Blattesvenska: Foreigner Swedish and Its Implications for Language Teaching Matías Plada

RESEARCH ARTICLE

Blattesvenska: Foreigner Swedish And Its Implications For Language Teaching Matías Plada

Abstract Through personal experience, personal interviews, and by reviewing research articles, this paper aims to explain the nature of Blattesvenska, an immigrant language born out of the social gaps created by ethnic and cultural discrimination, both in the labor market and in society as a whole. These gaps are created both by the immigrant groups themselves as a way to distance others and by the ethnic Swedish population, by keeping what is not seen as “standard” language or behavior out of mainstream society. This paper will also explain how the popularity of Blattesvenska in music and written media has made it not only a voice for the immigrants, who are often of a lower class, but also a commodity that is exploited by the media. Finally, this article discusses how speakers of Blattesvenska create a language variety that constantly innovates itself and simultaneously and consciously breaks the “norm.” This environment creates formidable language learners that, like a sponge, absorb whatever they are fed, and spring back with their powerful voices.

Introduction Blattesvenska (Foreigner Swedish) is a variety of my experiences, examples heard or written in Swedish spoken mainly by immigrants or the Swedish media, scholarly articles on the children of immigrants in segregated subject, and personal interviews with speakers invandrarförorter (immigrant suburbs) in Sweden. of Blattesvenska and people knowledgeable in Blatte is a derogatory term for immigrant or the field. Finally, I will discuss the implica- darker person. In Sweden the expression tions of a variety such as Blattesvenska to the invandrar förorter draws parallels with the teaching of a second language. English expression “ghetto”; it has a negative In the sections below, I will address connotation. In contrast to the US suburb, in mainly two questions: (a) What linguistic Sweden suburbs are populated by the lower features make up Blattesvenska as a veriety of class, mainly immigrants, and the unem- Swedish? and (b) What are Blattesvenska’s ployement rate is higher than in other areas of status and roles in society? Before a discussion society. According to “The Local, Sweden’s of Blattesvenska, it is important to consider the News in English,” an online newspaper, social context of Sweden, which I will “Today, the employment rate for foreign-born describe in the next section. workers in Sweden is 61.8 percent, far below the rest of the population's level of 76.5 Background: Social And Cultural percent. The rate is particularly low among Discrimination in Sweden foreign-born women, for whom the Politically Sweden has many times received employment rate is 56.5 percent […]” (2011). saint-like status since it held its arms open to This paper focuses on the linguistic features immigrants for many years and had well- that pertain to Blattesvenska, how these features known foreign policies in Europe. But, truth make it a variety of Swedish, and how it is be told, there is much discrimination in used to code switch between standard and Sweden, and, as I will later show, this is not non-standard speech. I will also explain why unrelated to the emergence of Blattesvenska. and how Blattesvenska was formed, the According to “The Local, Sweden’s News in meaning it has to its speakers personal identity, English,” “[…] people with foreign back- the status it has in society, and its use in music grounds risk unfair treatment in Sweden’s and media. I will use personal examples from ______

