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Programme: accepted abstracts

Abstract ID: 921

Part of Session 151: Language and Hyperdiversity in the Global City (Other abstracts in this session)

A process of indexicalisation in urban Helsinki: A case of sharp fronted -s

Authors: Halonen, Mia
Submitted by: Halonen, Mia (University of Jyväskylä, Finland)

In this paper, I will explore the relation between a process of indexicalisation and non-linguistic perceptions of the so-called Helsinkian, urban, sharp fronted sibilant -s. I will explore ways in which the perceptions of the sibilant enable it to become an index of a group called Pissis-girls (cf. e.g. British ‘Chavs’). I will also issue how the use of -s is, in turn, shown in the linguistic practices of the girls who claim or identify themselves as being Pissis.

According to linguistic literature, the perception of sharp fronted -s as Helsinkian, is purely a social construction. The phonology of Finnish includes only one sibilant, a voiceless medioalveolar /s/. This means that the phonetics of -s vary may vary in quality quite a lot without the semantics of the words changing; most of the variation depends on the phonetic context of the -s and the somewhat individual place of articulation. This, in turn, makes the variation of the -s vulnerable for various ideological associations: for example the sharp fronted -s is perceived by most Finns as an index of an arrogant urban stance which again is linked with Pissis-girls. The perception strengthens the strongly negative stereotype of Pissis-girls which includes e.g. tasteless clothing and heavy drinking. On the other hand, also Pissis-girls themselves make use of the stereotypes and claim their being a Pissis as a feminist act.

My study joins the former and on-going discussions dealing with perceptions and construction of “Helsinkian -s” in folk linguistics (e.g. Vaattovaara, in press) along with theories of indexicality (Silverstein 2003) and language ideological processes (Irvine & Gal 2000). As data I will use various discourses in the social media and schools in Helsinki either concerning Pissis-girls or by them, my methods being ethnography and sociolinguistically informed semiotics (cf. Blommaert & Rampton 2011). By connecting various methods and theories I will discuss some aspects of the relations between the language ideological processes, indexicalisation and the social constructional nature of linguistic features.

Blommaert, J. & Rampton, B. 2011. Language and superdiversity. – Diversities 13, 1–21.

Irvine, J. T. – Gal, S. 2000: Language ideology and linguistic differentiation. – P. V. Kroskrity (ed.), Regimes of language. Ideologies, polities, and identities, 35–83. Santa Fe, New Mexico: School of American Research Press.

Silverstein, M. 2003. Indexical order and the dialectics of sociolinguistic life. – Language & Communication 23, 193–229.

Vaattovaara, J. in press: On the dynamics of non-linguists' dialect perceptions – the perceived spatiality of /s/variation in Finnish. – M. Pütz, M. Reif & J. Robinson (eds), Cognitive Sociolinguistics. Duisburg Papers on Research in Language and Culture Frankfurt: Peter Lang.