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This paper analyses a number of typical features of lower-class writing in 19 th -century Finland. The data consists of business letters written by local traders and farmers. These letters are compared to letters by Forest Finns, a group of early Finnish migrants to Scandinavia. The business letters are marked by three distinct influences: the older literary tradition, local dialects and the 'rising literary genres' of the 19 th century.On the basis of the morpho-phonological level of the corpus texts, it will be argued that the lower-class writers intended to write a standard language, not a dialect.

This article discusses the evolution of the Finnish stance adverbial muka, ‘as if, allegedly, supposedly’, in light of diachronic corpus pragmatics. The particle muka currently always implies a dubitative stance adopted by the speaker, and it is used as an evaluative response to a former discourse. Muka appeared in written Finnish as late as in the nineteenth century, since it is an element that is typical of eastern dialects, while the earlier texts were mainly based on western dialects. Nineteenth-century corpora and dialect data from recorded interviews show that the current meanings of muka can be traced back to causal and reportative contexts. The article also demonstrates that a parallel analysis of both written and spoken data has methodological advantages especially with phenomena that are rather recent or pragmatically complicated.

Artikkeli käsittelee suomentamiseen liittyviä ideologioita ja normeja 1800-luvun tietokirjallisuudessa. Tapaustutkimuksena on Werner Söderström Osakeyhtiön tietokirjojen suomennostoiminta 1800-luvun lopulla. Tutkimus kytkeytyy kääntämisen sosiologiaan ja historiaan, ja siinä arvioidaan myös, miten ja missä määrin historiallisia käännösprosesseja voidaan rekonstruoida. Käännösprosesseja lähestytään tarkastelemalla eri toimijoiden − kustantaja, kääntäjä, kieliasiantuntija, tekstin arvioija − osuutta käännösprosessissa. Tutkimuksen aineistona on kustantajan ja kääntäjän kääntämistä ja kielellisiä valintoja käsittelevä kirjeenvaihto, jonka avulla on mahdollista valottaa eri suunnista kääntäjän arkea, yhteisöllisiä arvoja ja normeja käännösvalintojen taustalla sekä niitä henkilökohtaisia asenteita, jotka ohjaavat kääntäjiä erilaisiin valintoihin. Analyysin tuloksena voi päätellä, että ammattikirjoittajina kääntäjät olivat hyvin tietoisia erilaisista kielellisistä ja kääntämiseen liittyvistä normeista. Käytännön työssä kääntäjät toimivat kuitenkin usein erilaisten normien ristipaineessa, jolloin vastakkain asettuivat esimerkiksi alkuteoksen luonteen säilyttäminen ja toisaalta sen kotouttaminen. Kääntäjät olivat myös tietoisia kielen vaihtelevista normeista, tunsivat käynnissä olevat kielikeskustelut ja mukauttivat herkästi kielenkäyttöään kulloinkin vallitsevien kirjakielen normien mukaiseksi.   Norms and ideologies of translation in light of correspondence between publisher and translator in 19th-century Finland This article analyses the ideologies and norms that guided the translation of works of non-fiction in 19th-century Finland. As a case study the article analyses the processes involved in the publication of non-fiction at the Werner Söderström Ltd publishing house at the end of the 19th century. The research takes as its base theories examining the sociology and history of translation. It also aims to evaluate how and to what extent historical translation processes can be reconstructed. Translation is approached as a collaborative process involving various actors: publisher, translator, language editor, and expert reader. The data consists of correspondence between publisher and translator that deals with matters of translation or language. This correspondence sheds light on the everyday life of the translator and the socially accepted norms and ideologies that guide the translation process. It also reveals the stance of publishers concerning the choice of translator, a factor that can lead to very different end products. The analysis shows that, as professional writers, translators at the end of the 19th century were well aware of contemporary translational norms. In practice, translators were caught between various conflicting pressures – regarding, for instance, questions such as whether one should follow the original text as close as possible to preserve its unique style or assimilate the text to a Finnish context to help the reader. The data also shows that translators were well aware of linguistic norms; they were acquainted with current and past debates, and in assimilating their use of language they remained sensitive to prevailing norms.

Language change can be seen as an ideological negotiation between different actors. Here, we present two morphological changes that took place in nineteenth-century Finland when the modern written standard of Finnish was being codified. Our aim is to reveal the complex nature of language planning as it comes to conflict with ongoing language change. The study combines three different methods and data sets: Firstly, we analyze newsletters that readers sent to Finnish newspapers. Secondly, we examine the visible meta-level discussion in grammars, newspapers and language guides. Thirdly, we provide a quantitative overview of the ongoing change in nineteenth-century Finnish newspapers. Combinations of different methods and data enable new approaches not only to standardization but also to the actual processes behind it.