Plada, M. (2012). Blattesvenska: Foreigner Swedish and its implications for language teaching. Hawaii Pacific University TESOL Working Paper Series 10, 65-73. Website: http://www.hpu.edu courts. […] Other examples […] show that according to “The Local, Sweden’s News in those who are foreign-born are sometimes English,” Somalis living in the small town of considered less trustworthy than ethnic Farserum feared taking their children to Swedes” (2008). It has been said that Sweden school because of apparent racism, “It's a has ethnic and cultural discrimination, in serious situation with racist aspects. This is contrast to countries such as the US and nothing new, but rather appears to have been England, which have racial discrimination. going on for a long time. Last year there were According to Rydgren (2004) the job market 160 Somalis there and many have moved away often discriminates against immigrants based because of xenophobia” (2012). It is in this on prejudice and group stereotypes. Also context of cultural and social discrimination ethnic discrimination can be rather specific that Blattesvenska emerged. (Rooth & Ekberg 2003, as cited in Rydberg, p. 704, 2004): Data For those with two parents born in a To draw the essence of what Blattesvenska is non-European country, the unem- and what it means to its speakers, in addition ployment risk is 11 percentage points to reading the literature, I interviewed three higher than for those with two Swed- people through email, on Facebook messen- ish-born parents […] for those with ger, and over the phone. The interviewees one parent born in a non-European included two old friends of mine who are country the risk of being unemployed speakers of Blattesvenska from Gothenburg is 6 percentage points higher than for Sweden. Interviewee #1 is a young rapper Swedes with two locally-born parents. with Chilenean heritage from Angered, and Also as regards wage incomes, sec- Interviewee #2 is an immigrant from Irak ond-generation migrants with a who grew up in Hammarkullen, an immigrant- Southern European or a non- dense area in Angered. Interviewee #2 also European background are doing served as an actor in a TV mini series called significantly worse than Swedes with “Hammarkullen,” which centers on an two Swedish-born parents. immigrant neighboorhood and its citizens and aired in Swedish television nationwide. Finally, In other words, the more dissimilar your I also interviewed my father, Interviewee #3, culture is to the Swedish culture the lower an Uruguayan immigrant living in Sweden your status will be in Swedish society and the since the late 70s, residing most of the time in more discrimination you will suffer. To Hjällbo and other parts of Angered, towns with further prove this point Rydberg states that high unemployement and mainly immigrant immigrant adoptees who often do not racially populus. Interviewee #3 has also been very resemble ethnic Swedish but have been politically active and worked in projects to adopted by Swedish parents have the same integrate immigrants living in Sweden into amount of success that ethnic Swedes have in Swedish society. the labor market, the reasons being, “they usually have a Swedish-sounding name, they Blattesvenska’s Linguistic Features speak Swedish fluently, they have been Blattesvenska is a variety of Swedish spoken by educated in Sweden, commonly live in immigrants or children of immigrants, or neighbourhoods dominated by native Swedes, Blattar as they also are called, or by people and they have social networks comparable to living in invandrar förorter, outside of main- those of native Swedes” (2004, p. 704-706). In stream society. Blattesvenska is clearly a mixed contrast, Somalis who are culturally and language with loan words from languages ethnically Muslim and African and are such as Turkish, Spanish, Arabic, Somali, therefore quite far from the Swedish Serbian, Kurdish, English, etc. In recent years, “standard,” are often generally highly it has received many loan words from English, discriminated in Swedish society. Also especially from American rap music and 66

African American English (AAE). The reason foreigners, in Sweden are very influenced by for this influx of words is mainly because of American media such as movies and music. the sense of familiarity young immigrants in He also added that he uses several English Sweden have with African American’s derived words in his speech. Table 1 shows a situation in the US, such as their lower status list of English-derived Blattesvenska words with in society and the desire to have a language their English derivation and their meaning. that breaks the norm. Another reason is These are words from my own vocabulary simply the large amount of media coverage that I commonly used when speaking Rap music receives in Swedish radio and TV. Blattesvenska with my friends in Sweden. According to Interviewee #1, “blattar,” or

Table 1 English-Derived Words in Blattesvenska Blattesvenska English Meaning najs nice nice, good looking softa soft taking it easy baila bail to leave chilla chill to take it easy chok choke many, a lot cutta cut cut, stab bull bullshit talk nonsense Taytish tight Swedish person

According to Ganuza (2008, p. 148, as multiethnic teenage language during choice of cited in Gomer, 2008, p. 6) it is common to gender and propositions and congruency, find grammatical differences between the where even direct mistakes are committed” standard language and the language of (2004, p. 340, as cited in Gomer, 2008, p. 5). multiethnic teenagers. These are some of the Ganuza explained that because many differences that Ganuza mentioned: languages lack reverse word order after words • Subject deletion: för att [-] tittar på henne that are not a subject, which can affect (because [I’m] looking at her) acquisition rate, this straight word order is also a defining factor for multiethnic • Article deletion: jag måste hitta sven- teenagers (2008, p. 141, as cited in Gomer, skalärare[-] (I must find [the] teacher) 2008, p. 5). Incorrect Swedish grammar is not • Abnormal preposition: Hon började gå i den only accepted but also encouraged by speakers där disco (She started to go on that disco) of Blattesvenska. Growing up hearing and speaking Blattesvenska I am familiar with errors • Abnormal congruency: den där arbete (that such as deletion of articles. Differences such one job) as these are exaggerated within the Blattesven- • Non-idiomatic expressions: många i klassen ska speaking community, which inspires new ska skolka bort för är ont om tid (many in the innovations. class will skip away class because not enough time) The Users of Blattesvenska Ganuza (2008, p. 148, as cited in Gomer, In Sweden, immigrants or people with foreign 2008, p. 6) also mentioned that it is difficult to heritage can be said to fall between two or tell if these dissimilarities are due to the more cultures. Take someone like myself for speakers’ difficulties in learning standard example; I was born in Sweden but with a Swedish or if it characterizes the language of father from Uruguay and a mother from multiethnic teenagers. According to Stroud, Argentina. My brother and sister were both “Syntax and morphology can be different in born in Argentina. In my home we only spoke 67

