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Language Policy Beyond the State pp 81–98Cite as

Emerging Language Political Agency Among Estonian Native Speakers in Finland

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Part of the book series: Language Policy ((LAPO,volume 14))

Abstract

Finland grants exclusive status to Finnish and Swedish as national languages and has had a relatively homogenous language situation so far. Among four bigger immigrant groups, Estonian-speakers make up the second largest community of practice in Finland; their number increased by more than thirtyfold between 1990 and 2015. We support the idea that Estonian-speakers’ practices should be looked at in the context of the emergent Estonian–Finnish transnational space. This means that their language political (LP) agency should be analyzed in terms of Estonian-Finnish transnational relations. After providing an extensive historical account of the emergence and development of Estonian-speakers’ diaspora in Finland, the paper briefly addresses the legal and institutional aspects of the Finnish state language policies. Then we go beyond both the state and the family by offering a preliminary exploration of different aspects of language management, language practices and ideologies which may affect Estonian-speaking familiesʼ choices of Estonian-language day-care and a comprehensive school with a bilingual, Estonian-Finnish program available in Helsinki. Our preliminary findings contribute to the understanding of LP as a situated sociocultural process which is however further complicated by the multi-sited nature of LP and speakers’ transnational relations.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Also called an “indigenous language”.

  2. 2.

    Romani has the status of a non-regional minority language under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages.

  3. 3.

    Estonian and Finnish are relatively closely related Finno-Ugric languages with similar morphological systems. The languages are to some extent mutually comprehensible/intelligible (for details, see Metslang 2009; Kaivapalu, Martin 2014).

  4. 4.

    Raun (1991, 159): ‟An important consequence of the 1943 mobilizations was the significant wave of Estonian men (perhaps 5,000 in all) who crossed the Baltic Sea to Finland, a risky venture in wartime, in order to avoid the German draft. Over half of these men volunteered for service in the Finnish armed forces [to fight] against the Soviet Union; about 2,300 joined the army and 400 [joined the] navy. In addition to avoiding the German army, the volunteers’ goal was to acquire military training and experienece in order to be of future service to their homeland.” Based on different authors, the number of escapees to Finland is estimated at 3,500-5,000, of whom over 1,300 remained in the West and 1,800 returned home; some fled further to Sweden (Kumer-Haukanõmm 2011, 100; see also Laar et al. 2010).

  5. 5.

    According to Statistics Finland, in 2015 31,937 Estonian native speakers resided in the Uusimaa region, and 3,881, 2,203 and 1,511 lived in Varsinais-Suomi (with its centre in Turku), Pirkanmaa (Tampere), and Päijät-Häme (Lahti), respectively.

  6. 6.

    In order to constitute a whole class, facilitate instruction and make Estonian-language learning feasible, students from one area/district are usually brought together in one school for instruction.

  7. 7.

    According to Anne Ribelus (2011, personal conversations in 2015), there were 60, 93, 78 and 121 pupils in 2008/2009, 2009/2010, 2012/2013 and 2014/2015, respectively.

  8. 8.

    In total, there are nine municipal, state or private schools which provide bilingual (Finnish and English, Spanish, French, Chinese, Russian or Estonian) programs in Helsinki.

  9. 9.

    The national core curriculum in Finland specifies 11 syllabi for the subject of mother tongue and literature. These are Finnish, Swedish, Sami, Romany and Finnish sign language as mother tongues, other mother tongues, Finnish and Swedish as second languages, Finnish for Sami pupils and Finnish and Swedish for users of sign language (POP 2004, 42).

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Acknowledgments

We are grateful to Prof. Riho Grünthal, Dr. Pirkko Nuolijärvi, Annika Madisson, and all of our informants for sharing their expertise.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Estonian and General Linguistics, University of Tartu, Tartu, Estonia

    Kadri Koreinik

  2. Võru Institute, Võru, Estonia

    Kadri Koreinik

  3. Kristiina Praakli, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland

    Kristiina Praakli

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  1. Kadri Koreinik
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Correspondence to Kristiina Praakli .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Multilingualism in Society across the Lifespan, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway

    Maarja Siiner

  2. Institute of Estonian and General Linguistics, University of Tartu, Tartu, Estonia

    Kadri Koreinik

  3. Educational Studies, University of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina, USA

    Kara D. Brown

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Koreinik, K., Praakli, K. (2017). Emerging Language Political Agency Among Estonian Native Speakers in Finland. In: Siiner, M., Koreinik, K., Brown, K. (eds) Language Policy Beyond the State. Language Policy, vol 14. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-52993-6_5

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