Language attitudes among minority youth in Finland and Germany

Abstract

The main findings from a contact-linguistic case study from 2003 on language attitudes among 16–18-year-old Swedish-speaking Finns (Finland) and Sorbs (Germany) are presented. The former can be regarded as a (in many respects) privileged minority, if a minority at all, while the latter is often classified as a threatened minority. Due to the highly different sociohistorical contexts, many differences between the groups were expected, but also similarities existed. The study is based on a language attitude model in which the minority language is embedded in its specific sociohistorical context. In order to make a comparison feasible, the sociohistorical context is described, using the socioprofile method (literature review, interviews with privileged witnesses, survey, analysis, conclusions/recommendations). The clearest differences between the two groups can be found in the language proficiency and language use in official domains. However, the similarities are more numerous than the differences: the frequent minority language use in private and semi-official domains, majority language preference in official domains, and the importance of the majority language and English in youth culture domains. Further similarities include a strong affinity with and an integrative, but also instrumental, orientation toward the minority language and extremely low affinities with the languages in the neighboring countries.