Spanish and never Swedish. Outside of my after I asked Interviewee #1 and Interviewee home, most of my friends spoke Spanish. #2 the interview questions, we communicated What is interesting is that I had a lot of using Blattesvenska, this indicated a mutual friends who had rather recently arrived from understanding, and that we had similar Uruguay and did not necessarily speak backgrounds. At the end of the interview with Blattesvenska and identified more with being Interviewee #1, I said “tack brosh” (thanks Uruguayan than being a Blatte. I also had bro), and he responded “denada homie.” This friends who where born in Sweden or arrived serves as a prime example of the creativeness in Sweden at a very young age. They of speakers of Blattesvenska; “de nada” is understood Spanish but spoke mainly Spanish for you are welcome, Interviewee #1 Blattesvenska and considered themselves to be used this expression most likely because he Blattar with a Latin heritage. Because they knew both of us spoke Spanish, it created could not fully identify with their own Latin solidarity. It could also indicate an extension culture, at least not in the sense that innate of his Spanish-speaking heritage. “Homie” is a Latin people do in Latin America, and loan word borrowed from AAE and and because their home country was a faraway indicates that Interviewee #1 is influenced by place and they never identified themselves American Rap culture breaking the norm. with the Swedish culture, they found refuge in According to Park (2004, p. 299, as cited Blattesvenska and the culture surrounding it. in Löwgren, 2009, p. 6) code-swithcing occurs Blattesvenska is at its richest and most uncounciously and can happen within the distinct among multiethnic teenagers who same context of speech, within a sentence, or crave a place in society and give much even within an expression. I believe it occurs importance to identity. Blattesvenska was first consciously, at least most of the time. examined in the 1980’s among teenagers living Teenagers especially are aware that they speak in Rinkeby, in Stockholm; this is when the Blattesvenska and very aware when they switch term Rinkebysvenska was brought to life, a to standard speech since this is only subvariety of Blattesvenska specific to the area acceptable when one is speaking to non- of Rinkeby. Teenagers in this area, who had members of the group or for mocking the many different mother toungues, shared a Swedish language. In societies where several common language, “a type of modified languages coexist closely and bilingualism is Swedish” (Kotsinas, 2005, p. 238, as cited in common, people can choose to use one of the Löwgren, 2009, p. 3). These tenagers also languages to show solidarity or rejection such incorporated into their speech words from as toward people with opposing religious or languages all over the world. These teenagers political views (Kotsinas 2000, p. 19, as cited also had a different grammatical structure, in Löwgren, 2009, p. 3). It is also common for pronunciation, slang expressions and people to use ‘stylemarkers’, which can discourse particles compared to the speech of include change in intonation, or change of regular Swedish teenagers (Kotsinas, 2005, p. language variety (Kotsinas 2000, p. 19). 238, as cited in Löwgren, 2009, p. 3). Löwgren (2009, p. 17-18) gave an exam- Codeswitching is another phenomena ple of a situation where codeswitching occurs often employed by the Blattesvenska speaking in a schoolyard during a break, the multiethnic community. Codeswitching between teenagers switch to their mothertounge when Blattesvenska and standard Swedish is very an adult approaches. On another occasion common and is sometimes employed to show one of the teenagers responds in standard solidarity within the group (Park 2004, p. 299, Swedish when the adult asks him a question. as cited in Lovgren, 2009, p. 3). Spanish According to Löwgren (2009, p. 17-18) the speakers can add more Spanish words when teenagers choose to switch to their mother- speaking to other Spanish-speaking immi- tounge to exclude the adult from their group, grants or second-generation Spanish but when the adult incorporates a stricter tone immigrants to show that they belong to the the teenagers switch to the standard. same group. For example, right before and According to Löwgren (2009, p. 17-18) they 68

