Socio-dialectology in Sweden has until recently been focused mostly on community-level language variation and co-variation with social group variables. However, there are signs of a growing interest in individual variation and interactional perspectives on language (see Bockgård & Nilsson Reference Bockgård and Nilsson2011, for an overview of interactional dialectology in Sweden). In their book on the dialects of West Sweden, Margareta Svahn and Jenny Nilsson use the combined strengths of these two perspectives in an elaborate description of the current dialect situation in the area.

Svahn & Nilsson's book explores how a process of dialect levelling has affected and is currently affecting spoken varieties in West Sweden, specifically in the neighbouring counties of Västergötland and Bohuslän. Previous studies in the region have found that dialect variants associated with the Gothenburg variety are spreading to neighbouring areas. The potential spread of the Gothenburg variety is one of the topics that Svahn & Nilsson set out to investigate in their study (pp. 15–17).

However, the main purpose of their study is to create an overview of the dialect situation as a whole in the area. The authors explore both to what extent traditional variants are used today and the influence of the standard variety, as well as the spread of new variants not traditionally found in the dialect or the standard variety (p. 15). They look at variation and change in both real and apparent time, at both group and individual levels. To study change in apparent time means that conclusions about language change are drawn by comparing differences between older and younger informants at one particular moment in time. Real time change means that language change is studied over the course of time, which in Svahn & Nilsson's study is done by comparing old archive material with new recordings. The variation is furthermore studied for possible correlations with non-linguistic variables and differences between and within different communicative contexts (see further pp. 36–39).

The first two chapters present an outline and the focus of the study. The counties where the study takes place are described more closely, as well as the data, selection of informants and the method for analysing the recorded data.

Chapter 2 also gives a background to the field of dialectology and sociolinguistics, and raises some key issues that form the basis for the study (pp. 22ff.). One of the issues that the authors want to discuss with their book is the idea of the relation between dialect and standard (pp. 27–30). They suggest that language change and dialect levelling in particular call for a revised view of the term dialect, which previously often only included the oldest and most archaic language varieties. Instead, Svahn & Nilsson (p. 16) adopt Peter Auer's (Reference Auer, Delbecque, van der Auwera and Geeraerts2005:7) wider definition, which also includes contemporary regional and urban varieties of language. This chapter also gives a theoretical background to the authors’ view of language change. One of the key concepts for their book is accommodation (Giles & Smith Reference Giles, Smith, Giles and Clair1979), in terms of divergence and convergence, and its role in connecting language change at a community level with individual variation (see pp. 30–32 and works cited there).

In Chapter 3, the authors present their study of dialect levelling in the county of Västergötland, with a focus on the use of traditional dialect variants compared to standard ones. This part of the study is an extensive comparison of the use of variants by the oldest informants born in the 1870s and 1880s (recorded in the 1950s) and younger informants born in the 1950s and 1960s and in the 1990s (recorded in the 21st century) (pp. 51ff.). The comparison reveals clearly the levelling of traditional dialect variants in the area. Diachronically this change also fits well into the S-curve model (pp. 99–101) for language change (see Chambers & Trudgill Reference Chambers and Trudgill1998:163–164).

In Chapter 4, the authors further explore the use of traditional variants within a group of young informants in Västergötland in relation to a few non-linguistic variables such as gender and study programme, as well as taking a closer look at inter- and intraindividual variation. The correlation between non-linguistic and linguistic variables considered in the study is further developed in Chapter 6. Gender is the variable in this comparison that shows the clearest differences in relation to the use of dialect variables. In most cases, men tend to both use more dialect variants and use them with higher frequency. However, looking at an individual level, it is clear that there is much variation within the groups of men and women. Some women use relatively many dialect variants and some men very few (pp. 123–127). A crucial point that the authors make is that with such extensive variation within the group, the individual perspective must not be overlooked in order to describe these differences accurately.

Chapter 5 explores the use of new variants in Västergötland. Svahn & Nilsson find that the new variants cannot necessarily be associated with the spread of the Gothenburg variety, in contrast to what might have been expected. Instead, the features used are partly urban variants (e.g. [ɨː] and [ɏ]) and partly new variants (e.g. the use of [œː] and [æː] in positions other than before [r]) that are spreading over a larger area in Sweden. In the case of the new open long [œː] and [æː], they are even potentially becoming part of the standard variety (pp. 133–134; see also Leinonen Reference Leinonen2010).

