The 34th annual VAKKI Symposium for the University of Vaasa Research Group for Translation, 
LSP and Multilingualism was held February 13-14, 2014 in Vaasa, Finland, under the theme Democracy. In accordance with our tradition, the papers were presented in the working languages of the symposium: Finnish, Swedish, English and German. Invited keynote speakers were Professor Mikko Lehtonen (University of Tampere) and Dr. Tommi Lehtonen (University of Vaasa). Professor Kersti Juva was awarded the Humanist of the Year prize 2014, and the statement of motivation is included in this present publication.
Professor Mikko Lehtonen dealt with democracy, language and imagination. According to him, in contemporary liberal democracies equality is understood as equality of rights or opportunities, not equality of capacities. The current political task and challenge is therefore to answer the question how individuals can be at the same time both different and equal.
In his plenary lecture, Dr. Tommi Lehtonen discussed intensely the concept of democracy in today‘s multicultural societies. He started with a definition of the many elements that shape our individual and social ‘point of view’, emphasizing the need for a general comprehension of our perspectival way of interpreting reality and therefore of the acceptance of multiperspectivity in society as the basis for political decision making. Using a philosophical and social-ethical point of view in his paper he then discussed the role and tasks of citizens in a democracy that is an egalitarian and cooperative system of government.
This year’s theme attracted participants from different fields of language-related research to interpret democracy from a variety of perspectives such as the philosophical, sociological, cultural, pedagogical, professional and the historical. The articles in this publication have gone through a double blind review. The authors have given their permission for e-publishing.
Opening
Publication details
Editorial board
Humanist of the Year (in Finnish and Swedish)
Plenary article
What is this thing called democracy? A discussion from the perspective of subjective global multi-attractedness
Lehtonen, Tommi
Section articles
Japanese earthquake slogans and the persistence of wakimae (’discernment’)
Azuma, Shoji
Zur korpusbasierten Analyse von Pronomina in DaF-Lernertexten: Eine Pilotstudie
Breckle, Margit
Interpreting Democracy: Interpreters as Drivers of Democratization
Gentile, Paola
Läroplaners demokratiska anslag
Gårdemar, Gunnar
Finlandssvenska sjundeklassares uppfattningar om läroböcker i historia
Kivilehto, Marja & Koivisto, Johanna
Att analysera flerspråkighet och språkväxling i skönlitteratur på svenska: förslag till analys av kontextuella komponenter
Landqvist, Hans & Björklund, Siv
Ja aina teen virheen: Demokratie und die Mühsal ihrer Sprache(n)
Link, Franziska
Die Demokratie im Zaum halten. Zur Phraseologie in Jürgen Habermas’ Essay ,,Zur Verfassung Europas” und dessen schwedischer Übersetzung
Malmqvist, Anita
Lisbeth Salander’s Strategic Evasion as Criticism of Democracy
Mäntymäki, Tiina
Monikielisyys ja demokratia: esimerkkinä venäjänkieliset maahanmuuttajat Suomessa
Rynkänen, Tatjana
The use of researcher licence in qualitative knowledge production
Sallinen, Riitta & Braidwood, Eva
”Puhumista on vältettävä, ettei loukkaisi muita, tai hämmennä turhaan”: unkarilaistaustaisten suomen- ja ruotsinpuhujien asenteet kielioikeuksien jarruina
Straszer, Boglárka
Sprachenpolitik finnischer Universitäten im Zeitalter strategischer Internationalisierung
Ylönen, Sabine
VAKKI Symposium XXXIV. Vaasa 13.-14.2.2014
Vaasa 2014
Edited by Siru LAMMINPÄÄ & Christian RINK
Editorial assistant: Heidi LILJEBLAD
ISBN: 978-952-67887-4-6 (paperback)
ISBN: 978-952-67887-5-3 (PDF)
ISSN-L: 2242-6841
ISSN: 2242-6841 (paperback)
ISSN: 2242-685X (PDF)