2.4 Facework

I have already touched upon the interaction between maintaining face and the  usage  of  Funic  in  section  4.2.2,  but  in  this  section,  I  elaborate  on examples of how Funic can be used to mitigate a negative face and is used in social politeness strategies. Throughout my fieldwork, I often witnessed (or  were  part  of)  interactions  where  informants  would  experience  facethreatening situations, meaning social situations where they were in danger of losing their face and thereby experience a threat to the persona they tried to  portray  to  others  (Goffman  1967).  There  were  different  topics  or circumstances  that  could  threaten  different  individuals  from  upholding their  identity  performances,  as  they  had  their  own  individual  social identities  constituted  on  the  different  rules  of  social  interaction  and behavior  in  the  different  social  groups.  Among  the  'popular  boys',  for example, I observed that they avoided topics that could portray them as vulnerable in order to appear as masculine as possible. They would go to the gym a few times during the week together, and they therefore discussed muscles and training quite a lot. If they were talking about girls, it was rarely  about  how  they  felt  for  them  but  rather  the  girls'  looks  and  who kissed  who.  Whenever  someone  fell  sick  (and  appeared  vulnerable)  I noticed that they rarely spoke about it. Initially, I was not quite sure this was a social rule in their group, so I decided to ask Mikkel, one of the

'popular  boys',  about  his  few  days  of  absence  while  he  was  doing schoolwork with other members of his social group.

## Excerpt 5:

|    |        | Danish transcription                                                               | English translation                                                                        |
|----|--------|------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| 01 | INT    | var du der ik da de så film Mikkel                                                 | were you not there when they watched the movie Mikkel                                      |
| 02 | Mikkel | nej (0.4) der var jeg lige nød til å ta hjem                                       | no (0.4) I just had to go home                                                             |
| 03 | INT    | du har været lidt syg på det sidste (.) har du ik                                  | you've been a bit sick recently (.) haven't you                                            |
| 04 | Mikkel | jo:hh det har jeg (0.5) haft feber å ondt i halsen å sådan lidt                    | jo:hh I have (0.5) had fever and a sore throat and stuff like that                         |
| 05 | INT    | nå det da irriterende                                                              | oh that's annoying                                                                         |
| 06 | Mikkel | [jah]                                                                              | yeah                                                                                       |
| 07 | INT    | er du ved at være (0.1) stærkt tilbage nu                                          | so have you made a (0.1) strong return now                                                 |
| 08 | Mikkel | jo:aw (.) eh jeg har stadig lidt ondt i halsen (.) men ellers så (0.1) så det fint | ye:ah (.) eh i still have a bit of a sore throat (.) but besides from that (0.1) it's fine |

a

When I asked Mikkel about his recent illness, his brief responses show a reluctance  to  engage  further  in  a  conversation  with  me,  which  suggest discomfort  discussing  this  topic  in  front  of  his  friends.  After  an  initial attempt to end the conversation (line 02), Mikkel increasingly employed Funic features which served two key functions. First, they shifted the tone of  the  interaction  from  serious  to  humorous,  diffusing  potential  tension between us. Second, they operated as a code-switching strategy through which Mikkel regains control over a face-threatening situation. His face as a not vulnerable member of the 'popular boys' is threatened by me insisting on getting him to tell me about his illness in this situation. According to Goffman's  facework  theory  (1967),  individuals  go  to  great  lengths  to preserve their self-image and avoid humiliation. Among the popular boys it  is  perceived  as  emasculating  to  be  sick  and  cared  for,  and  this  is something they want to avoid. It is therefore important for Mikkel to regain control in front of his friends. By trivializing the questions about his illness, Mikkel effectively initiates a corrective process that protects his face in front of his friends. As he uses a rising tone in the end on 'fine' his friends laugh and pat his back, and he thus successfully turned the conversation around and regained his face as a humoristic, outgoing and entertaining young man.

