| Summary: | This study follows and describes the various ways in which the adjective grann is used in Swedish dialects. These dialects are variations of the spoken language which have developed over centuries in different parts of the country. The author believes that a study of usages and meanings of words in the dialects can contribute to the understanding of changes of meaning. Since no word-semantic study based on Swedish dialect material of this kind and scope has been made before (although there are many fine studies of semantic fields), the focus is directed toward the material and the limitations it poses on methods of analysis. A concept of semantic main word (HOsem) is introduced. Dialect-geographical methods are used to find and explain connections between usages and meanings. In this way one can, for example, show that the use of the expression grant om together with a personal subject in a part of Northern Sweden in meanings ranging from 'careful (of)' to 'fond (of)' has been developed locally, whereas the use of the adverb grant in the meaning 'clearly, sharply' with certain verbs is a loan from Denmark. The author also takes a stand in the discussion of the etymology of grann. The context in which the word grann appears is examined and collocations, idioms, proverbs, riddles, etc., in which it appears have been studied. Semantic relations such as synonyms, antonyms and homonyms are also discussed, along with the question of homonymy versus polysemy. For example, the words smal, tunn, klen, fin are very rarely synonyms, but have either the function of describing a different dimension than grann (which refers to the small dimension of a long, more-or less cylindrical object), or are equivalents, that is, they have the same meaning but have different geographical locations. Doktorsavhandling vid Uppsala universitet, 1993.
|
|---|