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The Sámi languages ( ),Laurie Bauer, 2007, The Linguistics Student's Handbook, Edinburgh also rendered in English language as Sami and Saami, are a group of Uralic languages spoken by the Indigenous Sámi peoples in Northern Europe (in parts of northern Finland, Norway, Sweden, and extreme northwestern Russia). There are, depending on the nature and terms of division, ten or more Sami languages. Several spellings have been used for the Sámi languages, including Sámi, Sami, Saami, Saame, Sámic, Samic and Saamic, as well as the exonyms Lappish and Lappic. The last two, along with the term Lapp, are now often considered pejorative.
In terms of internal relationships, the Sámi languages are traditionally divided into the two groups of western and eastern. The groups may be further divided into various subgroups and ultimately individual languages. (Sammallahti 1998: 6-38.) Recently it has been proposed on the basis of (1) different sound substitutions seen between the Sámi languages in the Proto-Scandinavian loanwords and (2) historical phonology that the first unit to branch off from Late Proto-Sámi was Southern Proto-Sámi, from which descend South Sámi, Ume Sámi, and Gävle Sámi (extinct during the 19th century).
Parts of the Sámi language area form a dialect continuum in which the neighbouring languages may be mutually intelligible to a fair degree, but two more widely separated groups will not understand each other's speech. There are, however, some sharp language boundaries, in particular between Northern Sami, Inari Sami and Skolt Sami, the speakers of which are not able to understand each other without learning or long practice. The evolution of sharp language boundaries seems to suggest a relative isolation of the language speakers from each other and not very intensive contacts between the respective speakers in the past. There is some significance in this, as the geographical barriers between the respective speakers are no different from those in other parts of the Sámi area.
The above figures are approximate. [[File:Sami dialects and settlements in Russia map.svg|thumbnail|300px|Sami languages and settlements in Russia:
]]
During the Middle Ages and early modern period, now-extinct Sami languages were also spoken in the central and southern parts of Finland and Karelia and in a wider area on the Scandinavian Peninsula. Historical documents as well as Finnish language and Karelian oral tradition contain many mentions of the earlier Sami inhabitation in these areas (Itkonen, 1947). Also, as well as place-names of Sami origin in the southern dialects of Finnish and Karelian dialects testify of earlier Sami presence in the area (Koponen, 1996; Saarikivi, 2004; Aikio, 2007). These Sami languages, however, became extinct later, under the wave of the Finno-Karelian agricultural expansion.
/ref> SIL code: LPD, ISO 639-3: sjd
The other Sami languages are critically endangered (moribund, have very few speakers left) or extinct. Ten speakers of Ter Sami were known to be alive in 2004.Tiuraniemi Olli: "Anatoli Zaharov on maapallon ainoa turjansaamea puhuva mies", Kide 6 / 2004. The last speaker of Akkala Sami is known to have died in December 2003, and the eleventh attested variety, Kemi Sami, became extinct in the 19th century. An additional Sami language, Kainuu Sami, became extinct in the 18th century, and probably belonged to the Eastern group like Kemi Sami, although the evidence for the language is limited.
| |Northern Sámi: | Áá Čč Đđ Ŋŋ Šš Ŧŧ Žž |
| Áá Ââ Ää Čč Đđ Ŋŋ Šš Žž |
| Ââ Čč Ʒʒ Ǯǯ Đđ Ǧǧ Ǥǥ Ǩǩ Ŋŋ Õõ Šš Žž Åå Ää ʹ ʼ |
| Áá Åå Ŋŋ Ää |
| Áá Åå Ŋŋ Ææ |
| Ïï Ää Öö Åå |
| Ïï Ææ Øø Åå |
| Áá Đđ Ïï Ŋŋ Ŧŧ Üü Åå Ää Öö |
| Áá Đđ Ŋŋ Ŧŧ Åå Ää |
The use of Ææ and Øø in Norway vs. Ää and Öö in Sweden merely reflects the orthographic standards used in the Norwegian and , respectively, not differences in pronunciations.
The letter Đ in Sámi languages is a capital D with a bar across it (Unicode code point: U+0110), which is also used in Serbo-Croatian, Vietnamese, etc., not the near-identical capital eth (Ð; U+00D0) used in Icelandic, Faroese language or Old English.
capital letter Ŋ (eng) is commonly presented in Sámi languages using the "N-form" variant based the usual Latin uppercase N with a hook added. Unicode assigns code point U+014A to the uppercase eng, but does not prescribe the form of the glyph.