do this to show that they are willing to Swedish can be referred to as, låtsas-svenne cooperate and to show that they are not (fake Swede) since they will not be accepted as opposing the adult. As soon as the adult “real” Swedes even if they speak the standard leaves they switch to Blattesvenska to alienate language (svenne is a derogatory term for a the standard language and reinstall and Swedish person and can serve to counter the strengthen a sense of group belonging term Blatte (Fraurud & Bijvoet 2004, p. 404, as (Löwgren, p. 17-18). In this situation three cited in Gomer, 2008, p. 9). different languages were used, each serving The role of Blattesvenska as a reflection their own purpose. and a creator of social segretation in Swedish society was well described by Interviewee #3: Blattesvenska’s Social Status On one hand there is a social process Blattesvenska is generally considered having a of alienation, product of the eco- lower status than standard Swedish. Inter- nomical development of [Swedish] viewee #2 said, “[…] if I would speak to society. That development generates Swedes then I would probably make my poverty and exclusion/segregation. Swedish better, be more professional in the The 'others' are seen as different, so vocabulary.” The fact that Interviewee #2 different that a social rupture is cre- mentions Swedes as a group dissimilar from ated. Those conditions generate himself serves to further prove the distinction identities that help sustain the differ- made in Swedish society between immigrants ences. These identities invent refer- and people of Swedish heritage. Growing up ences that on one hand help increase and living in Sweden for the major part of his the differences but on the other hand life Interviewee #2 should be able to consider hide part of the social space and himself Swedish. Rinkebysvenska has received a make it semisecret, unreachable for lower status than standard Swedish in Swedish 'the others'. Blattesvenska hides signifi- society. Speakers of this variety of Blattesvenska cation, invents secret codes, secret are seen to be at a lower linguistic level than games. It is irreverent and tries to speakers of standard Swedish, and their subvert the norms (like all slang) language is seen as improper or incorrect similarly to slang. What Blattesvenska (Kotsinas, 2000, p. 166, as cited in Löwgren, does so well is to play with the exotic, 2009, p. 6). taking advantage of it like the colonial Interviewee #2 further said that he speaks relation with 'the other' cultures Blattesvenska “with friends who also speak (Translated from Spanish). it…otherwise I tend to sharpen up at school For its speakers, Blattesvenska is used to and when we speak with our teachers and form group identity and solidarity within the stuff.” The fact that Interviewee #2 says that group that falls outside of the norm and with he sharpens up at school in terms of his förorten (the suburb). Doggelito and Kotsinas language, almost behaving in a sense, indicates further explained this phenomenon, “In the low status of Blattesvenska in society; in immigrant rich neighborhoods with people of school it is not considered appropriate to different heritage, religions, culture and speak Blattesvenska. This non-acceptance of mothertounges, language is a unifying factor the ‘other’ is deeply rooted in Swedish society. and significant identity marker. No group is Interestingly, although high status is seen as more valuable than the other” (2004, sometimes attached to the standard variety p. 22, as cited in Gomer, 2008, p. 9). among immigrants, generally, and especially Blattesvenska unifies its speakers and simul- among multiethnic teenagers, feelings of taneously pushes away non-members of the disloyalty might be triggered by the use of group. According to Gomer (2008, p. 9-10) overly standard language, and speakers of the the language of multiethnic teenagers, or standard variety are often disliked within the Blattesvenska, expresses a protest against group. Foreigners who speak standard society as a whole, against authority figures,

and against the older generation. Gomer blends in with a strong modern hip hop beat (2008, p. 9-10) calls Blattesvenska an “antilan- and the rap is sung in strong Blattesvenska, or guage,” and explains that it serves as the polar Rinkebysvenska, as I mentioned earlier a opposite of standard language. “The subveriety of Blattesvenska spoken in Rinkeby multiethnic teenager language is perceived in Stockholm. The following is an excerpt negatively by the majority of [Swedish] society, from the song “Snubben trodde han var cool” while the use of standard Swedish is disloyal (The Latin Kings, 1994) which addresses to the group” (Fraurud & Bijvoet 2004, p. 394, discrimination in Sweden, “Hur lange ska jag 403, as cited in Gomer, 2008, p. 9-10). As the vara tolerant, och hur lange ska du vara example about code-switching above shows, ignorant” [how long will I be tolerant, and for teenagers who speak Blattesvenska, standard how long will you be ignorant], which Swedish is used mainly with authority figures basically is saying that immigrants are tired of such as teachers at school but it is distrustful discrimination, a discrimination that is based to use standard language with other Blattar. on the Swedes’ ignorance. Today Dogge Any innovation that breaks the established Doggelito, one of the members of the group, norm is welcomed. According to Leiva is a celebrity in Sweden, and often appears on Wenger (2008, as cited in Gomer, 2008, p. 9- TV shows and radio speaking with a strong 10) the language of these multiethnic Blattesvenska accent. youngsters is a protest against the segregation Another more recent group that ad- they encounter in Swedish society. dresses similar issues in an unapologetic way is Advance Patrol, in their song “vi laddar” Blattesvenska’s Status As A New Voice (2007) the group spoke bluntly about racism of Anti-Discrimination in Sweden and paralells were drawn between One of the first musical groups with a blatte Ku Klux Klan and Swedish mainstream background to become noticed in the media society, the average middle class Swede, and was The Latin Kings. The Latin Kings exlpoited the political party Sverige Demokraterna which is Blattesvenska and the blatte culture in the sense known for its anti-immigrant beliefs. that it drew from it all that was possible and Following are selected segments from “vi 1 presented it in compact form to the public. laddar” (2007), with English translation:

