Perifeeristen luontokohteiden kielimaisema: Tarkastelun kohteena UNESCOn maailmanperintökohde

Language landscapes are cultural, complex and multidimensional. They reflect the diverse interaction between culture, society and the environment, while at the same time forming an integral part of local identity and cultural heritage. This article examines two peripheral language landscapes and explores the role language policy (Spolsky 2004) plays on remote natural sites. Our research focuses on the UNESCO World Heritage Site shared by two countries, Finland and Sweden, and the language landscapes of two nature trails. The photographed signs are categorized by language, number of languages, permanency and by their (in)official character. The signs are analyzed quantitatively, and the results show that the majority of the signs in both nature loca-tions are official and permanent. The most common language is Swedish. In the Finnish context, the majority (67 %) of the signs are multilingual while the majority of the signs (59 %) in Swedish context are monolingually Swedish. The results show that official language policy is visible even in remote nature context but that the nature trails do not reflect the actual languages in the society. This excludes especially the users of national minority and the users of immigrant languages from the intended user group of nature trails where the legal concept of everyman’s right on the other hand guarantees everyone’s right to enjoy nature.