La norme et le néologisme en finnois

The codification of the Finnish language goes back to the 19^th century. Finnish is a Finno-Ugric language which had been marginalised for centuries. The linguistic norm is a supra-dialectal compromise and has been until today characterised by lexical purism which means that lexical innovations were based on “autochthonous” elements. The normative terminology work is coordinated by the Institute for the Languages of Finland (ILF), created in the 1940’s and institutionalised in 1976. In its lexicographical and terminological work, the Institute relies on the expertise of specialists in different domains. The diffusion of neologisms is often unpredictable, i) the use of a term brought forward by the ILF becomes widely diffused in the standard language; ii) a lexical innovation may emerge from professional circles; iii) variants of different origin can coexist for a long time. The aim of this study is to analyse the role of the social actors that take part in the normalisation work as well as the different modalities of lexical diffusion of the neologisms.