Ruotsi toisena kansalliskielenä kielellisesti muuttuvassa Suomessa

Swedish as the second national language in linguistically changing Finland

Authors

• Siv Björklund Åbo Akademi University
• Sanna Pakarinen Åbo Akademi University

DOI: https://doi.org/10.30660/afinla.126920

Keywords:

language ideology, national language, Swedish-medium education in Finland

Abstract

The aim of the article is to present language ideologies about Swedish as the other national language in Finland. The article focuses on Swedish-medium basic education for first language speakers but also highlights ideologies about Swedish and bilingualism in Swedish-medium speech island schools for Swedish speakers and in Swedish immersion education for Finnish speakers in Finnish-medium schools. Based on selected studies and reports, the article investigates attitudes towards the Swedish language and the Swedish-speaking population of Finland. The review shows that the position of Swedish is still controversial in Finland. Furthermore, the Swedish-medium education has a significant role for the status of Swedish in society. The language ideologies about Swedish in speech island schools and in immersion are linked to maintaining the language and including it as a part of individual or societal bilingualism.