Sámi languages

The Sámi languages are a group of Uralic languages spoken by the indigenous Sámi people in Northern Europe, in parts of northern Finland, Norway, Sweden, and the northwesternmost part of Russia. They are also written in English as Sami and Saami. The name is said as SAH-mee in US English and SAM-ee in UK English.

Depending on how the languages are divided into groups, there are ten or more Sami languages.

People have used several spellings for the Sámi languages, including Sámi, Sami, Saami, Saame, Sámic, Samic, and Saamic. Some outside names, called exonyms, have also been used, such as Lappish and Lappic. The words Lappish, Lappic, and Lapp are sometimes considered pejorative, which means they can sound insulting.

This name is not to be confused with Saam language, Sama language, or Samo language.

Classification

The Sámi languages are a branch of the Uralic language family. The traditional view is that Sámi is most closely related to the Finnic languages. Some scholars now doubt this. They say that a shared Finno-Sami ancestor language is not as well supported as once thought, and that the similarities may come from an areal influence from Finnic.

The Sámi languages are traditionally divided into Eastern and Western groups, and these groups can be divided further. In parts of the Sámi area, neighbouring languages are often able to understand each other to a fair degree, but people from far-apart areas may not. Some languages, such as Northern Sami, Inari Sami, and Skolt Sami, have sharp boundaries, and their speakers cannot understand each other without learning or long practice.

• Eastern Sámi: Akkala Sámi †, Inari Sámi, Kemi Sámi †, Kainuu Sámi †, Skolt Sámi, Kildin Sámi, Ter Sámi
• Western Sámi: Lule Sámi, Pite Sámi, Northern Sámi, Southern Sámi, Ume Sámi, Gävle Sámi †

Geographic distribution

The Sami languages are spoken in Sápmi in Northern Europe, across four countries: Norway, Sweden, Finland and Russia. The area stretches from the southern part of central Scandinavia in the southwest to the tip of the Kola Peninsula in the east. The borders between the languages do not match the borders of today's countries.

During the Middle Ages and early modern period, Sami languages that are now extinct were also spoken in central and southern parts of Finland, in Karelia, and in a wider area on the Scandinavian Peninsula. Old records and Finnish and Karelian oral tradition mention Sami people living in these areas long ago. Loanwords and place-names of Sami origin in southern Finnish and Karelian dialects also show that Sami people once lived there. These languages later became extinct as farming spread across the region.

History

The Proto-Sámi language is believed to have formed near the Gulf of Finland between 1000 BC and 700 AD. It came from a common Proto-Sami-Finnic language. Scientists have worked out the basic proto-languages of the Proto-Uralic family to a level very close to, or the same as, Proto-Uralic itself.

According to the linguist Ante Aikio, Proto-Samic developed in South Finland or in Karelia about 2000 to 2500 years ago, and then spread north to northern Fennoscandia. It is believed to have moved west and north into Fennoscandia during the Nordic Iron Age, reaching central Scandinavia during the Proto-Scandinavian period, around 500 AD. Along the way, the language absorbed several layers of unknown Paleo-European languages spoken by early hunter-gatherers. This happened first in the Proto-Sami phase and later as the language spread west and north, into the area that is today Sápmi.

Written languages and sociolinguistic situation

At present there are nine living Sami languages. Eight of them have their own written forms. The other one has no written standard, and only a few speakers are left, mainly elderly people. The ISO 639-2 code for all Sami languages without their own code is "smi". The eight written languages are:

• Northern Sami (Norway, Sweden, Finland): about 15,000 speakers, probably more than 75% of all Sami speakers in 2002. ISO 639-1/ISO 639-2: se/sme
• Lule Sami (Norway, Sweden): the second largest group, with about 1,500 speakers. ISO 639-2: smj
• Pite Sami: about 30–50 speakers. ISO 639-2: sje
• Ume Sami (Norway, Sweden): likely under 20 speakers left. ISO 639-2: sju
• Southern Sami (Norway, Sweden): about 500 speakers (estimated). ISO 639-2: sma
• Inari Sami (Enare Sami) (Inari, Finland): about 500 speakers (estimated). SIL code: LPI, ISO 639-2: smn
• Skolt Sami (Finland, also spoken in Russia, and previously in Norway): about 400 speakers (estimated). SIL code: LPK, ISO 639-2: sms
• Kildin Sami (Kola Peninsula, Russia): based on the 2010 and 2020 population censuses, about 150 to 350 people can be estimated to speak it. SIL code: LPD, ISO 639-3: sjd

