Swedish in Finland: A Multi-Faceted Analysis of the Finlandssvenskar and Comparisons Between Finnish Speakers and Swedish Speakers

Cody Corcoran Swedish in Finland Spring Semester 2013 Student Number 70225

I. Abstract The purpose of this paper is to illuminate the differences between the Swedish speaking Finns (finlandssvenskar) and the Finnish speaking Finns on a cultural, sociopolitical, linguistic and identity-based level. It will also include differences in language between Finland Swedish and common Swedish, spoken in the country of Sweden. A brief history and background of the finlandssvenskar will be included at the onset of the paper for contextual purposes. Analysis of an interview will also be included within the paper, with commentary and connections to the aforementioned themes. The interviewee mentioned was a 20 year old college student by the name of Lotta, who attends bo Akademi, who is a Finnish and Swedish speaking Finn and has a relatively unique position within Finnish society.

II. Brief Background of the Finlandssvenskar Swedish has existed in Finland as a language ever since the mid-12th century, with the First Swedish Crusade, originating from Sweden. The purpose of this crusade was to follow the lead of the Catholics of southern Europe and conquer territories which were heathen. The difference in Finland was that these places had no official religion, only loosely bound animism as compared to the strongly devout Muslims who were the defenders of the southern crusades. Although they may not have been the first Swedish speakers who settled in Finland, it was the first mass migration into the country and it spelled the beginning for the Swedish speakers who ended up settling there. Finland was converted to Catholicism, the dominant religion of the period in northern Europe (excluding Russia), and everything in the country was Christianized by Swedish crusaders. After these crusades, there was a mass migration of Swedes into Finland, due to the fact that the Swedish government had annexed some territories in southwest Finland, including what today would be called bo and Ostrobothnia, and later Nyland. These conquests shifted the power into Swedish hands, and up until the 18th century, 20% of the population spoke a Swedish dialect. It has decreased since this period, due to the fact that

the Russians annexed Finland from Sweden in 1809 and for the next century Finland flew the Russian flag, with some semi-autonomous status. The power within the country remained in the hands of the government, who were mostly Swedish speaking. Up until this period, the Swedish government had ruled these lands with some autonomy from the Swedish crown, but in 1809 they became fully autonomous, with some pressure and legal restrictions from the Russian government. A relatively important event in the history of the Finlandswedes was the Fennoman movement of the 19th century, which occurred during the Russian rule, but happened independent of it. The Russian tsarist government actually supported this growing nationalist movement, as it would weaken Swedish influence within the country. Swedish governmental officials and influential Swedes began to learn Finnish and change their names, as the trend of the period was moving towards more of a Finnish based society. This was motivated by the fact that learning Finnish would provide for an identity of the country, which was sorely lacking the previous period under the rule of the Swedes. The Swedish speakers eagerly learned Finnish due to this, and most of the influential Swedes turned to Finnish, even though the language would have been quite difficult for them. In the post war period up until modern day, Swedish in Finland has waned, due to the fact that the Finnish speaking population has grown while the finlandssvenskar population has remained relatively stagnant. Intermarraige and the abandonment of Swedish as a language and the adoption of Finnish was another factor in the decline of Swedish in the 20th century. In the 1940s, the Swedish speaking population was around 10% of the total population, as compared to around 5% for 2011 census. While the population decreased, the influence in the country remained, and to this day Swedish has equal footing to Finnish in terms of legal rights and regulations.

III. Interview Analysis and Summary

In the interview conducted, the woman who was interviewed was of Finnish origin, but was a mixture of Finnish and Swedish speaking. Originally from bo, she moved to Nyland (Espoo) at an early age, but then moved back to bo in order to attend

school at bo Akademi. Her father remained in bo to work, while she and her mother remained in Nyland. She in fact had a very unique position in terms of linguistics, as her mother spoke Finnish while her father was a Swedish speaker. Even though this is quite common in Finnish society, the difference was that they both spoke their own languages in the household. The spouses both understood each other, but they chose to spoke in the languages which they were raised in. This led to quick understanding of both languages by the children, and the ability to speak both languages at an equal level. Although she ended up attending a Swedish speaking school, her interests and hobbies led her to meet many Finnish speakers and continue her learning in Finnish. The interview consisted of mostly identity, linguistic and cultural based questions, ranging from questions on the validity of Swedish in a Finnish society to the discrimination faced by the Swedish speaking Finns who did not speak Finnish. Geographic questions were also included, especially linguistic geographic differences especially with people from Ostrobothnia and the people from southwest and southern Finland. The material spoken about ranged from differences in primary school education to some of the mannerisms attributed to the Swedish speakers within Finland. The idea and questions of the pappa betalar were not asked, as not to offend the interviewee. More was focused on the complex ideological identity of the Finlandswedes, and the linguistic differences between both Finnish and Swedish and the many dialects which occur in the Swedish language. The interview itself began with questions mostly about the background of the interviewee, and primary school education. Since she attended a Swedish speaking school, her education consisted of a school with very few attendees, and a very closed community of people who all spoke Swedish. She also mentioned that she preferred to have schoolwork in Swedish, even though she was fluent in Finnish, due to the fact that she has always worked in Swedish since primary school. This closed network of Finlandswedes, she mentioned, had an impact on her psyche, due to the fact that the closed community didnt allow for any anonymit y, and all of her actions and schoolwork were public knowledge, as was everyone elses within the class. The distinction between her and other Finlandswedes is that she participated in many activities which were hosted by Finns and which Finnish were spoken in, including

