3.1.1 Language situation in Finland
Finnish is the official language of Finland besides Swedish (Finnish Constitutional Law 1999: §17). Of the nearly 5.5 million inhabitants (2015 census; Official Statistics Finland 2015c), 88.7% indicated Finnish as their native language (Official Statistics Finland 2015b). According to the Finnish Ministry of Justice (2009: 10), additionally over 120 languages are spoken in Finland. These are i.a. Russian, Estonian and Somali, followed by English, Arabic, Kurdish, Chinese, Albanian, Thai and Vietnamese (Official Statistics Finland 2015a). This ranking may have changed since 2015 when nearly ten times more asylum applications were handed in than in 2014, mostly by refugees from the Middle East (European Migration Network 2014: 6; Finnish Immigration Service 2016).
In the Finnish speaking areas, the default means of communication and the main identity bearers are dialects (Mantila 2004; Lappalainen & Vaattovaara 2005; Paunonen 2005: 163–165). In the case of the capital region, it is the spoken language of Helsinki (Helsingin puhekieli; Tieteen termipankki: Kielitiede:puhekieli, own translation). In the capital region, also Helsinki slang is used (Tieteen termipankki: Kielitiede:Stadin slangi; Tieteen termipankki: Kielitiede:nykyslangi, own translations). These vernaculars are varieties on their own and vary i.a. according to the place of residence and age of the speakers (Paunonen 2005; Juusela & Nisula 2006; Sorjonen et al. 2015).
The standard variety follows the written language (kirjakieli; Tieteen termipankki: Kielitiede:kirjakieli, own translation) as closely as possible (Paunonen 1995: 18–19; Nuolijärvi & Vaattovaara 2011: 67). Historically, the standard variety was the spoken language of the educated people and used widely in Helsinki (Paunonen 2005: 163–165). It has been replaced by the Helsinki spoken language since the 1970s (Paunonen 2005: 167–168, 192–195; Nuolijärvi & Vaattovaara 2011: 68). Nowadays the standard variety is used (orally) merely in the media and certain official situations (Nuolijärvi & Vaattovaara 2011: 67). It is learnt early on (ibid: 67), but no longer used regularly by the whole population and, especially, by no higher social class.
The vernaculars and the standard variety differ on phonetic-phonological, morphological, syntactical and lexical grounds (Kuparinen 2001: 26; Nuolijärvi & Vaattovaara 2011: 67–69). Still, they are not two fully separated registers, but the extremes of a continuum. The registers of the Finnish language are more or less vernacular- or standard-like (Lauranto 1995: 261).
The esteem of dialects has increased during the past years (Institute for the languages of Finland 2017). Especially for the Helsinki variety, however, Palander (2007: 43–46) has found negative attitudes held by respondents from outside the capital region. There is no data on Finnish speakers’ general attitudes to the standard variety (Nuolijärvi & Vaattovaara 2011: 69), except for Niemelä’s (2016: 78, 89–90, 108) findings suggesting that her respondents perceive the Finnish written language as the true and pure Finnish language. Dialects, vernaculars and non-native Finnish they perceive as subordinate forms. These findings point to a standard language ideology. This ideology may lead native Finnish speakers to prefer standard-like varieties also in non-native speakers. The exact status of the Finnish standard variety is unclear, however (Nuolijärvi & Vaattovaara 2011: 70), and needs further research.
3.1.2 Finnish as a second language
As the main focus of this case study is on non-native speakers who did not grow up in Finland, this subsection concentrates on language learning as an immigrant in Finland.
The Finnish municipalities and the Public Employment and Business Services (Julkiset Työ- ja Elinkeinopalvelut) promote immigrants’ integration i.a. by organising Finnish language courses (Law on the promotion of integration 2010: §6, §11; Finnish National Agency for Education 2012: 8). In the Helsinki capital region, i.a. numerous institutions as the adult education centres, but also voluntary (lay) teachers offer language courses, and there are different possibilities to learn the language in informal situations, as the language cafés (Helmet Libraries: Finnish Language Café 2017). Non-native speakers are thus likely to encounter different vernaculars and the standard variety in everyday life and adopt the vernaculars either wholly or partially, the latter leading to hybrid varieties (Kuparinen 2001: 13; see also Section 2.3). A majority of non-native Finnish speakers studying the language in a course, in contrast, can be assumed to learn mainly the standard variety (Kuparinen 2001: 7–12; Harjanne & Tella 2007; Harjanne & Tella 2009; for some exceptions cf.
Lauranto 1995), i.e. a variety native speakers would not use as a default means of communication (see Subsection 3.1.1). Lauranto (1995: 262) suspects that this may bring native Finnish speakers to associate the standard variety with non-native Finnish and brand standard speaking non-native speakers as especially non-native. Language teaching influences thus what kind of non-native varieties native speakers encounter and may thereby shape their attitudes. Native Finnish speakers may encounter non-native speakers using a vernacular, a standard-like or a hybrid variety. No data on the actual distribution of non-native Finnish speakers’ varieties could be found, however.
3.1.3 Attitudes to non-native Finnish speaking immigrants
Also in Finland, attitudes to language are closely related to stereotypes about social groups (Niemelä 2016: 108; see also Subsection 2.6.3). As this case study focuses on attitudes to non-native varieties in an intercultural communication context, this subsection reviews findings on attitudes to immigrants in Finland.
Immigration into Finland became more visible only after the 1990s, which caused a rise of stereotypes (Puuronen 2006: 42–43). Jaakkola (2005: 19–20; 44–46) has found that in the beginning of the 21th century, Finnish peoples’ attitudes to immigrants had become more favourable. According to the CAT, however, the perception of immigrants and their varieties is connected to the native speakers’ image of their own in-group and its vitality (see Subsection 2.5.2). Jaakkola (2005: 61–63; 2009: 37–39) shows how economic recession has given rise to negative attitudes in Finland, although to a different degree in different age, sex, educational and local groups, namely less in residents from the Helsinki capital region and highly educated people (Jaakkola 2005: 64–68; 2009: 38–41). The highly increased immigration into Finland during 2015 (see Subsections 3.1.1 and 3.1.3) in combination with the European economy crisis (Parliament of Finland 2013) has in all probability changed attitudes. There is no data yet on the question in what way exactly.