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Estonians in Finland: an Overview of a Language in Context

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Estonians in Finland: an Overview of a Language in Context Working Papers in European Language Diversity 7 Kristiina Praakli Estonians in Finland: An Overview of a Language in Context Mainz Helsinki Wien Tartu Mariehamn Oulu Maribor Working Papers in European Language Diversity is a peer-reviewed online publication series of the research project ELDIA, serving as an outlet for preliminary research findings, individual case studies, background and spin-off research. Editor-in-Chief Johanna Laakso (Wien) Editorial Board Kari Djerf (Helsinki), Riho Grünthal (Helsinki), Anna Kolláth (Maribor), Helle Metslang (Tartu), Karl Pajusalu (Tartu), Anneli Sarhimaa (Mainz), Sia Spiliopoulou Åkermark (Mariehamn), Helena Sulkala (Oulu), Reetta Toivanen (Helsinki) Publisher Research consortium ELDIA c/o Prof. Dr. Anneli Sarhimaa Northern European and Baltic Languages and Cultures (SNEB) Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz Jakob-Welder-Weg 18 (Philosophicum) D-55099 Mainz, Germany Contact: [email protected] © European Language Diversity for All (ELDIA) ELDIA is an international research project funded by the European Commission. The views expressed in the Working Papers in European Language Diversity are the sole responsibility of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the European Commission. All contents of the Working Papers in European Language Diversity are subject to the Austrian copyright law. The contents may be used exclusively for private, non-commercial purposes. Regarding any further uses of the Working Papers in European Language Diversity, please contact the publisher. ISSN 2192-2403 Working Papers in European Language Diversity 7 During the initial stage of the research project ELDIA (European Language Diversity for All) in 2010, "structured context analyses" of each speaker community at issue were prepared. These context analyses will act as a starting point for further deepened research by linguists, sociologists and lawyers. Thus, they will form the basis of further case-specific reports and the comparative report which will be the main outcome of the whole project. However, as these will be available for interested readers only at the end of the project, we wanted to publish shorter versions summarising our work so far already at this stage, thus providing up-to-date information for both the academic community and stakeholder groups. This paper, based on the context analysis by Kristiina Praakli, gives a brief and up-to-date overview of the status of and research about Estonians in Finland. As all papers appearing in the series Working Papers in European Language Diversity, these context analyses have been subject to an anonymous peer- reviewing process. Whenever the present document is referred to, due reference to the author and the ELDIA project should be made. For more information about the ELDIA project see http://www.eldia-project.org/. Working Papers in European Language Diversity 7 Table of Contents 1 INTRODUCTION: ESTONIAN-SPEAKERS IN FINLAND ................................... 3 2 SOCIO-POLITICAL CONTEXT ....................................................................... 3 3 CULTURAL CONTEXT .................................................................................. 5 4 LANGUAGE ................................................................................................ 8 4.1 GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF THE LANGUAGE ........................................................... 8 4.2 LANGUAGE CONTACT AND MULTILINGUALISM ....................................................... 9 4.3 LANGUAGE USE AND MAINTENANCE ................................................................. 10 5 SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY .............................................................................. 12 Working Papers in European Language Diversity 7 Estonians in Finland | 1 1 Introduction: Estonian-speakers in Finland Native speakers of Estonian in Finland represent a more recent allochthonous speaker group (i.e. a group which has been formed outside Estonia’s geographic area) and they are formed mainly as the result of intensive waves of labour migration. The formation of the Estonian- language communities in Finland has been directly influenced by various changes in society and politics: the collapse of the Soviet Union (1991) and enlargement of the European Union (2004). According to the latest data from Statistics Finland, there were 29,080 Estonian citizens living in Finland in 20101, and that there were 28,493 people living in Finland who spoke Estonian as their native language2. However, Estonians do not constitute a majority of recent migrant groups – they are the second-largest recent migrant group in Finland after