Complex address practices in Finland Swedish: Actual and reported use of address in service encounters




Wide, Camilla; Norrby, Catrin

Víctor Fernández-Mallat; María Irene Moyna

2025

Beyond Binaries in Address Research. Actual and reported use of address in service encounters

146

170

978-90-272-2821-5

978-90-272-4463-5

DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1075/tar.6.07wid

https://doi.org/10.1075/tar.6.07wid

https://research.utu.fi/converis/portal/detail/Publication/499083791



This chapter compares actual address in service situations with reported use and perceptions of address. We focus on Finland-Swedish and compare it with Sweden-Swedish to highlight typical features of Finland-Swedish address practices. Our data come from two sources: observations of address practices in service encounters and responses to a questionnaire administered to Finland-Swedish speakers, which explored address use in service situations. Findings show that Finland-Swedish address practices go beyond a conventional T/V dichotomy. T address dominates, but V address still occurs to some extent in service contexts. Nevertheless, some speakers find V address highly inappropriate. Furthermore, plural V and absence of direct address are common in service contexts. Our results confirm the non-binary character of the Finland-Swedish address system.



Riksbankens jubileumsfond 2013–2020 (Grant no.: M120137:1)


Last updated on 2025-21-08 at 06:56