Pressure to please: The case of English and politeness in Finland

As the use of English spreads to new areas and deepens in areas where it is already in use, the question arises as to what kind of relationship or language contact effects arise between the global English or English used as a lingua franca and the national language(s). This study explores the relationship between pragmatic elements in contact between Finnish and the English spoken in Helsinki, focusing on politeness markers. The systems for marking politeness are quite distinct between the two languages. While the Finnish language does not have a functional counterpart to English please, a study of 68 Finnish speakers living in the Helsinki area shows that, in elicited request utterances in English, speakers used please in nearly half of their utterances. Furthermore, it is found that, among the same group of speakers, those who use English on a regular basis use the Finnish equivalent of please (kiitos) at a significantly higher frequency in their Finnish requests. The evidence points to innovative use of Finnish PMs by Finns who have lived abroad in an English-speaking country for a number of years and calls into question the issue of borrowability and salience in this specific type of language contact situation.