A qualitative analysis of variation in Meänkieli
Meänkieli is a minoritised Finno-Ugric language traditionally spoken in Northern Sweden. It is closely related to northern Finnish dialects and Kven in Norway. Meänkieli has been one of the official national minority languages of Sweden with Finnish, the Saami languages, Romani, and Yiddish since 2000, and is currently being reclaimed and revitalised. Sometimes Meänkieli is grouped together with the Finnish dialect spoken on the other side of the Torne River in Finland, while at other times its status as a national language of Sweden is emphasised. Whilst in Sweden the status of the language is undisputed, in Finland such recognition does not appear to be widely accepted yet.
This study focuses on variation in contemporary Meänkieli. Our research questions are: What linguistic variation is there in both written and spoken Meänkieli today? Can we (or do we need to) draw a clear line between the language Meänkieli in Sweden and the western subgroup of northern Finnish which is sometimes subsumed under Meänkieli? And if we do so, on the basis of what linguistic (and/or non-linguistic) features?
Our data comes from recent fieldwork data, radio/TV programmes, websites, literature, and social media. The variables include Swedish loanwords, phonology, morphology, syntax, and code-switching. The results of our qualitative analysis show a continuum from literary fiction on both sides of the border and administrative Meänkieli in Sweden to new speakers’ nonstandard use of morpho-syntax as well as the symbolic use of phrases on social media. In some cases, Meänkieli may contain features from standard or colloquial Finnish. We will also reflect on older recordings, discuss factors behind the variation, and highlight the significance of a detailed description of the variation for ongoing revitalisation efforts.
