language as the mirror of national identity

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Language as the mirror of national identity

Leena Maria HeikkolaFinnish DepartmentÅbo Akademi8th Conference on Nordic languages as second languages, May 10-12, 2007

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Hypotheses

”Language as the mirror of national identity – Cod-switching and dialect in the speech of Finns and Italians living in Oslo” (Heikkola 2005)

Use of dialect reflects national identity Use of code-switching reflects integration into

Norwegian society

Italians do not use as much code-switching, but use more dialect

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Method and data

Based on a questionnaire (cf. http://users.utu.fi/lmheik/liitteet.doc)

Recorded interviews

Transcribed roughly (cf. http://users.utu.fi/lmheik/litterointi.pdf)

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Subjects

10 Finnish first-generation immigrants Reason for moving study, work or both 9 women, 1 man age 23-67 9 subjects under 30 1 Finnish-Swedish bilingual, 1 Swedish-

Norwegian-Finnish trilingual

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Control group

5 Italian first-generation immigrants 4 men, 1 woman Reason for moving work (restaurant, IT,

construction)31-66 years old4 subjects under 35

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Why do Finns move to Oslo?

The major reason is studies other reasons work, relationships 3 have moved back and forth between

Norway and Finland which is typical according to Korkiasaari 1989

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Why do Italians move to Oslo?

Only reason is work 2 subjects have decided to stay in Oslo

permanently Others unsure

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The Finns’ use of dialect

The subjects report first using their home dialects and later speaking standard spoken Finnish

Only two use their home dialects

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The Italians’ use of dialect

2 of the subjects name their dialect as their mother tongue

all five subjects use their home dialect

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The use of code-switching

I divide language contact phenomena in three categories:1) Prosodic and phonetic language contact phenomena2) Borrowing3) Code-switching

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1a) Phonetic phenomena of the Finns

41 Norwegian or other foreign names 21 place-names Majority of foreign words pronounced

according to Norwegian phonology and declined/conjugated according to Finnish morphology, see (1):

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1a) Phonetic phenomena of the Finns

(1) Niin, paljon eroja on siinä, että jos menee BYGDÖYHIN, siellä syntyneen ihmisen bileisiin ja siellei paljon Riimi-pusseissa viinipulloja tuoda.

(Yeah, there are a lot of differences in that, if you go to BYGDØY, to a party of someone who is born there, and you don’t really see people bringing wine bottles in plastic bags from Rimi [grocery store chain].)

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1b) Prosodic phenomena of the Finns

35 occurrences of rising intonation at the end of a phrase (cf. Strandskogen 2001)

Usually connected to borrowed Norwegian words and phrases, but occurs also in fully Finnish sentences, see (2):

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1b) Prosodic phenomena of the Finns

(2) Niinku, on se, on mulla joskus vaikeuksia niinku tajuta, niinku, jos norjalainen ihminen on mulle SARKASTINEN tai jos se on vaan niinku, jos sillon, jos se ei oo semmonen, niin et, et mikä tarkotus tällä ihmisellä on, ku se sanoo jotain mulle.

(It’s like, sometimes I have difficulty understanding, like if a Norwegian person is SARCASTIC to me, or if they’re not like that, so, what do they mean when they speak to me.)

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1c) Prosodic phenomena of the Finns

Prolongation of vowels or words occurs in speech of 2 subjects’ speech who have lived longest in Norway, see (3):

(3) Seittemän VUOTTAA JAAA, kaks, kolme kuukautta.

(Seven years, and two, three months.)

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1d) Interference

Norwegian affects the pronunciation of one subject, see (4):

(4) (nauraen) ERILAISYYS, siinäpä sana. (naurua)

(laughing) DIFFERENCE, what a word. (laughter)

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2) Borrowing

Definition = Words that occur in the data 3 or more times, and are declined/conjugated according to Finnish morphology (frequency-based criterion, cf. Myers-Scotton 1997)

The rest of the words categorized as code-switching

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2) Borrowing and code-switching

Loans, 56%

Codeswitching, 44%

lheikkol@abo.fiFigure 1. Distribution of borrowing and code-switching, N=162.

