Retroflexion

[Martin Gansten]

Lars Martin Fosse wrote:

>As I said, retroflexion is an East Norwegian/West Swedish phenomenon
>(disagreeing Swedes out there, please protest!)

Alright, if you insist: retroflexion is found in large areas of central and
northern Sweden, east and west alike -- for instance, in Stockholm (which,
as you know, is to the far east of the country). As in Norway, the southern
dialects (one of which happens to be my own) lack retroflexion.

Jesualdo Correia wrote:

>In "educated " spoken Swedish of , say, Stockholm, many words such as
>embart ( only ), bort ( far away ) and similar have complete retroflexion in
>final *t*.

Actually, retroflexion in central/northern Sweden has nothing to do with
sociolects; both university professors and illiterates retroflect. In my own
parts, however, those who wish to *sound* "educated" sometimes attempt to
copy the dialect of the capital, including retroflexion. (A sad spectacle,
that.)

Incidentally, it's "enbart", and "bort" is just = "away".

Regards,
Martin Gansten