Skolt Saami

• Main Authors: Koponen, Eino, Miestamo, Matti, Juutinen, Markus
• Format: Book Part
• Language: unknown
• Published: Oxford University PressOxford 2022
• Subjects: Inari; saami
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198767664.003.0012; https://academic.oup.com/book/chapter-pdf/47094720/oso-9780198767664-chapter-12.pdf

Abstract Skolt Saami is an indigenous language originally spoken on both sides of the present-day Norwegian-Russian border. Today, almost all of the 200–300 remaining speakers live in Finland, especially in the municipality of Inari; they are resettled evacuees from the Petsamo region (which was ceded to the Soviet Union in 1944) or their descendants. Skolt Saami is highly endangered, despite promising attempts at revitalization. The written standard, created in the 1970s, is taught at local schools and has some public use. The typology of Skolt Saami has developed from the relatively agglutinative structure of Proto Saami to a rather high degree of fusionality, and its morphology involves complex stem and suffix alternations. In this chapter, the structure of the present-day Skolt Saami and its historical background are briefly presented. The chapter ends with a glossed text example.