“‘ Ruottiksi ’, translated Paul Muotka patiently. ‘ Kiitos .’” Mikael Niemi, Meänkieli and Readers Inside and Outside Tornedalen

The present study in the research field of literary multilingualism and literary codeswitching is based on Mikael Niemi's novel Mannen som dog som en lax (2006) [The man who died like a salmon]. The novel is set mainly in Tornedalen, a widely bilingual area in Sweden where many people speak both Swedish and Meänkieli, a national minority language in Sweden since 2000. All instances of codeswitching in the material studied were identified and an analysis, based on Eriksson and Haapamäki's model designed to analyse literary multilingualism and literary codeswitching, was performed. The model consists of three main components: (1) the communicative context of the analysed work; (2) the form of codeswitching in the analysed work; and (3) the possible literary functions of codeswitching in the analysed work. The sender, Mikael Niemi, does not consider himself bilingual and most intended receivers are not bilingual either, even though linguistic conditions are central to the theme of the novel. Swedish is the base language of the novel, while elements of Meänkieli/Finnish, varieties of Swedish, and other languages represent a small fraction of the entire text. Implicit literary codeswitching predominates in the material in the form of metalinguistic comments and contextualization cues. By far the most common type of explicit literary codeswitching is between Swedish and Meänkieli/Finnish. The novel contains examples of literary codeswitching used in attempts to reproduce authentic usage and depict an authentic linguistic setting. In other examples, Tornedalen, Tornedalians and Meänkieli/Finnish are depicted as exotic phenomena compared with the majority society. Likewise, there are examples of how certain passages in the novel may include or exclude readers, depending on their understanding of Meänkieli/Finnish. Certain elements of Meänkieli can be interpreted as expressions of linguistic emancipation and the liberation of identity that empowers speakers of Meänkieli and the community of these speakers.Key Words: Literary multilingualismLiterary codeswitchingTornedalian literatureMikael NiemiMannen som dog som en laxMeänkieli Notes1 This article is a revised and expanded version of the article in Swedish published as Landqvist (Citation2013). Both articles are connected to my work within the two collaborative research projects Språkvariation i text (SVIT) at the University of Vaasa, Finland, and Språk, samhälle och skönlitteratur (SSoS) at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden (University of Vaasa; Landqvist & Tingsell, Citation2013).2 The novel Mannen som dog som en lax [The man who died like a salmon] has not yet been translated to English and all translations of passages from the novel are mine.3 Although the arguments presented refer to Populärmusik från Vittula in the original, the book is referred to from this point on by the English title of Popular Music (Jonsson, Citation2012: 232) for the sake of clarity and brevity.4 Close reading is often associated with the New Criticism movement in literary theory and literary criticism. Scholars in this movement emphasized study of the literary work as a self-contained, self-referential aesthetic object, while other factors such as the writer and the society were downplayed in the analysis of literary works. The close reading technique often associated with New Criticism was developed in this context (Ljung).5 Jonsson (Citation2012) studies codeswitching in the original-language edition of Niemi's Popular Music, but does so based exclusively on elements in Meänkieli/Finnish. In taking this approach, Jonsson excludes such things as “place names, orthographic representations of pronunciation of words or code-switches to other languages [than Meänkieli/Finnish], e.g. English” (Jonsson, Citation2012: 229, footnote 9). Although explicit codeswitching marks the codeswitching and multilingualism more emphatically than implicit codeswitching (Eriksson & Haapamäki, Citation2011: 45–46), I find that the implicit codeswitching in Niemi's The Man also contributes to the codeswitching and multilingualism in the novel. Therefore, both forms of codeswitching are observed in my study.6 It is also noteworthy that the straight word order in the question in Meänkieli, “Sie tunsit Martinin?” is also reproduced using a straight (subject–verb–object) word order in Swedish, “Du kände Martin?” [‘You knew Martin?’], although in Swedish, the standard unmarked word order of questions that can be answered “yes” or “no” is verb–subject–object: “Kände du Martin?” [‘Knew you Martin?’].7 It should, however, be noted that Therese attempts to approach Tornedalian culture, and does so in several ways. She and Tornedalian Esaias Vanhakoski become romantically involved and the relationship becomes increasingly serious; Therese plans to move to Pajala; she successfully applies for a transfer to Pajala and she starts to study Finnish. At the end of the novel, it also emerges that Therese has family connections to Tornedalen.8 Porot is the plural of poro, declined in the first accusative case. Poroja is also plural, but in the partitive case (cf. Pohjanen & Muli, Citation2007: 41)

Sociology · History · Linguistic research and analysis · Narrative Theory and Analysis · Research in Social Sciences

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