ETHNIC AND LINGUISTIC CONTEXT OF IDENTITY: FINNO-UGRIC MINORITIES Uralica Helsingiensia5 Ethnic and Linguistic Context of Identity: Finno-Ugric Minorities EDITED BY RIHO GRÜNTHAL & MAGDOLNA KOVÁCS HELSINKI 2011 Riho Grünthal, Magdolna Kovács (eds): Ethnic and Linguistic Context of Identity: Finno-Ugric Minorities. Uralica Helsingiensia 5. Contents The articles in this publication are based on presentations given at the sympo- sium “Ethnic and Linguistic Context of Identity: Finno-Ugric Minorities” held at the University of Helsinki in March, 2009. Layout, cover Anna Kurvinen Riho Grünthal & Magdolna Kovács Cover photographs Riho Grünthal Introduction 7 Map on page 269 Arttu Paarlahti Maps on pages 280, 296, and 297 Anna Kurvinen Johanna Laakso Being Finno-Ugrian, Being in the Minority ISBN 978-952-5667-28-8 (printed) – Reflections on Linguistic and Other Criteria 13 ISBN 978-952-5667-61-5 (online) Orders • Tilaukset Irja Seurujärvi-Kari ISSN 1797-3945 Tiedekirja www.tiedekirja.fi “We Took Our Language Back” Vammalan Kirjapaino Oy Kirkkokatu 14 [email protected] – The Formation of a Sámi Identity within the Sámi Sastamala 2011 FI-00170 Helsinki fax +358 9 635 017 Movement and the Role of the Sámi Language from the 1960s until 2008 37 Uralica Helsingiensia Elisabeth Scheller Uralica Helsingiensia is a series published jointly by the University of Helsinki Finno-Ugric The Sámi Language Situation Language Section and the Finno-Ugrian Society. It features monographs and thematic col- in Russia 79 lections of articles with a research focus on Uralic languages, and it also covers the linguistic and cultural aspects of Estonian, Hungarian and Saami studies at the University of Helsinki. Vilmos Tánczos The series has a peer review system, i.e. the manuscripts of all articles and monographs submitted for publication will be refereed by two anonymous reviewers before binding The Moldavian Csángós – Questions of Demography decisions are made concerning the publication of the material. and Linguistic Assimilation 97 Uralica Helsingiensia on Helsingin yliopiston suomalais-ugrilaisten kieli aineiden yhdessä Suomalais-Ugrilaisen Seuran kanssa julkaisema sarja, jossa ilmestyy monografioita ja te- Magdolna Kovács maattisia artikkelikokoelmia. Niiden aihepiiri liittyy uralilaisten kielten tutkimukseen ja kattaa Ethnic and linguistic identities of Hungarians myös Helsingin yliopistossa tehtävän Viron kielen ja kulttuurin, Unkarin kielen ja kulttuurin and their descendants in Finland 121 sekä saamentutkimuksen. Sarjassa noudatetaan refereekäytäntöä, eli julkaistavaksi esitettävien tutkimusten Boglárka Straszer käsikirjoitus annetaan kahden nimettömän asiantuntijan arvioitavaksi ennen kuin lopullinen julkaisupäätös tehdään. Language and Identity among Hungarians in Sweden 161 Publishers • Julkaisijat Raimo Raag University of Helsinki: Department of Finnish, Finno-Ugrian and Scandinavian Studies • I’m Estonian – What Is Your Excuse? Helsingin yliopisto: Suomen kielen, suomalais-ugrilaisten ja pohjoismaisten kielten ja kirjallisuuksien laitos – Ethnic and Linguistic Aspects of the Identity Finno-Ugrian Society • Suomalais-Ugrilainen Seura of Estonians in Sweden 197 Editors • Päätoimittajat Ulla-Maija Forsberg, Riho Grünthal Kristiina Praakli Editorial board • Toimitusneuvosto The New Estonian Community Márta Csepregi, Cornelius Hasselblatt, Magdolna Kovács, Johanna Laakso, Helle Mets- in Finland 217 lang, Matti Miestamo, Irma Mullonen, Karl Paju salu, Janne Saari kivi, Anneli Sarhimaa, Elena Skribnik Kadri Koreinik www.sgr.fi/uh Language Ideologies and Identity-building The publications are indexed in ARTO data base with the index Urbis. in the Public Discourse of South Estonian 247 Julkaisut luetteloidaan ja indeksoidaan ARTO-tietokantaan tunnuksella Urbis. Riho Grünthal RIHO GRÜNTHAL & MAGDOLNA KOVÁCS Population decline and the Erosion of the Veps Language Community 267 Larisa Shirobokova Ethnic Identity and Udmurt people 295 Introduction Outi Tánczos Identity Construction in an Udmurt Daily Newspaper 321 Márta Csepregi & Sofi a Onina Sámegiella, gollegiella Sámi language, golden language, Observations of Khanty Identity: the Synya and Surgut Khanty 341 manne oađát šlundadat? why is it you sleep and brood? Zoltán Nagy Ale jaskkot eatnigiella, Do not yet fall silent The Invisible “Ostyaks”: The Khanty people dasgo vieris gielat, mielat dutnje while foreign minds and tongues in the Tomsk Oblast 359 juo hávddi goivvodit, dig for you a grave, Sándor Szeverényi & Beáta Wagner-Nagy vaikke it leat vel liđđon, although you have as yet not blossomed, Visiting the Nganasans in Ust-Avam 385 eaige urbbit rahpasan. or opened out your buds. (Hans Aslak Guttorm 1934) List of Contributors 405 Language never stops changing, nor do the societies in