horseback riding and ice skating, which are Finnish dominated, especially ice skating. This usage of both languages allowed for a mastery of both Finnish and Swedish, which would be beneficial in future endeavors. Knowledge of both, according to her, had a positive impact on her life in general. Although to this day she prefers to mesh with Swedish speakers and spend time with them, she has the ability to make Finnish friends also and does as such. Her preference is one which she shares with many of the Finnish and Swedish speaking Finns, as their belief is that the Swedish speakers are the more fun group, while the Finnish people tend to be relatively quiet and reserved, while the Finlandswedes are much more open about their beliefs and more social. While this may be a sweeping generalization and stereotype, the interviewee believed it to be true, and she had dealt with many Finns in her lifetime without the discrimination, because she did indeed speak Finnish. As the interview moved along, the focus of the interview shifted to a more geographic and linguistic theme. She mentioned that had spent her whole life in southern Finland, and was born and raised in two places which had a sizeable portion of Finlandswedes. The transition to bo Akademi was also mentioned. According to her, bo Akademi resembled a much larger primary school with the same structure and function. All of the staff and faculty know each other due to the size, and most of the student know each other also. This close knit community theme was mentioned throughout the whole interview, but it came to a head when discussing bo Akademi. The school in and of itself isnt very large, consisting of around 4,000 students with a high rate of exchange students and Masters degree students. She mentioned that most of the bachelors degree students knew each other because of the size of the school. While the neighboring Finnish speaking school Turun Yliopisto consisted of around 18,000 students, bo only had around a quarter of that. At her stay in bo so far, she met a group of people who were Swedish speaking, but spoke a dialect which she didnt understand. These students came from Ostrobothnia in northern Finland, which was called Pampas by her. They spoke a language with many differences from hers, and she was often forced to have a middleman translator in order to understand them, which, she said, impeded her ability to communicate and

actually angered some of the students she conversed with (this will be discussed at length later, including the minute linguistic differences she mentioned). At the conclusion of the interview, mostly identity issues were mentioned, including what she would call herself if she was to visit another country. This was quite a difficult question for her, as she explained that it was very complex. She believed that if she was to never meet that person again, she would call herself a Finn. If she believed that she and that person would eventually be friends or converse on a regular basis, she would explain to them the difference between her and a Finnish speaking Finn. Even though she does in fact speak perfect Finnish, her identity held fast throughout the whole interview as a Swedish speaking Finn.

IV. Geographic Distinctions

In terms of linguistics, Swedish speakers in Finland tend to have many different dialects based on geographic location. These dialects are intrinsically tied to the location in which they developed, from many factors such as isolation and mixing with the native Finnish and the development of slang along with the dialects. In terms of the interview, my interviewee had the dialect of a common Swedish speaking Finn, as she was from Nyland/bo where the finlandssvenskar speak relatively uncorrupted Swedish. However, even though the Swedish speaking Finns are such a small group in Finland, the geographic differences are quite vast, even aside from the language. The identity is also much different, as my interviewee noted that she tended to view the Ostrobothnians (Pampees) as less advanced as the Swedish speakers in the south. While this may be a vast oversimplification, it does portray the large cultural difference, especially considering the fact that all of the finlandssvenskar converge at bo Akademi to study. While these cultural differences may be small at best, the Swedish speaking Finns only constitute a very small minority of the geographic whole of Finland. Mostly living on the coastal areas and on the island of land, the Swedish speakers tend not to move much into the interior. The provinces of Vaasa and land (semi-autonomous and fully Swedish speaking) do in fact both have Swedish-speaking majorities. Also, the fact that the province of Vaasa is mainly flatland and field is notable, considering the fact that

many southern Swedish speakers believe that all of the finlandssvenskar in the north are farmers. land is a very different example, considering the fact that the population is relatively low and it is overwhelmingly Swedish speaking, and the legal language is only Swedish. The isolation of this island from Finland led to this distinction, and even though it is under the control of the government of Finland, it is autonomous in terms of the language. Geography plays a large role in the development of language and culture, and this is no exception. The rest of the Finnish counties and provinces, including most of the interior, Helsinki, Karelia, and Lapland all have almost no finlandssvenskar. The view of Swedish speakers in these regions which have none are notably different than those of the Finns living in the regions where there are many Swedish speakers. My interviewee also mentioned the fact that Swedish speakers (who dont speak Finnish) who visit these reasons are forced to speak English most of the time to the Finns, as they do not understand Swedish well. This may cause some strife, considering Finland is a bilingual country in legal terms, yet many people from these regions have no understanding of the language. Even though my interviewee was raised bilingual, she believed that it was much harder for the Swedish speakers to be taught Finnish than the Finnish speakers to learn Finnish, and she dislikes how there is such a strong disdain for Swedish in these regions.

