Making sense of linguistic diversity in Helsinki, Finland: The timespace of affects in the linguistic landscape

Abstract

This article explores the spatiotemporal and affective qualities of linguistic landscapes at three linguistically diverse neighborhoods in Helsinki, Finland. The three sites were selected for qualitative fieldwork using a method that combines social media and population registry data with quantitative measures of diversity and spatial analytics. The article demonstrates how each site is characterized by its own distinct affective atmosphere, which is discursively construed and made sense of through references to other places and times. The timespace analysis of affects provides conceptual and methodological tools that allow analyzing the change and circulation of social meanings in the landscape, as well as differences in these aspects across settings.

Sociolinguistic Variation in Urban Linguistic Landscapes

“…For the most part, the participants were aware of linguistic diversity through other people who shared the same spaces. These encounters with others, which could be characterised as strongly affective, shape the ways in which languages are experienced, valorised and talked about (Pienimäki, Väisänen & Hiippala 2023).…”

Capturing urban diversity through languages: Long‐term changes in multilingual residential neighbourhoods in the Helsinki Metropolitan Area

“…They also seem to coincide with low-density single-house residential areas, which are usually owner-occupied and less affordable. A reverse dynamic is likely to be also present with 'native language speakers' who might perceive a socio-cultural barrier of moving into such a high-diversity neighbourhood (Pienimäki et al, 2023).…”

“…Another reason could be the temporary presence of international (exchange) students and young adults who are seeking affordable housing, as previous studies have linked their presence to higher linguistic diversity (Väisänen et al, 2022). Also, it is likely some native language speakers prefer to move away from neighbourhoods considered to be 'too diverse' to a less diverse one (Pienimäki et al, 2023). However, these areas were still more stable than moderately diverse areas, perhaps because of the affordable social housing and the immigrant social networks formed in the neighbourhoods (Silm et al, 2021;Torpan et al, 2022).…”