Two Standards: One for the Media and One for the School

Abstract

This paper argues that young Danes are in the process of changing the notion of Standard Danish, partly by 'moving' it in the direction of what used to be perceived as 'low' Copenhagen speech, partly by 'splitting' it in two. Verbal guise data gathered in the town of Næstved not far from Copenhagen in 1989 indicated that 'low' Copenhagen features were far from alien to young Næstveders' representations of Standard Danish. Furthermore, the upgrading of speakers with such features was found to be stronger on 'dynamism' traits than on 'superiority' traits. A replication of the study in 1998 showed that the notion of Standard Danish continues to move in the direction of 'low' Copenhagen speech, and also that considerations of 'dynamism' and 'superiority' continue to play a decisive role in young Næstveders' attitudinal relationship to the phonetic variation in Copenhagen speech. The paper suggests that the evaluative distinction between 'dynamism' and 'superiority' reflects different notions of 'excellence' within traditional public institutions like school and business, on the one hand, and the modern media, on the other.