V. Cultural Distinctions between Finns and Finlandssvenskar

The cultural divide between Finnish speakers and Swedish speakers is a very minute, albeit noticeable one. Since they both come from the same country and share the same heritage (fought in the same wars, are descended from Finns), they have some similarities, but the difference are quite noticeable. Within the interview, these were mentioned in some detail, including mannerism differences and difference of activities. The typical stereotypes when finlandsvenskar are mentioned seem to be one of the well-off aristocracy. While this may have been true in the past when the Swedes ruled the

country, the stereotype remains to this day in the mindset of Finns. Truthfully, these sweeping generalizations arent necessary factual, but are just pigeonholing this group of people. In reality, the finlandssvenskar do in fact have subdivisions within their cultural heritage. The largest difference is in fact between the Ostrobothnians and the southern Swedish speakers. Aside from the dialectical differences, the common perception of the northern Swedish speakers is that they are farmers and that they are much less well off than the Swedish speakers in the south. While this is also a sweeping generalization, it comes from the past when this may in fact have reality. In the north, as noted by my interviewee, they tend to view people from the south as richer and much better-off, as mentioned previously. On the other hand, the perception of the Finnish speakers among the finlandssvenskar is dependent on who is spoken to. My interviewee also mentioned that she preferred to make friends who spoke Swedish, as they were much more social and had a bit more zeal than the average Finn. She also believed that the Finns were much more reserved about their beliefs, and that they were self-deprecating and less positive than the Swedish speakers. Since she is also a polyglot, she noticed that the Finns were much less apt to learn other languages, as compared to the finlandssvenskar. Personally I have also noticed that the finlandssvenskar are much more open to foreigners in their country, as they share the same issue as them if they do not speak Swedish, along with the fact that they are a minority group. While these distinctions are on a broad basis and not on a personal basis, Finns tend to be much more reserved while the Swedish speakers tend to be more outgoing. While these generalizations may be true on a macro level, personal analysis proves them to be untrue on some level. Another difference which should be mentioned is the Sitz culture among Swedish speakers in the country. While the people, both Finnish and Swedish speaking, all have Sitzes on certain occasions, they are very different indeed. The Swedish speaking sitzes are much rowdier than the Finnish speaking ones, with people standing on tables and such, parading around drunkenly. The Finnish ones are much more laid back and restrained, with people talking much less and much less apt to sing. This can also be vouched for on a personal level, as Ive experienced both, and the fact that my interviewee also mentioned this point.

In terms of the cultural difference between finlandssvenskar and Swedes from Sweden, it happens to be the fact that geographic isolation has caused language change along with cultural change. The language is very different, but the culture is even more different. In general, the Swedish speakers from Finland are much more reserved than the Swedes, but the general identity of the Swedish speakers is still that they are Finnish over everything, including their language.

VI. Linguistic Issues among the Finlandssvenskar

Even among the small group that is the Swedish speakers (250,000 people in Finland), there are huge linguistic differences between the speakers. As mentioned previously, the northerners speak a very different language than the common Swedish from the south. They in fact are both slightly different than the Swedish spoken in Sweden also. In Ostrobothnia, or Pampas, the Swedish speakers speak a dialect which many other speakers consider to be archaic and outdated. Called the Nrpes dialect (originally from a small town with the same name), many consider it to be a descendant of ancient Nordic languages. My interviewee also mentioned that it sounded more like Icelandic than Swedish, and that she had a lot of trouble understanding it when someone from Ostrobothnia spoke to her. There are indeed many distinctions in the normal daily vocabulary which would in fact make it difficult for a Swedish speaker to understand, considering the fact that words and phrases vary so much. Even common phrases such as Det var det (that was it) change to het var het, which would cause for much misunderstanding. My interviewee, speaking both Finnish and Swedish, still had a hard time understanding it, so she was forced to speak English or Finnish to them in some cases. In terms of linguistic differences between Finnish and Swedish, there is an absolutely huge divide. Swedish belongs to the Indo-European tree of languages, which is very broad and includes almost all of the languages in Europe. Of course, the only languages which arent part of this tree are Estonian, Hungarian and Finnish. These languages belong to the Finno-Ugric tree, which are extremely different in both structure

