University researcher’s new project refutes the myth that the country’s dialects are dying out

University of Southern Denmark researcher Michael Ejstrup’s PhD project on dialects shows that people living in the west may still have trouble understanding those in the east of Denmark.

Dialects, according to Ejstrup’s research, are not dying out as popularly perceived.

The doctoral candidate’s investigation focused mainly on vowel sounds. The way in which people articulate vowels revealed where they were from, Ejstrup explained.

And according to his investigation, the Danish dialects appear to be thriving.

Ejstrup recorded the speech of 39 people from Skjern in western Jutland, Sønderborg in southern Jutland, Nyborg on Funen, Næstved in southern Zealand, Copenhagen and Rønne on Bornholm.

Each person had lived in the same place their whole life and was aged between 20 and 45 years old.

Ejstrup said there were many more vowel sounds in Danish than the nine alphabetical ones. Copenhageners used about 42 distinct vowels sounds, while a western Jutlander used up to 53.

He said there was a fear in Denmark that dialects were dying out. This, he believed, stemmed from children not speaking like their grandparents. But regional dialects remain even if they are not inherited, Ejstrup’s research shows.