Vapaata mielenjuoksua : Suomenkielisen freestyle-rapin ilmenemismuodot, estetiikka ja kompositio

The thesis is about Finnish freestyle-rap, a modern form of oral poetry producing improvised rap lyrics at the moment of performance. The research material consists of interviews with seven freestyle experts and a DVD from Finnish Rap Championships 2005 containing freestyle-rap. The thesis has three goals: describing the different variations or subgenres of freestyle, outlining the esthetics and register of freestyle, and examining the composition of freestyle. The research material acts a central role in the thesis but the theoretical framework is also wide: cornerstones are John Miles Foley's register analysis, oral formulaic theory and William Levelt's psycholinguistic theory on planning of speech. Freestyle is divided into three partially overlapping genres with slight variation in conventions. The genres are freestyle battle, cypher, and live freestyle. Freestyle's esthetics are composed of certain qualities and preferences: the rhyme is a syllabically repeating vocal rhyme. The rapping must be synchronised with the background rhythm and the rhyme comes in the end of the line. The lyrics must be somehow anchored to the surroundings and the moment of performance. The style of rapping, ie. flow, has to be personal one way or the other. Individual formulas are used to some extent in freestyle compostition. When planning the lines, all other content is subordinate to the rhyme, whose phonetic processing is the primary act in the planning of freestyle. This discovery sets Levelt's theory open to doubt.

Ranskan rooli ja asema läntisessä liittoutumassa neljännen ja viidennen tasavallan vaihtumakohdassa 1956-1958

The study discusses the position of France as the United States’ ally in NATO in 1956-1958. The concrete position of France and the role that it was envisioned to have are being treated from the point of view of three participants of the Cold War: France, the United States and the Soviet Union. How did these different parties perceive the question and did these views change when the French Fourth Republic turned into the Fifth in 1958? The study is based on published French and American documents of Foreign Affairs. Because of problems with accessibility to the Soviet archival sources, the study uses reports on France-NATO relations of Pravda newspaper, the official organ of the Communist Party of the USSR, to provide information about how the Soviet side saw the question. Due to the nature and use of source material, and the chronological structure of the work, the study belongs methodologically to the research field of History of International Relations. As distinct from political scientists’ field of research, more prone to theorize, the study is characteristically a historical research, a work based on qualitative method and original sources that aims at creating a coherent narrative of the views expressed during the period covered by the study. France’s road to a full membership of NATO is being treated on the basis of research literature, after which discussions about France’s position in the Western Alliance are being chronologically traced for the period of last years of the Fourth Republic and the immediate months of coming back to power of Charles de Gaulle. Right from the spring of 1956 there can be seen aspirations of France, on one hand, to maintain her freedom of action inside the Western Alliance and, on the other, to widen the dialogue between the allies. The decision on France’s own nuclear deterrent was made already during the Fourth Republic, when it was thought to become part of NATO’s common defence. This was to change with de Gaulle. The USA felt that France still fancied herself as a great power and that she could not participate in full in NATO’s common defence because of her colonies. The Soviet Union saw the concrete position of France in the Alliance as in complete dependence on the USA, but her desired role was expressed largely in “Gaullist” terms. The expressions used by the General and the Soviet propaganda were close to each other, but the Soviet Union could not support de Gaulle without endangering the position of the French Communist Party. Between the Fourth and Fifth Republics no great rupture in content took place concerning the views of France’s role and position in the Western Alliance. The questions posed by de Gaulle had been expressed during the whole period of Fourth Republic’s existence. Instead, along with the General the weight and rhetoric of these questions saw a great change. Already in the early phase the Americans saw it possible that with de Gaulle, France would try to change her role. The rupture took place in the form of expression, rather than in its content.

Tanssi Möbiuksen renkaalla : Alain Robbe-Grillet'n romaani Djinn ja kirjallisuuden välitila

