Finland’s Three Sámi Languages

There are ten Sámi languages in total, and three of them are spoken in the Sámi region of Finland. The Finnish Sámi can thus be divided linguistically in three groups: North Sámi, Inari Sámi and Skolt Sámi. The largest group is North Sámi (davvisámegiella), which is used in Finland, Sweden and Norway. The majority of Sámi language teaching and teaching in Sámi, Sámi communication, literature, music, and all of the published Sámi materials, are in North Sámi. Approximately 75-90 % of the Sámi-speaking population uses North Sámi; most of them live in Norway.

In Finland, North Sámi is the mother tongue for approximately 2000 people. Skolt Sámi has traditionally been used in the western parts of the Kola Peninsula, from where the native speakers of Skolt Sámi came before settling in Finland after World War II. Today, the Skolt Sámi live mainly in the Inari municipality region, and there are approximately 350 native speakers.   The  situation of the Skolt Sámi is alarming because the younger generation has not learned it as a mother tongue. However, a language nest activity and teaching in Skolt Sámi have somewhat increased the use of the language alongside Finnish.  Inari Sámi is the only Sámi language that is only spoken in Finland, and traditionally is spoken only in the Inari municipality region. There are approximately 300 speakers of Inari Sámi. The position of Inari Sámi standard language has strengthened and recovered due to the language nest activity organised by the Inari Sámi organisation (Anarakiela-Servi). Also, teaching in Inari Sámi has increased significantly every year due to the language nest action.

Sámi Languages and the Sámi Parliament

The Sámi language is the language of the indigenous Sámi people.  The Finnish State is committed, through its own legislation and international contracts, to protecting, maintaining and developing the language and culture of the indigenous Sámi people. The Sámi have, according to  Finnish law, self-government of their language and culture in the Sámi Homeland.   This self-government is realised by the Sámi Parliament. The position of Sámi languages is endangered, even though the situation improved to some extent when the new Sámi Language Act came into effect in 2004. The new teaching legislation introduced at the end of the 1990s and the teaching funding regulations have also improved the position of the Sámi language. Another improvement was the beginning of the development of social affairs and health services in Sámi, aided by funding specifically intended for this purpose.

Regardless of these social actions, according to the UNESCO international classification all Sámi languages are endangered.  Inari and Skolt Sámi, which are spoken in Finland, are classified as seriously endangered languages. In summer 2002,  it was decided to add the Sámi language to the European Commission’s seriously endangered languages programme. Even though Sámi languages have been somewhat revived, they still need a great deal of specific support to survive from generation to generation. The Sámi Language Council and the Sámi Language Office have to advance these actions as part of their activities in order for the Sámi languages to survive from generation to generation, and so that they can develop lexically to meet today’s requirements.

The Sámi Language Council is in charge of Sámi language issues in the Sámi Parliament. The Sámi Language Office, together with the Sámi Language Council, supervises and advances the implementation of the linguistic rights mentioned in the Sámi Language Act.

The right to use the Sámi language when dealing with the authorities was first legislated in 1991 (516/1991) with the Sámi Language Act. The linguistic rights of the Sámi in this act were based mainly on translation and interpreting. This is the main reason why the linguistic rights of the Sámi have not been realised in practice as widely as the legislator had intended when preparing the legislation. The Sámi Language Act was renewed in 2003 along with the general Language Act (423/2003). The new Sámi Language Act (1086/03) came into effect at the beginning of 2004, and its purpose is to secure the constitutional right to maintain and develop the Sámi language and culture.  The goal of the act is to guarantee the right to have fair trial and good administration, regardless of language, and that the linguistic rights of the Sámi are realised without having to invoke the law. The act concerns all the Sámi languages that are spoken in Finland: North Sámi, Inari Sámi and Skolt Sámi.

When associating in offices or posts in the Sámi Homeland, the Sámi always have the legal right to choose to use either Finnish or Sámi. In their homeland, announcements, proclamations, notices and signs must also be written in Sámi. In the Sámi Homeland, the authorities are obligated to advance the use of the Sámi language in their actions.  Municipal authorities must use Sámi alongside Finnish in records and other documents which are considered generally significant. This is done to the extent considered appropriate by the authorities. According to law, state and municipal authorities in the homeland must ensure that when hiring personnel, every office has to be able to serve customers in Sámi.  The authorities have to ensure, by providing education or in some other ways, that its personnel have the necessary Sámi language skills required for performing their tasks. Every authority supervises compliance with the law in its own field of action.  

Together with the Sámi Language Office, the Language Council provides a report every electoral period on the realisation and progression of linguistic rights. The Sámi Parliament prepared a basic report in 2007 on the realisation of the Sámi Language Act in the years 2004-2007.

The purpose of the Language Council and the Sámi Language Office is to advance and supervise the Sámi Language Act and to raise the status of the Sámi language in society. The communication value of the language has been improved through language planning and terminology work which began a few decades ago. This aim of this work is to root neologisms into the language according to its structure.

The co-Nordic terminology work unifies language use and governs the shift of new words in majority languages to the Sámi. The Language Council and the Sámi Language Office participate actively and support the development of the Sámi language and neologism work together with other professionals working with the language. They co-operate strongly with the Research Institute for the Languages of Finland (Ruoktoeatnan gielaid dutkanguovddáš), which attends to the Sámi language planning and advising in Finland, and where there is a Sámi language researcher working.

The Nordic Sámi language co-operation belonged to the Sámi Language Committee (Sámi giellalávdegoddi), appointed by the Sámi Council, in the years 1971-1996. All forms of Sámi in the Nordic countries and Russia were represented on the committee. The Language Committee was disbanded in 1996 and the Sámi parliaments in Finland, Norway and Sweden agreed on the reorganisation of the language co-operation in 1997. The treaty states that language planning and protecting the position of the language in society are more important than ever before for maintaining the Sámi language and culture. The Language Council and the Sámi Language Office have their own representatives in the Nordic co-operation.