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2) Borrowing

Borrowing divided into i) established loans, ii) translation loans, and iii) other loans

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2) Borrowing

Loans, 39%

Established loans,

18%

Translation loans,

43%

lheikkol@abo.fiFigure 2. Distribution of borrowing, N=90.

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2a) Established loans

Two groups: 1) commonly used loans (13/16), see (5):

(5) Ne, ketkä tykkää DISAINISTA, on ihan innoissaan, et Suomi on hyvä juttu. (Those who like DESIGN are excited and think Finland’s great.)

2) loans used due to interference (3/16), see (6):

(6) No kyl mie nyt, siis kyl mie nyt uutiset katon ja silleen, mut en mie noit, mitä ne on, DEBATTEJA jaksa katella. [väittely](Well, I do now, I mean, I do watch the news and stuff, but I don’t feel like watching, what are they´called, DEBATES.)

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2b) Translation loans – Verbs

Verbs form the largest group of translation loans (13/39), see (7)

(7) Et edelleen ei oikee, o tälle toiselle ihmiselle voi antaa anteeks, koska se ei oo niinku, se ei oo ollu meillä töissä pitkään, mut se toinen ihminen, joka kysy multa, se on ollu tosi pitkään ja se on nähny mun nimen kirjotettuna, ei mun nimest voi OTTAA niinku siis VÄÄRIN, että. [ta fel]

(So still I can’t really, I can’t forgive this other person , because she has not been like, she has not been working for us for long, but this other person, who asked me, she’s been working there a long time, and she’s seen my name in writing, you cannot MISINTERPRETE my name [to be Norwegian], so.)

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2b) Translation loans – Others

14/39 wrong cases due to interference 5/39 nouns and 5/39 adjectives 2/39 times

of all translation loans (N=39) 8 are quotations

Half (17/39) of translation loans were by the two subjects who were not native Finnish speakers

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2c) Loans – Food names

Largest group: Food names 23/36

(8) Sitte FISKEBOLLE, siis kaikki sekotettu kala on hirveen pahaa, johon on sekotettu jauhoa ja muuta. [kalapulla]

(Then FISHBALL, I mean all mixed fish is terribly bad, if it’s mixed with flour and stuff.)

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2c) Loans – Others

9/36 greeting words 3/36 word trinn (level)

Other words used, but not present in this study; e.g. pensym (syllabus), semesteri (semester), grunnfag (foundation subject), mellomfag (intermediate subject) etc.

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3) Code-switching (CS)

CS in the data analyzed according to Myers-Scotton’s MLF Model

Poplack 1985: i) tagswitching, ii) intrasentential and iii) intersentential code-switching

i) Se nyt vaan on niin, you know. (That’s just the way it is now, you know.)

ii) Waiffin kanssa puhutaan norjaa. (I speak Norwegian with my wife.)

iii) Sitten hän meni kauppaan, and bought milk. (Then he went to the store, and bought milk.)

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3) MLF Model

Myers-Scotton (1997): CS composed of ML and EL islands and ML + EL constituents:

ML islands: Matrix language words in accordance with matrix language grammar

ML + EL constituents: Matrix language system and content morfemes, and EL content morfemes in accordance with matrix language grammar

EL (embedded language) island: EL content and system morphemes in accordance with EL grammar

In this study: Matrix language Finnish, the embedded language Norwegian, sometimes Swedish or English

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3) Code-switching

Tagswitching, 1%

Intersentential CS,

19%

Intrasentential CS,

80%

lheikkol@abo.fiFigure 4. Distribution of code-switching, N= 72.