Ranskalaisen uuden romaanin isän, Alain Robbe-Grillet'n romaani Djinn (1981) on alun perinilmestynyt ranskan kielen oppikirjana nimellä Le Rendez-vous (1981). Oppikirjaelementti tulee selkeimmin esiin siinä, että tarinan edetessä verbit esitellään helpoimmasta konjugaatiosta vaikeimpaan, eri aikamuodot ja modukset esitellään järjestelmällisesti indikatiivin preesensistä alkaen,jne. Tästä kieliopillisen kehityksen periaatteesta generoituu myös itse tarina. Ts. kieliopillinen aineisto ja didaktisuus tunkeutuvat vastustamattomasti myös tarinan tasolle. Viime kädessä Djinn on siis kertomus kielestä. Toisaalta, vaikka Djinn väistää kaikki genre-luokitukset, voisi sitä luonnehtia eräänlaiseksi salapoliisiromaaniksi tai mysteeriksi, sillä siinä päähenkilö Simon Lecœur saa vallankumoukselliselta organisaatiolta omituisen toimeksiannon. Tehtävän luonnetta ei kuitenkaan paljasteta, mutta vähitellen selviää, että kysymys on kielen arvoituksesta. Matkansa varrella romaanin päähenkilö ja lukija ikään kuin vihitään kieltä ja kirjallisuutta koskevaan pyhään tietoon. Mukaansavetävän kerronnan ja kertomuksen "takaa" paljastuu siis myös metakirjallinen ja (kirjallisuuden)filosofinen teos. Djinn-romaanissa toimiva vallankumouksellinen organisaatio taistelee ihmiskunnan koneistumista ja mekanisaatiota vastaan, sillä ne ovat vieraannuttaneet ihmisen todellisesta elämästä. Samalla tavalla koko romaani taistelee kielen jähmettyneisyyttä, atomisoitumista ja mekanisoitumista vastaan. Aivan kuten lingvistis-didaktinen elementti sekoittuu romaanissa fantastiseen fiktioon, sekoittuvat siinä vastaansanomattomasti toisiinsa myös länsimaisen populaarikulttuurin stereotypiat ja mytologinen aineisto, aika ja kielen aikamuodot, fiktio ja todellisuus, jne. Romaanissa purkautuvat myös monet dikotomiset oppositioparit - mm. mies vs. nainen, puhe vs. kirjoitus, järjestys vs. epäjärjestys ja jopa lukija vs. kirjailija. Teoksen vallankumouksellisuus on välitilassa, joka on kohtaamisen (rendez-vous) tila. Ts. romaani pyrkii kaikilta osin siihen kielen ja merkityksen syntymän tilaan, jossa mieli ja merkitys (sens) ei vielä ole erottautunut "mielettömyydestä" ja "merkityksettömyydestä" (non-sens). Välitilanvapaus on siinä, että ihmisen jähmettyneet käsitykset ja konstruktiot maailmasta rikkoutuvat ja korvautuvat sisäisellä liikkeellä, jossa ihminen ja maailma kohtaavat toisensa välittömällä tavalla. Pyrkimys välitilaan yhdistää Djinnin myös Gilles Deleuzen filosofiaan. Tässä välitilassa kieli ei ole enää todellisuudesta vieraantunutta. "Simulaatio" tai "kommunikaation ekstaasi" ei ole mahdollista kielellä, joka kieltäytyy kommunikoimasta, kieltäytyy olemasta pelkkä väline. Sen sijaan tämä kieli vaatii lähikosketusta, tuntoaistia, osallistumista. Tätä tapahtumaa välitilassa voi kutsua tanssiksi Möbiuksen renkaalla. Avainsanat: Alain Robbe-Grillet, Gilles Deleuze, Djinn, nouveau roman (uusi romaani)

Olla elävän sanat : Roolirunon laji Maila Pylkkösen teoksessa Arvo. Vanhaäiti puhuu runonsa

Maila Pylkkönen (1931 1986) was one of the most important modernist poets in Finland and a central figure in developing the dramatic monologue in Finnish literature. The study examines Pylkkönen s poetic work Arvo. Vanhaäiti puhuu runonsa (Value. An old woman speaks her poem, 1959) as an example of the dramatic monologue, approaching it from three perspectives: its generic features and background, and the poetic framework to which it connects in the context of Pylkkönen s poetry. In addition to methods of literary scholarship, the poetic analysis benefits from a linguistic approach. The study shows that the dramatic monologue genre drives Pylkkönen s first work, Klassilliset tunteet (Classical feelings, 1957), in a context of finding poetic identity, characterised by the expression to be the words of a living creature . The study demonstrates that important generic features of the dramatic monologue, namely, a poem representing a speech-event and a hierarchical structure, are also Arvo s most significant generic features. Arvo s poems as speech-events are examined for their internal progressive, pragmatic unity constructed through single line units; for their function as narratives dealing with the life story of an old woman, Arvo s speaker; and from the perspective of the communication between the old woman and the poems other characters. Arvo s speech-events can also be seen as semantic shifts from one poem to another: the poems construct semantic stages representing different phases of the old woman s life. The study demonstrates that analysis of Arvo s hierarchical structure, that is, the relationship between the speaker and the rhetorical levels, reveals the work s structural and ideological wholeness by focusing on the old woman s emotions: longing, loneliness and alienation from the world. In other words, the contradictions between the explicit level of the speaker and an implied rhetorical level open up the tragedy of an old woman s daily life. Study of Arvo s hierarchical structure also highlights the special position of the reader in the framework of a dramatic monologue. The elements of a dramatic present in which the old woman s emotions are conveyed, an italicized opening poem, and the work s title Value invite the reader to consider Arvo as a structural and ideological whole. The function of Arvo s hierarchical structure is to ask the reader to recognise the hopelessness of the old woman s situation, understand it, and even identify with it.

