Rhythmic Variability and Swedish-Estonian Language Contact
نویسنده
چکیده
Pairwise Variability Index (PVI) gives a measure of the amount of variation between adjacent speech units, making it possible to arrange languages in a continuum of relative variability. In the present study, the PVI of Estonian speakers living in Sweden for over 60 years was compared to the PVI of Swedish and of Estonian spoken in Estonia. The results show that (1) PVI is significantly higher in Swedish for vowels and syllables, but not for consonants and feet; (2) the PVI of Estonian speakers in Sweden does not differ from the PVI of Estonian speakers in Estonia; (3) the PVI of Swedish spoken by Estonians in Sweden is closer to the Swedish than to the Estonian VPI but does not reach the level of native Swedish speakers.
منابع مشابه
Rhythm in Estonian Swedish
Estonian Swedish, an endangered variety of Swedish once widely spoken in the coastal areas and islands of Estonia, retains several archaic features of Swedish, and shows apparent linguistic influences from Estonian. The present paper offers the first systematic investigation of Estonian Swedish rhythm, which has been impressionistically characterised as having a relatively even distribution of ...
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