## 4.2.5 A positive face strategy

Speaking with regional forms appeared to serve as a strategy for appealing to a common positive face within in the two male social groups. Several factors  point  towards  this  assumption.  First,  Funic  speech  seemed  to  be something most of them associated with humor, irony, and meaningful ingroup communication. Even when used playfully or mockingly, there is, as Mikkel stated, the love towards the local language is central in this as well (see section 4.1.1). Once there is an agreement about Funic as something enregistered to common positive associations, they can begin to use Funic to appeal to a common positive face. Because of this, Funic forms could be used as a persuasive strategy to convince someone to do something they might initially have rejected.

## Excerpt 6:

<!-- image -->

|    |        | Danish transcription                                            | English translation                                         |
|----|--------|-----------------------------------------------------------------|-------------------------------------------------------------|
| 01 | Per    | hvis du bar snakker stille og roligt ind til den her            | if you just talk easy and steady into this one here         |
| 02 | Buster | ! " # $ % & nå den der rekord ting (.) det den der rekorder der | ! " # $ % & oh that recording thing (.) that recorder there |

In this excerpt coming from one of Per's self-recordings, it appears that different  positions  are  involved.  On  the  one  hand,  Per  wants  Buster  to participate  in  making  the  self-recording.  I  observed  them  during  this interaction and saw Per trying unsuccessfully to put the dictaphone in front of  Buster two times before he uttered a sentence with a Funic non-stød variant, as can be seen in line 01. Buster thus has a negative face in this case, and Per tries to appeal to him with a positive face strategy by drawing on  their  common  positive  stance  towards  using  Funic  forms.  I  will therefore argue that Per's codeswitch can be interpreted as a use of positive politeness strategy (Brown and Levinson 1978; 1987) to persuade him to join the self-recording. Positive politeness is a degree of politeness used to make someone do something they do not necessarily want to do. Per uses Funic as a strategic element to convince Buster that joining the recording is also in his interest by appealing to a common positive face. The approach has a positive effect, because this time Buster engages and replies with two code-switches with a rising tone and a non-stød variant. He has already made a self-recording prior to this recording. Therefore, he uses the Funic identity to position himself as an oaf and as slow when he pretends not knowing  how  to  use  a  dictaphone.  When  doing  this  he  engages  in  the practice with a humoristic approach that seems to fit their understanding of what Funic can be used for.

## 5. Discussion

This article has argued that the Funic regional dialect is an enregistered variety which has the potential to index localness, humor, daftness/being an  oaf,  and  to  carry  out  certain  social  functions  such  as  facework  and positive  politeness  appealing  to  shared  positive  face.  These  findings contribute with sociodialectological knowledge about a central area that has not been studied for a long time compared to other Danish regions. The analysis suggests that many Funic adolescents are not only aware of their regional dialect, but that it has been enregistered, so they can understand its  social  potential  to  index  qualities,  and  they  understand how to use it strategically.

While it is still unclear from the analysis whether absence of stød and  rising  tones  features  index  different  qualities  or  merely  different degrees of Funic identity, my observations and the excerpts selected for this analysis suggest that rising tones are more salient as they are used as highly stylized and possibly as 'extra' Funic; they thus serve as a strong regional marker. For instance, in excerpt 5, Mikkel's rising intonation on 'fint'  counterbalances  the  seriousness  of  his  illness  with  humor,  and  in excerpt 6, Buster's rising tone in the response to Per's attempt to appeal to their common positive face shows that he accepted the strategic approach. These findings imply that rising tones play a more pronounced role than the absence of stød which is still used as marked speech often with less of a  reaction from the speaker's peers. Rising tones were not a part of the South-Funic dialect traditionally, and it can therefore be interpreted as a hyperdialectism  when  the  adolescents  use  it  stylized  and  strategically. Besides the rising tones, they continue to use the traditional South Funic

## Scandinavian Studies in Language, 16(1), 2025 (1-39)

non-stød.  Previous  research  has  shown  that  hyperdialectisms  have  been used to sound local and authentic (Trudgill 1988:551), which also seems to be the case in Skårup. The adolescents use rising tone to perform a local, Funic identity. Whether they purposely add a new variant to the dialect, or they  believe  the  rising  tone  has  always  been  a  part  of  the  South-Funic dialect is unclear. However, since they generally use a limited amount of dialectal features it is likely that they do not know what traditionally was characteristic of South-Funic speech, and instead turn to the features with the strongest indexes to Funic characteristics.

