Part of: Queering Multilingualism
Authors: Riitta-Liisa Valijarvi, Elsa Woodmeade
Abstract:
Meänkieli is a threatened Finno-Ugric language traditionally spoken in northern Sweden by 20,000-75,000 people. It became threatened due to the colonial and assimilatory policies of the Swedish state during the period 1880-1950. A recent Truth and Reconciliation Commission (SOU 2023) has addressed the trauma of eugenics, marginalisation, and language loss.
Meänkieli was once part of the Finnish dialect continuum, which is why its status as a language was initially contested. Following community initiatives and a cultural revival, Meänkieli was officially recognized as one of the national minority languages of Sweden in 2000 alongside Finnish, Romani Chib, Sámi, and Yiddish.
Today, most fluent speakers of Meänkieli are middle-aged or older. However, the language is being revitalised through the state-funded language centre, language courses, summer camps, bi- or multilingual pre-schools, learning materials, and language technology. The revitalisation of Meänkieli is made challenging by a great deal of variation and the advanced state of language shift. Fortunately, young, middle, and old generations are reclaiming their Meänkieli heritage and processing the loss through music, theatre, and media (e.g. Ackermann-Boström et al. in press, Kolu 2022).
Walsh et al.’s (2025) recent book Queering Language Revitalisation discusses the way in which queer speakers of Irish, Breton, Catalan, and Welsh navigate their queer identities, and handle nonbinary and gender-inclusive language. The book also challenges Fishman’s (1991) model of intergenerational language transmission and highlights the role of new speakers, i.e. those who have learned the language later in life, drawing parallels between their linguistic journey and that of queer coming out that challenge traditionalism and heteronormativity (Walsh et al. 2025: 24-31, 33, 63). Previous research on Meänkieli shows that the young generations and new speakers’ language is different, and the revitalisation space is home to sometimes conflicting ideologies (Ackermann-Boström 2021, Molnár Bodrogi 2022, Valijärvi 2025).
Our study contributes to the emerging field of queering language revitalisation by focusing on the dual minority belonging, i.e. being both someone with a Meänkieli heritage and a queer person. These two identities, as they intersect with history, geographical marginalisation, northern Swedish masculinities, state institutions, and language ideologies, can lead to parallel, contributing and conflicting experiences of belonging. For instance, one might have certain life experiences at ‘unexpected’ times, find community outside of the family unit, seek out intergenerational connections or negotiate complex in group/out group structures.
Our case studies include: 1) the Meänkieli youth organisation Met Nuoret’s Queer-sanakirja/Queerordbok – Meänkieli/Svenska ‘Queer dictionary – Meänkieli/Swedish’ (2016) and its reception; 2) the artist duo Karin Keisu and Josse Thuresson’s examination of Sweden’s colonial history through their respective languages, Meänkieli and Swedish Sign Language; 3) the role of the Tornedalen Pride festival held in the Arctic town of Pajala and one of its founders, David Forsberg, also known under the drag name Miss Knapsu. Our data comes from news articles, websites, podcasts, and social media. Our analysis focuses on the themes of belonging, community, and resistance on one hand, and disbelonging, loss, and marginalisation, on the other hand.
