NNL Pod 12+13: Bilingualism, Minority Languages and English in the Nordics
Listen to two podcasts on the socio-political aspects of languages in mainly Sweden and Finland. The discission includes: Finnish speakers in Sweden; Swedish speakers in Finland; coloniality in the Nordic region - and whether English will eventually trump other languages!
Meet the students!
Gaëtan and Essi study European and Nordic Studies at the University of Helsinki. Gaëtan has been interviewed by Nordic Student Radio - Nordljud - about his role in the New Nordic Lexicon. Essi has lived for periods in Scotland, Norway and Iceland in relation to her studies.
Sóley is a Master's student at Aarhus University. She is from the Faroe Islands and is interested in how dynamic some smaller languages are in the Nordic region.
Other students from Aarhus and Helsinki universities were also involved in this podcast!
NNL Pod 12: How do bilingualism and minority languages function in Finland and Sweden?
In this episode, Gaëtan Gamba, a student from Helsinki University, and Sóley Eliasdottir from Aarhus University speak to Nina Carlsson from the University of Uppsala, and Tuire Liimatainen from the Migration Institute of Finland (at the time of recording, Tuire was at Helsinki University). Nicola Witcombe, editor of nordics.info, also joins the discussion.
Podcast
Languages in the Nordic countries are much more diverse than at first appears. The discussion focuses on how bi- and multulingualism functions in practice, and the history, framework and importance of minority and heritage languages and their status in Sweden and Finland (34 mins, in English).
Meet the researchers!
Tuire and Nina have written papers together on the Swedish-Finns. Elizabeth and Tuire were editors, along with others, of the book 'Finnish, Whiteness and Coloniality'.
Elizabeth has contributed articles to nordics.info on minority languages and the use of English in the Nordic countries, both of which are also available to listen to as podcasts in English and Danish (see below for links).
Tuire is also the Finnish editor of the New Nordic Lexicon (link to our Nordic version in top right hand corner).
NNL Pod 13: Why and how is the English language used in the Nordic countries?
In this episode, Gaëtan Gamba and Essi Turva, students from Helsinki University, speak mainly to Elizabeth Peterson, also from Helsinki University. Nina Carlsson from Uppsala University, Tuire Liimatainen from the Migration Institute of Finland, and Nicola Witcombe, editor of nordics.info, also join the discussion.
Podcast
The discussion revolves around how the use of English plays out in the Nordic countries, with a focus on Finland and Sweden, and the consequences of this on immigration populations and identity (29 mins, in English).
Further reading:
- E. Peterson, E. 2022. 'The English Language in Finland: Tool of Modernity or Tool of Coloniality?' In: Josephine Hoegaerts, Tuire Liimatainen, Laura Hekanaho, Elizabeth Peterson, eds., Finnishness, Whiteness and Coloniality. (Helsinki: Helsinki University Press; 2022).
- Josephine Hoegaerts, Tuire Liimatainen, Laura Hekanaho, Elizabeth Peterson, eds., Finnishness, Whiteness and Coloniality. (Helsinki: Helsinki University Press; 2022).
- Nina Carlsson, 'Navigating Two Languages - Immigrant Integration Policies in Bilingual Finland', Journal on Ethnopolitics and Minority Issues in Europe 16, 2 (2017) pp. 41-66.
- Nina Carlsson, 'Revitalizing the Indigenous, integrating into the colonized? The banal colonialism of immigrant integration', Swedish Sápmi, Ethnic and Racial Studies, 43, 16 (2020) pp. 268-286.
- Nina Carlsson and Tuire Liimatainen, '"Kyss mig, jag är en sverigefinne!”: Gränsdragningar mellan invandrarskap och minoritetsskap i den sverigefinska etnopolitiska mobiliseringen 1980–2020' ["Kiss me, I'm a Swedish Finn!": Boundaries between immigration and minority status in the Swedish-Finnish ethnopolitical mobilization 1980–2020], Tidskrift för Genusvetenskap, 42, 4 (2021) pp. 76-99.
- Tuire Liimatainen, Finnishness in Sweden: The Discursive Construction of Ethnicity in the Landscape of Social Media, University of Helsinki (2022).