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3a) Tag-switching Only one occurrence (subject has lived next longest in Norway), see

(9):

(9) Että tuota niin niin, ne niinku vaatii tavallaan täällä Oslossa, et sun täytyy puhua sujuvaa, tai muuten ei, SORI DAALING. [anteeksi, kulta]

(So that well, they kind of require it here in Oslo, that you have to speak fluent, or else no, SORRY DARLING. )

Element forms an EL island – it follows English phonology and it’s function is sentence-filling

It is also possible that this switch to English is actually an English loan in Finnish

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3b) Intrasentential code-switching

Largest group, forms 80 % (55/79) of all code-switching

Largest group also in Kovács’ (2001) study on Australian Finnish (74,1%) and Australian Hungarian (80,3%)

Myers-Scotton: Intrasentential code-switches form 78% Halmari: Intrasentential code-switches form 78%

Used by every informant (except 3 whose CS could not be analyzed)

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3b) Intrasentential code-switching

9/55 English switches: 2 phrases, 6 nouns, 1 adjective

46/55 Norwegian switches: 32 nouns, 5 verbs, 5 adjectives, 3

prepositions, 1 negative

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3b) Intrasentential code-switching

Word class groups of the Finnish informants' intrasentential codeswitching

69%

11%

5%

9%

4%

2%

nouns

adjectives

prepositions

verbs

phrases

negatives

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Figure 4. Distribution of word classes in intrasentential CS, N=55.

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3b) Intrasentential CS – Nouns

13/38 nouns related to studying, working, or living in Norway, see (10)

(10): Öö, onhan meil sit jotkut, no englannin kielellä ei o niin paljon, mutta nyt kiinan kielellä on joitakin semmosia PENSYM-kirjoja kans. [lukulista]

(Um, we do have some, well in English not so much, but in Chinese we have some SYLLABUS books also.)

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3b) Intrasentential CS – Others

12/55 Food words6/55 other words:

2 family words, 4 Norwegian terms used instead of Finnish words

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3b) Intrasentential code-switching

Form ML + EL constituents i.e. L2 content words embedded in ML

Preserve original phonological form Conjugated/declined according to ML syntax and morphology

One exception: (11) Ei tuu, mut mä luen niinku netistä tota tai sit tota ostan Daagblaa, Veegee.

(No, I don’t get it, but I read [them] like on the Web, or I buy Dagblad, VG.)

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3c) Intersentential code-switching

14 occurrences in 3 subjects’ speech who have lived longest in Norway

2 Swedish, 4 English, 8 Norwegian, see (12):

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3c) Intersentential code-switching

(12) Sit se sano, mitä se sanokaan, että, SEL OM DU JOBBER HÄÄR? Sitten mää sanoin, että JAA, JÄI JOBBER HÄÄR JÄI, öö, JAA. Mää en niinku ymmärtäny, mistä se puhu. Sitten se sano uuestaan sen SEL OM DU JOBBER HÄÄR.. Öö, YNSHYL, JÄI SHÖNNER IKKE VA DY MEENER. Se vastaa sitten englanniks, IIVEN THOU JUU WÖÖRK HIÖR?

(Then he said, what did he say, that, EVEN THOUGH YOU WORK HERE? Then I said, that YEAH, I DO WORK HERE, UM, YES. I didn’t like understand, what he was on about. Then he said it again, that EVEN THOUGH YOU WORK HERE. Um, EXCUSE ME, I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT YOU’RE TALKING ABOUT. Then he answered in English, EVEN THOUGH YOU WORK HERE?)

