WP123 Further notes on sociolinguistic scales

Blommaert, Westinen & Leppänen
2014
Collection: Key word

Abstract

This short paper reflects on the notion of sociolinguistic scales, drawing on Westinen?s doctoral research on ?Authenticity in Finnish hip hop?.? The lyrics of three rap artists ? Cheek, Pyhimys, and Stepa ? are examined, and this shows how all of them invoke a kind of ?ideological topography? of Finland, involving a complex set of meaningful semiotic distinctions between centers and peripheries, locality and translocality, all operating within one ?benchmark? scale: Finland.? The study yields fundamental insights into what scales can mean as an element in the theoretical toolkit of a sociolinguistics of globalization.