Letters from below

Research project Letters from below: historical sociolinguistic study on nineteenth-century Finland focuses on writings by self-educated or minimally educated writers in nineteenth-century Finland.  The ‘from below’ perspective seeks to describe the history of written standards, nations and ideas from the standpoint of the common people. The core of the project can be crystallized into three large questions:

  1. How did different ways of writing develop in the nineteenth century?
  2. How were social meanings of languages and varieties negotiated anew?
  3. To what extent did non-elite writers participate in public discussion?