In Chapter 6, Svahn & Nilsson try to find correlations between the linguistic behaviour of the young informants in Västergötland and a number of non-linguistic variables, such as socio-economic status and residence in an urban or rural area. Interestingly, it is shown that these variables have little or no effect on the participants’ tendency to use traditional dialect variants. As the authors note, this goes against some previously well-established beliefs within traditional sociolinguistics concerning the typical dialect speaker (pp. 160–161). This, they maintain, suggests that such variables may be less central in future studies seeking to explain language variation (pp. 161, 256–257).

In Chapter 7, the authors study the dialect situation in the county of Bohuslän. In general, the informants in this area, in contrast to those from Västergötland, have shown a greater tendency to conform to the Gothenburg variety. Therefore there is more focus in this chapter on the spread of the Gothenburg variety and specific aspects relating to this dialect contact situation (p. 163). In the town of Stenungsund in Bohuslän the influence of the Gothenburg variety is particularly significant. However, the variety spoken by the informants is not identical to that of Gothenburg, but rather a mix of traditional Bohuslän variants, Gothenburg variants, urban variants and new standard variants. Svahn & Nilsson call this type of variety a combilect (p. 195). Further north of Stenungssund, in the town of Uddevalla, there is no influence of the Gothenburg variety yet to be seen. In that respect, the dialect situation in this area has more in common with the Västergötland area (pp. 163, 182).

In Chapter 8, the authors summarize and discuss the preceding chapters, with specific attention to the processes of language change in West Sweden. One overall tendency is that there are indeed many changes taking place as a result of a levelling process where standard variants are replacing many dialectal ones. However, the authors still find a great deal of dialect continuity coupled with an equal amount of individual variation (p. 199).

An interesting finding of Svahn & Nilsson's study is that the process of language change can play out differently in different areas. Overall, West Sweden is characterized by the influence of the standard variety, but there are also diverging processes within the area. This is evident in Bohuslän, for example, where the strong influence of the Gothenburg variety is causing divergence within the county itself (pp. 208–210). The overall process of convergence does not, however, give the authors reason to suggest that there is any strong ongoing regionalization process in the area as a whole. On the contrary, the varieties in Bohuslän, Gothenburg and Västergötland still exhibit relatively distinct features and continuity. The strong influence of the Gothenburg variety in the Stenungsund-Tjörn area is the exception to this rule (pp. 210–211).

In Chapter 9, the authors compare some informants’ linguistic repertoires in different conversational contexts (p. 219). The interview context is contrasted here with more informal recordings made by the informants themselves without the presence of the researchers. In the more informal situation, the use of dialect variants increases, especially among the older informants. One explanation for this, Svahn & Nilsson argue, is that the interlocutor's use of dialect features has a large impact on the outcome of the conversation. In the informal recordings, the older informants all had conversations with someone who used more or an equal amount of dialect features compared to themselves. The younger informants, however, generally use fewer dialect variants altogether, regardless of the context, thus limiting the range of their respective repertoires (pp. 228–229).

Chapter 10 (pp. 231–252) elaborates on Chapter 9 and studies variation in the use of dialect features within a conversation in more detail. Using Conversation Analysis the authors explore different conversationally motivated explanations for the use of either dialect or standard variants. One such explanation, discussed by the authors in some depth, involves the tendency that speakers often reuse, or mimic, their interlocutors’ utterances. This tendency is also frequent in Svahn & Nilsson's data, and is seen as a linguistic resource to help create solidarity among the interlocutors (pp. 243–244).

In the concluding Chapter 11, Svahn & Nilsson discuss their key findings and their implications and significance for future studies. As an overall result, they argue that their study shows how a new linguistic reality calls for a revision of how we use the term dialect. Due to extensive individual variation, they argue, it is problematic to reduce this variation to a rigid and uniform concept of dialect. This is something, they argue, that should be taken into account in future studies describing contemporary use of dialect (pp. 253–254).

The authors conclude that the dialect situation in West Sweden in the early 21st century is characterized by linguistic diversity (pp. 261–263). Different processes of language change are continuously shaping and reshaping the spoken varieties in the area, not least due to the fact that, as the authors argue, each individual has access to a linguistic ‘pool of resources’ (Ganuza Reference Ganuza2008:130; Bellander Reference Bellander2010:35, cited on p. 261) from which they can draw and make use of certain variants from one moment to another.

Svahn & Nilsson's study represents an important contribution to the ongoing development of sociolinguistics. The book incorporates and builds on a sociolinguistic tradition from the Labovian sociolinguistic variables via interactional linguistics and conversation analysis, but goes on to explore and outline new areas for future studies in language variation The dialect situation of West Sweden in the early 2000s has, with this thorough study, been shown to be very complex and fluid. These results emphasize the need to rethink paradigmatic notions of what a dialect is and how and to what extent the individual has the possibility to shape their own language according to personal preference.