Muuttuva ja muuttumaton murre. Porilaiset murrepakinat kulttuuriperinnön tuottajina ja säilyttäjinä

The processes through which dialects have evolved into a form of cultural heritage and the tools of identity building span a considerable time period. In the Pori region, there are long traditions of writing literature in the Pori dialect and using the local dialect in an array of public discourses. This article analyses the ways in which two different writers from different eras-Manta (1950s) and Elina Wallin (2010s)-render the Pori dialect in their columns and how these writings conserve and shape the dialect into a form of cultural heritage. The methodology of this article draws on those of both cultural heritage studies and linguistic variation analysis. Upon examination, it appears that there are five linguistic features whose representation in the Pori dialect is changing. These are general gemination, the unvarying cluster nk, the equivalents of the standard-language d, the MA-infinitive, and the pronoun keta. The present examination reveals that features such as general gemination and the unvarying cluster nk, which have already all but disappeared from the Pori dialect, still live on in columns written during the 2010s by Elina Wallin-indeed, often more markedly than in those written by Manta in the mid 20th century. It is possible that Wallin is trying to trigger a feeling of nostalgia in her readers, whereas Manta's columns may provide a good reflection of the Pori dialect as it was spoken in the 1950s and 1960s. Thus, such linguistic features seem not serve only to reflect long-lived social markers of the Pori dialect but also to manifest a cultural heritage that these writings seek to transmit to future generations who would not otherwise become acquainted with these features. The authors therefore seem to view such linguistic features as worthy of conservation. The results indicate that columns written in the Pori dialect serve as an important channel when the dialect is produced as cultural heritage. Using certain types of linguistic features throughout these columns creates a particular picture of how people speak in Pori. Thus, the columns represent their authors' metapragmatic comments on the essence of the Pori dialect itself. The linguistic features employed in producing this dialect can develop into social markers of the dialect. In fact, both linguistic features with wide geographical spread (e.g. general gemination) and those that are more geographically restricted (e.g. keta) can similarly develop into unique social markers of a given dialect.