The research group on Variation and Change in Finnish is a collaborative effort by researchers whose aim is to examine how our language has changed in the past, is changing now, and will change in the future. It has long been known that there is an essential connection between language change and variation.
Research focus and goals
Our goal is to examine the mechanisms through which the connection between linguistic variation and change is realized. The methods that make it possible to observe variation and change are also central in our analysis. The group consists of researchers in the fields of linguistics, statistics, and population biology.
The research subjects of our group include:
- Finding populations of language users by examining variation
- Variation and change in idiolect over time
- Using cognitive linguistics to examine changing structures
- Changes in contemporary vernacular, especially in the city vernaculars of Tampere and Helsinki
- The development of early Finnish language and the origins of dialect variation in todays dialects
- Theories and methods of sociolinguistic real-time research
Members
Other members
Michael ODell (TAU, ret.), Jenni Santaharju (UH), Hanna Lappalainen (UEF), Urho Määttä (TAU, ret.).