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Swedish-speaking Finns
The Swedish-speaking population of Finland (whose members are called by many names—see below; ; ) is a linguistic minority in Finland. They maintain a strong identity and are seen either as a separate cultural, ethnic or linguistic group or, occasionally, a distinct nationality. They speak Finland Swedish, which encompasses both a standard language and distinct dialects that are mutually intelligible with the dialects spoken in Sweden and, to a lesser extent, other Scandinavian languages. According to Statistics Finland, Swedish is the mother tongue of about 260,000 people in mainland Finland and of about 26,000 people in Åland, a self-governing archipelago off the west coast of Finland, where Swedish is the sole official language. Swedish-speakers comprise 5% of the total Finnish population or about 4.9% without Åland. The proportion has been steadily diminishing since the early 19th century, when Swedish was the mother tongue of approximately 15% of the population an ...
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Sweden Finns
Sweden Finns (; ) are a Finnish-speaking national minority in Sweden. People with Finnish heritage comprise a relatively large share of the population of Sweden. In addition to a smaller part of Sweden Finns historically residing in Sweden, there were about 426,000 people in Sweden (4.46% of the total population in 2012) who were either born in Finland or had at least one parent who was born in Finland. In 2017 that number was 720,000. Like the Swedish language, the Finnish language has been spoken on both sides of the Gulf of Bothnia since the late Middle Ages. Following military campaigns in Finland by Sweden in the 13th century, Finland gradually came under Swedish rule and Finns in Finland and Sweden became subjugates of Sweden. Already in the 1400s, a sizeable population of Stockholm spoke Finnish, and around 4% in the 1700s. Finland remained a part of Sweden until 1809 when the peace after the Finnish War handed Finland to the Russian Empire, leaving Finnish populations o ...
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Mainland Finland
Mainland Finland (, ) is a term used in statistics and in other contexts to describe the continental parts of Finland, an area which excludes Åland. In legal contexts, the relation between the mainland and Åland is depicted by the word pair ''the State–Åland'' (, ).Act on the Autonomy of Åland
(1144/1991)
the Swedish original
an
the Finnish original
E.g. § 27 shows the difference. The term "mainland Finland" is significant in the context of legal differences between Åland and mainland Finland, and in the conte ...
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First Swedish Crusade
The First Swedish Crusade was a possibly mythical military expedition in the 1150s to Southwestern Finland by Swedish King Eric IX and English Bishop Henry of Uppsala. The earliest written sources of the crusade are from the late 13th century. The main sources of the crusade, the legend of Saint Erik and the legend of Saint Henry, describe the crusade as caused by the multiple raids of pagan Finns on Sweden. The crusade has traditionally been seen as the beginning of Swedish rule over Finland and the first attempt of the Catholic Church and Sweden to convert Finnish pagans to Christianity. However, the Christianisation of Southwestern Finland is known to have already started in the 10th century, and in the 12th century, the area was probably almost entirely Christian. According to legends, after the crusade, Bishop Henry was killed at Lake Köyliö by Lalli. Henry later became a central figure of the Catholic Church in Finland. Veracity of the crusade Academics deba ...
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Finnish American
Finnish Americans (, ) comprise Americans with ancestral roots in Finland, or Finnish people who immigrated to and reside in the United States. The Finnish-American population is around 650,000. Many Finnish people historically immigrated to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and the Iron Range of northern Minnesota to work in the mining industry; much of the population in these regions is of Finnish descent. History Some Finns, like the ancestors of John Morton, came to the Swedish colony of New Sweden, located in Delaware in the mid-17th century. In Russian America, Finns came to Sitka (when it was still called New Archangel) as migrant workers. Arvid Adolf Etholén was the first Finnish governor of Russian America, and the Lutheran Church was built for Finns. Finns started coming to the United States in large numbers in the late 19th century, and this movement continued until the mid-20th century. However, there were some Finns in the United States before this; they w ...
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Research Institute For The Languages Of Finland
The Institute for the Languages of Finland, better known as Kotus, is a governmental linguistic research institute of Finland geared to studies of Finnish, Swedish (cf. Finland Swedish), the Sami languages, Romani language, as well as Finnish Sign Language and Finland-Swedish Sign Language. The institute is charged with the standardization of languages used in Finland. It is the foremost authority on Finnish language planning and its recommendations are considered to define the standard Finnish which is used in official communication. In addition to these tasks, the Institute also has an important consulting function in the shaping of Finnish language policy and choosing toponyms. On the other hand, in the Swedish language, the institute usually promotes Swedish usage, with the key aim to prevent the Swedish spoken in Finland from straying too far from its counterpart in Sweden. The institute has published various magazine, including ''Kielikello'' and ''Språkbruk''. In colla ...
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Swedish Assembly Of Finland
The Swedish Assembly of Finland (, , although often referred to as ''Folktinget'' even in Finnish) is an official consultative parliament representing the Swedish-speaking minority in Finland. Folktinget was originally founded in 1919 but dissolved the following year. It was re-established in 1941 when the relocation of Karelian evacuees threatened to shift the balance between Finnish and Swedish speakers in Swedish-speaking municipalities, and has functioned continuously since its re-establishment. Since 2003, its operations have been governed by law. Elections Elections are held every four years, and candidates are nominated by the political parties which are either bilingual or Swedish-speaking. The assembly has 75 seats, where 70 are filled on the basis of municipal election results, and five are appointed by the Parliament of Ã…land (). Purpose The assembly is a forum for political discussion on issues concerning Swedish speakers, and it also functions as an interest gro ...
