On Assimilation and Language Use among Finnish Immigrants

Abstrakti

Nearly a century ago, Park and Burgess (1921:735) defi ned “assimilation” as “a process of interpenetration and fusion in which persons and groups acquire the memories, sentiments, and attitudes of other persons or groups, and, by sharing their experience and history, are incorporated with them in a common cultural life.” In subsequent defi nitions, Park (1930) argued that an immigrant could be considered assimilated in the United States when s(he) could participate in the common life without encountering prejudice enabled by the immigrant learning the language and the social rituals of the new country. The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of language in the assimilation experiences and ethnic culture maintenance among Finnish immigrants living in Florida.