Dialects Converging Rural Speech in Urban Noray [Hardcover]

How and why do adults modify their language when they move to a new area? In this detailed study of rural dialect users who have moved to the Norwegian city of Bergen, Kerswill throws light on this widespread phenomenon. The book is concerned with the theory of language change through language and dialect contact, and with the theory and practice of sociolinguistics. While the approach is broadly quantitative, the author shows the importance of ethnographic and social-psychological explanations.

...considerably more readable than many with similar antecedents. It will certainly prove useful to those interested in current developments in social dialectology and dialect contact, and it provides an excellent model in many respects for advanced students in these areas. --Language inSociety