The Linguistic Minority Groups in a Comparative Perspective: Spanish, French and Swedish

Résumé du document

In this essay I will try to study the status and the existence of the Swedish speaking Finns in a wider perspective. I personally think that comparisons and international studies are a way to improve the study of a phenomenon. That's why I will try in this essay to give a different way of looking and studying this problem owing to a comparative perspective. This would be, in a way a different angle to tackle with the problem of the condition of this language minority in Finland. This will be a way to define language minority and the particularities of the Swedish speaking Finns. Then, by studying the different policies in other countries, I will try to propose Finland for the Swedish speaking Finns. One could answer that the risk of such comparisons is to loose oneself in different examples and to break the links between what is actually shared in the everyday life of the different minorities.

Extraits

[...] Provisions on the duty to receive education are laid down by an Act. - The public authorities shall, as provided in more detail by an Act, guarantee for everyone equal opportunity to receive other educational services in accordance with their ability and special needs, as well as the opportunity to develop themselves without being prevented by economic hardship. - The freedom of science, the arts and higher education is guaranteed. I will try to show that for the Finnish government the education seems to be the first step to guaranty the good relationships between Swedish speaking Finns and the rest of the population. [...]

[...] Conclusion Thanks to this small study I have try to underline some key points to remember when we are to study a language minority or a cultural, ethnical or national minority in a given country. First of all, the demographic facts (number of people, place where they live) have a deep impact on the claims. Then the historical background can explain deep variations in situations that look first alike. But, in my opinion we have to study this phenomenon as a dilemma between the social area and the political area. [...]

[...] The claims of ETA were published in 1995 in Democratic Alternative: - Recognition of the right to "self-determination and territoriality" for Euskal Herria. - The Basque citizen are the "unique subject" ("subject" in the sense of "one who acts") to make decisions about the future of the Basque Country. - Amnesty for all members, whether prisoners or self-imposed exiles. - Respect for "the results of the democratic process in the Basque Country" - "Total ceasefire" once these points are guaranteed through a political agreement So we have seen two really different examples. [...]

[...] Indeed, some of the regional identities are in conflict with the Spanish one. According to this map here are the different co-official languages and (some of) their constituent communities where they are spoken: - Aranese (aranés) variant of Occitan), in Catalonia. -Basque (euskera) in the Basque Country and Navarre. -Catalan (català) in Catalonia and the Balearic Islands. -Valencian (valencià), a distinct variant of Catalan in the Valencian Community. This leads to a possible complex identity which can be illustrated by the poems of Antonio Machado: Las dos españas. [...]

[...] But I will stress the main differences between the ambitions of those minorities compared to the Swedish Speaking Finns and compared to the French minorities. In this country they have much more stronger claims and we can even see cases of some people who refuse to speak the national language: Spanish. How languages witch lead to nationalism is ruled by the law, the policies and the states? What are the consequences of the regional divisions as far as language, social values, social relationships and national unity are concerned? [...]