In this presentation, we discuss the experiences that a selection of pupils and pre-service teachers have had of two national minority languages in northern Sweden. The county of Norrbotten has always been multilingual with Sámi and Finnish as well as Swedish being used. Since the 19th century the role of Swedish in the area has grown and it has been the majority language since Post–World War II (e.g., Hyltenstam, 1999). Our presentation focuses on Finnish and Meänkieli (literally meaning ‘Our language’). The aim of the presentation is to develop knowledge and understanding of younger generations’ lived experiences of these two minority languages.  We used multimodal language portraits (Busch, 2016) to collect data and ensure that as many as possible could participate. As a visual method, language portrait is useful regardless of the age or language skills of the participant. The completed language portraits, i.e., coloured body silhouettes, were also explained by the participants. The data consist of 29 portraits and the accompanying explanations. In this presentation, only the explanations are focused. The thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2006) uncovered three themes in the lived experiences of the participants in relation to Finnish and Meänkieli. Firstly, the fact that only the older generations have access to these two languages evokes feelings of exclusion among the participants. Secondly, participants express a future wish of being able to become a part of the community, also by language-related means. Thirdly, the participants have a positive experience related to the future especially for the local Finnish language as it is enriched and vivid due the lively connections to Finland. This kind of influence does not exist for Meänkieli as it is not a language elsewhere.  

References

Braun, V. & Clarke, V. (2006). Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 3(2), 77–101. https://doi.org/10.1191/1478088706qp063oa 

Busch, B. (2016). Biographical approaches to research in multilingual settings: Exploring linguistic repertoires. In M. Martin-Jones & D. Martin (Eds.). Researching Multilingualism: Critical and Ethnographic Perspectives. (pp. 46–59). Routledge. 

Hyltenstam, K. (1999). Sveriges sju inhemska språk – ett minor