Authors: Riitta-Liisa Valijarvi, Elsa Woodmeade<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Abstract:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Me\u00e4nkieli 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. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Me\u00e4nkieli 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, Me\u00e4nkieli was officially recognized as one of the national minority languages of Sweden in 2000 alongside Finnish, Romani Chib, S\u00e1mi, and Yiddish. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Today, most fluent speakers of Me\u00e4nkieli 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 Me\u00e4nkieli 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 Me\u00e4nkieli heritage and processing the loss through music, theatre, and media (e.g. Ackermann-Bostr\u00f6m et al. in press, Kolu 2022). <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Walsh et al.\u2019s (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\u2019s (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 Me\u00e4nkieli shows that the young generations and new speakers\u2019 language is different, and the revitalisation space is home to sometimes conflicting ideologies (Ackermann-Bostr\u00f6m 2021, Moln\u00e1r Bodrogi 2022, Valij\u00e4rvi 2025).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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 Me\u00e4nkieli 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Our case studies include: 1) the Me\u00e4nkieli youth organisation Met Nuoret\u2019s Queer-sanakirja\/Queerordbok – Me\u00e4nkieli\/Svenska \u2018Queer dictionary – Me\u00e4nkieli\/Swedish\u2019 (2016) and its reception; 2) the artist duo Karin Keisu and Josse Thuresson\u2019s examination of Sweden\u2019s colonial history through their respective languages, Me\u00e4nkieli 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.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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