Summary
There are 53 municipalities of Finland in which Finnish is not the sole official language.[1][2] In Finland, as of December 31, 2013, 89.3% of the population speak Finnish, 5.3% Swedish and 0.04% Sami languages.[3] Both Finnish and Swedish are official languages of Finland.[4] Officially, a municipality is bilingual if the minority language group consists of at least 8% of the population, or at least 3,000 speakers.[1] A previously bilingual municipality remains so if the linguistic minority proportion drops below 8%, up to 6%. If it drops below 6%, it is possible for the municipality to remain bilingual by government decree, on the recommendation of the municipal council, for a further ten years.[5] Municipalities that make use of the 3,000-speaker rule include the national capital Helsinki and the cultural center of Swedish Finns, Turku. On the Åland archipelago, where Finnish is almost absent from daily life, the language law does not apply. On the mainland, the highest proportion of Swedish-speakers is found on the western coast, in Ostrobothnia.[6]
Of the 310 Finnish municipalities, 16 are monolingually Swedish. 33 municipalities are bilingually Finnish and Swedish; of these, 15 have a Swedish-speaking majority and 18 a Finnish-speaking one.[7][1] Four municipalities, all located in Lapland, have a Finnish-speaking majority and a Sami-speaking minority: Enontekiö, Inari, Sodankylä and Utsjoki.[2] Initially, only Swedish was accorded official bilingualism, through a language act of 1922;[5] similar provisions were extended to Sami through a 1991 law.[2] The 1922 law was replaced by new but largely similar legislation in 2003.[5]
Municipalities edit
| Name in majority language | Name in minority language(s) | Language(s) | Percentage of population speaking official language other than Finnish 31 December 2013[3] |
Region |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brändö | — | Monolingually Swedish | 78.7 | Åland |
| Eckerö | — | Monolingually Swedish | 89.1 | Åland |
| Enontekiö | Northern Sami: Eanodat Swedish: Enontekis |
Finnish majority, Sami minority | 10.8 | Lapland |
| Espoo | Esbo | Finnish majority, Swedish minority | 7.8 | Uusimaa |
| Finström | — | Monolingually Swedish | 91.7 | Åland |
| Föglö | — | Monolingually Swedish | 85.7 | Åland |
| Geta | — | Monolingually Swedish | 87.2 | Åland |
| Hammarland | — | Monolingually Swedish | 92.5 | Åland |
| Hanko | Hangö | Finnish majority, Swedish minority | 42.8 | Uusimaa |
| Helsinki | Helsingfors | Finnish majority, Swedish minority | 5.9 | Uusimaa |
| Inari | Inari Sami: Aanaar Skolt Sami: Aanar Northern Sami: Anár Swedish: Enare |
Finnish majority, Sami minority | 6.4 | Lapland |
| Ingå | Inkoo | Swedish majority, Finnish minority | 54.3 | Uusimaa |
| Jakobstad | Pietarsaari | Swedish majority, Finnish minority | 55.8 | Ostrobothnia |
| Jomala | — | Monolingually Swedish | 90.1 | Åland |
| Kaskinen | Kaskö | Finnish majority, Swedish minority | 28.5 | Ostrobothnia |
| Kauniainen | Grankulla | Finnish majority, Swedish minority | 35.9 | Uusimaa |
| Kimitoön | Kemiönsaari | Swedish majority, Finnish minority | 70.3 | Southwest Finland |
| Kirkkonummi | Kyrkslätt | Finnish majority, Swedish minority | 17.6 | Uusimaa |
| Kokkola | Karleby | Finnish majority, Swedish minority | 13.1 | Central Ostrobothnia |
| Korsholm | Mustasaari | Swedish majority, Finnish minority | 69.0 | Ostrobothnia |
| Korsnäs | — | Swedish majority, Finnish minority | 87.2 | Ostrobothnia |
| Kristinestad | Kristiinankaupunki | Swedish majority, Finnish minority | 55.4 | Ostrobothnia |
| Kronoby | Kruunupyy | Swedish majority, Finnish minority | 80.7 | Ostrobothnia |
