Discourses on the human-animal relationship in Finnish metalinguistic social media discussions

Abstract

This paper explores metalinguistic social media discussions on the variation of Finnish third-person singular pronouns in reference to nonhuman animals. Finnish uses two third-person singular pronouns: hän and se. In standardized Finnish, hän takes exclusively human and se nonhuman referents, but in colloquial speech, the difference between hän and se is not based on the human/nonhuman distinction. I examine the discursive construction of the human-animal relationship in social media discussions about the use of hän in reference to nonhuman animals, as well as the intersection between discourses on the human-animal relationship and language ideologies through a critical perspective. Two major discourses are identified: one centres on equality and the other emphasizes the differentiation and hierarchy of species. Both discourses are closely connected to language ideologies, which shape and are shaped by views on the status of nonhuman animals in human society.