Kielikuva

Kielikuva is a Finnish term that translates roughly to “image of a language” or “linguistic image.” In Finnish sociolinguistics and language studies, it refers to the public and perceived representation of a language—its prestige, status, stereotypes, and the associations people attach to it.

Etymologically, the word combines kie- from kieli (language) and kuva (image or picture). As a concept, kielikuva encompasses both how a language is imagined by speakers and how that image influences attitudes, behaviors, and language use in society. It can reflect historical associations, political power, cultural capital, and imagined linguistic features such as formality, modernity, or friendliness.

In practice, kielikuva is used to study language attitudes and ideologies. Researchers examine how people talk about languages, how media portrayals shape perceptions, and how perceived language images affect choices in education, policy, and everyday communication. The concept helps explain why certain languages or dialects gain prestige while others are stigmatized, and how these images can influence contact between language communities.

Kielikuva is closely related to broader notions such as language ideology, language prestige, and ethnolinguistic vitality. It is typically explored through surveys, interviews, discourse analysis, and media studies. While rooted in Finnish scholarship, analogous ideas exist in other language contexts, capturing how social meanings assigned to languages shape real-world dynamics.