Re-examining the /eː-ɛː/ merger in Finland-Swedish: Regional and stylistic variation

Abstract This article examines regional and stylistic variation in the merger of front vowels /eː/ /ɛː/ Finland-Swedish. The study investigates by comparing formant data from 141 speakers four Swedish-speaking regions Finland. Additionally, intraspeaker is explored incorporating samples three contextual styles. results indicate cross-regional differences between Finland-Swedish dialects, with a more distinct variant being used on monolingually Åland Islands, compared to other regions. However, findings show that mainland Finland also demonstrate significantly different values for vowels, particularly formal speech These challenge assumption complete /eː-ɛː/ Finland-Swedish, instead pointing near-merger, whereby two sounds sound same speakers, despite them differentiated production. shed new light variety.