Language Ideologies in Meänkieli Teaching and Learning Resources

• Published in: Journal on ethnopolitics and minority issues in Europe JEMIE Vol. 24; no. 3; pp. 66 - 90
• Main Author: Valijärvi, Riitta-Liisa
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 11.09.2025
• ISSN: 1617-5247; 1617-5247
• DOI: 10.53779/RIVA0808

Meänkieli is a minoritised and endangered language traditionally spoken in Northern Sweden. This study analyses linguistic variation in a selection of contemporary Meänkieli teaching and learning resources (TLRs) and discusses the language ideologies and the sociopolitical context connected to the variation. In a complex assemblage of perspectives and practices, this study identifies four ideologies behind variation in TLRs: two more purist ideologies (traditional, standard language) and two inclusive ideologies (post-traditional, translanguaging, polynomic). Using a close reading method, both explicit and implicit expressions of variation are examined in the data set that consists of a grammar, five school textbooks, one phrasebook, one online platform, and two dictionaries. The analysis of implicit views on variation focuses, for example, on Swedish loan words and certain key grammatical forms. The grammar book in the study is governed by standard language ideology with traditional and post-traditional elements. The school textbooks, similar to the grammar book, are based on the authors’ Torne Valley variety, the most widely-used regional variety of Meänkieli, and use Swedish to a varying degree following a translanguaging approach. The innovative or interactive mainly digital materials are polynomic and post-traditional. One of the dictionaries and the phrase book brings in varieties outside Sweden, while the other dictionary includes regional varieties of Meänkieli in Sweden. Instructional and experiential TLRs are more likely to follow a standard and balance traditional and nontraditional language, while exploratory and elicitative materials are more polynomic and post-traditional. The study concludes with a summary of the results and suggestions for further studies.