Authors

• Societal awareness of linguistic variation and change (LANGAWARE) -research group (Tampere University)

Keywords

adolescents, colloquial language, dialects, knowledge (awareness), language, language variations, languages, languages and linguistics education, schoolchildren, upper secondary education

Abstract

The data focuses on Finnish upper secondary school students' perceptions and attitudes towards the use of Finnish language and linguistic variation in everyday contexts. The data was collected as part of the research project Societal awareness of linguistic variation and change (LANGAWARE).

First, statements were presented relating to language use. The statements concerned, among other things, mixing languages, ways of communicating, following grammar rules, and personal linguistic skills. After this, the respondents were asked to describe their thoughts on colloquial language, the English language use in Finnish, and language change. They were also asked to list linguistic expressions that they use in writing but not in speech.

Next, various example words were presented, and respondents were asked to assess the extent to which they use these linguistic expressions in their own speech and communication. After this, dialectal expressions were presented, and respondents were asked to use different pairs of adjectives to assess what kind of image they had of these expressions. Finally, open-ended questions were used to ask respondents for their thoughts on language use and linguistic research.

Background variables include year of birth, gender, native language, and municipality of upper secondary school.