The Aby Dialect in the 1890s-On Denmark's First Sociolinguist, Anker Jensen

Anker Jensen's (1898) description of the Jutland Danish dialect of Aby parish, located near the city of Arhus, is argued to qualify him retrospectively as the first variationist sociolinguist in Denmark. Four manuscripts written by Jensen & preserved in the Peter Skautrup Center in Arhus are examined, including the portions of two manuscripts that saw publication in 1898 & 1929. Although lacking the detailed methodological considerations of modern sociolinguistic research, Jensen's 1898 study divides the population of the parish into four social groups -- proprietors, farmers, small-holders, & workers & artisans -- & tabulates the individuals in each group who use Standard Danish, Jutland Danish, or a mixture of the two. It is noteworthy that the local dialect, which is the majority choice of each group except the proprietors, is particularly favored by farmers whereas a substantial minority of small-holders uses Standard Danish. Tables, References. J. Hitchcock