Facilitating mutual understanding in everyday interaction between Finns and Estonians

Bibliographic Data

ID21196694
AuthorsHanna-Ilona Härmävaara (0000-0002-4226-4798, University of Helsinki, corresponding author)
Year2014
Volume5
Issue1
Pages211-245
Publication date2014-04-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueApplied Linguistics Review (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1868-6303 • E-ISSN: 1868-6311
PublisherWalter de Gruyter GmbH (PUBLISHER • DE)
DOI10.1515/applirev-2014-0010
OpenAlexW2154689155
LanguageEN
Citations received3

Finnish and Estonian are relatively closely related languages, which, however, are not considered unconditionally mutually intelligible. The present article discusses the mutual intelligibility of Finnish and Estonian and explores the means by which mutual understanding is created in actual Finnish-Estonian multilingual communication. The data consist of video-recorded informal conversations between Finns and Estonians belonging to a social network in which using both languages (Finnish and Estonian) is a common way of communication. The data are analyzed within the framework of conversation analysis using the concept of participation framework. An overview of informal Finnish- Estonian receptive multilingualism is provided and the language choices are discussed. It is demonstrated that participating in either language does not necessarily cause problems in interaction, and that the shared elements of the languages constitute one resource in creating mutual understanding. However, the participation is also actively facilitated for the participants not competent in both the languages. Receptive multilingualism is shown to be a group phenomenon in the studied data

Conversation · Conversation analysis · Estonian · Linguistics · Multilingualism · Sociolinguistics · Sociology · Communication · Discourse Analysis in Language Studies · Language, Discourse, Communication Strategies · Multilingual Education and Policy · Psychology

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