” A total hillbilly?”

1. ” A total hillbilly?” Youth language and forming identity in a small island community

2. 160 U2K: No, you see, we have a rule here at school that says we 161 U2K: cannot swear ((laughter)) so= 162 U9K: So I have replaced crap and fuck with= poop and = 163 U2K: Oh, bother! ((laughter)) 164 U9K: Oh, bother or something like that! ((laughter)) 165 I: Poop, yes, that’s just hurting! ((laughter)) 166 U9K: Yes, but you know, when I visited my cousin on <place> 167 U9K: beside <place> during Easter , and he, he got so angry with 168 U9K: me because I just sat there ”oh, poop, oh, otter” 169 U9K: (”weird voice”), you know, there is no one saying otter 170 U9K: and,= I had to come up with something? ((laughter)) = 171 U9K: I felt really corny, people were swearing as hell, 172 U9K: and I sat there= ”poop” ((laughter)) 173 U2K: [((laughter))] 174 I: And then they are thinking like ”so, that’s how the youths of 175 I: Løkta are like <giggling> 176 U9K: Yeah, a totally hillbilly, that one! ((laughter))

3. Definitions • Youth language:Language use among youths that quantitatively and/or qualitatively differs from the elderly generation’s way of speaking • Young people develop the dialect either by making new linguistic variants or by accentuating already ongoing changes • They also make use of an implicit and expressive conversational style → slang words → swearing → sound-words (wrooom, phow) → discourse markers (like, just / liksom, bare). → talking tempo → shorter turns → interruptions Such an implicit and expressive conversational style is not exclusive for young people! These features occur also in the language of adults, but normally in a more restricted sense both in relation to how much and also to when it is used

4. Identity → Essensialism → Constructivism • Compromise: Identity is a set of inborn and gained characteristics that make us who we are

5. Language as acts of identity • The school of sociolinguistics: language as a social matter • The individual chooses the way she talks, based on who she wants to be, or wants to be different from → Referred to as acts of identity by the sociolinguists Le Page and Thabouret-Keller • In this sense youths seem to be the perfect object to study… → Tremendous search for identity and belonging → Language – in the same way as hairstyle, clothes and music preferences – becomes a symbolic expression of orientation

6. Background / motivation • The study of youth language has been restricted to urban centres and to a certain extent to larger, rural districts • It has not been investigated in sparsely populated areasbefore → Such areas lack what researchers believe are the premises for language variation in general: unstable social conditions and crossing social patterns among the inhabitants • Because of this and a natural curiosity of my own, I decided to visit the island Løkta to find out if any youth language existed there

7. About Løkta • Løkta is located at the coast of Helgeland, almost in the middle of Norway

8. Neighbouring towns: Sandnessjøen (south), Mo i Rana (east) and Mosjøen (southeast) • Løkta is part of the local government Dønna • It has about 160 inhabitants • The settlement is highly scattered • The inhabitants usually work as farmers, but some also have other kinds of jobs in Sandnessjøen • Løkta has its own school with a primary and a secondary level • The local patriotism and people‘s care for their island is striking: → the number of organisations (I counted 11) → the inhabitants are often seen in newspapers, protesting against disadvantageous decisions from the local government or promoting happenings at Løkta

9. Data collection • The data was collected mainly through interviews • 23 informants: eleven youths (14–16 years) and twelve adults (44 to 82 years) • 1. interview turn: Aim: to record language Informants: youths and adults (in pairs) • 2. interview turn: Aim: To understand the language situation Informants: only youths (separately)

10. Results: dialect • The youths had less traditional dialect-forms than the adults • The innovative forms also existed in the adults’ language, especially in the middle aged group • An ongoing change in the dialect at Løkta?

11. Conversational style • The occurrence of typical youth conversational style-features occurred more frequently among the youths than the adults • All of the features were represented also in the adult language (with exception of English slang s.a. cool, nerd) • The use of the features was also qualitatively different → The youths used the discourse markers with more functions → The youths had more elements of dramatization • Youth language at Løkta vs. in towns (earlier research) → Typical youth conversational style-features were less frequent at Løkta → The youth language at Løkta was also qualitatively less typical: Youths in towns are found to use swearing with sexual themes, while the youths at Løkta sworeexclusively with reference to the religious area (“conventional” swearing)

12. Youth language at Løkta: - acts of what identity? • Accomodation theory: We talk similar to those we want to resemble and different from those we won’t be associated with • Traditionally youth language has been considered as a wish to be different from the adult generation – or even as adult opposition • Can the youth language in Løkta be understood as if the youths wanted to have a different identity than the adults? • Several stated their parents as their ideals, and nine out of eleven said that their parents were just as important to them as their friends • The contact between the generations at Løkta was very strong

13. Youth language as act of youth lifestyle (cf. Steven Miles) • Young people are expected to relate to and keep up with the future in another extent than adults, something that necessarily leads to a different behaviour • Acting modern becomes central and socially necessary: If one doesn’t keep updated, in this case by using youth language, one can easily be branded as a hillbilly or something similar disadvantageous

14. Yet – not entirely modern: The youths at Løkta had a less typical youth language than youths in towns • They also rendered themselves as a more moderate youth than youths in towns → less conceited → less fashion-minded → they were also fully aware that their youth language was less marked than among youths in towns

15. 267 I: What do you think of youths from towns?= Do you like 268 I: them? 269 U10K: Like? = Well= I do like them, but they are 270 U10K: different from us, indeed 271 I: How come? 272 U10K: There is the language, and the looks, and, they 273 U10K: are totally different from us, and the way they 274 U10K: behave, and= 275 I: The looks too? 276 U10K: Yes, you know, they have tons of make up <<giggling>>

16. Why don’t the youth at Løkta act entirely modern? • Polarization towards the more modern youths in towns • It is not natural according to their habitus (customs, upraising, culture, cf. Bourdieu); it is not considered accepted behaviour (doxa) • By being not entirely modern they make space also for the local, adult culture which they were a part of • Ivar Frønes: youth culture represents values that are incompatible with the local, traditional culture

17. By being just partly modern, the youths at Løkta manage to combine this → A functional and social integration of the youths make them a part of the local, adult culture at Løkta (cultural integration, cf. Paulgaard) • Young people and adults at Løkta shared many of the same attitudes and values: the worry for their islands’ existence, the scepticism towards the local government priorities and the pride of Løkta • 557 I: How is the typical inhabitant of Løkta? • 558 U6M: Proud of the island and protecting. • 559 I: Are you like that? • 560 U6M: Yes, I am proud of being from here, and • 561 U6M: when someone critizises it, I defend it the • 562 U6M: best I can.

18. Summing up • There is a youth language at Løkta • Still – it is less widespread at Løkta than among youths in towns • The youths at Løkta are both traditional and modern, both hillbillies and youths, but not totalhillbillies…