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THE LINGUISTIC LANDSCAPES

IN TWO BILINGUAL CITIES IN Väinö Syrjälä Department of Finnish, Finno-Ugrian Language users’ perceptions and preferences and Scandinavian studies

BACKGROUND THE LINGUISTIC 1. PERCEPTIONS The study of Linguistic Landscapes is in its LANDSCAPES A majority of the informants have an accurate infancy in Finland, even though it can clearly The data contain a total of 2,313 photographed perception of the use of Finnish and Swedish give valuable information about the language signs, 794 from and 1,519 from on official signs. As for commercial signs, situation in the bilingual areas of the country. Karis. Findings: informants from Kauniainen accurately identify Finnish to be more common. The Through a study of the linguistic landscapes in • 44% of the signs are multilingual majority from Karis claim the opposite, when two bilingual cities as well as the opinions of • 26% of the signs are official signs in fact Finnish is more common even there. the language users, I focus on what kind of • Finnish is displayed on 79% of the signs perceptions of and preferences for the use of • Swedish is displayed on 55% of the signs Most of the informants perceive that English is different languages in the public space the used less than it actually is and that it would be • English is displayed on 20% of the signs residents of these cities have. The central more common on commercial signs, when it in question is whether these perceptions and the Other languages appear only on a few fact is slightly more common on official signs. official image of bilingualism are based on – or occasional signs, and usually only in names. Only 15 of the 90 informants name some other differ from – the actual language situation. The only real differences between the two languages to be found on the LL. The most cities are that Swedish is used on more commonly mentioned language, Russian, does commercial signs in Karis (43%) compared to not in reality appear on any signs. Kauniainen (20%), while English is used more

in Kauniainen (on 22% of the signs; 14% in

Karis). 2. PREFERENCES

For official signs, over 2/3 of the informants

favour the combination of Finnish and THE CITIES Swedish as is the use today. Even the addition of English as third language is popular. No Kauniainen/Grankulla informant would accept the use of English as

• within the metropolitan area, the first or only language on official signs.

15 km west of central Helsinki On commercial signs the use of any language • 9,030 inhabitants (2014): combinations would be accepted by at least - 58% Finnish-speaking some informants. Signs with Finnish, Swedish - 38% Swedish-speaking and English are most popular and the signs Karis/Karjaa with only English the least popular. Only 5 of • 75 km west of Helsinki, 90 informants mention the need of additional part of the larger municipality of THE QUESTIONNAIRE languages (Russian, German or Turkish). /Raasepori (since 2009) The language users’ perceptions of the LL and • 9,155 inhabitants (2009): preferences for use of different languages were - 59% Swedish-speaking studied through a questionnaire with mainly CONCLUSION - 38% Finnish-speaking multiple-choice questions. There were The bilingualism in the LL, as perceived by the Since both municipalities are officially corresponding versions in both Finnish and language users, has a stable support – in spite bilingual, the Act requires Swedish for both cities openly available on the of some extreme opinions against the use of all official signs to be displayed in both Finnish internet. Swedish. Particularly the official signs are and Swedish (with the language of the majority expected to reflect the language situation with The 90 responses that have come in so far first). The Act is not applicable to the use of the use of both local languages. suggest the following. languages on private signs.

HELSINGIN YLIOPISTO HELSINGFORS UNIVERSITET UNIVERSITY OF HELSINKI HUMANISTINEN TIEDEKUNTA HUMANISTISKA FAKULTETEN FACULTY OF ARTS