En nyopdaget Anker Jensen-tekst om sproglig variation – "Lidt om de danske Folkemål, sæ rlig de østjydske"

In 1898, “Denmark’s first sociolinguist” (cf. Hansen 2007), the only 20-year-old Anker Jensen (1878-1937), published a scientific article entitled "Sproglige forhold i Åby sogn, Århus amt" ("Language conditions in Åby parish, Århus county", 1898). Jensen's article presents a quantitative sociolinguistic study of the linguistic situation in the East Jutland parish of Åby. In 1898, Åby was a parish with a village with approximately 400 inhabitants located west of Aarhus. Today, Åby is part of the Aarhus district of Åbyhøj. In the study, Jensen compares the social and class affiliations of the inhabitants of Åby (farmers, homesteaders, proprietors, workers, and small craftsmen) with the language they speak, and he discusses the consequences of language use within and between different classes and across gender and age groups for the development of the linguistic situation in the parish.