The Skolt Sámi standard uses ʹ (U+02B9) as a soft sign, but other apostrophes, such as ' (U+0027), ˊ (U+02CA) or ´ (U+00B4), are also sometimes used in published texts.
The Kildin Sámi orthography uses the Russian Cyrillic script with these additional letters: А̄а̄ Ӓӓ Е̄е̄ Ё̄ё̄ Һһ/ʼ Ӣӣ Јј/Ҋҋ Ӆӆ Ӎӎ Ӊӊ Ӈӈ О̄о̄ Ҏҏ Ӯӯ Ҍҍ Э̄э̄ Ӭӭ Ю̄ю̄ Я̄я̄
The word for language is almost identical across languages despite differences in spelling, /kielːa/, although in Skolt Sámi more changes have taken place /ˈciɤlː/. The words for "Finland" bear a resemblance not only to the word for Sápmi, but also to the Finnish word for their country, Suomi. On the other hand, the word for "Norwegian" /daru/ is etymologically related to the word meaning "foreigner"’. Interestingly, in both Ume and Lule Sámi, the same word is used for both Norwegian and Swedish, dáruongiälla and dárogiella, respectively.
Official status
Norway
Adopted in April 1988, Article 108 of the Norwegian Constitution states: "It is the responsibility of the authorities of the State to create conditions enabling the Sami people to preserve and develop its language, culture and way of life". The Sami Language Act went into effect in the 1990s. Sámi is an official language alongside Norwegian in the "administrative area for Sámi language", that includes eight municipalities in the northern half of Norway, namely Kautokeino Municipality, Karasjok Municipality, Kåfjord Municipality, Nesseby Municipality, Porsanger Municipality, Tana Municipality, Tysfjord Municipality, Lavangen Municipality, and Snåsa Municipality. Tromsø positiv til samisk språk, NRK In 2005 Sámi, Kven language, Romanes and Romani language were recognised as "regional or minority languages" in Norway within the framework of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. Minoritetsspråk, Language Council of Norway
Sweden
On 1 April 2000, Sami became one of five recognized minority languages in Sweden.Hult, F.M. (2004). Planning for multilingualism and minority language rights in Sweden. Language Policy, 3(2), 181–201.Hult, F.M. (2010). Swedish Television as a mechanism for language planning and policy. Language Problems and Language Planning, 34(2), 158–181. It can be used in dealing with public authorities in Arjeplog Municipality, Gällivare Municipality, Jokkmokk Municipality, and Kiruna Municipality. In 2011, this list was enlarged considerably. In Sweden the University of Umeå teaches North, Ume and South Sami, and Uppsala University has courses in North, Lule and South Sami.
Finland
Russia
In Russia, Sámi has no official status, neither on the national, regional or local level. It is included in the list of Indigenous minority languages. (Kildin) Sami has been taught at the Murmansk State Technical University since 2012; before then, it was taught at the Institute of the Peoples of the North in Saint Petersburg.
Lexicon
Nordic countries and language names in Sámi languages
The words below illustrate similarities and differences between the different Sámi languages. The cultural influence of the majority language spoken around the Sámi is also reflected in the words used for the different country names.
+
!
!North
!South
!Lule
!Ume
!Inari
!Skolt Sapmi Sápmi Saepmie Sábme Sábmie Säämi Sää′mjânnam Finland, Finnish Suopma, suomagiella Soeme, soemengïele Suobme, suomagiella NA Suomâ, suomâkielâ Lää′d, lää′dǩiõll Norway, Norwegian Norga, dárogiella Nöörje, daaroengïele Vuodna, dárogiella Nürjje, dáruongiälla Taaža, tárukiellâ Taarr, taarǩiõll Russia, Russian Ruošša, ruoššagiella Russlaante NA NA Ruoššâ, ruošâkielâ Ruõššjânnam, ruõššǩiõll Sweden, Swedish Ruoŧŧa, ruoŧagiella Sveerje, sveerjengïele Svieria, dárogiella Sverjje, dáruongiälla Ruotâ, ruotâkielâ Ruõcc, ruõccǩiõll Sami (language) sámegiella saemiengïele sámegiella sámiengiëlla sämekielâ sää′mǩiõll
See also
Sources
External links
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