In the Spotlight: "Generational Vowel Change and Code-Switching in Finland-Swedish "

A total of 40 million people within the European Union, i.e. approximately 10 percent of the EU population, speak a native language that is not the majority language in their home country. My research project is a sociolinguistic investigation into linguistic change in Finland-Swedish, which is a variety of Swedish spoken as a minority language in Finland.          

While in the past Finnish and Swedish were largely spoken in different regions and culturally distinct communities in Finland, lately the Finnish society has become more linguistically mixed. The aim of my study is to examine generational vowel change and lexical change occurring in the Finland-Swedish community due to increasing linguistic influence from Finnish. The degree of variation is expected to relate not only to the amount of direct contact individuals have with the Finnish language, but also to the linguistic identity and language choices of the Finland-Swedish speakers.

The dynamic between Finnish and Finland-Swedish is interesting due to the 1000-year-long history of Swedish being spoken in Finland, as well as the variety’s status as a national language, in spite of having fewer than 300,000 native speakers. Additionally, the emphasis on linguistic change due to majority language influence makes the study highly relevant to research related to minority and heritage languages. The subject of minority languages in Europe is currently particularly appropriate due to Resolution 2196 (2018) of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, which in January 2018 called for the protection and promotion of regional and minority languages in Europe. I believe that the way to protect and promote minority languages is precisely through research, i.e. by raising awareness of and creating interest in less common linguistic varieties.          

Janine Strandberg