Bilingual voicing: A study of code-switching in the reported speech of Finnish immigrants in Estonia
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Maria Frick
und
Helka Riionheimo
Abstract
Through a conversation analytic investigation of Finnish–Estonian bilingual (direct) reported speech (i.e., voicing) by Finns who live in Estonia, this study shows how code-switching is used as a double contextualization device. The code-switched voicings are shaped by the on-going interactional situation, serving its needs by opening up a context where the participants can engage in activities such as assessing the voice-persona, and renewing the current speech event by imposing a context of prior texts upon it. The study shows that code-switching can be used in an interactionally meaningful way even when a) the morphosyntactic and lexical border between the two languages is not strictly salient, and b) when the participants do not orient towards the two varieties as indexical of specific social groups or values associated with them. In light of these results, the conclusion is drawn that although the two languages are clearly interrelated for the speakers, Finns in Estonia still orient towards two relatively distinct sets of linguistic features and operate with this difference as a resource in interaction. These findings are discussed in light of recent sociolinguistic theories that find the opposition of two languages in conversation often to lack any meaning for the participants.
© 2014 by Walter de Gruyter Berlin/Boston
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Artikel in diesem Heft
- Masthead
- Masthead
- Articles
- Bilingual voicing: A study of code-switching in the reported speech of Finnish immigrants in Estonia
- How to talk about languages: The venues metaphor
- Maya the Bee, Scooby Doo and other stories: How the public and private distinction is depicted in children’s bidialectal interactions in kindergarten
- Too much French? Not enough French?: The Vancouver Olympics and a very Canadian language ideological debate
- Children’s language input: A study of a remote multilingual Indigenous Australian community
- Book reviews
- Obituary for Shoshana Blum-Kulka
