Troping on prejudice: Stylised “bad Finnish” performances and reflexivity among adolescents in Eastern Helsinki

Heini Lehtonen
Abstract

This paper studies reflexivity in interaction among adolescents in Helsinki in the light of stylised performances that are labelled by participants as “bad Finnish”. Stylised “bad Finnish” can be seen as an enregistered discourse register. It is an emblem in which certain linguistic features are connected to ideas about certain kinds of people and their characteristics. In particular, stylised “bad Finnish” is an indexical for social personae associated with “immigrants”, “foreigners” and non-native Finnish. The participants in this study came to Finland as children and learned Finnish as a second (or third or fourth) language, and they still have to face the excluding attitudes of the society. With their stylised performances and in their reactions to them, the participants position themselves with regard to the social personae indexed by stylised “bad Finnish”, their stereotypical characteristics and the wider societal discourses that touch upon themselves. Stylised “bad Finnish” is sometimes used for expressing distance from stereotypical immigrants, but sometimes for displaying solidarity with those who share the experiences of immigration and learning Finnish. Although it also works as a trope, seemingly detached from ethnicity, in interaction with native Finns it may still be delicate because of its pejorative social indexical potential.

Keywords:
Quick links
A browser-friendly version of this article is not yet available. View PDF
Agha, A.
2007Language and Social Relations. Cambridge: CUP.Google Scholar
Auer, P.
1992Introduction: John Gumperz’ approach to contextualization. In The Contextualization of Language [Pragmatics & Beyond New Series 22], P. Auer & A. Di Luzio (eds.), 1–38. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bakhtin, M.
1981The Dialogic Imagination. Four Essays. Austin TX: University of Texas Press.Google Scholar
Bahtin, M.
1986The problem of speech genres. In Speech Genres and Other Late Essays, 60–102. Austin TX: University of Texas Press.Google Scholar
Blommaert, J.
2010The Sociolinguistics of Globalization [Cambridge Approaches to Language Contact]. Cambridge: CUP. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Blommaert, J. & Backus, A.
2011‘Knowing language’ in superdiversity [Working Papers in Urban Language and Literacies 67]. http://​www​.academia​.edu​/6365319​/WP67​_Blommaert​_and​_Backus​_2011​._Repertoires​_revisited​_Knowing​_language​_in​_superdiversity (1 July 2016).
Blommaert, J. & Dong, J.
2010Language and movement in space. In The Handbook of Language and Globalization, N. Coupland (ed.), 367–385. Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Coupland, N.
2007Style. Language Variation and Identity. Cambridge: CUP. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(ed.) 2010The Handbook of Language and Globalization. Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Coupland, N. & Jaworski, A.
2004Sociolinguistic perspectives on metalanguage: Reflexivity, evaluation and ideology. In Metalanguage. Social and Ideological Perspectives [Language, Power and Social Processes 11], A. Jaworski, N. Coupland & D. Galasiński (eds), 15–52. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Davies, B. & Harré, R.
1990Positioning: ‘The discursive production of selves’. Journal for the Theory of Social Behaviour 20 (1): 43–63. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Ferguson, C.
1975Toward a characterization of English foreigner talk. Anthropological Linguistics 17 (1): 1–14.Google Scholar
Gumperz, J.
1982aDiscourse Strategies [Studies in Interactional Sociolinguistics 1]. Cambridge: CUP. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
1982bLanguage and Social Identity [Studies in Interactional Sociolinguistics 2]. Cambridge: CUP.Google Scholar
1992Contextualization revisited. In The Contextualization of Language [Pragmatics & Beyond New Series 22], P. Auer & A. Di Luzio (eds), 39–54. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Goffman, E.
1981Forms of Talk. Philadelphia PA: University of Pennsylvania Press.Google Scholar
Haikkola, L.
2012: Monipaikkainen nuoruus. Toinen sukupolvi, transnationaalisuus ja identiteetit. ’Multisited Youth. Second generation, transnationalism and identities’. The Department of Social Sciences, University of Helsinki.Google Scholar
Hall, S.
1989New ethnicities. In Critical Dialogues in Cultural Studies, D. Morley & K. Hsin-Cheng (eds), 441–449. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Harris, R.
2006New Ethnicities and Language Use. Houndmills: Palgrave Macmillan. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Heller, M.
2008Language and the nation-state: Challenges to sociolinguistic theory and practice. Journal of Sociolinguistics 12 (4): 504–524. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Helsinki Region Infoshare
Huttunen, L.
