Saami languages

The Saami languages are among the indigenous languages of Europe. They are the closest immediate relatives of the Baltic-Finnic group. There are ten known Saami languages. The Western Saami group includes South, Ume, Pite, Lule and North Saami, while the Eastern group consists of Inari, Skolt, Akkala, Kildin and Ter Saami. Only a few dozen people speak Ume, Pite and Ter Saami as their native language. Akkala Saami recently became an extinct language.

Saami languages are spoken in four countries: Finland, Sweden, Norway and Russia. Depending on how ‘Saami’ is defined, the Saami population numbers between 60,000 and 100,000, of whom 6,000-7,000 live in Finland. Saami is spoken by no more than half of the Saami population.

Three Saami languages are spoken in Finland: Inari, Skolt and North Saami. Each has its own standard written form and orthography, and they are not mutually intelligible. For speakers of different Saami languages to understand each other, they would have to learn each other’s languages from scratch.

Although multilingualism has always been an inherent feature of Saami culture, many Saamis no longer speak their native language due to pressure from the majority language. Only half of Finland’s Saamis speak Saami as their native language. The revival and support of Saami languages is a high-priority mission in all the Nordic countries.

Since 1992, Saami languages have had official status in Saami-populated regions of Finland, i.e. the municipalities of Enontekiö, Inari and Utsjoki and the northern part of Sodankylä. Saami people enjoy the right to service in their native language in all official institutions and hospitals. North Saami is the main language of instruction in certain schools in Utsjoki and Inari, and native speakers are now eligible to take their matriculation examinations in North Saami.

Although primarily inhabiting the Arctic region, Saami people live all over Finland. Finland’s largest Saami colony is Helsinki, which is home to 400-500 Saamis. Utsjoki is the only Finnish municipality where Saamis are in the majority. The language spoken there is North Saami, the best-known and most widely distributed of all the Saami languages, being spoken by 75 per cent of all Saami-speakers in Norway, Sweden and Finland. North Saami is spoken by at least 2,000 Finns.

Speakers of Skolt and Inari Saami mainly reside in the municipality of Inari, the only Finnish municipality that has four officially recognised languages. All official communications are conducted in Finnish, Inari, Skolt and North Saami.  

Speakers of Skolt Saami, who currently number around 600, previously inhabited the Petsamo Region, but following its cession to the Soviet Union, they were resettled in Sevettijärvi and Nellim after the Second World War. Inari speakers, numbering about 600, are the indigenous inhabitants of Inari. The mission of the Anarâškielâ Servi Association is to actively revive the Inari language. Promising results are being achieved with the ‘language nest’ method, with young children relearning Inari in language-immersion day-care centres.