ABSTRACT
The Tornedalian population living along the Swedish-Finnish border in northeastern Sweden is a typical example of a linguistic minority undergoing a rapid language shift. 1 Meänkieli, or Tornedalian Finnish as it was previously called, survived a century of coercive assimilation policies, remaining a vernacular in a diglossic situation. Today, it is acutely endangered while a group of ethnic activists has managed to launch a linguistic revitalisation movement. This chapter presents a study conducted in Kangos Culture and Ecology School, the first school with a distinct local language and culture profile in Tornedalen. It focuses on the language choices and linguistic attitudes among school-children and their parents and the role of the school in promoting the local language and culture. An attempt is made to pinpoint factors which indicate that revitalisation is in fact occurring in Kangos.
