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Join us at the Nordic library for an evening about swearing and the influence of English and social media on our language use in the Nordic countries.Ulrikke Rindal, Associate Professor from the University of Oslo, Norway, opens the event with a keynote on the mechanisms of how English-language media influences language and how media genres might limit register and allow performative monologues but yet not guarantee communication skills.
After this, researchers Helga Hilmisdottir (PhD, University of Iceland), Kristy Beers Fägersten (Professor, Södertörn University, Sweden), and Elizabeth Peterson (Docent, University of Helsinki) engage in a panel discussion about the use of swear words – and the research of them – in the Nordic context. Jenny Sylvin from the University of Helsinki will moderate the discussion.
You also have a chance to get a drawing of your favourite swear word uttered by the comic character “Kiroileva siili”, drawn live by cartoonist Milla Paloniemi during the event.
Please observe that this event will be streamed; as a member of the public you may show on some footage and your questions to the panelists will be recorded. Comments from the event may also be used in the presenters’ research on swearing.
The discussion is part of SwiSca9: Raising Hel! -conference at the University of Helsinki by the research network Swearing in Scandinavia, a group of scholars united by the goals of conducting multidisciplinary research on the subject of swearing. Full program of the conference can be found here: https://blogs.helsinki.fi/swisca9hel/program/
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SCHEDULE
16.30: Doors open. Possibility to leave your favourite swearword to Milla Paloniemi for drawing
16:45: Welcoming words
(Streaming begins)
17:00-17:15: Keynote: Ulrikke Rindal: From media to mouth: How English-language media influences language use
This talk is about the mechanisms of how English-language media influences language use among young people in Norway and the other Nordic countries. However, it is just as much about how people make language choices. What makes us choose an accent? Is it wrong to use English loan words? Why do adolescents swear, and why is it easier to swear in English than in our mother tongue? Is English-language media really making young people better in English? And what does language have to do with identity, anyway?
A break. Possibility to leave your favourite swearword to Milla Paloniemi for drawing
17:30-18:30: Panel discussion
18:30-18.45: Questions to panelists
(Streaming ends)
19:00: Doors close
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SPEAKERS
Kristy Beers Fägersten is Professor of English Linguistics at Södertörn University. Her research disciplines include pragmatics, discourse analysis, sociolinguistics, and conversation analysis. She is the author of Who’s Swearing Now? (2012), lead editor of Advances in Swearing Research (2017), co-editor of the Journal of Pragmatics special issue, “Swearing and Interpersonal Pragmatics”, co-author of “The power of swearing: What we know and what we don’t” (2022), and first author of “Everybody swears on Only Murders in the Building: The interpersonal functions of scripted television swearing” (2023), “Swearing” (2022), “The evolution of swearing in television catchphrases” (2022), and “Swear words for sale” (2021).
Helga Hilmisdóttir is a research associate professor and department head at the Department of Icelandic at Árni Magnússon Institute for Icelandic studies. After receiving her PhD in Nordic languages from the University of Helsinki, Hilmisdóttir has worked as a university lecturer a the University of Manitoba and University of Helsinki. Her areas of interest include Anglicisms in spoken interaction, youth language and and new approaches in lexicography.
Elizabeth Peterson is an Associate Professor of English at the University of Jyväskylä. She also holds the Title of Docent in linguistics at the University of Helsinki. A native of the USA, Peterson is interested in language contact phenomena between English, Finnish, Swedish, and other languages of Europe. She is especially interested in pragmatic borrowings such as oh my god, please, and swear words. Another area of specialization is languages attitudes and ideologies. She is the director of the research project Language Awareness and Ideologies in Finland, funded by the Kone Foundation.
Ulrikke Rindal is Associate Professor of English Language Education at the University of Oslo, Norway. Her research interests relate to sociolinguistic aspects of learning and teaching English, especially the practices and ideologies related to spoken language. More specifically, she investigates how children and adolescents in Norway engage with English-language media, and how this influences how they learn and use English. In particular, Rindal’s research focuses on the role of English for individuals, including how English can be used to show who you are.
FD Jenny Sylvin disputerade år 2024 på doktorsavhandlingen Svenskan vid Helsingfors universitet – språkpolicy, attityder och realiteter. Hon arbetar som lärare i kommunikation på svenska som förstaspråk vid Helsingfors universitets språkcentrum och är en av initiativtagarna till en gemensam webbresurs för akademisk kommunikaton på svenska i samarbete med ÅA, Hanken och Aalto-universitetet. Webplatsen Fixa språket väntas lanseras hösten 2026. Hon medverkar sedan år 2020 i språkpodden Näst sista ordet tillsammans med Jens Berg. Podden hittas på Yle Vega och på Arenan.
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Nordic Culture Point has been granted the EcoCompass environmental certificate. We’re making every endeavour to reduce our carbon footprint, which is why all travel within the organisation is carefully planned. Use public transport when you visit us, and you’ll contribute to a greener cultural scene, too!
Illustration: Kiroileva siili by Milla Paloniemi
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Event Venue & Nearby Stays
Nordisk kulturkontakt, Kaisaniemenkatu 9, FI-00100 Helsinki, Suomi,Helsinki, Finland