Infinitiivi ja sen infiniittisyys : Tutkimus suomen kielen itsenäisistä A-infinitiivikonstruktioista

"Infinitive and its infinity" advocates an approach to infinitives that differs from most previous descriptions in several ways. Infinitives are generally considered to be an illustrative example of an inherently subordinated verb category. This is due to the fact that they are morphologically reduced and are allegedly not able to function as the only predicate of an independent clause. While former descriptions have thus treated infinitives as a linguistic category heavily dependent on the finite verb, my claim is that Finnish A-infinitives (e.g. juosta to run , olla to be ) can be used as independent grammatical units: they need not be either dependent or subordinated, but can have an equal status with finite constructions. In other words, they can be conceptually and interactionally non-dependent. Theoretically, the main objective of the thesis is to discover the nature of non-finite conceptualization and the ways in which it is utilized in everyday interactions. This is accomplished by contrasting finite and non-finite conceptualization with respect to the morphosyntactic marking of person, tense and modality. I argue that the morphologically reduced nature of infinitives can be used as an interactional resource. Independent A-infinitive constructions designate verbal processes that profile no participants, lack any connection with time, and present states of affairs as intensional, structural spaces. Consequently, they provide the interactants with a conceptual alternative in contrast to finite predications that are in Finnish always grammatically anchored to time, modality and person. The deictically unanchored character of A-infinitive constructions makes them highly affective and reflexive in nature. I discuss my findings primarily in the light of Cognitive Grammar. I have drawn insight from various other fields, too: among the theories that are touched upon are interactional linguistics, functional-typological linguistics, and studies on the poetic and metapragmatic use of language. The study is based on empirical data interpreted in qualitative terms. Analyses are based on 980 examples coming mainly from written language. Some 20 examples of spoken data are analyzed as well. In sum, the thesis presents a critical statement towards the finite-verb centred outlook on language and shows that analyzing non-finite elements as such reveals new aspects of grammar and interaction. This is to acknowledge the fact that infinitives, albeit prototypically participating in the coding of dependent events, can also be used outside of the context of the finite verb. Such a view poses several new research questions, as a linguistic category generally seen to code dependent, less prominent states of affairs , now is viewed on as possessing a full cognitive and pragmatic potential.

Betydelser i barnfamiljsbroschyrer : Systemisk-funktionell analys av den tänkta läsaren och institutionen

This thesis concerns Swedish and Finland-Swedish brochures to families with children, presenting family allowances from the social insurance institutions in the two countries. The aim of the study is to analyse what meanings are conveyed with reference to the conceivable reader and the institution in the brochures. The material consists of information brochures in Swedish from Kela, the social insurance institution of Finland, and Försäkringskassan, the Swedish social insurance agency, issued during 2003–2006. The general theoretical framework is systemic-functional linguistics (SFL) as presented by Halliday & Matthiessen (2004) and Holmberg & Karlsson (2006). The study consists of a quantitative study of the lexical choices of the social insurance brochures. Furthermore, a qualitative process and participant analysis is annotated with the UAM Corpus tool and the results are quantified. Speech functions and modal auxiliaries are analysed qualitatively. The analysis shows that material and relational processes are most common. The relational and verbal processes are used more in the Sweden-Swedish brochures, while the material processes are more common in the Finland-Swedish brochures. The participants in the brochures are the institution, mentioned by its name, and the conceivable reader, directly addressed with “you” (du). In addition, the referent “child” is often mentioned. The participants assigned for the reader are Actor, Receiver, Carrier and Speaker. In the Finland-Swedish texts, the reader is often an Actor, while the reader in the Sweden-Swedish texts is a Carrier. Thus, the conceivable reader is an active participant who takes care of his or her own matters using the internet, communicates actively to the institution and has legal rights and obligations. The institution is visible in the texts but does not have an active role as the name of the institution is mostly used in circumstances. The institution is not often a participant, but when it is, it is Actor, Receiver, Listener and Carrier, expecting the clients to address it. Speech functions are performed in different ways. For instance, questions structure the reading process and commands are realised by modal auxiliaries, not by imperatives. The most common modal auxiliary is kan (can, may), and another common auxiliary is ska (shall, must). Statements are surrounded by subordinate clauses and adverbs that describe situations and criteria. The results of the study suggest that the brochures in the two countries are similar, in particular when produced in similar ways, that is, when the Finland-Swedish texts are not translated. Existing differences reflect the differences in the institutions, the social insurance systems and the cultural contexts. KEYWORDS: Finland-Swedish, Swedish, comparative analysis, SFL, discourse analysis, administrative language, institutional discourse, institutional communication

Naiset rajalla : Kyöpeli, Nainen, Naara(s), Neitsyt, Morsian, Akka ja Ämmä Suomen paikannimissä