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Swedish People's Party
The Swedish People's Party of Finland (SPP; , SFP; , RKP) is a Finnish political party founded in 1906. Its primary aim is to represent the interests of the minority Swedish-speaking population of Finland. The party is currently a participant in the Government of Petteri Orpo, holding the posts of Minister of Education and Minister for European Affairs and Ownership Steering. Along with the post Minister of Youth, Sport and Physical Activity until 13 June, 2025. An ethnic catch-all party, its main election issue since its inception has been the Swedish-speaking Finns' right to their own language while maintaining the position of Swedish as an official language in Finland. Ideologically, it is liberal, social-liberal, centrist, and pro-European. The party has been in government from 1979 to 2015 and again from 2019, with one or two ministerial portfolios in government, and has collaborated with parties across the left–right political spectrum in parliament. The fact that t ...
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Helsinki City Library
Helsinki City Library (, until 1910 ''Helsinki People's Library'') is the largest public library in Finland. Owned by the Helsinki, City of Helsinki, the library has 37 branches and a collection of about 1.56 million books. The City Library is part of the Helsinki Metropolitan Area Libraries network. History Helsinki People's Library (1860–1876) On 7 October 1860, the Helsinki People's Library () opened at Hallituskatu 11, the current location of the University of Helsinki's Porthania building. Funding for the library was raised by the Helsinki Women's Association with the goal of educating Helsinki's residents and provide them with constructive leisure activities. The effort was led by teacher Helene Simelius, author Zacharias Topelius, and Bishop Frans Ludvig Schauman. In its first year of operation, the library held about 400 to 500 books (primarily in Swedish language, Swedish) and circulated about 1,700 loans. Borrowing books was free, which allowed the library to enjoy ...
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Åbo Underrättelser
''Åbo Underrättelser'' is a Swedish language newspaper published in Turku (), Finland. Åbo Underrättelser, or ÅU in short, is the oldest newspaper still published in Finland. History and profile ''Åbo Underrättelser'' is the oldest newspaper still in print in Finland, founded by Christian Ludvig Hjelt in 1823. The first edition of the paper was published on 3 January 1824. ''Åbo Underrättelser'' is published five times per week, from Tuesday to Saturday, and has its headquarters in Turku (''Åbo'' in Swedish). The newspaper's primary readership consists of Swedish-speakers in Turku and Åboland Åboland () is a sub-region in the archipelago of the Southwest Finland region in south-western Finland. Åboland and Turunmaa are also informal names of the region, but in this context Särkisalo () is normally included and in the Finnish nam .... The circulation of the paper was 4800 copies in 2023. See also * Media of Finland References External links''Åbo Underr ...
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Bilingual
Multilingualism is the use of more than one language, either by an individual speaker or by a group of speakers. When the languages are just two, it is usually called bilingualism. It is believed that multilingual speakers outnumber monolingual speakers in the world's population. More than half of all Europeans claim to speak at least one language other than their mother tongue; but many read and write in one language. Being multilingual is advantageous for people wanting to participate in trade, globalization and cultural openness. Owing to the ease of access to information facilitated by the Internet, individuals' exposure to multiple languages has become increasingly possible. People who speak several languages are also called '' polyglots''. Multilingual speakers have acquired and maintained at least one language during childhood, the so-called first language (L1). The first language (sometimes also referred to as the mother tongue) is usually acquired without formal ...
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Fjalar Finnäs
Fjalar Finnäs (1953–2023) was a Finnish professor of demographics at the Åbo Akademi University. He focused on the demographics of the Swedish-speaking Finns The Swedish-speaking population of Finland (whose members are called by many names—see below; ; ) is a linguistic minority in Finland. They maintain a strong identity and are seen either as a separate cultural, ethnic or linguistic group or .... His most recent research was in Ethno-Linguistic Exogamy and Divorce. Researches * Jan 2014 – Sex composition of children, parental separation, and parity progression * Feb 2014 – Transitions within and from ethno-linguistically mixed and endogamous first unions in Finland * Feb 2014 – Infant mortality and ethnicity in an indigenous European population * Sep 2015 – The Ethno-linguistic Community and Premature Death * Aug 2017 – Divorce and parity progression following the death of a child * Mar 2018 – Ethno-Linguistic Exogamy and Divorce References 1 ...
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Prestige (sociolinguistics)
Prestige in sociolinguistics is the level of regard normally accorded a specific language or dialect within a speech community, relative to other languages or dialects. Prestige varieties are language or dialect families which are generally considered by a society to be the most "correct" or otherwise superior. In many cases, they are the standard form of the language, though there are exceptions, particularly in situations of covert prestige (where a non-standard dialect is highly valued). In addition to dialects and languages, prestige is also applied to smaller linguistic features, such as the pronunciation or usage of words or grammatical constructs, which may not be distinctive enough to constitute a separate dialect. The concept of prestige provides one explanation for the phenomenon of variation in form among speakers of a language or languages. The presence of prestige dialects is a result of the relationship between the prestige of a group of people and the langu ...
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