Sami or Saami is a general name for a group of Uralic languages spoken by the Sami people in parts of northern Norway, Sweden, Finland and extreme northwestern Russia, in Northern Europe. Sami is frequently (and erroneously) believed to be a single language. Several names are used for the Sami languages: Saami, Sámi, Samic, Saamic, Lappish and Lappic. The last two are, along with the term Lapp, considered derogatory by some. National anthem Sámi soga lávlla Languages Sami, Norwegian, Swedish, Finnish, Russian Area ca. ... Current distribution of Human Language Families Most languages are known to belong to language families. ... Geographical distribution of Samoyedic, Finnic, Ugric and Yukaghir languages  Yukaghir  Samoyedic  Ugric  Finnic The Uralic languages (pronounced: ) form a language family of about 30 languages spoken by approximately 20 million people. ... Approximate geographical distribution of areas where indigenous Finno-Ugric languages are spoken. ... Geographical distribution of Finno-Ugric (Finno-Permic in blue, Ugric in green). ... ISO 639-1 is the first part of the ISO 639 international-standard language-code family. ... ISO 639-2:1998 Codes for the representation of names of languages — Part 2: Alpha-3 code Twenty-two of the languages have two three-letter codes: a code for bibliographic use (ISO 639-2/B) a code for terminological use (ISO 639-2/T). ... ISO 639-3 is in process of development as an international standard for language codes. ... Akkala Sami is a Sami language that was spoken in Russia. ... Kildin Saami is spoken by apprx 500 people at the Kola Peninsula in northwestern Russia. ... Kemi Sami is a Sami language that was originally spoken in the southernmost district of Finnish Lapland as far south as the Sami siidas around Kuusamo. ... Ter Sami is a Sami language spoken in the eastern region of the Kola peninsula. ... Inari Sami (anarâškielâ) is a Finno-Ugric, Sami language spoken in Finland by some 300-400 people, the majority of which are middle-aged or older and live in the town of Inari. ... Skolt Sami (Sää´mÇ©iõll) is a Finno-Ugric, Sami language spoken in Finland and nearby parts of Russia. ... Ume Sami is a Sami language spoken in Sweden and Norway. ... Pite Sami, also known as Arjeplog Sami, is a Sami language spoken in Sweden and Norway. ... Northern Saami (also, Sámi or Sami, formerly Lapp) is the most widely spoken of all Sami languages. ... This page is a candidate for speedy deletion. ... Southern Saami is divided into two main dialects: Southern Saami sensu stricto and Ume Saami. ... For information on how to read IPA transcriptions of English words see here. ... Phonetics (from the Greek word φωνή, phone meaning sound, voice) is the study of sounds and the human voice. ... Because of technical limitations, some web browsers may not display some special characters in this article. ... This is a concise version of the International Phonetic Alphabet for English sounds. ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... Geographical distribution of Samoyedic, Finnic, Ugric and Yukaghir languages  Yukaghir  Samoyedic  Ugric  Finnic The Uralic languages (pronounced: ) form a language family of about 30 languages spoken by approximately 20 million people. ... The Sami people (also Sámi, Saami, Lapps and Laplanders) are the indigenous people of Sápmi, which encompasses parts of northern Sweden, Norway, Finland and the Kola Peninsula of Russia. ... Northern Europe is marked in dark blue Northern Europe is a name of the northern part of the European continent. ... A word or phrase is pejorative or derogatory (sometimes misspelled perjorative) if it expresses contempt or disapproval; dyslogistic (noun: dyslogism) is used synonymously (antonyms: meliorative, eulogistic, noun eulogism). ...

Classification

The Sami languages form a branch of the Uralic language family. According to the traditional view, Sami is within the Uralic family most closely related to the Baltic-Finnic languages (Sammallahti 1998). However, this view has recently been doubted by some scholars, who argue that Sami is not necessarily more closely related to Baltic-Finnic than to its more eastern relatives [1], but merely shows strong areal influence from Baltic-Finnic. Geographical distribution of Samoyedic, Finnic, Ugric and Yukaghir languages  Yukaghir  Samoyedic  Ugric  Finnic The Uralic languages (pronounced: ) form a language family of about 30 languages spoken by approximately 20 million people. ... Baltic-Finnic languages are a subgroup of Finno-Ugric languages, spoken around the Baltic Sea by about 6 million people. ...

