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Generational Differences in English Pronunciation Among Swedish Speakers
Södertörn University, School of Educational Sciences.
2026 (English)Independent thesis Basic level (professional degree), 10 credits / 15 HE creditsStudent thesis
Abstract [en]

The English language plays a crucial role in Swedish society, with widespread exposure through channels such as media, education and work. Despite this widespread exposure, generational differences in English pronunciation among Swedish speakers seem to be noticeable. This study explores how the two English phonemes /tʃ/ and /θ/, which are known to be challenging for Swedish speakers, are pronounced across different generations. The present study is supported by the Critical Period Hypothesis (CPH), which suggests that there is a critical time period for a person to learn a new language with native proficiency (Siahaan, 2022, p.40) The study consisted of recorded interviews with fourteen Swedish participants to investigate pronunciation differences across generations. The paper also considers individual differences such as traveling, education, and exposure to English content. The interviews were analyzed both in a quantitative way, by measuring pronunciation accuracy, and in a qualitative way, by comparing the quantitative results with individual background data.  The findings in this study display generational differences in the pronunciation of the target phoneme /tʃ/, where the younger group demonstrated higher pronunciation accuracy. In contrast, no clear generational differences were shown in the pronunciation for the phoneme /θ/. The results indicate that individual factors, particularly the amount of exposure to English content, are more likely to affect pronunciation accuracy than travel or education. The amount of English exposure may be related to age, with younger people being exposed to English to a greater degree than older people, especially during the critical period. Overall, this study contributes to a wider understanding of variations in English pronunciation among Swedish speakers. Furthermore, the study takes into consideration how factors such as age, traveling, education, and media exposure affect these variations. 

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
2026. , p. 32
Keywords [en]
Phoneme, generational differences, individual differences, English pronunciation, Swedish speakers, Critical Period Hypothesis
National Category
Languages and Literature
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:sh:diva-60077OAI: oai:DiVA.org:sh-60077DiVA, id: diva2:2062763
Subject / course
English
Supervisors
Examiners
Available from: 2026-05-27 Created: 2026-05-26 Last updated: 2026-05-27Bibliographically approved

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CiteExportLink to record
Permanent link

Direct link
Cite
Citation style
  • apa
  • ieee
  • modern-language-association-8th-edition
  • vancouver
  • harvard-anglia-ruskin-university
  • apa-old-doi-prefix.csl
  • sodertorns-hogskola-harvard.csl
  • sodertorns-hogskola-oxford.csl
  • Other style
More styles
Language
  • de-DE
  • en-GB
  • en-US
  • fi-FI
  • nn-NO
  • nn-NB
  • sv-SE
  • Other locale
More languages
Output format
  • html
  • text
  • asciidoc
  • rtf