Women at the boundary. Kyöpeli ( ghost, devil, elf, fairy, enchantress, witch ), Nainen ( woman ), Naara(s) ( female animal, derogatory term for a woman ), Neitsyt ( young, [virgin] woman ), Morsian ( bride ), Akka ( old woman, wife, grandmother ) and Ämmä ( [old] woman, wife, grandmother ) in Finnish place names This study examines a total of about 4,000 Finnish place names which include a specific that refers to a woman: Kyöpeli, Nainen, Naara(s), Neitsyt, Morsian, Akka or Ämmä. The study has two main objectives. First, to interpret the place names in the data, that is, to examine the words included in the data and establish their background and to differentiate names of different ages. In establishing the background of a name, the type of place (e.g. lake, hill or marsh) and its location, as well as the semantics of the feminine specific, are taken into account. The connotations of words referring to a woman are also studied. Words that refer to a woman are often affective and susceptible to changes in meaning, which is reflected in the history of place names. The second main objective is to recognise and highlight mythological place names. Mythology is pivotal for the interpretation of many place names with a feminine specific. The criteria for mythological names have not been explicitly discussed in Finnish onomastics until now, and I seek to determine such criteria in this study with the help of the data. Mythological place names often refer to large and significant natural localities, which are in many cases important boundaries for the community. Names for smaller localities may also be mythological if they refer to a place with a key location or a special topography (e.g. steep or rocky places). I also discuss the stories involved with specific places in the data, such as stories about supernatural beings. Each of the name groups discussed in the study has its own profile. For example, Naara(s) names are so old that naara is no longer understood to refer to a woman. These names have thus often been misinterpreted in onomastics. Names beginning with Morsian, on the other hand, appear to be of fairly recent origin and may be attributed to an international cautionary tale. Names beginning with Nais, Neitsyt, Akka and Ämmä highlight the duality of the data. They include both old names for important natural localities or boundaries and more recent names for modest dwellings, small cultivated areas and useless marshy ponds. This distribution of place names may reflect a cultural shift that changed the status of women in the community.

Tekstit viraston työssä : Tutkimus etuuspäätösten kielestä ja konteksteista

Texts in the work of a city department: A study of the language and context of benefit decisions This dissertation examines documents granting or denying the access to municipal services. The data consist of decisions on transport services made by the Social Services Department of the City of Helsinki. The circumstances surrounding official texts and their language and production are studied through textual analysis and interviews. The dissertation describes the textual features of the above decisions, and seeks to explain such features. Also explored are the topics and methods of genre studies, especially the relationship between text and context. Although the approach is linguistic, the dissertation also touches on research in social work and administrative decision making, and contributes to more general discussion on the language and duties of public administration. My key premise is that a text is more than a mere psycholinguistic phenomenon. Rather, a text is also a physical object and the result of certain production processes. This dissertation thus not only describes genre-specific features, but also sheds light on the work that generates the texts examined. Textual analysis and analyses of discursive practices are linked through an analysis of intertextuality: written decisions are compared with other application documents, such as expert statements and the applications themselves. The study shows that decisions are texts governed by strict rules and written with modest resources. Textwork is organised as hierarchical mass production. The officials who write decisions rely on standard phrases extracted from a computer system. This allows them to produce texts of uniform quality which have been approved by the department s legal experts. Using a computer system in text production does not, however, serve all the needs of the writers. This leads to many problems in the texts themselves. Intertextual analysis indicates that medical argumentation weighs most heavily in an application process, although a social appraisal should be carried out when deciding on applications for transport services. The texts reflect a hierarchy in which a physician ranks above the applicant, and the department s own expert physician ranks above the applicant s physician. My analysis also highlights good, but less obvious practices. The social workers and secretaries who write decisions must balance conflicting demands. They use delicate linguistic means to adjust the standard phrases to suit individual cases, and employ subtle strategies of politeness. The dissertation suggests that the customer contact staff who write official texts should be allowed to make better use of their professional competence. A more general concern is that legislation and new management strategies require more and more documentation. Yet, textwork is only rarely taken into account in the allocation of resources. Keywords: (Critical) text analysis, genre analysis, administration, social work, administrative language, texts, genres, context, intertextuality, discursive practices

Kuvan ja tekstin välissä : Kuvateksti uutiskuvan ja lehtijutun elementtinä

The study focuses on picture captions: their grammar and interplay with photographs and their position as semi-independent elements of the news stories. The research was conducted in the framework of critical discourse analysis, social semiotic visual theory and fennistic syntactical research. The data consist of 441 press photographs, 1,815 captions and a number of news items from Finnish dailies. The generic structure potential of the caption includes the caption headline, the caption proper, i.e. the verbalization of the picture content, and the frame. In the data, 41 per cent of the captions have a headline, and 44 per cent contain a caption proper. Characteristic of the caption proper is omission of the finite verb and the use of the present tense, both of which have decreased in Finnish papers during the 20th century. The caption proper is typically a main clause, and both subordinate clauses and participal phrases occur mostly in the frame. While comparing caption variants attached to the same pictures, the processes and their participants proved to be identified considerably identically, following the news agency captions. Instead, the reader?s interpretations of a picture could be directed by framing it in different ways. For example, the caption may focus on the only person depicted, deal with a whole group, or give an abstract account of the situation. The caption is a paratext, a typographically marked, semi-independent element of a news story. Between the headline and the caption, four semantic relations have been identified. The caption may be a paraphrase of the headline, or a close-up illustrating an abstract headline with a concrete example. If the name of the person depicted is their only common factor, the relation between the caption and the headline is additive. A specifying caption will give more details than the headline. The caption may complete, repeat, or summarize the body copy. Naturally, most captions completing the story verbalize the content of the picture. As the caption is often based on the story, it may even repeat the body copy verbatim. The summarizing function is probably becoming increasingly important, as most Finnish newspapers have abandoned the use of a separate standfirst.

