“Good administrative language” from the perspective of public administrators with L2 backgrounds

Clarity, pertinence and comprehensibility are stated in the legislation as guiding principles of the language of Finnish public administration. This article presents professional administrators’ views about these ideals of administrative language. The issue of good linguistic practices in public administration is discussed from the perspective of professionals who have learnt Finnish as adults. The data come from interviews with professionals (Finnish as L2) and their superiors (Finnish as L1) working in public administration. The article addresses the interviewees’ conceptions of the relevance of clarity, pertinence and comprehensibility in their daily work and their language socialization into the workplace community, the audience design of administrative communication and their agency as users of Finnish administrative language. The analysis shows that the multilingual professionals are confident about their language skills and aware of the varieties of Finnish administrative language and the restrictions in their use. The native speaker superiors refer to the models offered by the more formal bureaucratic genres as an explanation for the linguistic “complexity” that they have occasionally perceived in texts produced by administrators with L2 backgrounds. Instead of adhering to the norms of (formal) standard language, the interviewed superiors promote efficiency as a quality of good administrative language. Kokkuvote. Jyrki Kalliokoski: “Hea halduskeel” soome keele teise keelena (S2) taustaga ametnike vaatenurgast . Seadused satestavad Soome avaliku halduse keelekasutuse pohialustena selguse, asjakohasuse ning moiste tavuse. Artiklis voetakse vaatluse alla ametnike arvamused ja hinnangud halduskeele ideaalide kohta. Avaliku suhtluse hea keeletava kusimusi kasitletakse nende ametnike seisukohalt, kes on omandanud soome keele taiskasvanuna. Artikli keeleainestikuks on intervjuud a) soome keelt teise keelena ning b) neist korgemal positsioonil ja soome keelt emakeelena konelevate ametnikega. Artikkel kasitleb intervjueeritute arusaamu keele selguse, asjakohasuse ja moistetavuse tahtsusest nende igapaevatoos ja keelelises sotsialiseerumises tookeskkonda, ametkondliku kommunikatsiooni kujundamisest vastuvotja huvidega arvestades ning oma tegevusest soome halduskeele kasutajatena. Analuusi tulemused naitavad, et mitmekeelsed ametnikud on kindlad oma keeleoskuses, teadlikud soome halduskeele eri kujudest ning piirangutest nende kasutuses. Soome keelt teise keelena konelevate ametnike tekstides aeg-ajalt esinevat keelelist “keerukust” selgitavad soome keelt emakeelena konelevad korgemas positsioonis olevad ametnikud burokraatlikest žanridest tulenevate mude litega. Formaalse standardkeele normide jargimise asemel soosivad kusitletud soome keelt emakeelena konelevad ametnikud hea halduskeele omadusena tohu sust. Marksonad : halduskeel; keeleideoloogiad; teise keele kasutus; keeleline sotsialiseerumine; keelekorraldus