In terms of internal relationships, the Sami languages are divided into two groups: the western and the eastern ones. The groups may be further divided into various subgroups and ultimately individual languages. (Sammallahti 1998: 6-38.) Parts of the Sami language area form a dialect continuum in which the neighbouring languages may be to a fair degree mutually intelligible, but two more widely separated groups will not understand each others' speech. There are, however, sharp and absolute 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. A dialect continuum is a range of dialects spoken across a large geographical area, differing only slightly between areas that are geographically close, and gradually decreasing in mutual intelligibility as the distances become greater. ...

Western Sami languages

• Southern Sami
• Ume Sami
• Pite Sami
• Lule Sami
• Northern Sami

Eastern Sami languages Southern Saami is divided into two main dialects: Southern Saami sensu stricto and Ume Saami. ... Ume Sami is a Sami language spoken in Sweden and Norway. ... Pite Sami, also known as Arjeplog Sami, is a Sami language spoken in Sweden and Norway. ... This page is a candidate for speedy deletion. ... Northern Saami (also, Sámi or Sami, formerly Lapp) is the most widely spoken of all Sami languages. ...

• Inari Sami
• Kemi Sami (extinct)
• Skolt Sami
• Akkala Sami (extinct)
• Kildin Sami
• Ter Sami

Inari Sami (anarâškielâ) is a Finno-Ugric, Sami language spoken in Finland by some 300-400 people, the majority of which are middle-aged or older and live in the town of Inari. ... Kemi Sami is a Sami language that was originally spoken in the southernmost district of Finnish Lapland as far south as the Sami siidas around Kuusamo. ... Skolt Sami (Sää´mǩiõll) is a Finno-Ugric, Sami language spoken in Finland and nearby parts of Russia. ... Akkala Sami is a Sami language that was spoken in Russia. ... Kildin Saami is spoken by apprx 500 people at the Kola Peninsula in northwestern Russia. ... Ter Sami is a Sami language spoken in the eastern region of the Kola peninsula. ...

Geographic distribution

Geographic distribution of the Sami languages: 1. Southern Sami, 2. Ume Sami, 3. Pite Sami, 4. Lule Sami, 5. Northern Sami, 6. Skolt Sami, 7. Inari Sami, 8. Kildin Sami, 9. Ter Sami.

The Sami languages are spoken in Lapland in Northern Europe, in a region stretching over the four countries Norway, Sweden, Finland and Russia, reaching from the southern part of central Scandinavia in the southwest to the tip of the Kola Peninsula in the east. Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1107x1329, 327 KB) Summary A map of Sami dialects numbered. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1107x1329, 327 KB) Summary A map of Sami dialects numbered. ... National anthem Sámi soga lávlla Languages Sami, Norwegian, Swedish, Finnish, Russian Area ca. ... Northern Europe is marked in dark blue Northern Europe is a name of the northern part of the European continent. ... Scandinavia is a region in Northern Europe. ... Location of Kola south of the Barents Sea. ...

During the Middle Ages and Early Modern Age now extinct Sami languages have also been 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 and Karelian oral tradition contain many mentions of the earlier Sami inhabitation in these areas (Itkonen 1947). Also loanwords 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). These Sami languages, however, became later extinct under the wave of the Finno-Karelian agricultural expansion. The Middle Ages formed the middle period in a traditional schematic division of European history into three ages: the classical civilization of Antiquity, the Middle Ages, and modern times, beginning with the Renaissance. ... The early modern period is a term used by historians to refer to the period in Western Europe and its first colonies, between the Middle Ages and modern society. ... Map showing the parts Karelia is traditionally divided into. ... This article is about Karelia, the land of the Karelians, in its broadest meaning. ... Oral tradition or oral culture is a way of transmitting history, literature or law from one generation to the next in a civilization without a writing system. ... A loanword (or loan word) is a word directly taken into one language from another with little or no translation. ...

Written languages and sociolinguistic situation

At present there are nine living Sami languages. The largest six of the languages have independent literary languages; the three others have no written standard, and there are only few, mainly elderly speakers left. The ISO 639-2 code for all Sami languages without its proper code is "smi". The six written languages are: ISO 639-2:1998 Codes for the representation of names of languages — Part 2: Alpha-3 code Twenty-two of the languages have two three-letter codes: a code for bibliographic use (ISO 639-2/B) a code for terminological use (ISO 639-2/T). ...

