Sámi languages

The Sámi languages are a branch of Uralic languages spoken by the Sámi people. They are spoken in Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Russia. They are Uralic languages like Finnish, Estonian, and Hungarian.

Sámi
Native to	Finland, Norway, Sweden, and Russia
Region	Sápmi (Lapland)
Ethnicity	Sámi
Native speakers	Approximately 20,000–30,000[source?]
Language family	Uralic Sámi
Official status
Official language in	Sweden and some parts of Norway; recognized as a minority language in several municipalities of Finland.
Language codes
ISO 639-3	Variously: sia – Akkala sjd – Kildin sjk – Kemi sjt – Ter smn – Inari sms – Skolt sju – Ume sje – Pite sme – Northern smj – Lule sma – Southern
Historically verified 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. Darkened area represents municipalities that recognize Sami as an official language.

They are sometimes considered dialects of the same language, but people from different dialects mostly do not understand one another. They share many things with the Baltic-Finnic languages such as Finnish, Estonian and Karelian but are not closely related to any of them. Their grammars are similar that of Finnish, but their syntax has undergone influence from the Scandinavian languages.^[1]

Some linguists have a theory that the Sámi languages have come from a Proto-Sámi language, which existed c. 500 BC.^[2][3][4]

The Sámi languages include East Sámi.^[5]

Western Sámi languages

• Southwestern
  • Southern Sami (600)^[6]
    • Åsele dialect
    • Jämtland dialect
  • Ume Sami (20)^[7]
• Northwestern
  • Northwestern proper
    • Pite Sami (20)^[8]
    • Lule Sami (1,000–2,000)^[9]
  • Northern Sami (20,000)^[10]
    • Torne Sami
    • Finnmark Sami
    • Sea Sami

Eastern Sámi languages

Sami languages and settlements in Russia:

  Skolt (Russian Notozersky)

  Akkala (Russian Babinsky)

  Kildin

  Ter

• Mainland
  • Inari Sami (300)^[11]
  • Kemi Sami (extinct)
  • Skolt Sami (420)^[12]
  • Akkala Sami (extinct)
  • Kainuu Sami (extinct)
• Peninsular
  • Kildin Sami (500)^[13]
  • Ter Sami (2^[14]–10^[15])

Related pages

• Sami literature