Recent studies have shown that different Danish regional varieties have specific social functions and meanings, and with this analysis in mind it seems like different regional dialects index different social meanings. For example, de-dialectalization in Hirtshals and Bornholm has led to dialectal features signaling social accessibility, intimacy, humor, or they serve to mitigate face-threatening acts (Mortensen, 2020; Stæhr and Larsen, 2020). Similarly,  in  Oksbøl,  stylized  or  regional  forms  projects  an  'awkward' identity (Schøning 2017). The oaf characteristics thus seem to be exclusive to Funic, just as the awkwardness seems to be exclusive to West Jutlandic. These differences suggest that the use of dialect is closely connected to perceptions of regional stereotypes and presupposed associations with local speakers.

Coupland argues that codeswitches to a dialect style can be used to call  upon  social  meanings  associated  with  the  variety.  He  furthermore argues that in a world where we are increasingly exposed to language codes the active choice to use regional dialect is to show a particular cultural and social position (Coupland 2010:204). In the present case, Funic is used as a  way  of  signaling  a  common  positive  stance  towards  the  local.  The informants also seem to make fun of the local by drawing on stereotypical traits (such as the ones exhibited in Polle fra Snave ), but there is a warmth to it, still.

In their study of the use of Bornholmian speech, Stæhr and Larsen discuss if this use of regional dialect is an expression of a terminal stage of de-dialectatization (2020), using 'stylistic  shrinkage'  (Campbell  and Muntzell 1989) as a term that captures the marked choices of using dialect as a stylistic choice. Using regional dialect as marked can very well be an expression of a terminal stage of the traditional dialects. The adolescents who use regional dialect were expected not to use any dialect at all due to the strong language ideology in Denmark (Maegaard 2020), however, the adolescents  (and  the  younger  Funic  generation)  actively  use  regional dialects in numerous places across the country. This suggests that while there  might  be  a  strong  language  ideology  amongst  them  preferring regional standard language (Hansen and Goldshtein 2021) or Copenhagen standard  language  (Kristiansen  2009),  there  is  also  an  active  choice  to speak locally. It is difficult to tell if this is a case of stylistic shrinkage and a last step in a de-dialectatization process or if this is an expression of a generation  with  a  growing  curiosity  to  explore  locally  embedded  social meanings and local orientation in a time where the whole world is available to them online - and to a large extent also in real life.

## 6. Conclusion

This  study  has  demonstrated  that  Funic  speech  among  adolescents  in Skårup is not only actively used but also has the potential to convey socially meaningful information. Funic functions as an enregistered variety capable of indexing qualities associated with stereotypical Funic traits and capable of carrying out social functions. It was particularly the Funic features of rising tones and non-stød forms that seemed to be able to establish an index to these qualities. Not surprisingly, the analysis showed a gendered pattern where the male friends groups engaged in stylized use of Funic forms, and the  female  groups  did  not.  Through  an  in-depth  analysis  of  transcribed recordings of interviews, school group work and self-recordings it became clear  that  the  Funic  features  are  used  strategically  by  the  adolescents  to index social qualities such as humor, localness and daftness/being an oaf, and  that  these  Funic  forms  can  be  used  to  strategically  to  carry  social functions such as managing face, using politeness strategies and overall perform a local, Funic identity. It depended on the interpretative framework of the different social groups whether a potential social meaning would be realized or not. For example, Funic would never be used to index daftness among the 'popular boys', but it would often be used to this among the 'scooter boys'. Importantly, the stylized use of Funic features suggests a shift from  traditional dialect use to dialect style  used  as  marked, performative  speech.  Future  perceptual  studies  are  needed  to  further explore the indexical field of Funic speech and to understand exactly how different  social  groups  interpret  and  associate  meaning  with  regional features.  This  will  broaden  our  understanding  of  how  regional  dialects

## Scandinavian Studies in Language, 16(1), 2025 (1-39)

seem to  evolve  as  tools  for  social  positioning  and  identity  construction among adolescents in contemporary Denmark.

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