• Northern Sami (Norway, Sweden, Finland): With an estimated 15,000 speakers, this accounts for probably more than 75% of all Sami speakers in 2002.^{[citation needed]} ISO 639-1/ISO 639-2: se/sme
• Lule Sami (Norway, Sweden): The second largest group with an estimated 1,500 speakers.^{[citation needed]} ISO 639-2: smj
• Southern Sami (Norway, Sweden): 500 speakers (estimated).^{[citation needed]} ISO 639-2: sma
• Inari Sami (Enare Sami) (Inari, Finland): 500 speakers (estimated).^{[citation needed]} SIL code: LPI, ISO 639-2: smn
• Skolt Sami (Näätämö and the Nellim-Keväjärvi districts, Inari municipality, Finland, also spoken in Russia, previously in Norway): 400 speakers (estimated).^{[citation needed]} SIL code: LPK, ISO 639-2: sms
• Kildin Sami (Kola Peninsula, Russia): 650 speakers (estimated).^{[citation needed]} SIL code: LPD

The remaining living languages Ter Sami, Pite Sami and Ume Sami are moribund and have very few (likely under 20) speakers left.^{[citation needed]} The last speaker of Akkala Sami is known to have died in 2003, and the eleventh attested variety Kemi Sami became extinct in the 19th century. Northern Saami (also, Sámi or Sami, formerly Lapp) is the most widely spoken of all Sami languages. ... For album titles with the same name, see 2002 (album). ... ISO 639-1 is the first part of the ISO 639 international-standard language-code family. ... ISO 639-2:1998 Codes for the representation of names of languages — Part 2: Alpha-3 code Twenty-two of the languages have two three-letter codes: a code for bibliographic use (ISO 639-2/B) a code for terminological use (ISO 639-2/T). ... This page is a candidate for speedy deletion. ... ISO 639-2:1998 Codes for the representation of names of languages — Part 2: Alpha-3 code Twenty-two of the languages have two three-letter codes: a code for bibliographic use (ISO 639-2/B) a code for terminological use (ISO 639-2/T). ... Southern Saami is divided into two main dialects: Southern Saami sensu stricto and Ume Saami. ... ISO 639-2:1998 Codes for the representation of names of languages — Part 2: Alpha-3 code Twenty-two of the languages have two three-letter codes: a code for bibliographic use (ISO 639-2/B) a code for terminological use (ISO 639-2/T). ... Inari Sami (anarâškielâ) is a Finno-Ugric, Sami language spoken in Finland by some 300-400 people, the majority of which are middle-aged or older and live in the town of Inari. ... Inari (Aanaar in Inari Sami, Anár in Northern Sami, Aanar in Skolt Sami, Enare in Swedish) is a municipality in Finland. ... SIL International is a non-profit, Christian, scientific organization with the main purpose to study, develop and document lesser-known languages for the purpose of expanding linguistic knowledge, promoting world literacy and aiding minority language development. ... ISO 639-2:1998 Codes for the representation of names of languages — Part 2: Alpha-3 code Twenty-two of the languages have two three-letter codes: a code for bibliographic use (ISO 639-2/B) a code for terminological use (ISO 639-2/T). ... Skolt Sami (Sää´mǩiõll) is a Finno-Ugric, Sami language spoken in Finland and nearby parts of Russia. ... Inari (Aanaar in Inari Sami, Anár in Northern Sami, Aanar in Skolt Sami, Enare in Swedish) is a municipality in Finland. ... SIL International is a non-profit, Christian, scientific organization with the main purpose to study, develop and document lesser-known languages for the purpose of expanding linguistic knowledge, promoting world literacy and aiding minority language development. ... ISO 639-2:1998 Codes for the representation of names of languages — Part 2: Alpha-3 code Twenty-two of the languages have two three-letter codes: a code for bibliographic use (ISO 639-2/B) a code for terminological use (ISO 639-2/T). ... Kildin Saami is spoken by apprx 500 people at the Kola Peninsula in northwestern Russia. ... Location of Kola south of the Barents Sea. ... SIL International is a non-profit, Christian, scientific organization with the main purpose to study, develop and document lesser-known languages for the purpose of expanding linguistic knowledge, promoting world literacy and aiding minority language development. ... Ter Sami is a Sami language spoken in the eastern region of the Kola peninsula. ... Pite Sami, also known as Arjeplog Sami, is a Sami language spoken in Sweden and Norway. ... Ume Sami is a Sami language spoken in Sweden and Norway. ... Akkala Sami is a Sami language that was spoken in Russia. ... Kemi Sami is a Sami language that was originally spoken in the southernmost district of Finnish Lapland as far south as the Sami siidas around Kuusamo. ...

