The language of the election language

A study of language and integration in Swedish election campaigns

Authors

  • Claes Ohlsson Linnéuniversitetet
  • Johanna Salomonsson Linnéuniversitetet

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5617/sakprosa.10243

Keywords:

language, integration, topical words, discursive markers, election manifestos, election campaigns

Abstract

This article examines how language and integration are addressed in Swedish election campaigns, with a focus on the 2022 election campaign. Language issues have not had a prominent role in Swedish politics but have become increasingly discussed in connection with issues of immigration and integration, not least before the 2022 election. The article presents two sub-studies based on a discourse analytical perspective on topical words in texts. Both studies analyze election manifestos where the first sub-study provides an overview of how language and integration topics have been given space in previous election campaigns. The main survey analyzes the election manifestos of the parliamentary parties for the 2022 elections and has three result themes. 1) A deficiency perspective regarding immigrants' language skills that recurs in several parties and that differs from previous election campaigns. 2) Emphasis on knowledge requirements in Swedish to be able to establish themselves in Swedish society and 3) that current parties contribute to a Swedish-speaking society by offering education. The results show a shift towards a one-sided shortage perspective increasingly dominating the debate on language and integration, and that language issues often seem to be used as a basis for other integration issues such as employment or exclusion.

Author Biographies

Claes Ohlsson, Linnéuniversitetet

Claes Ohlsson is senior lecturer and associate professor in Swedish language at Linnaeus University. His research concerns institutional language use in organizations and individuals based on text and discourse analysis. Claes' research has focused on language and communication in business discourses, including how large companies use language to demonstrate and legitimize different types of responsibility. He has also conducted studies of banks' marketing from a historical perspective. In addition, he works with the view of language as a discursive phenomenon in the Swedish integration context in a multidisciplinary working group.

Johanna Salomonsson, Linnéuniversitetet

Johanna Salomonsson is senior lecturer in Swedish as a second language at Linnaeus University in Växjö. She studies the role of language for integration in society out of different discourse analytical perspectives. Other previous main interests concern oral proficiency in online second language teaching and learning. She is also interested in systemic functional grammar and has written a Swedish textbook on the subject, as well as promoting an interest for the application of SFL theory on Swedish language studies and in Swedish linguistics.

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Published

2023-09-11

Issue

Vol. 15 No. 3 (2023): Valspråk

Section

Artikler