The Language Situation in Finland

• Autores: Sirkku Latomaa, Pirkko Nuolijärvi
• Localización: Current issues in language planning, ISSN 1466-4208, Vol. 3, Nº. 2, 2002, págs. 95-202
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • This monograph provides an overview of the language situation in Finland, an officially bilingual country in northern Europe. The national languages, Finnish and Swedish, have equal status, guaranteed in language legislation since 1922. During the 19th century, however, Swedish was still the language of the élite, while Finnish was the language of the common people. Therefore, the main accomplishment during the 19th century was the rapid development of the Finnish language into a language of education and administration, after Finnish was accorded official status in 1863. The beginning of independence (1917–) witnessed a number of language conflicts that gradually subsided and led to a long stable period between the languages. In the 1980s, the linguistic situation changed again in many ways. The former emigrant country became an immigrant country. Even though immigrant minorities in Finland are still small compared with, for example, other Nordic countries, immigration has created a situation where there are several established linguistic minorities. In the 1990s, the status of linguistic minorities was improved through a number of legislative and educational reforms, and in 2001, proposals for the new Language Act and the Saami Language Act were written. Simultaneously, the status of Finnish has changed somewhat. In 1995, Finland joined the European Union. Internationalisation and globalisation have become a part of Finnish society, and the role of English in business, education, media and science has become more accentuated than ever before. In this new situation, the future of Finnish as well as the other national language, Swedish, is discussed from the viewpoint of less widely used languages in a globalising world.