Finland's language strife

The language strife was one of the major conflicts of Finland's national history and domestic politics. (The others revolving around the relations to Tsarist Russia, to Socialism, and to the Finnic peoples under Russian jurisdiction.)

Related Topics:
Finland's national history - Tsarist Russia - Socialism - Finnic

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Following present-day Finland's incorporation into Sweden - beginning in the 12th century and ending in 1352 when Finland can be seen officially becoming a part of Sweden (also known as Sweden-Finland), the Swedish language became dominant over Finnish in administration and education, although Finnish recovered its predominance after a 19th-century resurgence of Fennomanic Finnish nationalism (also working to assure Imperial Russia of the loyalty of the then Russian Grand Duchy of Finland).

Related Topics:
Finland - Sweden - Sweden-Finland - Swedish language - Finnish - Fennoman - Nationalism - Imperial Russia - Grand Duchy of Finland

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The publication in 1835 of the Finnish national epic The Kalevala first stirred the nationalism that later came to lead to Finland's independence from Russia.

Related Topics:
1835 - Epic - Kalevala - Finland's independence

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The Finnish national awakening in the mid-19th century was the result of members of the Finland-Swedish upper classes deliberately choosing to promote Finnish culture and language. And they didn't just promote the language. They finnicized their family names, learned the language, and made a point of using it both in the society and at home, giving their children what they missed themselves: the Finnish mother tongue. However, another faction of the Swedish-speaking elite did not wish to abandon Swedish, as they felt it was a guarantee that Finland would remain within the cultural sphere of Western Europe.

Related Topics:
19th century - Finland-Swedish - Finnicize - Elite - Cultural sphere of Western Europe

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Beginning in 1892 Finnish language gained an official language status comparable to that of Swedish, and within a generation Finnish clearly dominated in government and society in Finland. Inevitably, this situation made for conflict between the supporters of the two languages. In the beginning, the conflict only involved the upper social strata, but the population at large was drawn into it after universal suffrage was implemented in 1906.

Related Topics:
1892 - Official language - Universal suffrage - 1906

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The last surge of Finnicization frenzy came in the 1920s. After Finland's independence in 1917, relations with Sweden unexpectedly became strained in connection with the Finnish Civil War and the Åland crisis, which further aggravated the language dispute, sharpening it to become a prominent feature of domestic politics during the 1920s and 1930s. This time, the Finnicization of surnames was chiefly a middle class phenomenon.

Related Topics:
1920s - 1917 - Finnish Civil War - Åland crisis - 1930s

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In the newly independent Finland's constitution of 1919, the minority language, Swedish, was given far-reaching privileges. The language strife thereafter centred on these privileges and on the role of Swedish in universities, particularly regarding the number of professors lecturing and examining in Swedish. Then, at the resettlement of over 420,000 Karelians after the Winter War, the Swedish-speaking minority feared that new Finnish-speaking settlers would change the linguistic balance of their neighbourhoods. These issues were ultimately settled by the Fennoman Prime Minister, and later President of Finland, Juho Kusti Paasikivi in a way that was too generous to attract criticism from Finland-Swedes.

Related Topics:
Finland's constitution - 1919 - Karelia - Winter War - Prime Minister - President of Finland - Juho Kusti Paasikivi

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