kansankielisessä

Kansankielisessä is the inessive singular form of the Finnish adjective kansankielinen, meaning vernacular or colloquial language. The term describes language, speech, or expressions that are characteristic of everyday, ordinary speakers rather than of formal or standardized varieties. In linguistic and descriptive usage, kansankielinen denotes nonstandard or informal registers that arise from ordinary conversation, popular media, or regional speech.

Typical usage and contexts include phrases such as kansankielisessä käytössä (in common use), kansankielisessä versiossa (in the vernacular version), or kansankielisessä puheessa (in everyday speech). The concept is used to contrast with kirjakieli, the standard or literary Finnish, and with more formal registers. Kansankielinen can refer to vocabulary, syntax, or style that is accessible and straightforward, often featuring simplifications, colloquialisms, or regional flair.

Notes and caveats: kansankielinen as a label is descriptive rather than prescriptive. It signals a shift away from formal norms toward everyday speech, but its exact boundaries vary by speaker, region, and context. The form kansankielisessä is one inflectional variant; other cases appear as kansankielinen, kansankielisen, kansankieliselle, etc., depending on grammatical role.

See also: Kansankieli, Kirjakieli, Vernacular language, Language register.