2009Mikä ihmeen maahanmuuttaja? A blogpost in the blog En ole rasisti, mutta… Maahanmuutosta, monikulttuurisuudesta ja kritiikistä. http://​enolerasisti​.wordpress​.com​/2009​/12​/30​/laura​-huttunen​-mika​-ihmeen​-maahanmuuttaja/ (15 November 2014).
Jaffe, A.
(ed.) 2009Stance: Sociolinguistic Perspectives. Oxford: OUP. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kaukomaa, T., Peräkylä, A. & Ruusuvuori, J.
2015How listeners use facial expression to shift the emotional stance of the speaker’s utterance. Research on Language and Social Interaction 48 (3): 319–341. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Keim, I.
2008[2007]‘Die türkischen Powergirls’. Lebenswelt und kommunikativer Stil einer Migrantinnengruppe in Mannheim [Studien zur Deutschen Sprache 39], 2nd edn. Tübingen: Gunter Narr.Google Scholar
Korkiasaari, J. & Söderling, I.
2003Finnish emigration and immigration after the World War II. Finnish Immigration Institute. http://​www​.migrationinstitute​.fi​/fi​/tietopalvelut​/artikkelit​-esitelmat#quicktabs​-fi​_tietopalvelut​_esitelmat​=1 (28 February 2016).
Labov, W.
1972Sociolinguistic Patterns. Oxford: BlackwellGoogle Scholar
Lappalainen, H.
2004Variaatio ja sen funktiot. Erään sosiaalisen verkoston jäsenten kielellisen vuorovaikutuksen tarkastelua (Variation and its functions. Analysing interaction of a social network). Helsinki: Finnish Literature Society.Google Scholar
Lehtonen, H.
2006Morfologinen variaatio maahanmuuttajataustaisten helsinkiläisnuorten puheessa (Morphological variation in the speech of adolescents with immigrant background in Helsinki). In Helsinki kieliyhteisönä (Helsinki as a linguistic community), K. Juusela & K. Nisula (eds), 255–274. Helsinki: Department of Finnish and Finnish literature, University of Helsinki.Google Scholar
2011Developing multiethnic youth language in Helsinki. In Ethnic Styles of Speaking in European Metropolitan Areas [Studies in Language Variation 8], F. Kern & M. Selting (eds), 291–318. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2015aTyylitellen. Nuorten kielelliset resurssit ja kielen sosiaalinen indeksisyys monietnisessä Helsingissä (Stylising. Linguistic resources of adolescents and the social indexicality of language in multi-ethnic Helsinki). Helsinki: Department of Finnish, Finno-Ugrian and Scandinavian Studies, University of Helsinki. https://​helda​.helsinki​.fi​/handle​/10138​/155659
2015b Sano vai sanoi – mitä merkitystä on yhdellä i: llä? Jälkitavujen i-loppuisen diftongin sosiaalinen indeksisyys monietnistyvässä Helsingissä ( Sano or sanoi – the meaning of an i’ ). In Helsingissä puhuttavat suomet. Kielen indeksisyys ja sosiaaliset identiteetit (Finnishes spoken in Helsinki. The indexicality of language and social identities). M.-L. Sorjonen, A. Rouhikoski & H. Lehtonen (eds), 84–123. Helsinki: Finnish Literature Society.Google Scholar
Migri – The Finnish Immigration Service
Ochs, E.
1992Indexing gender. In Rethinking Context: Language as an Interactive Phenomenon, A. Duranti & C. Goodwin (eds) 335–358. Cambridge: CUP.Google Scholar
Paunonen, H.
[1982]1995Suomen kieli Helsingissä. Huomioita Helsingin puhekielen taustasta ja nykyvariaatiosta (Finnish in Helsinki. About the development and the variation of spoken Finnish in Helsinki). Helsinki: Department of Finnish, University of Helsinki.Google Scholar
Rampton, B.
1995Crossing. Language and Ethnicity among Adolescents. London: Longman.Google Scholar
2006Language in Late Modernity. Interaction in an Urban School. Cambridge: CUP. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Sacks, H.
1992aLectures on Conversation, Vol. I, G. Jefferson (ed.). Cambridge MA: Blackwell.Google Scholar
1992bLectures on Conversation, Vol. II, G. Jefferson (ed.). Cambridge MA: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Silverstein, M.
2003Indexical order and the dialectics of sociolinguistic life. Language and Communication 23: 193–229. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Sorjonen, M.-L.
2001Responding in Conversation: A Study of Response Particles in Finnish [Pragmatics & Beyond New Series 70]. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Statistics Finland: Population
Suurpää, L.
2002Erilaisuuden hierarkiat. Suomalaisia käsityksiä maahanmuuttajista, suvaitsevaisuudesta ja rasismista (Hierarchies of difference. Finnish conceptualisations about immigrants, tolerance, and racism). Helsinki: Finnish Youth Research Society.Google Scholar
Tainio, L.
2008Toisten puhujien matkiminen luokkahuoneessa (Imitating other speakers in the classroom). In Nuoret kielikuvassa. Kouluikäisten kieli 2000-luvulla (Picturing youth. The language of school pupils in the 2000’s), S. Routarinne & T. Uusi-Hallila (eds), 146–164. Helsinki: Finnish Literature Society.Google Scholar
Valdman, A.
1981Sociolinguistics aspects of foreigner talk. International Journal of the Sociology of Language 28: 41–52. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Visakko, T.
2015Self-promotion as Semiotic Behaviour. The Mediation of Personhood in Light of Finnish Online Dating Advertisements. Helskini: Department of Finnish, Finno-Ugrian and Scandinavian Studies, University of Helsinki.Google Scholar