ABSTRACT
This chapter presents the results of variationist analyses of the language use of 20 speakers from three field sites, representing families of three generations. The analyses make it possible to compare patterns of language change in apparent time in three locations in the same relatively homogeneous and linguistically well-described nation state. The results show that although standardization is taking (and has taken) place in all three areas, it happens in different ways and at different paces. In Southern Jutland the young speakers still use quite a high amount of local dialect features, and even though their dialect use differs from that of their parents and grandparents, they arguably speak the local dialect. In Northern Jutland, standardization seems to have commenced several generations ago. The youngest informants use no dialect variants; however, they do use some regional variants. Finally, on the island of Bornholm, we see the standardization process happening very abruptly from one generation to the next in the participating families, with Bornholmian youth using virtually no dialect variants, whereas their parents and grandparents use dialect variants extensively. The complex results point to the importance of incorporating a multitude of data and preferably more than one field site to gain further insights into processes of language change.
