Programme: accepted abstracts

Abstract ID: 798

Part of General Poster Session (Other abstracts in this session)

Urban multilingualism and linguistic diversity in time and space. The case of the city of Vaasa, Finland

Authors: Voßschmidt, Liisa; Lönnroth, Harry
Submitted by: Voßschmidt, Liisa (University of Vaasa, Finland)

Urban multilingualism and linguistic diversity in time and space. The case of the city of Vaasa, Finland

Harry Lönnroth & Liisa Voßschmidt

The city of Vaasa with approximately 60,000 inhabitants is one of the most multilingual cities in Finland today. As is well known, Finland is officially a bilingual country with Finnish (90.37 % in 2010) and Swedish (5.42 % in 2010) as the two national languages. The city of Vaasa/Vasa, founded in the beginning of the 17th century, is an officially bilingual municipality with Finnish (approx. 69 % of the population) and Swedish (approx. 25 %) as the main languages. However, about 6 % of the city’s population speak some other language than Finnish or Swedish as their first language. In Finland, Vaasa is commonly considered a bilingual city, where Finnish and Swedish are used side by side. However, in Vaasa many other languages have been spoken during the course of time, languages of which we know relatively little.

The bilingual book project in progress, Vaasa kieliyhteisönä – Vasa som språkgemenskap [Vaasa as a language community], edited by Harry Lönnroth and Liisa Voßschmidt at the University of Vaasa, aims at filling this gap in research. The edited volume in question is a bilingual scientific compilation, where multilingualism and multiculturalism are analyzed in the light of different language groups in the past and present of the city. Previously, similar books have been published concerning the cities of Helsinki (ed. Juusela & Nisula 2006) and Tampere (ed. Lönnroth 2009, cf. also Koskinen ed., in progress).

The book project is based on research on multilingual urban milieus, which in recent years has become a major focus of interest among scholars internationally. The perspective of the compilation is interdisciplinary and the languages and language groups of Vaasa are discussed as a cultural and social phenomenon in time and space (cf. Massey 2008). Apart from the Finnish and Swedish languages, the influence of many old linguistic minorities are described in detail. Moreover, the book gives a picture of the other languages of the city and the linguistic situation and the linguistic map of the city in the 21^st century.

The project is a part of the work of the research group Intercultural Phenomena in Time (IPIT) at the University of Vaasa. The IPIT research group concerns itself with the investigation of cultural hybridities as they are revealed in ideologies, prejudices, and practices. Research within IPIT aims at the identification and critical analysis of these hybridities prevalent in a given chronological, spatial, cultural and generic contexts.

In our poster at the Sociolinguistics Symposium 19, we will, among other things, discuss the topic by presenting a Finnish case of urban multilingualism in the 21st century.

References

Juusela, Kaisu & Katariina, Nisula (eds.) 2006. Helsinki kieliyhteisönä [Helsinki as a language community]. Helsinki: University of Helsinki.

Koskinen, Kaisa (ed.). Translating Tampere – tulkattu Tampere. In progress.

Lönnroth, Harry (ed.) 2009. Tampere kieliyhteisönä [Tampere as a language community]. Helsinki: Finnish Literature Society.

Massey, Doreen (2008). Samanaikainen tila [Simultaneous space]. Tampere: Vastapaino.