Cover not available

Article published In: Reflexivity in Late Modernity: Accounts from linguistic ethnographies of youth
Edited by Miguel Pérez-Milans
[AILA Review 29] 2016
► pp. 15–47

Get fulltext from our e-platform
JBE logo with link
PDF logo with download linkDownload PDF

Troping on prejudice

Stylised “bad Finnish” performances and reflexivity among adolescents in Eastern Helsinki

 | University of Helsinki
Open Access logo
Available under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial (CC BY-NC) 4.0 license.

For any use beyond this license, please contact the publisher at rights@benjamins.nl.

Published online: 7 February 2017
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/aila.29.02leh
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.
References (47)
Agha, A. 2007. Language and Social Relations. Cambridge: CUP.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Auer, P. 1992. Introduction: 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. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bakhtin, M. 1981. The Dialogic Imagination. Four Essays. Austin TX: University of Texas Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bahtin, M. 1986. The problem of speech genres. In Speech Genres and Other Late Essays, 60–102. Austin TX: University of Texas Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Blommaert, J. 2010. The Sociolinguistics of Globalization [Cambridge Approaches to Language Contact]. Cambridge: CUP. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Blommaert, J. & Backus, A. 2011. ‘Knowing language’ in superdiversity [Working Papers in Urban Language and Literacies 67]. <[URL]> (1 July 2016).
Blommaert, J. & Dong, J. 2010. Language and movement in space. In The Handbook of Language and Globalization, N. Coupland (ed.), 367–385. Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Coupland, N. 2007. Style. Language Variation and Identity. Cambridge: CUP. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(ed.) 2010. The Handbook of Language and Globalization. Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Coupland, N. & Jaworski, A. 2004. Sociolinguistic 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. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Davies, B. & Harré, R. 1990. Positioning: ‘The discursive production of selves’. Journal for the Theory of Social Behaviour 20 (1): 43–63. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ferguson, C. 1975. Toward a characterization of English foreigner talk. Anthropological Linguistics 17 (1): 1–14.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Gumperz, J. 1982a. Discourse Strategies [Studies in Interactional Sociolinguistics 1]. Cambridge: CUP. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
1982b. Language and Social Identity [Studies in Interactional Sociolinguistics 2]. Cambridge: CUP.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
1992. Contextualization revisited. In The Contextualization of Language [Pragmatics & Beyond New Series 22], P. Auer & A. Di Luzio (eds), 39–54. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Goffman, E. 1981. Forms of Talk. Philadelphia PA: University of Pennsylvania Press.Google Scholar logo with link to 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 logo with link to Google Scholar
Hall, S. 1989. New ethnicities. In Critical Dialogues in Cultural Studies, D. Morley & K. Hsin-Cheng (eds), 441–449. London: Routledge.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Harris, R. 2006. New Ethnicities and Language Use. Houndmills: Palgrave Macmillan. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Heller, M. 2008. Language and the nation-state: Challenges to sociolinguistic theory and practice. Journal of Sociolinguistics 12 (4): 504–524. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Helsinki Region Infoshare. <[URL]>
Huttunen, L. 2009. Mikä ihmeen maahanmuuttaja? A blogpost in the blog En ole rasisti, mutta… Maahanmuutosta, monikulttuurisuudesta ja kritiikistä. <[URL]> (15 November 2014).
Jaffe, A. (ed.) 2009. Stance: Sociolinguistic Perspectives. Oxford: OUP. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kaukomaa, T., Peräkylä, A. & Ruusuvuori, J. 2015. How listeners use facial expression to shift the emotional stance of the speaker’s utterance. Research on Language and Social Interaction 48 (3): 319–341. Google Scholar logo with link to Google 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 logo with link to Google Scholar
Korkiasaari, J. & Söderling, I. 2003. Finnish emigration and immigration after the World War II. Finnish Immigration Institute. <[URL]> (28 February 2016).
Labov, W. 1972. Sociolinguistic Patterns. Oxford: BlackwellGoogle Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lappalainen, H. 2004. Variaatio 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 logo with link to Google Scholar
Lehtonen, H. 2006. Morfologinen 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 logo with link to Google Scholar
2011. Developing 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. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
2015a. Tyylitellen. 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. <[URL]>
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 logo with link to Google Scholar
Migri – The Finnish Immigration Service Turvapaikka- ja pakolaistilastot. <[URL]> (29 February 2016).
Ochs, E. 1992. Indexing gender. In Rethinking Context: Language as an Interactive Phenomenon, A. Duranti & C. Goodwin (eds) 335–358. Cambridge: CUP.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Paunonen, H. [1982]1995. Suomen 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 logo with link to Google Scholar
Rampton, B. 1995. Crossing. Language and Ethnicity among Adolescents. London: Longman.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
2006. Language in Late Modernity. Interaction in an Urban School. Cambridge: CUP. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Sacks, H. 1992a. Lectures on Conversation, Vol. I1, G. Jefferson (ed.). Cambridge MA: Blackwell.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
1992b. Lectures on Conversation, Vol. II1, G. Jefferson (ed.). Cambridge MA: Blackwell.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Silverstein, M. 2003. Indexical order and the dialectics of sociolinguistic life. Language and Communication 231: 193–229. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Somalis in Helsinki. 2013. Open Society Foundations. <[URL]> (1 July 2016).
Sorjonen, M.-L. 2001. Responding in Conversation: A Study of Response Particles in Finnish [Pragmatics & Beyond New Series 70]. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Statistics Finland: Population. <[URL]> (29 February 2016).
Suurpää, L. 2002. Erilaisuuden hierarkiat. Suomalaisia käsityksiä maahanmuuttajista, suvaitsevaisuudesta ja rasismista (Hierarchies of difference. Finnish conceptualisations about immigrants, tolerance, and racism). Helsinki: Finnish Youth Research Society.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Tainio, L. 2008. Toisten 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 logo with link to Google Scholar
Valdman, A. 1981. Sociolinguistics aspects of foreigner talk. International Journal of the Sociology of Language 281: 41–52. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Visakko, T. 2015. Self-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 logo with link to Google Scholar
Cited by (6)

Cited by six other publications

Lehtonen, Heini
2025. Transforming Normativities in the Nordic Context: Languaging and Participatory-Collaborative Research in Linguistically Diverse Schools. In The Palgrave Handbook of Decolonising the Educational and Language Sciences, ► pp. 975 ff. DOI logo
Tiermas, Anne & Jenni Alisaari
2025. Aspects of agency and sense of belonging: multilingual learners challenging monolingual literacy practices. International Journal of Multilingualism ► pp. 1 ff. DOI logo
Visakko, Tomi & Heini Lehtonen
2024. Indexicality. In Handbook of Pragmatics [Handbook of Pragmatics, ], ► pp. 129 ff. DOI logo
Priiki, Katri
2023. Constructing the perception of ‘annoying’ words and phrases in interaction: An analysis of delegitimisation strategies used in interviews and online discussions in Finnish. Open Linguistics 9:1 DOI logo
Jantunen, Jarmo Harri & Samu Kytölä
2022. Online discourses of ‘homosexuality’ and religion. Journal of Language and Sexuality 11:1 ► pp. 31 ff. DOI logo
Mickwitz, Åsa, Heini Lehtonen, Dragana Cvetanović & Auli Toom
2021. Towards bilingual expertise – evaluating translanguaging pedagogy in bilingual degrees at the university level. Language Learning in Higher Education 11:1 ► pp. 195 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 30 november 2025. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.

Mobile Menu Logo with link to supplementary files background Layer 1 prag Twitter_Logo_Blue