Helsinki-Slang

Helsinki slang ( Stadil slangi ) is a local colloquial form of the Finnish language which is mainly spoken in the Finnish capital Helsinki.

The Helsinki slang is based on the Finnish vernacular ( puhekieli ), but is characterized by a large number of terms with non- Finnish etymology, replace the everyday nouns, verbs and adjectives.

The roots of the Helsinki slang dating back to the 1880s, when the inhabitants of Helsinki were ever Finnish- and Swedish- about half and reinforced during the rapid growth of the city at the time of industrialization resulted in the necessity of colloquial communication between speakers of different languages. Therefore, older slang words originate mainly from Swedish - about three-quarters of the "old " slang words are of Swedish origin, about 5 % coming from Russian ( the Grand Duchy of Finland belonged to Russia ) and the rest from Finnish. Chance also occur words from other languages, such as German slaafaminen from sleeping. In the first half of the 20th century to about the Winter War of slang in the workers' districts of Helsinki was widespread, and there were district- specific variants, in particular between the " proletarian " North and the " middle-class " south of the city. In the 1950s, the Helsinki slang turned into a phenomenon of youth culture and served especially among young males as a group language and expression of rebellion against the older generation. But he will now also used by female adolescents, so that no gender differences exist anymore. The Helsinki slang is still primarily a youth- linguistic phenomenon. To this day, still sticks to a "tough guy" image, even if he has become a widely publicized phenomenon of subculture thanks to increased presence in the media, as an object of scientific investigations and after the appearance of several slang dictionaries.

Since about 1990, most linguistic Newbies come, thanks to globalization and the Internet from the English. However, the Helsinki slang is not to be confused with " Finglisch " ( the Finnish version of the Denglish ), which is another phenomenon and not restricted to Helsinki. Older Speaker of Stadin slangi tend however to the '50s version, which they know from their youth to consider the only "real" and the modern anglicisms in the best case as neologisms, and at worst as a mere adaptation to the American perceive culture. The Helsinki slang but develops ( such as language in general) constantly on. So is not excluded that in the future commit again strengthened Russian and Estonian influences noticeable.

The inhabitants of Helsinki describe their slang itself never slangi as "Helsinki slang " but as Stadin. Stadi is a slang expression that is derived from the Swedish stad ( "City "). Literally translated, so called the Helsinki slang " slang of the city ". The only common in the Helsinki slang word Stadi is available exclusively for Helsinki, often just for the so-called Helsinki city core, in contrast to the outskirts. All other cities are only using the standard expression for the Finnish town, kaupunki, anxious. People who do not speak a Helsinki slang (also Helsinki ), Helsinki can also call themselves kaupunki. In contrast, the use of Hesa, another colloquial variant of the town name, the speaker identified as non- Helsinki, if not as a resident of a " rural " area.

Linguistic characteristics and examples

The grammar of the Helsinki slang corresponds to the core of the Finnish grammar; Slang another language speaking origin are adapted their rules. However, as a form of the colloquial language of the Helsinki slang differs in many respects from the grammatical rules of the Finnish standard language. For example, say " can you fix? " In Helsinki slang " voitsä duunaa ton kondiksee? " Where duunaa and Kondis slang words are. The grammatically correct form would be: " Voitko Sinä duunata Tuon kondikseen? ".

The Helsinki slang is weaved by the Swedish-speaking minority of Helsinki in its Swedish vernacular. The example above "? Can you put in order " would speak of a Swedish-speaking Helsinki look like this: " kan du duunaa dendä ' kondiksee? ".

Some special features of the Helsinki slang are:

• A relatively high rate of speech
• An accumulation of voiced consonants (b, d and g), who rarely occur in Finnish: budjaa ( " live " ), brakaa ( "break" ), dorka ( "idiot" ), duuni ( "work"), Gimma ( " girl " ), goisaa ( " sleep " )
• Combinations of consonants in word-initial, normally found only in the dialects of Southwest Finland: Stadi (Helsinki), glesa ( "sick" ), skeglu ( "knife" ), flinda ( " bottle " )
• Hyper correctness with respect to voiced consonants and combinations of consonants in word-initial: biisi (. " Piece of music " from engl piece ), stoge ( " train ", tåg from swedish )
• Abbreviations and slurring, which allow fast pronunciation: Hesari is shorter than the street name Helsinginkatu or the name of the newspaper Helsingin Sanomat.
• Certain word endings for nouns as -is ( fleggis ( " open fire " ) ), Kondis ( "Condition / Condition " ) ), -ari ( snagari ( " Hot Dog Stand " ) ) or de ( krunde and Klande ( " heads and tails " ( for coins) )
• Deviations from the vowel harmony: Sörkka instead Sörkkä (district Sörnäinen ) Tölika instead Tölikä (district Töölö ) byysat instead buusat or byysät ( " pants" )
• The loss of final phonemes, especially of final [n ]
• Mihinkään te Te mihkää mee instead Ette mene ( "You 're not going anywhere !"): Elimination of Negationsverbs (en, et, ei, etc.) in negative sentences
• Gelispeltes s (especially for female speakers )

Literary use

The Helsinki slang has been found more recently in literature; Pentti Saarikoski and a number of recent authors use it as a stylistic device. Sami Garam has various works translated in the Helsinki slang, including Aleksis Kivi's novel The Seven Brothers and Aku Ankka comics ( " Kelaa snadi jeesaaja, kui iisii ​​tael ois stedaa " - "Think, helpers, it would not be easy here make clean "). Also in other comics is slang usage, eg: " Hei sporakuski, stikkaa dörtsi posee, tääl on Galsa blosis, bonjaatsä " ( " Hello, Strabafahrer, close your door, it pulls, you know? " ) From a " Viivi & Wagner " comic. 2001 published two slang translations of the New Testament. In the Finnish popular music, there are also texts in Helsinki slang, as in Tuomari Nurmio and various rappers. Arvo Pohjola in 2005 published a volume of poems slang ( Himäföneri ).

The regional transport association HSL provides its website near Finnish, English and Swedish, partly in Helsinki slang. The homepage of the association was founded in 1995 Stadin slangi ry, which is dedicated to the care of the Helsinki slang, is also written in slang.