Who are you?
I am Idastiina Valtasalmi and I am a postdoctoral researcher of Finnish language at Tampere University. Currently, I research linguistic affect and bias-free language in a project called Tampere in emotions, funded by Kone Foundation. Previously, I have completed my doctoral thesis, which examines the vocabulary of Easy Language, and especially Easy Finnish, from text and user perspectives. Easy Language is a simplified form of language that varies by situation. It can be used to remove barriers of accessibility in communication.
What is your research topic?
I study linguistic affect, i.e. the expression of emotions and attitudes in language. My research focuses on bias-free language and referring to different groups of people in an inclusive, appreciative and respectful manner. Biased expressions are the flip side of my research, because non-discrimination is examined in relation to discrimination. Language is also constantly changing, and expressions previously considered as neutral can become discriminatory in tone over time. Bias-free Finnish is an important research topic, as it has not gained much attention in research, and English has been used as a model for practical writing guidelines. However, the structures of Finnish and English are different, and the guidelines for English are not suitable to be used in Finnish.
My current research topics are related to my earlier research, as I have already observed bias-free expressions used in Easy Finnish texts in my doctoral thesis. It can be said that my current research topics partly stemmed from the research results of my doctoral thesis.
How is your research related to Kielipankki – the Language Bank of Finland?
I have used corpus research, questionnaires and linguistic tests as research methods. The corpora available via the Language Bank of Finland have been valuable, as they are of high quality and easily accessible. The corpora have also been useful, for example, in preparing questionnaires and tests, for which I have selected words based on their frequency. Of all the corpora of the Language Bank, I am particularly fond of resources which contain Easy Finnish texts of current affairs and news: Leija, Selkosanomat/Selkouutiset and Easy Finnish texts from the Yle News Archive. I find that such extensive collections of Easy Language texts are relatively rare, even worldwide. The corpora therefore provide Easy Finnish researchers with excellent opportunities for text-based research.
Selected publications
Valtasalmi, Idastiina – Siltaloppi, Satu – Wacklin, Vilma – Mustanoja, Liisa 2025: Kymmenen havaintoa syrjimättömästä kielestä. – Kaisa Jänis & Iiris Salminen (toim.), Kieli ja kirjallisuus muuttuvassa yhteiskunnassa s. 99–129. Äidinkielen opettajain liiton vuosikirja 2025. Äidinkielen opettajain liitto.
Valtasalmi, Idastiina 2024: Teksti- ja käyttäjänäkökulmia selkokielen sanastoon. Tampere: Tampereen yliopisto.
Valtasalmi, Idastiina 2023: Essiivin funktiot ja käyttö perustason selkokielessä. Virittäjä, 127(1), s. 4–27.
Corpora
- Corpus of Finnish Magazines and Newspapers from the 1990s and 2000s (lehdet90ff), which contains Easy-to-read content: ’Leija’ and ’Selkosanomat/Selkouutiset’.
- Yle News Archive (2011–) resource group (ylenews), which contains Easy Finnish Yle News and Parallel Corpora of Finnish and Easy Finnish Yle News.
Links
- Tampere in emotions: Linguistic affect, bias-free language, and access to participation in research project, funded by Kone Foundation | tuni.fi
The FIN-CLARIN consortium consists of a group of Finnish universities along with CSC – IT Center for Science and the Institute for the Languages of Finland (Kotus). FIN-CLARIN helps the researchers of Social Sciences and Humanities to use, refine, preserve and share their language resources. The Language Bank of Finland is the collection of services that provides the language materials and tools for the research community.