Generation X, Y and Z and digital language practices: Intra- and intergenerational meaning-making, adaptation and attitudes (XYZdigi)

The project XYZdigi examines generational differences in Finland-Swedish digital language practices. The project also compares the Finland-Swedish digital language practices with those of Sweden-Swedish, Finnish and Danish language users.
Project duration
-
Core fields of research
Information technology and the human in the knowledge society
Languages, culture and society
Research areas
Media, communication and emergent technologies
Language, literacies and learning​
Department
Department of Language and Communication Studies
Co-operation
University of Gothenburg, University of Copenhagen
Faculty
Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
Funding
Svenska litteratursällskapet i Finland
(Society of Swedish Literature in Finland)

Project description

(The web page is also available in Finnish and Swedish.)

The sociolinguistic research project XYZdigi examines whether there are generational differences in Finland-Swedish digital language practices, how different generations understand and possibly adapt to each other and how they experience each other's digital language practices. The project's focus is on 15–25-year-olds (younger), about 40–50-year-olds (middle-aged) and language users that are over 65 years (older). The Finland-Swedish digital language practices from the mid-2020s are also compared with those of Sweden-Swedish, Finnish and Danish language users.

Data collection in XYZdigi takes place in two stages:

  1. ethnographic fieldwork in Finland and Denmark (2025–2026, with a focus on Finland-Swedish and Danish digital language practices)
  2. a sociolinguistic survey in Finland, Sweden and Denmark (2027, with a focus on Finland-Swedish, Finnish, Sweden-Swedish and Danish digital language practices). 

The project is based in the University of Jyväskylä (Åsa Palviainen as the project leader) and carried out in collaboration with the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, and the University of Copenhagen, Denmark. The project is financed by the Society of Swedish Literature in Finland (2025–2028).

Learn more about the ongoing fieldwork in Denmark on the University of Copenhagen's website (available in Danish).

Call for participants, Autumn 2026 – we're looking for younger (aged 20–25) and older (65+) participants

How do you usually communicate with your friends and family through digital messaging? Would you like to contribute to research on how people communicate digitally within and across generations?

The research project XYZdigi is currently looking for Swedish-speaking Finns aged 20–25 or 65 and older to participate in interviews (Step 1 in Finland, see above). We would like to talk with you about how you communicate digitally and about your thoughts and experiences of digital communication with people of your own generation as well as with people from other generations. We are also interested in what digital language looks like, for example, in WhatsApp chats or other messaging applications. Therefore, we ask participants to share some examples from their own chat conversations as part of the study.

If you would like to participate in the study, please contact XYZdigi's project member at the University of Jyväskylä (Kira Heiskanen, kira.a.heiskanen@jyu.fi, +358 50 596 8731 or Åsa Palviainen, asa.palviainen@jyu.fi, +358 40 805 3217) for further information.

Here below you will find information about the research in Finland via the research notification for the research participants and the privacy notice.

Kuvassa on hankkeen rahoittajan ja yhteistyökumppanien logot.
A photograph of XYZdigi project members

Project team

Project leaders

Åsa Palviainen
Åsa Palviainen
Professor

Project members

Kira Heiskanen
Kira Heiskanen
Doctoral Researcher

External members

Åsa Wengelin

Professor
University of Gothenburg

Andreas Candefors Stæhr

Associate Professor
University of Copenhagen

Marianne Haugaard Skov

Postdoc
University of Copenhagen