Sami languages

Spoken in

Uralic

Sami

Smi ( other Sami languages) Some individual languages have their own entries

Sami ( Sami or Saami also referred to in the older literature as Lapp) is a group of Finno -Ugric languages , spoken by about 24,000 people from the Sami people in Lapland, a region and from Norway through Sweden Finland extends to the Kola Peninsula. There are, depending on the nature and terms of division ten or more Sami languages or dialects. A mutual understanding between speakers of different Sami languages is not always or often very difficult. Of these, North Sami is the most common and also the most common media used variant. The Language Code is se for Northern Sami ( ISO 639).

3.1 Official status 3.1.1 Norway
3.1.2 Finland
3.1.3 Sweden

History

Although the Sami with the Baltic-Finnic languages is closely related, is the genetic relationship between seed and Finnougriern by genetic screening (eg, Cavalli - Sforza ) only slightly. Due to some major differences in language to Finnish and numerous words which are Finno- Ugric yet neither of Germanic origin, one has to assume that the seeds have taken over the Finno-Ugric language of another, very small people whose genetic traces no longer detectable are.

Around the turn of the century from the 19th to the 20th century, the use of the Sami language was forbidden due to the prevailing policy of assimilation in the public schools of all four Nordic countries. One exception was the so-called " nomadic schools " in Sweden. In Finland and Russia this prohibition lasted until the 1960s. This is what causes that today many old Sámi no longer speak their native language, while younger people learn some of the Sami languages and dialects again. Since each violation of the ban in the Soviet Union was punished rigorously, it was particularly bad for the future of ostsamischen language.

For the originally only spoken Sami languages until the 1970s and 1980s written languages were developed and codified the particular grammar. To keep pace with the social and technological development, however, many words from neighboring languages, particularly from Norwegian and Swedish, adopted as loanwords and the Sami grammar have been adjusted.

Classification of languages

There are different classifications. Either a distinction between East Sami, Central Sami and South Sami, or the Sami languages are divided into a western and an ostsamische group.

West Sami

Eastern Sami

Written languages

In 2001, there were ten known Sami languages. Six of them were able to develop into written languages , the other four are hardly ever spoken, that is, there are only less than 100 speakers. Since the individual languages or dialects are sometimes so far apart that communication between speakers is difficult or impossible possible, the Nordsamische some extent enjoying the status of a lingua franca among the seeds. Thus, most programs are broadcast on radio and television in North Sami. The Sami languages that use the Latin alphabet with the addition of diacritical marks and special characters, Kildin Sami is written with Cyrillic letters.

Official Status

Norway

In 1988 adopted the Constitution of the Kingdom of Norway, is set out in Article 110a: " It is the responsibility of government institutions to create conditions that allow the seeds to maintain and develop their language, culture and way of life. " An Act on the Sami language came into the 1990s into force. In it, the municipalities Karasjok, Kautokeino, Nesseby, Porsanger, Tana and Kåfjord be declared the bilingual region, that is, Sami is admitted in dealings with the authorities.

Finland

Through the Language Law of 1992, the Sami languages in Finland in the so-called " home area " of the seeds, covering the municipalities of Enontekiö, Inari, Utsjoki and the northern part of the municipality of Sodankylä, an official status. In all four communities is recognized Northern Sami, Inari in Inari and in addition also Skoltsamisch. Thus, Inari is the only four -speaking community in Finland.

The status of the Sami languages guarantees the seeds the right to use it as a lingua franca in government agencies and hospitals. All public notices shall be made in the home area of the seeds in Finnish and Sami. In the schools of some areas is the North Sami language school senior.

Sweden

April 1, 2002 Sami was one of the five officially recognized minority languages in Sweden. Sami can be used in official communication in local communities Arjeplog, Gällivare, Jokkmokk and Kiruna, which means that every seed has the right, in his own language to communicate with the authorities of the State and the local community and get an answer in his language. Sami parents can choose whether in a Sami school they want to enroll with Swedish as a foreign language their children or vice versa.

In all three countries there are " Parliaments" ( samething ), that is self-governing bodies of the seeds, however, have no legislative function, but rather represent stakeholders of the seeds at the local level. In Sweden, the position of the Sami self-governing bodies is comparable to its powers under quite the municipalities in Germany. So they can (eg by water construction projects ) to prevent example, interventions in the pastoral areas of the reindeer, though possibly only temporarily. However, the decisions of Sami self-government can be overruled, if overriding interests or laws preclude them.

Language code from ISO 639

The standard ISO 639 provides various language codes for the Sami languages . Depending on the defined objectives of the relevant Sub- standards a different set of languages will be added.

North Sami as the greatest of all Sami languages with se has an entry in ISO 639-1, and with sme one each in ISO 639-2 and -3. The South Sami languages ( with sma ), Lule ( with smj ), Inari ( with smn ) and Skoltsamisch ( with sms ) each have entries in ISO 639-2 and ISO 639-3. The rare or extinct languages in ISO 639-2 under the entry subsumes other Sami languages with smi. For ISO 639-3 codes are as follows: Umesamisch sju, Pitesamisch sje, Kildinsamisch sjd, Tersamisch sjt, Akkalasamisch sia and Kemisamisch sjk.

Language family Uralic languages Lapland (region) Luigi Luca Cavalli-Sforza Ume Sami language Kildin Sami language Ter Sami language Tana, Norway Arjeplog Municipality Jokkmokk Municipality Kiruna Municipality

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