and grammar. The two languages share almost no vocabulary, and Finnish, due to its structure, is very difficult to learn for someone who is well versed at an Indo-European language, as it is very structure based and ending based. Swedish speakers are at a semiadvantage when it comes to learning English, the lingua franca of the world, as Swedish and English share many similarities, while Finnish shares almost none. This may cause some strife, as the Swedish speakers have the ability to learn English much better than the Finnish speakers. My interviewee also mentioned the fact that the Swedish speakers were much more confident in their English, and that they were more apt to communicate with the exchange students at their university, which opens their perspective even more so. Although this may be due to the cultural difference, the linguistic difference also plays a large role. There are also many language differences between Swedish in Finland and Swedish in Sweden. In general, the tonality is much different than that in Sweden, with the Swedish in Finland being much more monotone, and the Swedish in Sweden being generally much happier sounding. While this may be true, my interviewee mentioned that when she was in Sweden she generally was well received and very well understood, stating that the Swedish she spoke was very clear and had no accent, as compared to the heavily accented Swedes. The small differences also include pronunciation, especially with the oft-difficult words to pronounce such as sju (seven) and knner (difficult to translate into English, most like feel). The Swedes tend to use their tongue on these words, while the Swedish speaking Finns tend to pronounce them more like English. Whether this is a product of geographic isolation or cultural difference is unknown, but the languages evolved in such a way that the pronunciations and accents are the main difference between the groups.

VII. Sociopolitical Problems and the Waning Swedish Population

Lastly, considering the fact that the Swedish speaking population has always been one to voice their opinions in the country, the fact that they have a representative party in the Finnish Parliament is of no surprise. While mentioned in brief in the interview, this fact is nonetheless important when analyzing finlandssvenskar. While definitely not an

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oppressed minority, the group has always been one which was a minority, but for a long period of time they held the power within the country. At a glance, the Swedish speaking population is decreasing, but not as rapidly as it once was. Currently, it is holding fast at around 5% of the population, and it is not predicted to decrease at a rapid rate any longer. Even though it has leveled out, it still has much less representation than it did 40 years prior, due to the rising Finnish birthrate and the intermarriages between Swedes and Finns and the abandonment of the language. Many companies offer services in only Finnish and English, while Swedish is one of the official languages of the country. This neglect of Swedish may have arose from the nationalist fervor of the Finns in the early 20th century, but also due to logistical purposes, as the Swedish speaking population has been steadily decreasing, while the influence of English has increased rapidly. Aside from all of these factors, there are some Swedish speakers who vehemently maintain their nationalistic pride in their status within the country. Some of the largest examples of these occur in the Swedish Peoples Party, who constitute about 4% of the Parliament in Finland, almost equal to the population of Swedish speakers in the country. While this party has been criticized as having only one goal (to preserve Swedish in Finland), they have been relatively successful, considering that all documentation in the government has to be bilingual and all the rights of the Swedish speakers have been preserved. They also have maintained a presence in the government since the Kekkonen Government in the 1950s, and have remained relatively powerful since.

VIII. Conclusions

All of these factors point to the fact that the Swedish speakers in Finland are both a diverse and amalgamated among themselves, and that they share many similarities with the Finnish speakers but also many differences. The main conclusion reached by the interview points to the fact that the finlandssvenskar and the Finnish speakers share a common bond aside from language. While the broad generalizations may or may not be

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true, the conclusions reached by this paper argue the fact that the Finlandswedes are much more interconnected with the Finnish idealism and cultural mindset than the stereotypes perceive them as. Even though the mannerisms and language may be different, they do share the same nation in which they were born, and they carry the flag of Finland proudly.

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Works Cited I. "Organization of the SFP." SFP. Swedish People's Party, n.d. Web. 11 Mar. 2013. <http://www.sfp.fi/en/organisation/>. The website for the Swedish Peoples Party, used to gather information on voter demographics and information about the party.

II. Klinge, Matti. A Brief History of Finland. Helsinki: Otava, 1994. Print. A brief description on the history of Finland used in order to illuminate the presence of the Swedish people population in a historical perspective along with the rule of Sweden within Finland. III. stern, Anna Lena. "My Language Tree: Young Finland Swedish Adults Tell Us about Their Linguistic and Cultural Identities." Journal of Curriculum Studies 36.6 (2004): 657-72. Print. Used to compare to my own interview, as the group interviewed within the journal also had relatively similar yet minutely different perspectives. IV. Bandle, Oskar, Gerold Ungeheuer, Hugo Steger, Herbert Ernst. Wiegand, and Armin Burkhardt. The Nordic Languages: An International Handbook of the History of the North Germanic Languages. Berlin: De Gruyter, 2005. Print. Utilized to analyze the differences between the Nrpes dialect used in Ostrobothnia and the Swedish common language used in the south of Finland.

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