The subject of my dissertation (June 2023, University of Turku) “Dialect and its study: Perspectives on the history and language ideologies of Finnish dialectological research 1871–2017” is dialect and how dialect has been studied in the field of the Finnish language. In my dissertation I examined how scientific information about dialects, i.e. language, is created and has been created in the process of research from an individual’s speech. In addition to the research-historical description, in my work I dealt with language ideologies related to dialect research. My dissertation is graded “with commendation”, which requires that the research represents the top ten percent of its field.
At the University of Eastern Finland, I work as a postdoctoral researcher in the research project “Linguistic variation, social class and experiences on inequality in Eastern Finland” (KIVELI). In the project, we produce scientific information about the relationship between language and social class in Finland, especially in Eastern Finland. Our project combines the approaches of sociology and language research (sociolinguistics). The project is financed by the Finnish Cultural Foundation’s North Karelia and North Savo funds.
