”Terhveisiä ja toivemysiikkiä meänkielelä, ruottiksi ja suomeksi”
Multilingual practices in the minority language radio Meänraatio

Summary/Abstract: The aim of the study is to explore how multilingualism and multilingual language practices are perceived by radio journalists working in Meänraatio, the Meänkieli-language channel of the Swedish Radio Norrbotten. (Meänkieli, earlier also known as Tornedalian Finnish, is an autochthonous language of Northern Sweden and now officially acknowledged as a national minority language.) Multilingualism and multilingual practices are examined in particular from the perspective of Meänkieli in the multilingual radio programme Finnmix, but also in the Meänraatio channel, Tornedalen and the Swedish society in general. In addition, the study explores the multilingual practices of hosts and listeners in the Finnmix broadcasts. The study is based on both ethnographic and interactional data. The former consists of a group interview with radio journalists working for Meänraatio, and of the author’s observations and logbook notes of Finnmix radio broadcasts, while the interactional data consist of recordings and transcriptions of Finnmix radio broadcasts. The theoretical framework of the study is sociolinguistic research on multilingualism, based in particular on translanguaging theory, which focuses on multilingual practices. The main multilingual practice in the radio programme Finnmix is the use of multiple language repertoires in the same conversation: Meänkieli, Swedish and Finnish. In order to reach the multilingual audience of Tornedalen and to maximise comprehensibility, the programme hosts created a translanguaging space, where language barriers are crossed and meanings are constantly negotiated. In the radio broadcasts, the linguistic resources and registers of hosts and listeners met in multilingual practices and discourses. On the other hand, alongside a multilingual discourse the journalists also maintain a minoritylanguage discourse: they try to choose Meänkieli expressions instead of Finnish and to use Meänkieli with each other as much as possible, for a more balanced presence of Meänkieli, Finnish and Swedish in the broadcasts. The journalists of Meänraatio engage in daily discussions on language issues and consult a Meänkieli expert, thus actively contributing to the maintenance, profile-raising and development of the language, for example by creating new words.

• Details
• Contents