Municipalities and the Sami languages: Experiences of language policy and planning in the Sami homeland region (Finland) in the 2020s

This article analyzes the current state of language policy and planning as it is experienced by the actors in the multilingual municipalities in the Sami homeland region in Finland. The analysis is based on a theoretical-methodological model, known as the “onion metaphor”, that was originally described by Thomas Ricento and Nancy H. Hornberger. In the analysis, in addition to the local speech community, five administrative and implementation levels spanning from the local level to the international level are recognized. The agents operating on those levels and the interaction between them are also described. The aim of this qualitative analysis is to understand how national language policy and language attitudes affect the speech community via municipalities and how the negative impact could be reduced and the positive impacts increased. The research has been conducted by analyzing data collected via an online survey, interviews, and by examining language-policy documents. The results show that municipality actors are aware of the existing problems and are motivated to solve them, but they feel unable without help from the national level. Many problems are connected to the contradiction between the regulations set by national legislation and the insufficient funding provided to fulfill them. The current legislation is also clearly outdated and needs to be renewed.