"Are you Swedish?" : the heterogeneous identity of Finland-Swedish students
Tekijät
Päivämäärä
2024This study aims to shed light on how Finland-Swedish students perceive and understand their identity and the Swedish-speaking minority. According to the Finnish Constitution, the national languages of Finland are Finnish and Swedish. In Finland, there is a Swedish-speaking minority living mainly on the coast of the Baltic Sea. People who speak Swedish as their mother tongue are called Swedish-speaking Finns or Finland-Swedes.
The present study is from the perspective of Finland-Swedish students who go outside the Swedishspeaking area to study in a predominately Finnish-speaking area of Finland. This aspect has hardly been researched to date. At the same time, this study is also a response to the call for more qualitative research on the Finland-Swedish minority. It is conducted through in-depth interviews and a focus group discussion, and the data is analysed using Bamberg’s three level model of narrative positioning. The research questions of the study are: How do Finland-Swedish students perceive their identity? How do FinlandSwedish students navigate their positioning in a predominantly Finnish-speaking environment?
Interview data was collected from six participants, three of whom also participated in a focus group discussion. All participants self-identified as Swedish speaking Finns and the individual interviews were grouped into four categories: Finland-Swedish identity, Finland-Swedishness in Finnish-speaking areas, encounters, and Finland-Swedishness on a national level.
The findings illustrate the heterogeneous identity of the Swedish-speaking Finns and the minority’s connection with bilingualism. Despite speaking Swedish, the participants felt strongly about their Finnish national identity. The study also shows how outsiders problematise the bilingual identity of Finland-Swedish students, which underlines the ‘one language-one ethnicity’ language ideology. However, the study reveals how the participants challenge the language ideology by telling people about their background to prove their Finnishness.
The results show how the positioning in relation to other characters in ‘small stories’ bridges into the positioning in the social context. Furthermore, the study demonstrates that the legacy of the Swedish period is still present in contemporary Finland. In conclusion, there is a need for more interpersonal communication to improve the perception of Swedish-speaking Finns and the Swedish language in Finland.
...
Asiasanat
Finland-Swedish students narrative positioning language ideology finlandssvenska studenter identitet narrative positionering språkideologi ruotsin kieli suomenruotsalaiset identiteetti suomalaiset suomenruotsalaisuus kaksikielisyys suomalaisuus kielelliset vähemmistöt Swedish language Swedish-speaking Finns identity (mental objects) Finns Finland-Swedishness bilingualism Finnish identity linguistic minorities
Metadata
Näytä kaikki kuvailutiedotKokoelmat
- Pro gradu -tutkielmat [29743]
Lisenssi
Samankaltainen aineisto
Näytetään aineistoja, joilla on samankaltainen nimeke tai asiasanat.
-
A research on Finnish-Chinese children’s bilingual identity through multiliteracies : a case study of Chinese heritage learners in Central Finland
Li, Qingyang (2019)Research on the bilingual identity of heritage language learners is a field emerging at the turn of the 21st century. This study explored the Chinese identity and Finnish identity of a group of Chinese heritage learners ... -
“det är nog aktivt arbete” : svenskspråkigas uppfattningar om språklig identitet i mellersta Finland
Kytömaa, Lauri (2023)Tämän tutkimuksen tarkoituksena oli selvittää, kuinka Keski-Suomessa asuvat ruotsinkieliset kokevat arkensa suomenkielisessä ympäristössä. Tutkimuksen toinen tarkoitus oli selvittää, miten suomenkielinen ympäristö on ... -
“It is a part of my identity that I see myself as a language person” : Language identities of students of English
Rajala, Emilia (2022)Identiteettien tutkiminen on ollut suosittua jo jonkin aikaa, ja niitä on tutkittu eri aloilla psykologiasta kielitieteeseen. Identiteetit eivät voi esiintyä ilman kieltä, ja tästä syystä tämä tutkielma yhdistää kielen ja ... -
A language socialisation perspective on Swedish immersion in Finland : Students, teachers, and parents as key actors
Björklund, Siv; Mård-Miettinen, Karita; Pakarinen, Sanna (John Benjamins Publishing Company, 2022)This retrospective review applies a language socialisation perspective in examining the findings of a four-year research project on Swedish immersion in Finland. Findings from nine sub-studies within the project are reported ... -
Maintaining the heritage language : young adults from immigrant backgrounds in Finland
Nevaranta, Maria (2023)Monilla maahanmuuttajataustaisilla nuorilla aikuisilla on vaikeuksia säilyttää perintökieltään, mutta perintökielen ylläpitäminen tarjoaa kannustimia kuten sosiaalista integraatiota, kulttuuriperinnön säilyttämistä ja ...
Ellei toisin mainittu, julkisesti saatavilla olevia JYX-metatietoja (poislukien tiivistelmät) saa vapaasti uudelleenkäyttää CC0-lisenssillä.