Work

Malmö, Simrishamn, and Norrland: asymmetry in the categorization of place

Year: 2024
Type: article
Abstract: Categorization plays a crucial role in organizing experiences, allowing us to make sense of the world. This process is reflected in the labels speakers use for geographical areas. This study investigates the categorization of geographical areas reflected in phrases including nouns for the three Swedish regions of Norrland, Svealand, or Götaland, and the conjunction och (‘and’). Using data from the Swedish Korp corpus (Borin et al. 2012), we examine how these regions and areas within them are represented in governmental, news, and social media texts. Results show that Svealand and Götaland are more commonly used with nouns for regions than Norrland. Norrland is used with phrases for more specific locations within the other regions (e.g. their towns and provinces) but also considerably larger areas (e.g. countries and continents) more commonly than the other regions, revealing asymmetry in how geographical areas in Sweden are categorized.
Institution: Umeå University
Language: English
Field: Psychology
Open Access status: hybrid
Estimated APC paid: $3,450
OpenAlex ID: W4405699843
FWCI: 0.41
Cites: 11
Cited by: 1
Related to: 10