Using vocabulary that was not mainstream (1) “Tjenare, hejsan, ni blir inte av med oss” and dressing up like American rappers they Hello, hi there (in standard Swedish language), shocked and challenged the norm. Their lyrics you won’t get rid of us. talked about how it was being a blatte or living (2) “Inget hemligt att Skåne är främlingfien- in förorten or betongen (the congrete, after the tligt, Håll i hatten (Swedish saying), här concrete buildings that predominate kommer Sveriges favoritblatte. Jag slåss immigrant neighborhoods) as they called it. tillbaks på diskrimineringen” The group also explored topics such as racism It’s not a secret that Skåne (a district in Swe- and segregation and made it hard for Swedish den) is discriminatory against aliens, pay atten- society not to at least consider the existence tion (literally “hold your hat”), here comes of these problems. The Latin Kings gave a voice Sweden’s favorite blatte. to young immigrants who had no say in

Swedish society. One of their songs “Snubben (3) “[…] döms efter etnisk bakgrund.” trodde han var cool” (The Latin Kings, 1994) I’m being judged by my ethnic background. includes a short musical sample from popular (4) “Det här är mitt land, här ska jag få mina Swedish TV series “Emil i Lönneberga” which tio barn.” told the story of a traditional Swedish family This is my country, this is where I will have my living in the agricultural times. In the ten children. background, the song also plays the voice of a The last sentence is expressing two things, Swedish politician who has a clear anti- the fact that foreigners are never accepted as immigrant belief, the voice and song then part of Swedish society and the need of 70

expressing that Sweden is “our” country too. thing that is truly theirs and that they identify Secondly it parodies with the attitude that with fully, their blatte identity. The word blatte many Swedish people have about foreigners itself, which started off as a racist remark, has having too many children. The lyrics play with come to mean everything to multiethnic the Swedish language purposefully code- teenagers in immigrant suburbs in Sweden. switching between traditional Swedish They use it to address each other as comrades proverbs and expressions and Blattesvenska, coexisting under the same opression, creating a clear contrast to mock the Standard expressing “we are different from them [the language and the mainstream ideology. norm], but me and you, we are the same” and therefore reinvent the word’s meaning. Blattesvenska’s Spread to Mainstream In recent years, Sverigedemokraterna, a Swedish Culture political party often considered to be quite Recently Swedish society has seen a rise in the racist, won a seat in the Swedish parliament. acceptance of Blattesvenska as something “cool,” This has changed things to the worse in something exotic and “hip” that is much Sweden, creating more pride and resistanse copied by Swedish youth, much similar to the among immigrant groups and more antago- rise in popularity of AAE in middle class nism towards them. As it seems, as a natural “white” youth in the US. Several Blattesvenska reaction to discrimination, Blattesvenska will words, such as guzz, keff etc have now even only grow and increase in dissimilarities with been incorporated into the Swedish dictionary the standard. or Svenska Academiens Ordlista. According to Language teachers can draw some inter- the SVT.se website (2005) one of the esting points from the case of Blattesvenska. explainations for this acceptance of Blattesven- Blattesvenska is essentially language acquisition ska words might be due to the popularity of “in the wild” because its speakers constantly its use by a large number of writers. On TV, I adopt new words and structures into their have heard speakers of mainstream Swedish own vocabulary and expressions. Not only are using words, such as jalla or fett, that were Blattesvenska speakers simultaneously aware of originally Blattesvenska words. Blattesvenska can the rules of several languages but they are able now be seen as something that is exploited by to grab new rules, change them, and adapt the media, a product that has a market and them to the rules of their own language therefore, sells. variety, Blattesvenska. This ability to be creative with multiple languages could be an asset Conclusion when it comes to language learning. I suspect that the Blattesvenska speaking youth is Blattesvenska serves many purposes for its extremely adept at learning new languages, speakers. It expresses a protest against the especially English, a language they are very mainstream culture and gives power to the familiar with and often draw from to form powerless while at the same time keeps and their unique variety. This, of course, needs to encourages the differences that create be confirmed by further research. prejudice. It gives an identity to people who Another interesting implication that are living between two or more cultures, one Blattesvenska has for language teachers is that being their native culture and the other the second language users can create and play Swedish culture. Blattesvenska is indeed the with language in ways that suit their needs, product of discrimination. Discrimination is desires, and purposes. The imposition of a what gives it fuel to keep reinventing standard language form may not succeed expressions and keep growing. In a paradox it unless the second language user finds that this creates hope and group identity but at the form is in alignment with their identity same time it further creates disparities. construction and social positioning. Devia- Speakers of Blattesvenska often do not want to tions from the standard language, as in the fully integrate into the Swedish community case of Blattesvenska, may not be a failed because this would entail loosing the only attempt at acquiring the target language, or a 71

