This compilation thesis engages with practices that in some way place stakes in the social existence of Övdalsk (also älvdalska, Elfdalian, Övdalian), a marginal form of Scandinavian used mainly in Sweden’s Älvdalen municipality. The practices at hand range from early 20th century descriptive dialectology and contemporary lay-linguistics to language advocacy and language political debate. The four studies focus on the logic by which such practices operate, on the historically produced visions that they bring into play, as well as on the symbolic effects that they have produced. Study I provides a zoomed-out account of the ordering of Övdalsk in Sweden’s linguistic market. Focusing on a relatively recent debate over the institutional regimentation of Övdalsk, it analyses the forms of agreement upon which the exchange in question has come to rest. The contention has mainly developed over the classification of Övdalsk, percolating in the question of whether Övdalsk ‘is’ a ‘language’ or a ‘dialect’. Analysing this debate, the study takes interest in the relationship between state power and metapragmatic exchange. Study II deals with the history of linguistic thought and research on Övdalsk. It analyses the genesis of some durable visions of the relationship between Övdalsk and linguistic authenticity, focusing on the research practice of the Swedish dialectologist Lars Levander (1883–1950), whose work on Övdalsk commands representative authority to this day. By engaging with Levander’s techniques of scholarly objectivation, as well as with their language theoretical fundaments, the study seeks to create some perspectives on, and distance to, the canonical representations of Övdalsk that have precipitated from Levander’s research. Study III looks into the reuse and reordering of such representations. It provides an ethnographic account of a metapragmatically saturated exchange over Övdalsk grammar, in which descriptivist artefacts play an important part. Through an analysis of texts, in situ interaction, and interviews, the study seeks to grasp the ways in which textual renditions of grammar interrelate with practically sustained, socially recognized models of language and language use (i.e. registers). Study IV tracks the ways in which such visions of authenticity have been drawn into institutionally and politically invested metapragmatic exchanges. It looks into a process of naming of roads in Älvdalen, in which ideas about the contrast between Swedish and Övdalsk played a central part. In all studies, various visions of Övdalsk authenticity and authentic Övdalsk constitute a central theme. The thesis maintains that such visions must be understood in relation to the practices in which they hold currency. Following Silverstein, this epistemological stance entails an engagement with the dialectic between historical formations and situated exchange. Through this analytical orientation, the studies seek to account for the visions of authenticity that have been at the forefront of various symbolic struggles over Övdalsk. Thus, in addition to their respective analytical accounts, the separate studies seek to add shifting temporal horizons to the superordinate heuristic, combining a deep historical backdrop with accounts of protracted institutional processes and analyses of situated linguistic interaction. Ultimately, this mode of analysis provides an in-depth understanding of the object of inquiry. / <p>At the time of the doctoral defense, the following paper was unpublished and had a status as follows: Paper 2: Submitted.</p>

El objetivo de esta monografía es tratar de determinar en qué medida y de qué manera cuatro manuales didácticos suecos de español como lengua extranjera (ELE), usados en la enseñanza en el nivel de bachillerato, tratan aspectos pragmáticos. Además, evaluaremos el potencial y la relevancia de la información metapragmática y las actividades relacionadas a los aspectos pragmáticos para el proceso de adquisición de una competencia tanto metapragmática como pragmática. En este estudio se parte de la noción de la competencia pragmática como una destreza orientada a saber crear y comprender significados en la interacción de manera eficaz (Thomas, 1995), que supone, más que los conocimientos lingüísticos en una interacción intercultural, los conocimientos extralingüísticos (cf. Bravo, 2005). La hipótesis de partida de este trabajo postula que los manuales no explican a fondo por qué cierto lenguaje se utiliza en ciertos contextos y que el contenido pragmático sería poco variado y difícil de asimilar y que los ejercicios no estarían diseñados principalmente para desarrollar la competencia pragmática. Hasta cierta medida se puede decir que los resultados de esta investigación confirman la hipótesis: los manuales podrían efectivamente ser más exhaustivos en cuanto a los temas que abarcan, asimismo podrían variar y explicar más a fondo aquellos temas. No obstante, parece haber un esfuerzo de incorporar actividades comunicativas e información extralingüística, sin embargo, hace falta una conceptualización y progresión en cuanto a cómo tratar estos temas como el propósito principal. Ni siquiera se ofrecen en las guías del profesor modelos didácticos o información adicional, y por lo general, no se combina la información metapragmática en los manuales con actividades complementarias que pretenden desarrollar las destrezas comunicativas. / The purpose of this paper is to try to determine to what extent and in what way four Swedish textbooks on Spanish as a foreign language (SFL) treat pragmatic aspects, as well as to evaluate the potential and relevance of the metapragmatic information and activities related to pragmatic aspects provided by the textbooks, for the development of pragmatic awareness and competence in Spanish. This study parts from the notion of pragmatic competence as a skill of knowing how to create and understand meanings in interaction effectively (Thomas, 1995), which in intercultural interaction probably requires extra-linguistic knowledge more than language skills (cf. Bravo, 2005). The hypothesis postulated at the beginning of the study was that the manuals would not fully explain why certain language is being used in certain contexts, that the pragmatic content would be scarcely varied and rather difficult to assimilate and that the exercises would not be designed primarily to develop a pragmatic competence. To some extent it can be said that the hypothesis is confirmed: the manuals could have been more comprehensive in terms of the topics covered, they could also have varied and explained those issues further. Despite the fact that there seems to be an effort to incorporate extra-linguistic information and communicative activities, the results indicate that there is a lack of emphasis on or progression on how to treat these issues. For example, there are no didactic models or suggestions in the teacher’s guide, nor is additional information provided elsewhere; usually the metapragmatic information is not combined with any activities, and the activities that aim to develop communicative skills are not combined with further metapragmatic information.