Nonverbal predication in Erzya : Studies on morphosyntactic variation and part of speech distinctions

This dissertation consists of four articles and an introduction. The five parts address the same topic, nonverbal predication in Erzya, from different perspectives. The work is at the same time linguistic typology and Uralic studies. The findings based on a large corpus of empirical Erzya data, which was collected using several different methods and included recordings of the spoken language, made it possible for the present study to apply, then test and finally discuss the previous theories based on cross-linguistic data. Erzya makes use of multiple predication patterns which vary from totally analytic to the morphologically very complex. Nonverbal predicate clause types are classified on the basis of propositional acts in clauses denoting class-membership, identity, property and location. The predicates of these clauses are nouns, adjectives and locational expressions, respectively. The following three predication strategies in Erzya nonverbal predication can be identified: i. the zero-copula construction, ii. the predicative suffix construction and iii. the copula construction. It has been suggested that verbs and nouns cannot be clearly distinguished on morphological grounds when functioning as predicates in Erzya. This study shows that even though predicativity must not be considered a sufficient tool for defining parts of speech in any language, the Erzya lexical classes of adjective, noun and verb can be distinguished from each other also in predicate position. The relative frequency and degree of obligation for using the predicative suffix construction decreases when moving left to right on the scale verb adjective/locative noun ( identificational statement). The predicative suffix is the main pattern in the present tense over the whole domain of nonverbal predication in Standard Erzya, but if it is replaced it is most likely to be with a zero-copula construction in a nominal predication. This study exploits the theory of (a)symmetry for the first time in order to describe verbal vs. nonverbal predication. It is shown that the asymmetry of paradigms and constructions differentiates the lexical classes. Asymmetrical structures are motivated by functional level asymmetry. Variation in predication as such adds to the complexity of the grammar. When symmetric structures are employed, the functional complexity of grammar decreases, even though morphological complexity increases. The genre affects the employment of predication strategies in Erzya. There are differences in the relative frequency of the patterns, and some patterns are totally lacking from some of the data. The clearest difference is that the past tense predicative suffix construction occurs relatively frequently in Standard Erzya, while it occurs infrequently in the other data. Also, the predicative suffixes of the present tense are used more regularly in written Standard Erzya than in any other genre. The genre also affects the incidence of the translative in uľ(ń)ems copula constructions. In translations from Russian to Erzya the translative case is employed relatively frequently in comparison to other data. This study reveals differences between the two Mordvinic languages Erzya and Moksha. The predicative suffixes (bound person markers) of the present tense are used more regularly in Moksha in all kinds of nonverbal predicate clauses compared to Erzya. It should further be observed that identificational statements are encoded with a predicative suffix in Moksha, but seldom in Erzya. Erzya clauses are more frequently encoded using zero-constructions, displaying agreement in number only.

On Toponymic Constructions as an Alternative to Naming Patterns in Describing Finnish Lake Names

This thesis combines a computational analysis of a comprehensive corpus of Finnish lake names with a theoretical background in cognitive linguistics. The combination results on the one hand in a description of the toponymic system and the processes involved in analogy-based naming and on the other hand some adjustments to Construction Grammar. Finnish lake names are suitable for this kind of study, as they are to a large extent semantically transparent even when relatively old. There is also a large number of them, and they are comprehensively collected in a computer database. The current work starts with an exploratory computational analysis of co-location patterns between different lake names. Such an analysis makes it possible to assess the importance of analogy and patterns in naming. Prior research has suggested that analogy plays an important role, often also in cases where there are other motivations for the name, and the current study confirms this. However, it also appears that naming patterns are very fuzzy and that their nature is somewhat hard to define in an essentially structuralist tradition. In describing toponymic structure and the processes involved in naming, cognitive linguistics presents itself as a promising theoretical basis. The descriptive formalism of Construction Grammar seems especially well suited for the task. However, now productivity becomes a problem: it is not nearly as clear-cut as the latter theory often assumes, and this is even more apparent in names than in more traditional linguistic material. The varying degree of productivity is most naturally described by a prototype-based theory. Such an approach, however, requires some adjustments to onstruction Grammar. Based on all this, the thesis proposes a descriptive model where a new name -- or more generally, a new linguistic expression -- can be formed by conceptual integration from either a single prior example or a construction generalised from a number of different prior ones. The new model accounts nicely for various aspects of naming that are problematic for the traditional description based on analogy and patterns.