lack of competence, but is an expression of Finally, Blattesvenska shows that language identity and a demonstration of a sophisti- learning is deeply embedded in the learner’s cated ability to manipulate linguistic resources. social, historical, and political context (Young, On the other side of the coin, in language 2009). What is learned and what is not learned teaching, if learners are encouraged to find is very much influenced by these social factors, ways to express themselves with the and language teachers should go beyond the affordances of the second language (van Lier, activities and exercises inside the classroom 2000), perhaps their interlanguage will walls and reach into the learner’s worlds in blossom and thrive, as Blattesvenska does. order to help them succeed.

Acknowledgement I would like to thank Linda Karlsson for her helpful comments and suggestions on an earlier version of this paper.

Notes 1 The type of Blattesvenska used by Advance Patrol is sometimes called Blatteskånska, being the language of blattar in Skåne. Although the words are mostly Swedish, they are pronounced with a Blattesvenska accent.

References

Advance Patrol. (2007). Vi ladder. On Enligt http://www.svt.se/2.53394/1.450464/ri AP [We charge. On According to AP] nkebysvenskan_slar_sig_in_i_saol [CD]. Malmo, Sweden: Playground. The Latin Kings. (1994) Snubben trodde han Gomer, M. (2008). Shu len, vad händish: En var cool. On Välkommen till förörten [CD]. analys av multietniskt ungdomsspråk i [The dude thought he was cool. On Wel- Alejandro Leiva Wengers novell Borta i come to the suburb CD]. Stockholm, Swe- tankar [Yo man, what’s happenin’: An den: Warner Music. analysis of multiethnic teenage language The Local, Sweden’s news in English. (2008). in Alejandro Leiva Wengers novel Gone Discrimination in Sweden’s judicial system. in thoughts]. Gothenburg, Sweden: Goth- Retrieved from enburg’s University. http://www.thelocal.se/10096/2008022 Löwgren, J. (2009). Kodväxling och 5/ multietniskt ungdomsspråk, form och The Local, Sweden’s news in English. (2011). funktion. [Code switching and multieth- Lower wages will give more immigrants jobs. nic teenage language, form and function]. Retrieved from Gothenburg, Sweden: Gothenburg’s http://www.thelocal.se/34214/2011060 University. 7/ Rydgren, J. (2004). Mechanisms of exclusion, The Local, Sweden’s news in English. (2012). ethnic discrimination in the Swedish Downplaying racist taunts is like spitting in labour market. Journal of Ethnic and Migra- victims' faces. Retrieved from tion Studies, 30, 4, 697-716. doi: http://www.thelocal.se/42894/2012082 10.1080/13691830410001699522 9/ SVT.se. (2005). Rinkebysvenskan slår sig in i Van Lier, L. (2000). From input to affordance, SAOL. [Rinkebysvenska enters SAOL]. social-interactive learning from an eco- Retrieved from logical perspective. In Lantolf, J (Ed.) 72

Sociocultural theory and second language Young, R. F. (2009). Discursive practice in learning (pp. 245-285). Oxford, UK: language learning and teaching. Malden, MA Oxford University Press. & Oxford, UK: Wiley-Blackwell.