Sami terminology work developing Sami terminology across borders

The role of the Sami Parliament in Norway • The Sami Parliament in Norway is the Sami’s elected governing body, elected by and among the Sami population • The Sami Parliament in Norway plays an important role in helping the Norwegian government ensure that the Sami can safeguard and develop their language, culture and way of life

Why was the Sami Parliament in Norway established? • The Sami are a minority, indigenous population – To safeguard the future of the Sami language and culture – To safeguard Sami interests and values – To safeguard Sami rights • Norway has obligations to its indigenous population under international law – The establishment of an elected body is an effective way of fulfilling such obligations

Why was the Sami Parliament in Norway established? • The need for knowledge of Sami language and culture • Policy-maker – To enable the Sami to develop their own society • Value basis – To preserve traditions – To ensure that nature is looked after in line with Sami values – To ensure that the language and culture are passed on to future generations

Establishment of Sami rights • 1987 – The Sami Act • 1988 – The Norwegian Constitution, § 110 a • 1989 – Opening of the Sami Parliament in Norway • 1990 – ILO Convention no. 169 • 1992 – Language rules (the Sami Act) • 1998 – Sami education (the Education Act) • 2005 – The Finnmark Act

Sámi languages • The Sámi languages are today spoken in an area within four countries which form Sápmi, the Sámi territory. • Norway • Sweden • Finland • Russia februar 2021 / Side 6

Sápmi februar 2021 / Side 7

Sámi languages • Three main groups • 1. East Sámi - Kola Peninsula • 2. Central Sámi - Finland, Sweden and Norway • 3. South Sámi – Norway and Sweden • Basic vocabulary • Average shared vocabulary is over 80% (Swadesh basic list of 100 words) • Most important lexical differences due to transition in meaning and recent loanwords februar 2021 / Side 8

1. South sámi 2. Ume sámi 3. Pite sámi 4. Lule sámi 5. North sámi 6. Anar sámi 7. Skolt sámi 8. Akkala sámi 9. Kildin sámi 10. Ter sámi februar 2021 / Side 9

Sámi languages – sub groups • Skoltsami, akkalasami, kildinsami and tersami • arjeplogssámi, lulesámi and northsámi • south sámi and ume sámi februar 2021 / Side 10

North Sámi • North sámi approximately 15000 -17000 speakers • 9000 -10000 speakers live in Norway • 5000 -6000 speakers in Sweden • 2000 speakers in Finland • Areas with many speakers in the same town, majority samis • The latest orthography that is in use is from 1979 • Earliest orthograhpy from 1748 • 75% of speakers of sámi languages februar 2021 / Side 11

South Sámi • 500 and 1000 speakers divided into Norway and Sweden • Speakers/families dispersed over a big area • No village/town with a big number of speakers februar 2021 / Side 12

Ume sámi • No numbers available at the moment februar 2021 / Side 13

Lulesámi • 500 -1000 speakers divided into Sweden and Norway februar 2021 / Side 14

Anarsámi and Skoltsámi • Anarsami about 500 speakers in Finland • Skoltsami about 500 speakers in Finland • Kola Peninsula in Russia there are 700 persons who speak sami • 20 ter sami speakers, akkalasami with less than 10 speakers and a variety that belongs to skoltsami, notozersami with about 25 speakers. The biggest sami language on the Kola Peninsula is kildinsami which have about 650 speakers. februar 2021 / Side 15

Minority languages Subjected to cultural assimilation : o Influenced by the majority language in respective country o Grammatical elements o Lexical elements februar 2021 / Side 16

Terminology development • In order to develop the Sami languages it is of utmost importance to conquer new language areas. To be able to use Sami languages at academic occasions academic terminology and academic terms in Sami languages are needed. • A big obstacle when using Sámi education materials from other countries is the difference in terminology. februar 2021 / Side 17

Sami language has a rich derivational system • The possibility to produce word derivationals is strongly contributing to the abundance of word forms in Sami, here is an example with som derivationals from the north sami verb lohkat ’to read or count': • logastit ’to read or countlittle or quickly' • lohkalit ’to read or countquickly' • logadit ’to be reading or counting' • logahit ’to make someone read or count', • logahallat ’to make several people to read or count' • lohkkojuvvot ’to be read or counted' • lohkagoahtit ’to start reading or countnig' • logaldallat ’to give a lecture'

Rich derivational system Some derivational endings enables to make produce derivationals that represent new word classes, for example: • lohkki ’reader' lohkan ’lecture or counting' • logus ’reading, something to read' • lohku ’amount, number, account' • lohkamuš ’something to read or count' • logakeahttá(i) ’unread, uncounted' • logahahtti ’readable, countable' • lohkalas ’inclined to read, count' • lohkameahttun ’uncountable, unreadable' • logaldallan ’lecture'

Sámi terminology • The sami language is heavily influenced by the majority language in the countries. Our languages are dependent of that we manage to cooperate across the country borders. A weak cooperation will result in that the sami languages develop in different directions in the different countries and in the worst case scenario this will result in difficulties in understanding each other. februar 2021 / Side 20

Normalisation of words • The Sami parliament is responsible for normalization of Sami words and terms. The Sami parliament has produced the word database www. risten. no. The web based database was launched in 1998. • In addition the database altso contains a grammar page regarding soutsami, julesami and nortsami grammar. It is possible to do searches in the database using Norwegian or sami. The word database contains sami terminology data bases, sami word lists and sami dictionaries in south-, julev- and north sami. It is a continuous work to update the database with additional databases, word lists and dictionaries. februar 2021 / Side 21

The Sami Language Council • Appointed by the Sami Parliament in Norway’s Executive Council • The Sami Parliament in Norway’s expert body on language-related matters

Sami language Council • It is the Sami language board that approves of Sami terms. The sami language board coordinates terminology projects, also across the borders, in order to use the spare language resources wisely. Coordination and mapping of words is important in order to avoid confusion of the terminology. The different countries where Sámi is spoken can have different terminology for the same terms. februar 2021 / Side 23

Terminology work • The examiner in the sami parliaments terminology and place name team receives a terminologt list. From there an assessment is made if it is necessary to send the list to the sami language council in order to get approval. When the sami language board has examined the terminology list they send it in return to the sami parliament. Then it only remains to publish the terminology list. februar 2021 / Side 24

Example Åarjelsaemien gïele Nöörjen gïele geysijre mearoestraejmie geysir havstrøm Svöörjen gïele gejser havsström Synonyme Baakoe-tjïerte substantiv sammensatt meara-straejmie, substantiv av haave-straejmie, mearoe + saelhtie-straejmie Baakoen syjjehtimmie Åerjelsaemien jiehtegh Daaroen jiehtegh geysijre, geysijrasse Islaante lea åehpies dållevaerijste jïh geysijrijstie. Island er kjent for vulkaner og geysirer. Akte strïhke leamas mearoestraejmie feelpie mearoe-straejmie, mij mearoe. Golfstrømmine straajman gåhtjobe. Det renner en kraftig varm havstrøm som vi kaller Golfstrømmen. februar 2021 / Side 25

Risten 2 • The sami parliament has launched a project to improve the word data base and make it more user friendly, it will hopefully be finished within 2012. februar 2021 / Side 26