The Case of the Swedish-Speaking Finns

The shifting relationship between Swedish & Finnish in Finland is traced from the 18th century to the present, with focus on current demography & 20th-century developments in educational policy. From its dominant position as the language of authority during six centuries when Finland was part of the Swedish kingdom, Swedish was placed on an official footing of equality with Finnish in the 1919 constitution, which specifies that a community is bilingual if a second language is spoken by more than 8% of the population. Autonomy with a right to special unilingual Swedish status was granted to the Aland islands. Social & educational equality are maintained despite a demographic disproportion, as the Swedish-speaking group is only 6% of the Finnish population; controversy at present is focused on the unpopularity of obligatory Swedish courses in Finnish schools. 11 References. J. Hitchcock