Diphthongization in three regional varieties of Swedish

This study investigates diphthongization in three Swedish varieties that the literature has regarded as different: Lund, Linköping and Stockholm. In all three varieties, the high vowels /iː/, /yː/, /ʉː/ and /uː/ turn out to only marginally glide, if at all, and /eː/ exhibits clear diphthongization of a centralizing nature. For /oː/, a similar centralization is found in Stockholm, but none is found in Linköping, and the reverse is found in Lund. /ɛː/, /øː/ and /ɑː/ do not diphthongize, but /ɛː/ and /øː/ are realized strikingly low in all three varieties, suggesting an alternative transcription as /æː/ and /œː/. An additional finding is that geminate consonants are hardly longer than singleton consonants, so that the fundamental Swedish binary distinction between VCː and VːC syllable types nowadays has to rely on differences in vowel duration, vowel quality, and diphthongization. Diphthongization may thus be an instrument in the maintenance of auditory contrast.