User:Callumlovescars/Viby-I

Viby-i (also called Lidingö-i or more rarely Göteborgs-i) is in Swedish dialectology and phonetics as a "muffled" or "buzzing" i-sound that occurs in several Swedish dialects. The same characteristic articulation is also found in the "y" sound, which is then usually called "Viby-y". In most dialects, only the long i-sound (and the y-sound) are pronounced in this way, but in some dialects the short i-sound (and the y-sound) can also be pronounced "Viby".

Spread
The name originates from the Viby parish in Närke, but exists or has traditionally existed in many other dialects:


 * Bohuslän: the southern parts and on Orust and Tjörn
 * Dalsland: the eastern parts south of Mellerud in Sundals and the southern part of Nordals county
 * Halland: the areas around Halmstad
 * Hälsingland: Ovanåker parish
 * Medelpad: Liden's parish and in the Indalsälven valley around Sundsvall
 * Närke: Viby parish, Hardemo parish, Kräcklinge parish, Tängeråsa parish, Knista parish, Askers parish and Mellösa parish
 * Småland: in Torsås parish in southernmost Kalmar county
 * Värmland: in Norra Ny parish in northern Klarälvdalen
 * Östergötland: the easternmost part of Vikbolandet between Bråviken and Slätbaken with the associated archipelago, as well as in the eastern part of Finspånga county district

In addition to the rural areas above, it is also present in modern urban dialects since the beginning of the 20th century in Gothenburg, since at least the 1950s in Stockholm and more recently also in Uppsala, and now seems to have spread in eastern Central Sweden.

Phonetic Defenition
Acoustic investigations have shown that Viby-i is a centralized vowel [ɨ], with a low second formant (F2) and a reasonably high first formant (F1). Articulatory, speakers vary in how they produce the sound, and use different strategies to produce the same sound. These articulatory strategies include a low and forward position of the tongue with the tongue tip high and with the posterior part of the tongue (post-dorsum) retracted. Viby-i is often described as having a "buzzing" or fricative quality, which has been attributed to the vowel co-articulating with a voiced s sound [z]. Claes-Christian Elert uses the transcription [iːᶻ] for this reason. However, an articulatory study of speakers in Gothenburg, Stockholm and Uppsala showed that this is unusual, and that at least for these dialects it is more likely that the friction comes from a fricative glide after the vowel ([j], [ç] or [ʝ]), which is common after closed vowels in Central Swedish. For speakers in Stockholm and the surrounding area, even the j sound can get Viby coloring in certain frequent words such as hej and okej.

In modern phonetic literature, Viby-i is usually transcribed as a closed central unrounded vowel [ɨ]. With the national language alphabet, the sound is transcribed with the symbols ⟨ʅ ʯ⟩, which, through the sinologist Bernhard Karlgren, have also been included in the Chinese phonological tradition for the so-called "apical" or fricative vowels, which are reminiscent of Viby-i and Viby-y.

History
Viby-i and Viby-y have been around since at least the mid-1800s. According to Marcus Borgström's description of the dialect in Asker's parish in Närke from 1913, Viby-i and Viby-y "have not long ago been introduced into the case, and that during the current generation it has consolidated its power." Place name researcher Staffan Fridell has also suggested that the spelling of the place name Ri from both Kvistbro parish in Närke and Timrå parish in Medelpad could be a rendering of Viby-y, because the place name comes from the word ryd 'clearing'. These parishes would then have had Viby-y already in the 18th century or earlier. Bengt Holmberg suggests, based on the so-called relative dating of other vowel changes, that Viby-i in Bohuslän must be from at least older New Swedish times (1526–1732).

In Gothenburg's city dialect, Viby-i is mentioned in an article by Olof Gjerdman from the year 1916. Claes-Christian Elert believes that Viby-i may have spread from the dialects in southern Bohuslän to Gothenburg, but according to Bertil Björseth this is not likely because the sound qualities in i -the sounds are different. In addition, Bohuslän has Viby coloring even in the short i sound, which Gothenburg does not.

Viby-i in Stockholm
At some stage, Viby-i has also entered Stockholm's city dialect, where it is often called "Lidingö-i", and is mentioned there already in the 1950s. The similarities between the west coast's older Viby-i and Stockholm's younger Viby-i have led to speculation that it would have spread from the west coast to Stockholm. This hypothesis was launched by Carl Ivar Ståhle who in 1981 proposed that young people from Djursholm and Lidingö, who often spend their summer holidays on the west coast in places like Marstrand and Smögen, would have adopted the i sound from the local population and then used it as a group marker when they returned to Stockholm. The hypothesis has also been popularized by Fredrik Lindström in the 2003 TV program Värsta spåret, as well as in an article in Språktidningen. According to Ulla-Britt Kotsinas, the matter is "[uncertain], and the information is vague". Fabienne Westerberg writes in her dissertation on Viby-i that there is no research that neither supports nor rejects Ståhle's hypothesis, but that one objection is that the Stockholm Viby-i is more similar to the Gothenburg one than the Bohuslän one. She believes that it is more likely that it has spread through dialect contact within Stockholm, or via so-called "city-hopping", a sociolinguistic diffusion model according to which language features spread from city to city. Sven Björsten and Olle Engstrand suggest in an article from 1999 that Viby-i has arisen separately in different places.

Status
The rural Viby-i enjoys a different sociolinguistic prestige than the urban Viby-i in Gothenburg and Stockholm. In the rural areas of Närke and Bohuslän, the trait generally has low prestige and is considered "ugly" and "rural" and is generally typical of speakers of low social status. In the cities, on the other hand, the sound has been distinctive for the speech of higher social strata and has been associated with a well-off social class, which the name Lidingö-i also testifies to because Lidingö municipality is one of Sweden's richest municipalities. When the move was investigated by Ulla-Britt Kotsinas in the 1990s, the sound was mainly used by young women in neighborhoods in northern Stockholm, which are generally inhabited by higher social classes. In lower social classes in southern Stockholm, the trait was found in young women, but hardly at all in young men. Since the 1990s, there are indications that the move has lost its social charge and has become more spread across social groups. In Westerberg's thesis on Viby-i in Gothenburg, Stockholm and Uppsala, for example, the move was used by all participants regardless of age or gender.

Illustrations and popular culture
In some dialects, there are different example sentences to illustrate Viby-i. A saying in western Närke is reproduced by the diplomat Jan Mårtenson, who in Viiby tells dii to biina biiss, but dii felle wiisst iinte, because dii stiicks. According to Claes-Christian Elert, in Sundsvall speakers from Liden are ridiculed with the phrase "Ä jiᶻ från Liᶻden?" 'Are you from Liden?' That the sound itself is named after Viby, according to Elert, also has to do with the fact that the name of the place contains both an i and a y sound, so that the phenomenon can easily be exemplified.

In popular culture, Viby-i has been frequently used in comedy programs such as Hey Baberiba and SNN News in satirical imitations of the upper class and the royal family. The near-king Viby-i is also used by the comedian Peter Flack in his role as Hjalmar Berglund from Viby.