the Russian-speaking minority. Due to linguistic kinship and similar cultures, geographical proximity, common and uniting historical experiences and events, Estonians and Finns have had close and diverse contact over many centuries. Contacts have been cultivated in all fields, such as commerce, politics, culture, education and tourism. In addition, a close migratory relationship has always been prevalent between Finland and Estonia. The first large wave of migration of Estonians to Finland took place in the first decade of the 20th century when, due to the fraught political atmosphere, a number of Estonia’s social and cultural figures (such as the writers Friedebert Tuglas and Eduard Vilde and the painters Nikolai Triik and Konrad Mägi) moved to Finland. An Estonian-speaking community can be considered to have developed in Finland by the early 20th century. When Estonia declared independence in 1918, a considerable Estonian community was already living in Finland – numbering 2000 by some estimates – the largest group of which was in Helsinki. Besides Helsinki, Estonians have also lived in the coastal village of Kabböle (in the municipality of 1 http://www.stat.fi/tup/suoluk/suoluk_vaesto.html#ulkomaidenkansalaiset. Accessed July 11, 2011. 2 http://tilastokeskus.fi/til/vaerak/2010/vaerak_2010_2011-03-18_tie_001_fi.html. Accessed July 11, 2011. Working Papers in European Language Diversity 7 Estonians in Finland | 2 Pernaja in Eastern Uusimaa)3. In addition to the Tallinn-Helsinki route, there have also been migratory movements between Narva and Viipuri/Vyborg in various periods (see more Praakli 2009: 72-76). The Second World War and the occupation of Estonia by the Soviet Union in 1939 cut contact between Estonia and Finland for decades. A select few Soviet citizens had the opportunity to visit Finland as members of tourist groups or to emigrate by marrying Finnish citizens. Intensive immigration from Estonia to Finland began in the mid-1980s and increased dramatically in the early 1990s. While in 1990 there had been 1,394 native Estonian- speakers living in Finland, in 1995 the number had risen to 8,710, and by late 2004, to 13,978 (see Praakli 2009: 74). After Estonia joined the European Union on the 1st of May, 2004, the labour migration percentage rose rapidly. A new migration trend is to commute between the two countries: working in Finland but still living in Estonia. On the basis of the latest Estonian emigration statistics it can be concluded that Estonian- language communities in Finland are the fastest growing foreign Estonian communities in the Western Diaspora. However, there are some problems with determining the number of Estonians and Estonian- speakers in Finland. The public database of Statistics Finland contains information on immigrants based on the following criterion: citizenship (kansalaisuus), country of birth (syntymämaa), and native language (äidinkieli). The problems with the Finnish databases arise from the “Estonian citizenship” and “country of birth: Republic of Estonia” criteria, as well as the native language for Ingrian Finns. Firstly, not everyone born in Estonia is necessarily an Estonian citizen or an ethnic Estonian; secondly, the country of origin/birth need not correspond to the native language. A very large proportion of persons with Estonian citizenship are not native Estonian-speakers. Most likely the Estonian citizens registered in the Finnish population register include native speakers of Russian, Ukrainian, etc.; there are probably also Ingrian Finns whose native language is either Russian, Estonian, or Ingrian Finnish. At the same time, the Finnish population register includes Finnish citizens 3 See more Punttila, Matti. (1996). Pernajan Kabböle: Suomen ainoa virolaiskylä. In Ritva Liisa Pitkänen & Helena Suni & Satu Tanner (eds.) Kielen kannoilla: Kotimaisten kielten tutkimuskeskus 20 vuotta. Kotimaisten kielten tutkimuskeskuksen julkaisuja. Helsinki: Edita, 292–311. Working Papers in European Language Diversity 7 Estonians in Finland | 3 who are actually of Estonian origin and speak Estonian as their native language. There is no information (at least in the public databases) about the number of such individuals. Statistics based on citizenship and country of birth thus overrepresent the number of Estonians in Finland. Another issue is the citizenship, country of birth and native language of Ingrian Finns originating from Estonia. Many people of Ingrian Finnish background who were born in Estonia but moved to Finland during the Soviet period regard themselves as Estonians, speak Estonian as their native language, participate in the life of the Estonian community and teach Estonian, but most of them are Finnish citizens. Finnish Estonians cannot be considered to have their own geographic territory in Finland. Although Estonians are spread all over the country, most are concentrated in
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