The other Sami languages are critically endangered (moribund, with very few speakers left) or extinct. Ten speakers of Ter Sami were known to be alive in 2004. The last speaker of Akkala Sami is known to have died in December 2003. The eleventh known variety, Kemi Sami, became extinct in the 19th century. Another Sami language, Kainuu Sami, became extinct in the 18th century. It probably belonged to the Eastern group, like Kemi Sami, although there is only limited evidence for it.

Orthographies

Main article: Sámi orthography

Most Sámi languages are written with Latin alphabets, with some extra letters added. Some differences in letters, such as Ææ and Øø in Norway versus Ää and Öö in Sweden, follow the Norwegian and Swedish alphabets and do not mean that the sounds are different. The letter Đ is a capital D with a bar across it, not the similar-looking eth used in Icelandic, Faroese or Old English. The capital letter Ŋ (eng) is usually shown with a hook added to the letter N. The Kildin Sámi orthography uses the Cyrillic script from Russian, with several extra letters.

In December 2023, Apple added on-screen keyboards for all eight Sámi languages still spoken. These came with iOS and iPadOS 17.2, so Sámi speakers can use their languages on iPhones and iPads without restrictions or difficulties. The Finnish SFS 5966 keyboard standard from 2008 makes it easier to type Sámi languages, using AltGr and dead diacritic keys.

Official status

In Norway, Article 108 of the Norwegian Constitution, adopted in April 1988, says that the authorities must help the Sami people keep and develop their language, culture and way of life. Sámi is an official language alongside Norwegian in the "administrative area for Sámi language", which includes Kautokeino Municipality, Karasjok Municipality, Kåfjord Municipality, Nesseby Municipality, Porsanger Municipality, Tana Municipality, Tysfjord Municipality, Lavangen Municipality, and Snåsa Municipality. In 2005, Sámi, Kven, Romanes and Romani were recognised as "regional or minority languages" in Norway under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages.

In Sweden, on 1 April 2000, Sami became one of five recognised minority languages in Sweden. It can be used when dealing with public authorities in Arjeplog Municipality, Gällivare Municipality, Jokkmokk Municipality, and Kiruna Municipality. In 2011, this list was enlarged considerably. The University of Umeå teaches North, Ume and South Sami, and Uppsala University has courses in North, Lule and South Sami.

In Finland, the Sami language act of 1991 gave the Northern, Inari and Skolt Sami the right to use their languages for all government services. The Sami Language Act of 2003 (Northern Sami: Sámi giellaláhka; Inari Sami: Säämi kielâlaahâ; Skolt Sami: Sääʹmǩiõll-lääʹǩǩ; Finnish: Saamen kielilaki; Swedish: Samisk språklag) made Sami an official language in Enontekiö, Inari, Sodankylä and Utsjoki municipalities. Some documents are translated into these Sami languages, but many officials do not know them well. Because Finnish is the main language of the region, Sami speakers almost always also speak Finnish. Language nest daycares have been set up to teach the languages to children, and Northern Sami, and to a lesser degree Inari and Skolt Sami, can be studied in primary and secondary school.

In Russia, Sámi has no official status at 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

The words in this part show how the Sámi languages are alike and how they are different. The language spoken by the majority of people around the Sámi also shows up in the words used for country names.

The word for "language" is almost the same in all the Sámi languages, even though the spelling differs. In Skolt Sámi, the word has changed more. The words for "Finland" look like the word for Sápmi and like the Finnish word for their country, Suomi. The word for "Norwegian" is /daru/, which is related to a word meaning "foreigner." In both Ume and Lule Sámi, the same word is used for both Norwegian and Swedish: dáruongiälla and dárogiella.