Orthographies

The Sámi languages use an extended version of the latin alphabet. The Latin alphabet, also called the Roman alphabet, is the most widely used alphabetic writing system in the world today. ...

Note that the letter Đ is a capital D with a bar across it (Unicode U+0110) and is not the capital eth (Ð; U+00D0) found in Icelandic, Faroese or Old English, which it is almost identical to. Soft Sign (Ь, ÑŒ) is a letter in the Cyrillic alphabet (Russian: мягкий знак (mÄ­ahkiy znak) [], Ukrainian: м’який знак (miakyy znak) [], Belarusian: мяккі знак (miakki znak) []). It is named so because it usually indicates softening, or palatalization, of the preceding consonant or of the group of them. ... Because of technical limitations, some web browsers may not display some special characters in this article. ... Old English (also called Anglo-Saxon) is an early form of the English language that was spoken in parts of what is now England and southern Scotland between the mid-fifth century and the mid-twelfth century. ...

Kildin Sámi uses an extended version of the Cyrillic alphabet: Аа Ӓӓ Бб Вв Гг Дд Ее Ёё Жж Зз Ии Йй Ӣӣ Кк Лл Ӆӆ Мм Ӎӎ Нн Ӊӊ Ӈӈ Оо Пп Рр Ҏҏ Сс Тт Уу Фф Хх Цц Чч Шш Щщ Ъъ Ыы Ьь Ҍҍ Ээ Ӭӭ Юю Яя Јј Ѣѣ ʼ. It also uses macrons, which are difficult to show on the Internet due to technical restrictions. The Cyrillic alphabet (pronounced , also called azbuka, from the old name of the first two letters) is an alphabet used for several East and South Slavic languages—Belarusian, Bosnian, Bulgarian, Macedonian, Russian, Rusyn, Serbian, and Ukrainian—and many other languages of the former Soviet Union, Asia and Eastern Europe. ...

Skolt Sámi uses ˊ (U+02CA) as a soft sign; due to technical restrictions, it is often replaced by ´ (U+00B4).

Official status

Adopted in April 1988, Article 110a 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. Sami is an official language of the municipalities of Kautokeino, Karasjok, Kåfjord, Nesseby, Sør-Varanger and Tana. County Finnmark District Municipality NO-2011 Administrative centre Kautokeino Mayor (2004) Klemet Erland Hætta (Samefolkets liste - Sámi Peoples Party) Official language form BokmÃ¥l and Sami Area  - Total  - Land  - Percentage Ranked 1 9,708 km² 8,964 km² 3. ... County Finnmark Landscape Municipality NO-2021 Administrative centre Karasjok Mayor (2004) Kjell H. Sæther (Ap) Official language form BokmÃ¥l and Sami Area  - Total  - Land  - Percentage Ranked 2 5,453 km² 5,205 km² 1. ... County Troms District Municipality NO-1940 Administrative centre Olderdalen Mayor (2003) Bjørn Inge Mo (Ap) Official language form BokmÃ¥l and Sami Area  - Total  - Land  - Percentage Ranked 106 991 km² 950 km² 0. ... County Finnmark Landscape Municipality NO-2027 Administrative centre Nyborg Mayor (2003) Ann Jorid Henriksen (Ap) Official language form BokmÃ¥l and Sami Area  - Total  - Land  - Percentage Ranked 57 1,436 km² 1,367 km² 0. ... County Finnmark Landscape Municipality NO-2030 Administrative centre Kirkenes Mayor (2005) Tone Hatle (H) Official language form BokmÃ¥l Area  - Total  - Land  - Percentage Ranked 6 3,968 km² 3,468 km² 1. ... County Finnmark Landscape Municipality NO-2025 Administrative centre Tana Mayor (2003) Ingrid Smuk Rolstad (Ap) Official language form BokmÃ¥l and Northern Sami Area  - Total  - Land  - Percentage Ranked 5 4,049 km² 3,833 km² 1. ...

