Finnish municipalities’ posts on social media get the most engagement and reactions when they’re made in English. In other words, when a municipality wants impressions, likes and shares on social media, English is the language of choice, according to a Master’s thesis in linguistic data sciences currently in progress by Rahel Albicker. The thesis investigates the communication and language used by Finnish municipalities on Twitter (nowadays known as X).
The study included the total sample of 164 Finnish municipalities’ communication on Twitter, consisting of hundreds of thousands of messages and including all posts made by the municipalities in 2009–2023. Ninety-two per cent of the content was in Finnish, four per cent in Swedish and two per cent in English.
“The municipalities posting in English in the most were Espoo, Lappeenranta, Helsinki, Miehikkälä and Rautjärvi. These municipalities used English in more than five per cent of all their posts,” Albicker says.
Of the 164 municipalities included in the study, 56 did not have any posts in English, and three municipalities did not have any posts in Finnish. These municipalities are all located in the Swedish-speaking Åland Islands (Brändö, Kumlinge and Lemland).
Finnish is least used in Helsinki and other municipalities in the Uusimaa region, where Finnish-language posts amount to 85 per cent. In these municipalities, English-language posts account for roughly four per cent, with the corresponding percentage elsewhere in the county being around one per cent. In other words, English seems to be predominantly used in the capital region.
After the Uusimaa region, English is most frequently used in South Karelia (3.6%), Ostrobothnia (2.7%) and Pirkanmaa (2.2%). Finnish is least frequently used in rural municipalities with a high Swedish-speaking population.
“This set of data is from one social media platform only, but its vast size and rich metadata constitute an interesting topic for research. Finnish municipalities should obviously use the country’s national languages when communicating with their residents; however, the language used plays an important role in how far the message gets spread.”
The Master’s thesis is part of the English in Coexistence with the National Languages of Finland project, which is led by Professor of English Language and Culture Mikko Laitinen.
“The results of the Master’s thesis will be included in the final report of our project, to be published in autumn 2023. The report will provide a research-based overview of the extent and systematic use of English in different sectors of Finnish society, and how the use of English affects the vitality of our domestic languages,” Laitinen says.
The data for the study were collected in collaboration with doctoral students in computer science, and methods of the digital humanities were used in data analysis.
For further information, please contact:
Professor Mikko Laitinen, tel. +358 50 441 2389, mikko.laitinen(at)uef.fi and Rahel Albicker rahelalb(at)student.uef.fi
https://uefconnect.uef.fi/en/group/english-in-coexistence-with-the-national-languages-of-finland/