which lan- guages are spoken. The 20th century brought about an enormous change in relationships between languages, speech communities and geographical areas. Distances that could be measured in miles or days spent on a boat, in a sleigh or horse-drawn carriage were replaced by free mobility, air travel and the hours it took to pass from one distinc- tive part of the world to another. Moors, forests, rivers and seas no longer corresponded to language borders. From a linguistic viewpoint, one of the most signifi cant results of the accessibility of distinct areas is an invigorated discussion on the differences between majority and minority languages. Because a majority language is often the basic communication tool in society, minority language speakers have to constantly adopt new means and linguistic strategies. During the 20th century and at the beginning of 21st, economic conditions, educational systems and legislative aims have seldom favoured the sustainability of minority language com- munities and the identity of their speakers. While new minority com- munities arise all the time, numerous old unique ones have ceased to exist or are on the verge of being irreversibly lost. The document- ing, explaining and understanding of what is currently going on in Ethnic and Linguistic Context of Identity: Finno-Ugric Minorities. 7–12. 6 Uralica Helsingiensia 5. Helsinki 2011. RIHO GRÜNTHAL & MAGDOLNA KOVÁCS INTRODUCTION language communities constitute a major challenge for modern lin- language shift, and bilingual or multilingual speakers choose the lan- guistics and societies. guage that better fi ts a given situation. Bilingualism and the imbalance The current volume focuses on the language and language iden- between majority and minority languages are not focused on in this tity of individual speakers and communities among the Finno-Ugric book. However, these aspects are inherently embedded in the debate minorities. The Finno-Ugric minorities live in a world in which bor- about minority languages. Without a majority there is no minority. ders can easily be crossed. These people have different histories, their The parallel existence of different cultural environments in which political and economic circumstances are far from uniform, and they different languages are used means that the concept of language is far are different from the majority language groups in many ways. Every from unambiguous. Both in eroding communities and migrant socie- language community has its own special characteristics, but in gen- ties minority language is often related to the individual. Speaking a eral, there is considerable liaison between different minorities and minority language is an individual experience to a very large extent. these languages can well be studied within the same type of frame- The result of a partial or only a loose collective experience is that the work. The Finno-Ugric minority languages considered in this book perception of language varies among language speakers. illustrate the fate of language minorities in more general terms. Although geographical adjacency and genetic affi nity are not The more evident the language shift and loss of cultures have very important in sociolinguistic analyses, the selection of articles in become the more important it has become to describe the state-of-art this book refl ects some areal viewpoints, too. Geographical location, of the minority languages and the linguistic identity of their speak- economic conditions and political systems certainly affect the state of ers. An understanding of the minority language situation starts with minority languages. an explanation of the historical background and the emergence of The articles intertwine several thematic viewpoints. The Sámi minority language status. In the case of those Finno-Ugric minori- languages represent autochtonous northern European languages, ties that are the topic of the present book, some examples represent both of Scandinavia and north-western Russia. Hungarian outside of autochtonous languages, whereas in other cases migration has brought Hungary and Estonian outside of Estonia represent vigorous modern people into new linguistic and cultural environments. Hungarian, for languages that have a different status as autochtonous or migrant lan- instance, has a long history as the main language of a modern Euro- guages outside of these two countries. The Baltic Sea area is strongly pean country, but those varieties spoken outside of Hungary represent represented both in the form of old minority languages, such as South local minority languages with very different profi les. Although many Estonian and Veps, and migrant groups such as Estonian and Hungar- Hungarians do live in those countries neighbouring Hungary, there