Högskolan i Skövde

Within Nordic studies, general terms such as standardspråk/standardsvenska and riksspråk/rikssvenska, as well as others referring to the same phenomenon, can signify two concepts, that of 'autonomous language' and that of 'variety, which in contrast to dialects and other variants is generally accepted and stylistically neutral', i.e. what is normally signified as a standard variety. This study analyzes the definition of a standard language variety according to a hierarchic logical concept system, through definitions and various kinds of descriptions. Unfortunately, the 'standard variety' concept is much too often taken for granted and left without a definition, despite of there being, in Nordic studies as well as in international linguistics, a considerate agreement of the difficulty of satisfactorily defining the concept. Moreover, existing descriptions and definitions of the concept are diffuse, indistinct and difficult or even  impossible to operationalize and implement. A survey is being made of characteristics generally in use; these connect primarmily to geographical and social aspects, and to aspects connected to codification, written language form, language use and function, norm and norm ideal, and history. Finally is stressed the importance of primarily using such distinctive conceptions, e.g.  those concerning language ideology, which decide the choice of varieties of society and of its communicators.