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3c) Intersentential code-switching

Form EL islands within ML i.e. L2 words, conjugated according to syntactic, morphological and phonological rules of L2

Of all (N=14) 9 quotations

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Finns’ use of dialect and CS

Finns use almost no dialect at all Two subjects use their dialects, but this

reflects a more local identity than a national one

Finns show more of all three types of contact language phenomena

Finns use mostly Norwegian loans and code-switching

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Italians’ use of dialect and CS

Italians use more dialect than the Finns, 2 named their dialect native language

Italians use significantly less code-switching and borrowing than Finns

Italians use comparatively more English loans and code-switching

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Finns’ national identity

Finns seem to integrate well into the Norwegian society

They use less and less Finnish the longer they have lived in Norway

They do not use dialects as much as Italians They use CS more frequently which reflects

their integration into Norway and their new national identity

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Italians’ national identity

Italians tend to use more dialect, and thus reflect national identity

Italians use very little CS and borrowing, and it is into English, not Norwegian

Italians seem to preserve a tighter community where language is preserved and the new language (here Norwegian) is not necessarily learned

Despite their lack of knowledge of Norwegian they can be well integrated into the Norwegian society

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Ideas for the future

How does the national identity change over time?

What other languages Finns use in their everyday life in Oslo and how their identity is reflected through that use?

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Bibliography Clyne, Michael (1994). Inter-cultural communication. Cultural values in discourse.

Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Gumperz, John. J. (1982). Discourse strategies. Cambridge: Cambridge

University Press. Halmari, Helena (1997). Government and codeswitching. Explaining American

Finnish. Studies in bilingualism vol. 12. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: Benjamins. Heikkilä, Elli (1996). Alueellisen kehityksen uusi dynamiikka ja integraatio. In Olavi

Koivukangas, Kalevi Korpela & Raimo narjus (eds.): Suomi Euroopassa – maassamuuton uudet ulottuvuudet. Muuttoliikesymposium 1995 Turku 15.-17.11. Siirtolaisuustutkimuksia A 18. Turku: Siirtolaisuusinstituutti – Migrationsinstitutet.

Heikkola, Leena Maria (2005). Kieli kansallisen identiteetin peilinä. Koodinvaihto ja murre oslonsuomalaisten ja –italialaisten kielessä. pro gradu – tutkielma. http://users.utu.fi/lmheik/research.html

Koivukangas, Olavi (1996). Suomessa vuoden 1990 jälkeen tapahtuneet muuttoliikeilmiöt ja tutkimustilanne. In Olavi Koivukangas, Kalevi Korpela & Raimo narjus (eds.): Suomi Euroopassa – maassamuuton uudet ulottuvuudet. Muuttoliikesymposium 1995 Turku 15.-17.11. Siirtolaisuustutkimuksia A 18. Turku: Siirtolaisuusinstituutti – Migrationsinstitutet.

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Bibliography

Kovács, Magdolna (2001). Code.switching and language shift in Australian Finnish in comparison with Australian Hungarian. Åbo:Åbo Akademi University Press.

Myers, Carol (1997). Duelling languages. Grammatical structures in codeswitching. Oxford: Claredon Press.

Nuolijärvi, Pirkko (1994). Migrationen inom och till Norden. In Sally Boyd, Anne Holmen & J. Norman Jørgensen (eds.): Sprogbruk og sprogvalg blandt invandrere i Norden. Bind II. Temaartikler. Københavnerstudier in tosprogethet bind 23. København: Center for multikulturelle studier, Danmarks Lærerhøjskole.

Poplack, Shana (1985). Contrasting patterns of code-switching in two communities. In H. J. Warkentyne (ed.): Methods V. Proceedings of the V International conference on methods in dialectology. Victoria: University of Victoria Press.

Romaine, Suzanne (1993). Bilingualism. Language in society 13. Oxford, UK, Cambridge, USA: Blackwell.

Saukkonen, Pauli, Haipus, Marjatta, Niemikorpi, Antero & Sulkala, Helena (1979). Suomen kielen taajuussanasto. Porvoo:WSOY.

Sentral Statistikk Byrå (2003). www.ssb.no Strandskogen, Åse-Berit (2001). Norsk fonetikk for utlendinger. Norge: Gyldendal Norsk

Forlag.

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