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<a href="http://www.helsinkitimes.fi/finland/finland-news/domestic/15925-kotus-finnish-and-swedish-are-under-serious-threat.html" title="Kotus: Finnish and Swedish are under serious threat">
Kotus: Finnish and Swedish are under serious threat</a>
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Created: 02 November 2018
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<img src="http://www.helsinkitimes.fi/images/2018/Nov/kotus-warning.jpg" alt="A large share of Finns are living in a textual world where the influence of English is growing at the expense of that of Finnish and Swedish, highlights the Finnish Language Board of Kotus. (Credit: Loic Venance – AFP/Lehtikuva)">
A large share of Finns are living in a textual world where
the influence of English is growing at the expense of that of Finnish
and Swedish, highlights the Finnish Language Board of Kotus. (Credit:
Loic Venance – AFP/Lehtikuva)
<p> </p>
<p>The Finnish government must take urgent action to draft a national
language policy programme, demands the Institute for the Languages of
Finland (Kotus).</p>
<p>The Finnish Language Board of Kotus stated on 26 October that both
Finnish and Swedish are under serious threat as their social position
and scope of use are being undermined by lexical borrowing and other
influences from foreign languages.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Finnish, it reminds, has developed into a functional language that is
used in all sectors of the society as a result of determined efforts
over the past two centuries.</p>
<p>The threat arises partly from the internet, according to the Finnish
Language Board. It points out that a considerable share of the public
live in a textual world where the influence of English is growing at the
expense of that of Finnish and Swedish.</p>
<p>“We are close to a situation where we will have to make a concrete
decision about whether we want to hold on to our mother tongue or
whether we are prepared to abandon it in favour of another language –
first only in certain areas of life but gradually more and more
extensively,” <a href="https://www.kotus.fi/nyt/uutistekstit/kotuksen_uutiset/kotuksen_uutiset_2018/suomi_tarvitsee_kansallisen_kielipoliittisen_ohjelman.28920.news" rel="alternate">said</a> the Finnish Language Board.</p>
<p>“The trend is already underway and we should respond to it based on
carefully collected data and the broad understanding at our disposal.”</p>
<p>Established under the Ministry of Education and Culture, Kotus is an
expert institute tasked with compiling dictionaries, providing a variety
of language-related services, and maintaining and developing archives
and corpora, for example.</p>
<p>Aleksi Teivainen – HT<br>Source: <a href="https://www.uusisuomi.fi/kotimaa/262869-varoitus-suomen-kielen-asemasta-kotus-vakava-uhka-kahden-vuosisadan-tyo-uhkaa" rel="alternate">Uusi Suomi</a></p>
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<br clear="all"><br>-- <br><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_signature" data-smartmail="gmail_signature">=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+<br><br> Harold F. Schiffman<br><br>Professor Emeritus of <br> Dravidian Linguistics and Culture <br>Dept. of South Asia Studies <br>University of Pennsylvania<br>Philadelphia, PA 19104-6305<br><br>Phone: (215) 898-7475<br>Fax: (215) 573-2138 <br><br>Email: <a href="mailto:haroldfs@gmail.com" target="_blank">haroldfs@gmail.com</a><br><a href="http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/" target="_blank">http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/</a> <br><br>-------------------------------------------------</div></div>