| Summary: | Abstract This paper illustrates and analyses the connections between spoken Saami and the lyric oeuvre of Nils-Aslak Valkeapää on several levels. Among other things, it provides examples of distinctive morpho-phonological, lexical and syntactic features as well as the use of punctuation marks, fonts, and other layout elements. Of the connections exemplified, the use of dialect in particular is regarded as a manifestation of the local identity of the poet, but the use of certain other features has clearly been motivated by stylistic and aesthetic considerations. As a contextualizing introduction, the author describes the difficulties of a minority writer who was never taught his native Saami language at school and whose first books were published amid the turmoil of constantly changing Saami orthographies. In addition, the role of dialects in Saami literature is discussed on a more general level.
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