In Finland, the Sami language act of 1991 granted Sami people the right to use the Sami languages for all government services. The Sami language act of 2003 made Sami an official language in Enontekiö, Inari, Sodankylä and Utsjoki municipalities. Enontekiö (Eanodat in Northern Sami, Enontekis in Swedish) is a municipality of Finland. ... Inari (Aanaar in Inari Sami, Anár in Northern Sami, Aanar in Skolt Sami, Enare in Swedish) is a municipality in Finland. ... Sodankylä (SoaÄ‘egilli in Northern Sami, Syäˊđjel in Skolt Sami) is a town and municipality of Finland. ... Utsjoki (Ohcejohka in Northern Sami, Uccjokk in Skolt Sami) is a municipality in Finland. ... The municipalities (kunta in Finnish, kommun in Swedish) represent the local level of administration in Finland and act as the fundamental administrative units of the country. ...

On April 1, 2002 Sami became one of five recognized minority languages in Sweden. It can be used in dealing with public authorities in the municipalities of Arjeplog, Gällivare, Jokkmokk and Kiruna. April 1 is the 91st day of the year (92nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar, with 274 days remaining. ... In 1999, Sweden legally recognized five minority languages of Sweden due to its adoption of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. ... The Municipalities or Kommuner represent the local level of self government in Sweden. ... This page deals with both Arjeplog Municipality and the urban area (tätort) Arjeplog Arjeplog Municipality is a municipality in Norrbotten County, in northern Sweden, where Arjeplog is the seat with 2,000 inhabitants. ... Gällivare Municipality is a Municipality in Norrbotten County, in northern Sweden. ... Jokkmokk Municipality is a Swedish municipality in northern Sweden where the town Jokkmokk is seat with 3,200 inhabitants. ... Kiruna municipality is a Swedish municipality in northernmost Sweden where the Swedish city Kiruna (pop. ...

See also: Sami parliaments of Finland, Norway, and Sweden It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Sami government. ...

External links

• Sami alphabets: Basics (in Norwegian) and references - from Skolelinux, in Norwegian
• Kimberli Mäkäräinen "Sámi-related odds and ends," including 5000+ word vocabulary list
• Dictionaries - at University of Tromsø
• Samisk språkråd - Sami language department of the Norwegian Sami parliament (in Norwegian and Northern Sami)
• Finland - Sámi Language Act
• Sami Language Resources All about Sami Languages with glossaries, scholarly articles, resources
• Álgu database, an etymological database of the Sami languages (in Finnish and North Sámi)

Northern Sami edition of Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Skolelinux is an educational Linux distribution based on Debian (hence also named: Debian-Edu). ... The University of Tromsø (Universitetet i Tromsø) is the worlds northernmost university. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1058x1058, 477 KB) aa Wikipedia logo, version 1058px square, no text Wikipedia logo by Nohat (concept by Paullusmagnus); compare Wikipedia File links The following pages link to this file: Arabic language Talk:Anarcho-capitalism Talk:Algorithm Talk:Anno Domini Talk:The... Wikipedia is a multilingual, Web-based, free-content encyclopedia project. ...

References

• Itkonen, T. I. 1947. Lapparnas förekomst i Finland. - Ymer: 43–57. Stockholm.
• Koponen, Eino 1996. Lappische Lehnwörter im Finnischen und Karelischen. - Lars Gunnar Larsson (ed.), Lapponica et Uralica. 100 Jahre finnisch-ugrischer Unterricht an der Universität Uppsala. Studia Uralica Uppsaliensia 26: 83-98.
• Saarikivi, Janne 2004. Über das saamische Substratnamengut in Nordrußland und Finnland. - Finnisch-ugrische Forschungen 58: 162–234. Helsinki: Société Finno-Ougrienne.
• Sammallahti, Pekka 1998. The Saami Languages. An Introduction. Davvi Girji OS, Kárášjohka.