The Swedish Language in the Linguistic Exclaves of Finland: Features of Existence and Factors of Preservation

Swedish is one of the two national languages in Finland. The main localization of the Swedish language is the southern and western coast of Finland, but the Swedish language minority is found in many other cities in Finland, where the vast majority of the population is Finnish-speaking. The chosen topic of the research is relevant because the current Finnish government under the leadership of Sanna Marin is concerned about the problems of maintaining and developing bilingualism in the country. In turn, the Swedish language islands are an integral part of the Swedish language community in Finland, most strongly influenced by the Finnish language environment.   The main purpose of this research is to study the Swedish-speaking environment on the language islands in Finland. The main goal of the research is to study the Swedish-speaking environment on the linguistic islands of Finland. The authors presented a definition of the concept of "Swedish language islands in Finland"; revealed the features of maintaining the Swedish-speaking community on the linguistic islands of Finland; determined the cause of the preservation of the Swedish language in these territories.  The main method is the analysis of sociolinguistic data and the synthesis of materials taken from open sources. As a result of the study, it was revealed that in Finnish sociology, linguistic islands are understood as Finnish-speaking municipalities with a small proportion of the Swedish-speaking population. The presence of a Swedish school is a key characteristic for the application of the concept of "language island" in relation to such a municipality. The main problems for the Swedish language community on the language islands are the narrowness of the scope of this language and the underdevelopment of the cultural infrastructure. The existence of a school education system, the activities of local public associations, as well as the growing interest of Finns in the Swedish component of Finnish culture are fundamental factors in the preservation of the Swedish language in these territories. The results of the investigation confirm the cultural significance of the Swedish language in Finland, since supporting the existence of the Swedish language in monolingual Finnish territories is always a conscious activity of representatives of the linguistic community from different backgrounds.