Groteski suomalaisessa kirjallisuudessa : Neljä tapaustutkimusta

The grotesque in Finnish literature. Four case studies The topic of the dissertation is the grotesque in Finnish literature. The dissertation is twofold. Firstly, it focuses on the genre tradition of the grotesque, especially its other main branch, which has been named, following in Bakhtin s footsteps, subjective ( chamber ) grotesque, to be distinguished from carnivalistic ( public square ) grotesque. Secondly, the dissertation analyses and interprets four fictional literary works within the context of the grotesque genre, constructed on the basis of previous research and literature. These works are the novel Rakastunut rampa (1922) by Joel Lehtonen, the novel Prins Efflam (1953, transl. into Finnish as Kalastajakylän prinssi) by Sally Salminen, the short story Orjien kasvattaja (1965) by Juhani Peltonen, and the novel Veljeni Sebastian (1985) by Annika Idström. What connects these stirring novels, representing early or full modernism, is the supposition that they belong to the tradition of the subjective grotesque, not only due to occasional details, but also in a more comprehensive manner. The premises are that genre is a significant part of the work and that reading a novel in the context of the genre tradition adds something essential to the interpretation of individual texts and reveals meanings that might otherwise go unnoticed. The main characteristic of the grotesque is breaking the norm. This is accomplished through different means: degradation, distortion, inversion, combination, exaggeration and multiplication. The most significant strategy for breaking the norm is incongruence: the grotesque combines conflicting or mutually exclusive categories and elements on different levels. Simultaneously, the grotesque unravels categorisations and questions our way of perceiving the world. The grotesque not only poses a threat to one s identity, but can also pose a threat to the cognitive process. An analysis of the fictional works is presented as case studies of each chosen work as a whole. The analysis is based on the method of close reading, which draws on both classical and postclassical narratology, and the analysis and interpretation are expanded within the genre tradition of the grotesque. The grotesque is also analysed in terms of its relationship to the neighbouring categories and genre traditions, such as the tragic, the sublime, the horror story and the coming-of-age story. This dissertation shows how the grotesque is constructed repeatedly on deviations from the norm as well as on incongruence, also in the works analysed, and how it stratifies in these novels on and between different levels, such as the story, text, narration, composition and the world of the novels. In all the works analysed, the grotesque reduces and subverts. Again and again it reveals different sides of humanity stripped of idealisation and glorification. The dissertation reveals that Finnish literature is not a solitary island, even regarding the grotesque, for it continues and offers variations of the common tradition of grotesque literature, and likewise draws on grotesque visual arts. This dissertation is the first monograph in Finnish literature research focusing on the subjective grotesque.

Toimijaroolit ja roolien välinen dynamiikka Vihreän liiton periaateohjelmassa 2006

