Dialect Identification of Swedish Dialects by Speakers of Scanian

This study investigates Scanian Swedes’ dialect identification ability of seven Swedish regional dialects. Particularly, the study aims to find out whether or not the scientific division of Swedish dialect regions more or less overlap with actual speakers’ ability to differentiate between dialects. It also investigates some idiosyncratic participant variables that affect dialect identification ability. 22 native Swedish speakers from the Scania region of Sweden were presented with speech samples spanning seven dialect regions of Sweden and asked to perform a dialect identification test by paring the speech samples marked regions of Sweden. The answers were then compiled and accuracy rates were analysed with respect to participants’ ages and the dialects featured in the speech samples. The results show that younger speakers tend to be less accurate in their ability to identify the dialects compared to older speakers. It is also found that participants are much more likely to correctly identify dialects that are geographically close to their own. However, whenever listeners incorrectly identify a dialect, their answer is likely to be that of a geographically neighbouring region. The results indicate that ability to identify dialects is likely be tied to experience with the dialect, since age and geographic closeness are major factors. Furthermore the results indicate that the scientific division of these dialects is rather closely tied to speakers' perception of the dialects.