”Tavoitteena on tarkastella luontevaa arkikeskustelua” – Vapaa, spontaani, luonnollinen ja aito (arki-)puhe fennistisissä murteita käsittelevissä väitöskirjoissa

Abstract

The study examines the concept of free(ly produced) (‘vapaa’) speech. The expressions free (‘vapaa’), spontaneous (‘spontaani’), natural (‘luonnollinen’), authentic (‘aito’) and everyday (‘arki-‘) are the subject of the analysis. The research material consists of 51 doctoral dissertations dealing with dialects published in the field of Finnish language studies between 1871 and 2017, from which previously mentioned expressions have been searched qualitatively by means of close reading and mechanically by word searches. The research shows that free(ly produced) (‘vapaa’) speech can be defined in different ways and that speech produced in different speech situations appears at different contexts as both free(ly produced) and non-free(ly produced) speech. The study discusses phonetic experiments, elicitation methods, and interview and conversation as data acquisition methods and speech situations in language research. The study shows that although the scientific field has emphasized that no speech is more natural and authentic than another, in practice such assessments are made in research discourses (dissertations).