Pro gradu -tutkielmassani tarkastelen toimijarooleja poliittisen puolueen periaateohjelmassa. Aineistonani on Vihreän liiton vuonna 2006 voimaan tullut periaateohjelma. Periaateohjelma on puolueen yhteisen keskustelun tuloksena syntyvä, kantaaottava ja voimakkaan ideologinen teksti, johon valikoidaan mukaan puolueen tärkeäksi katsomat asiat. Ohjelma on tekstinä preskriptiivinen ja sisältää runsaasti toimintavaatimuksia ja -ohjeita, mikä korostaa toimijuuden keskeisyyttä tutkimuskohteena juuri tässä tekstilajissa. Tekstilajikysymykset ja periaateohjelman kirjoituksen konventiot vaikuttavat myös aineistossani leimalliseen aktiivisesti toimivan subjektin häivyttämisen. Pyrin erittelemään ja analysoimaan Vihreän liiton ohjelmaa tapausesimerkkinä siitä, miten toimijaroolien kautta rakennetaan ohjelmatekstin maailmaa ja toimijoiden suhteita siinä. Välineenä analyysissani käytän A.J. Greimasin kehittelemää aktanttimallia (katso Greimas 1979). Semanttinen malli jäsentää tekstin maailman toimijoita rooleihin niiden suorittamien funktioiden perusteella. Keskeisimmät tarkasteltavat roolit ovat aktiivisen toimijan kategoria, statiivisen vaikuttajan kategoria ja toiminnan kohteiden kategoriat. Aineistonani olevan tekstin tunnusomaisen polarisaation tähden jaan kunkin näistä kategorioista edelleen puolueen kannan mukaiseen eli hyväksi esitettyyn ja kannan vastaiseen eli pahaksi esitettyyn. Analyysin tuloksena muodostuu käsitys periaateohjelman prototyyppisille toimijarooleille annetuista ominaisuuksista. Tärkeimpiä erottelevia ominaisuuksia ovat statiivisuus/dynaamisuus, agentiivisuus/sen puute sekä abstraktisuus/konkreettisuus. Statiivisuuden ja abstraktiuden totean koko tekstille leimallisiksi piirteiksi, erityisesti periaateohjelman pahalle. Tyypillinen paha on epäinhimillinen voima kuten ilmastonmuutos tai globalisaatio. Puolueen kannan puolella olevissa rooleissa ominaisuuksien hajonta on suurempaa. Puolueviitteiset toimijat sekä puoluetulkintainen me-pronomini ovat lähinnä kielen prototyyppistä agentiivista toimijaa. Ne ovat subjektiasemissa kommunikaatiotoiminnalle ja evidentiaalisuuden lähteenä asenteita ilmaistessa. Kommunikaatio itsessään hahmottuu keskeisenä toimintana ohjelmassa. Ihmisviitteisyys on lähinnä uhrin tai hyötyjän roolien piirre. Erityisen mielenkiintoinen seikka on kansalainen-sanaan ja sen lähimerkityksisiin vastineisiin kohdistuva ristiriita ohjelman metatekstin kansan aktiivista toimintaa ihannoivassa kielenkäytössä ja samanaikaisessa kansalaisten kielentämisessä tekstissä toiminnan kohteiksi. Ihmiset ovat periaateohjelmassa uhreja tai hyötyjiä, kun taas toimintavelvoitteet kohdennetaan tyypillisesti valtioille ja yhteiskunnan rakenteille. Poimin myös tarkasteltavaksi sellaisia kielen keinoja ja ilmiöitä kuin modaalisuus, kausaatiot, vaihtoehtoisten maailmojen käyttö ja nominalisaatio, sikäli kuin ne valottavat tarkasteltavana olevia toimijarooleja. Modaalisuus ja kausaatiot ovat tekstin merkityssuhteiden ilmiöitä. Kausaatio on ohjelmassa merkittävän vähäkäyttöinen, kun taas runsaslukuiset nesessiivirakenteet edustuvat ilman niille odotuksenmukaisia argumentteja. Modaalisuuden lähde ja kohde jätetään usein kielentämättä. Molemmat edellä mainitut seikat korostavat nykyhetkeä ja tulevaa toimintaa tekstin keskiössä. Toiminnan suorittajaa häivytetään tekstistä eri keinoin. Näin on erityisesti, kun puhutaan sävyltään negatiivisesta toiminnasta tai dynaamisesta toiminnasta. Dynaamista toimintaa kuvaavat verbit sijoittuvat tyypillisesti infinitiivisiin lausekkeihin, jotka on upotettu argumenttirakenteeseen tai sijoitettu ehtolauseella tai tulevaisuudesta puhuttaessa mahdollisiin maailmoihin. Näin toiminta ei reaalistu rakenteessa tässä ja nyt, vaan potentiaalisena toimintana tulevaisuudessa. Samalla syntyy myös potentiaalisen sankarin rooli, joka tässä ja nyt olevasta sankarista poiketen on ohjelmassa yleinen. Tätä roolia tarjotaan niin puolueen potentiaalisille tukijoille kuin pahoille voimillekin, kunhan ne määritellään uudelleen puolueen aatteille alisteisena sijoittamalla niiden yhteyteen puolueen diskurssin kiinteästi liittyviä attribuutteja kuten vihreä tai ekologinen.

Vihanhallintaprojekti ja oikeudenkäynti : Kahden Nyt-liitteessä ja Imagessa ilmestyneen henkilöjutun lähitarkastelua kertomuksen näkökulmasta

