Obscuring the Agent in L2 Finnish: A Dynamic Usage-Based Approach to Development

This study explored ways of describing human action without specifying the agent – that is, expressing impersonality – in learner language. By adopting an onomasiological approach, we sought to identify all such means employed by an adult, advanced Finnish L2 learner over time. Based on this investigation, we further analysed the development of the learner’s passive construction in detail. The study drew on the dynamic usage-based approach to language learning, and the data comprised 29 spoken and 17 written samples of natural language use. These data were gathered during a nine-month training programme that emphasised academic skills and language in academic contexts, and they were analysed both quantitatively and qualitatively. The results indicate that the learner tried out and used various means of expression to obscure or hide the human agent of the action. The frequency of impersonal passives increased considerably during the study period, but the conventional means of expression only exceeded the non-conventional ones at the end of the study. This suggests that learners may have functioning and effective ways to convey meaning before learning all the prototypical constructions of the target language. The study demonstrates the dynamic process of learning to use a specific construction, during which the variability of non-conventional and conventional means of expression plays a central role. The study contributes to the still limited body of empirical research applying an onomasiological perspective to learner language and demonstrates the value of diversity and variability in language learning.