| Kumlinge | — | Monolingually Swedish | 90.3 | Åland |
| Kökar | — | Monolingually Swedish | 88.4 | Åland |
| Lapinjärvi | Lappträsk | Finnish majority, Swedish minority | 32.8 | Uusimaa |
| Larsmo | Luoto | Swedish majority, Finnish minority | 92.5 | Ostrobothnia |
| Lemland | — | Monolingually Swedish | 92.9 | Åland |
| Lohja | Lojo | Finnish majority, Swedish minority | 3.5 | Uusimaa |
| Loviisa | Lovisa | Finnish majority, Swedish minority | 42.0 | Uusimaa |
| Lumparland | — | Monolingually Swedish | 91.0 | Åland |
| Malax | Maalahti | Swedish majority, Finnish minority | 86.1 | Ostrobothnia |
| Mariehamn | Maarianhamina | Monolingually Swedish | 85.7 | Åland |
| Myrskylä | Mörskom | Finnish majority, Swedish minority | 9.8 | Uusimaa |
| Nykarleby | Uusikaarlepyy | Swedish majority, Finnish minority | 87.3 | Ostrobothnia |
| Närpes | Närpiö | Swedish majority, Finnish minority | 84.8 | Ostrobothnia |
| Pargas | Parainen | Swedish majority, Finnish minority | 56.4 | Southwest Finland |
| Pedersöre | Pedersören kunta | Swedish majority, Finnish minority | 89.7 | Ostrobothnia |
| Porvoo | Borgå | Finnish majority, Swedish minority | 30.4 | Uusimaa |
| Pyhtää | Pyttis | Finnish majority, Swedish minority | 8.1 | Kymenlaakso |
| Raseborg | Raasepori | Swedish majority, Finnish minority | 65.4 | Uusimaa |
| Saltvik | — | Monolingually Swedish | 92.8 | Åland |
| Sipoo | Sibbo | Finnish majority, Swedish minority | 35.6 | Uusimaa |
| Siuntio | Sjundeå | Finnish majority, Swedish minority | 29.6 | Uusimaa |
| Sodankylä | Northern Sami: Soađegilli Inari Sami: Suáđigil Skolt Sami: Suäʹđjel |
Finnish majority, Sami minority | 1.6 | Lapland |
| Sottunga | — | Monolingually Swedish | 91.0 | Åland |
| Sund | — | Monolingually Swedish | 92.3 | Åland |
| Turku | Åbo | Finnish majority, Swedish minority | 5.4 | Southwest Finland |
| Utsjoki | Northern Sami: Ohcejohka Inari Sami: Uccjuuhâ Skolt Sami: Uccjokk |
Finnish majority, Sami minority | 46.0 | Lapland |
| Vaasa | Vasa | Finnish majority, Swedish minority | 22.7 | Ostrobothnia |
| Vantaa | Vanda | Finnish majority, Swedish minority | 2.7 | Uusimaa |
| Vårdö | — | Monolingually Swedish | 90.1 | Åland |
| Vörå | Vöyri | Swedish majority, Finnish minority | 82.6 | Ostrobothnia |
See also edit
References edit
- ^ a b c (in Finnish) "Ruotsin- ja kaksikieliset kunnat" ("Swedish and Bilingual Municipalities"), at the Association of Finnish Local and Regional Authorities site; accessed June 18, 2014
- ^ a b c Kenneth Douglas McRae, Mika Helander, Sari Luoma, Conflict and Compromise in Multilingual Societies: Finland, Volume 3, p. 231. Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 1999, ISBN 978-088920-347-1
- ^ a b "Väestö kielen mukaan sekä ulkomaan kansalaisten määrä ja maa-pinta-ala alueittain 1980 – 2013" ("Population according to language and the number of foreigners and land area by region 1980 – 2013", at the Statistics Finland site; accessed June 18, 2014
- ^ Heikki E. S. Mattila, Comparative Legal Linguistics, p. 55. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd., 2006, ISBN 978-075464-874-1
- ^ a b c Olli-Pekka Salo, "Finland's Official Bilingualism – A Bed of Roses or of Procrustes?", in Jan Blommaert, Sirpa Leppänen, Päivi Pahta (eds.), Dangerous Multilingualism: Northern Perspectives on Order, Purity and Normality, p. 28–9. Palgrave Macmillan, 2012, ISBN 978-023032-141-0
- ^ Claus D. Pusch, "Old Minorities within a Language Space", in Peter Auer, Jürgen Erich Schmidt (eds.), Language and Space: An International Handbook of Linguistic Variation, Volume 1, p. 385–6. Walter de Gruyter, 2010, ISBN 978-311018-002-2
- ^ "FINLEX ® - Uppdaterad lagstiftning: Statsrådets förordning om kommunernas språkliga… 53/2013".