Tutkielmassa tarkastellaan kahta aikakauslehtitekstiä eräänä tapana rakentaa henkilöjuttu. Jutut eivät ole vain kuvauksia niistä julkisuuden henkilöistä, joita ne käsittelevät, vaan ne on kirjoitettu kertomuksiksi. Työssä käydään läpi piirteitä, joiden perusteella jutut muodostavat kertomuksen. Tarkastelun kohteena ovat juttujen rakenteet ja juttujen toimijoiden (kertoja-toimittajan, haastateltavan ja lukija-yleisön) roolit ja suhteet. Tavoitteena on selvittää, millaisia merkityksiä juttuihin syntyy sen avulla, että ne on rakennettu kertomuksiksi. Analyysin kohteena olevat henkilöjutut ovat Vihanhallintaprojekti Tuisku (Nyt-liite 49/2006) ja Syytettynä Heli Laaksonen (Image 4/2006). Keskeinen taustateoria on narratologia eli kertomuksen tutkimus. Työssä hyödynnetään myös tekstin tutkimuksen, kognitiivisen kielitieteen ja dialogisuuden tutkimuksen tarjoamia välineitä. Työssä osoitetaan, että henkilöjutut on rakennettu kertomuksiksi ongelmanratkaisumallin avulla. Juttujen aluissa kertoja-toimittaja ilmaisee inhoavansa haastateltavaa, mikä muodostaa ongelman, jota ratkotaan muun muassa haastateltavan tapaamisella ja tämän esiintymistilaisuuteen osallistumalla. Juttuihin muodostuu episodeja, joissa ongelmaa käsitellään eri tavoin. Lopulta saavutetaan ratkaisu, koska kertoja-toimittaja pääsee vihastaan eroon. Ongelmanratkaisumalli tuo juttuihin jännitystä, koska ne etenevät vähitellen kohti ratkaisua. Kertoja-toimittaja rakentaa kertomuksen vaihtelemalla erilaisia rooleja. Roolit ovat henkilöhahmo, ajattelija, havainnoija, ulkopuolinen kertoja ja lainaaja. Roolien avulla kertoja-toimittaja asettaa näyttämölle huomion kohteeksi joko itsensä, haastateltavan, haastattelutilanteen olosuhteet tai jonkin tekstin ulkopuolisen seikan. Roolit vaikuttavat myös näkökulmaan, josta asioita tarkastellaan. Tiettyjä rooleja ilmaisevat tyypillisesti tietyt kielelliset keinot. Roolien vaihtelu synnyttää juttuihin keskusteluja, joissa kertoja-toimittaja, haastateltava ja lukija-yleisö ovat vuorovaikutuksessa keskenään. Nämä keskustelut jäsentävät toimijoiden rooleja ja suhteita. Keskusteluissa muovataan kertoja-toimittajan mielipiteitä haastateltavasta, konstruoidaan lukija-yleisölle useita rooleja ja vaikutetaan haastateltavalle rakentuvan roolin itsenäisyyteen. Tutkimuksessa päädytään siihen, että henkilöjutut rikkovat tietoisesti perinteisen henkilöjutun konventiota rakentamalla kertomuksen, jolla on kaksi päähenkilöä, kertoja-toimittaja ja haastateltava. Päähenkilöiden välisen suhteen voi tulkita kahdella tavalla. Jutut voivat ensinnäkin olla kertoja-toimittajan aitoja kertomuksia hänen haastateltavaan kohdistuvista negatiivisista tunteistaan. Toiseksi on mahdollista tulkita, että kertoja-toimittaja ironisoi jutuissa itseään ja ahdasmielisyyttään. Jutut ovat tyyliltään liioittelevia, mikä vahvistaa ironista tuntua. Kahdella tulkintatavalla teksteihin rakennetaan moniäänisyyttä, jotta ne tavoittaisivat erilaisia yleisöjä.

Värinnimitysten synty suomalais-ugrilaisissa kielissä, lähtökohtana 'musta'

Työni käsittelee värinnimityksiä suomalais-ugrilaisissa kielissä. Aiheen laajuuden vuoksi olen ottanut käsittelyn alle erityisesti mustaa merkitsevät sanat. Pohdin syitä siihen, miksi nykyisissä suomalais-ugrilaisissa kielissä mustaa tarkoittavat sanat ovat keskenään lähinnä eri alkuperää, kun Berlinin ja Kayn teorian mukaan musta ja valkoinen ovat ensimmäiset värinnimitykset kielessä. Aloitan tutkimukseni esittelemällä Brent Berlinin ja Paul Kayn teorian värinnimitysten kehittymisestä maailman kielissä. Tutkimukseni on etymologinen, mutta jotta ymmärtäisin paremmin adjektiivien syntytapoja, olen tarkastellut myös kognitiivisen semantiikan ja ekspressiivisten sanojen tutkimuksen teorioita. Teoriaosuuden jälkeen tarkastelen eri suomalais-ugrilaisissa kielissä esiintyviä, mustaa tarkoittavia sanoja, jotka olen kerännyt eri kielten sanakirjoista. Esittelen niille erilaisia mahdollisia rekonstruktioita ja aiemmin esitettyjä etymologioita. Sen jälkeen esittelen mustalle läheisiä adjektiiveja ja substantiiveja, jotka ovat voineet joko olla mustan merkityksessä (esim. suomen sini) tai lähtökohta värinnimityksen synnylle (vanhat hiiltä tarkoittavat sanat). Lopuksi käyn läpi suomalais-ugrilaisten kielten vanhimpia värinnimityksiä ja vertailen niitä keskenään. Tarkastelen sekä niiden sanahahmoja että niistä löytyviä johdinaineksia. Tutkimuksessani olen havainnut, että näyttää siltä, toisin kuin on aiemmin esitetty, pimeä ei ole tarkoittanut mustaa. Musta mielletään ennemmin likaisuuteen kuin pimeään. On siis ollut alkuaan kaksi merkitysparia; pimeä valoisa ja likainen puhdas . Valkoinen on voitu mieltää kuuluvaksi molempiin pareihin, mikä voi selittää sen, miksi värillä valkoinen on useita vanhoja nimityksiä. Musta on mielletty vain merkitykseen likainen . Se voi siksi olla saanut nimityksensä luonnossa esiintyvästä mustasta, likaavasta aineesta eli hiilestä. Se on voitu jo varhain yhdistää pahaan ja siksi se on saatettu vaihtaa moneen kertaan, kuten tabusanoille usein on tehty.