At the frontier: Sámi linguistics gets a boost from outside (original) (raw)

Archaeology, Language, and the Question of Sámi Ethnogenesis

Acta Archaeologica

Debates over the ethnogenesis of the Sámi and their historical presence in Fennoscandia have long affected scholarly and public discourses. More recently, these debates have been fueled by new propositions launched by Finnish linguists regarding the origin and development of the Sámi language. In this article, we target this corpus of linguistic research and the wide-ranging implications it suggests for the Sámi past. While based on historical and comparative linguistics data, a notable feature of the studies examined is that they also lean heavily on assumptions about the archaeological record in their reasonings. These assumptions, we argue, are, to a large extent, based on very limited or outdated knowledge of archaeological research on the Sámi past, and in particular, that of northern Norway. The article raises critical questions regarding the notions of cultural areas, ancestral homelands, and migrations that abound in these linguistic studies and challenges the a priori prima...

A note on language preservation - with special reference to Sami in northern Scandinavia

Suvremena Lingvistika, 1996

This paper discusses the situation of the Sami (Lapp) language of northern Scandinavia in the context of increasing language loss all over the world. Optimistic estimates suggest 30,000 speakers of Sami today, with a clear majority in Norway. After a long period of suppression from local and central authorities the Norwegian state now supports actively the use of Sami. It is pointed out that two areas or domains are especially vital for the continued use of the language: 1) traditional Sami activities such as reindeer breeding, hunting, fishing, and handicrafts; and 2) the families. Here the linguistic development of mixed families (Sami/non-Sami) seems to be of fundamental importance.

Sámi Religion Formations and Proto-Sámi Language Spread: Reassessing a Fundamental Assumption

RMN Newsletter 12–13: 36–69. , 2017

Any historical study of Sámi religions links religion to the history of the language. Here, Proto-Sámi language spread is reviewed and the fundamental (and often implicit) assumption that religion spread with Proto-Sámi language is challenged. An alternative model that language spread as a medium of communication adopted by different cultures is proposed and tested against the Common Proto-Sámi lexicon. The finding is a lack of positive evidence for the spread of religion with Proto-Sámi language, while the name of the central sky-god / thunder-god in Sámi languages on the Kola Peninsula is identified as a loan from an indigenous language, indicating some degree of religious continuity through language change. The lack of positive lexical evidence for a spread of religion combines with evidence that vocabulary and apparently traditions linked to ritual and belief spread through the Proto-Sámi language networks subsequent to its spread. In addition, the archaeological record does not present positive evidence of spread of religion with the language and instead archaeological cultures seem to exhibit continuities through the relevant period. The paper concludes that religion formations documented among later Sámi language groups cannot be assumed to derive from a common Proto-Sámi religion or even to have an Uralic background. Instead, it is possible or even probable that the diversity in later Sámi religions could be an outcome of multiple other linguistic cultural groups shifting to Proto-Sámi language while maintaining their vernacular religion, or at least parts of it. Consequently, generalizations about 'Sámi' religion, claims about common Sámi religious heritage, and also uses of Sámi evidence in comparisons with Uralic traditions should be built on arguments rather than assumptions.

The Sami People: The "White Indians" of Scandinavia

American Indian Culture and Research Journal, 1993

... 4. Conf., eg, M. Johnson, ed., LORE, Capturing Traditional Environmental Knowledge (Hay River, NWT, Canada: Dene Cultural Institute ... A Norwegian Archaeology and the People without 'Prehistory,"' Archeology Review from Cambridge 5:11(1986); Odner, "Sami (Lapps), Finns ...

The bear went down the mountain: Sámi language usage then and now

Linguistica, 2005

The bear had a lofty status in ancient myth and legend. This was especially so among circumpolar hunting groups such as the Sámi who venerated the animal. They resorted to a special system of language for communicating in such a manner that the bear did not understand their intentions. Yet, Sámi folktales portray the bear as a large, rather stupid animal easily duped by others such as the fox. In the 19th century the Sámi were under relentless pressure to assimilate in the nation­ states where they dwelt. One way they resisted assimilation was through a two-part communication system whereby messages had one meaning for outsiders but also contained coded information the outsiders could not understand. This essay, focus­ ing on the code talk, attempts to answer the questions as to why and how the bear's stature changed so significantly from the early Arctic hunting culture to its status in Sámi folktales and argues that the manner of talking to bears formed the basis of the more r...

Beginnings in North Sámi

Finno Ugric Languages and Linguistics, 2013

In North Sámi, inceptives can be formed with the inceptive verb álgit, with the morphologically bound form-goahtit, or by changing the theme vowel of the base verb. The syntactic properties of these inceptives indicate that-goahtit is an auxiliary, and so is álgit when it takes a verbal complement. These inceptive auxiliaries are located below tense, and also below obligational and permissive modals, conditional mood, negation, and the head encoding progressive aspect, while they are located above causative, passive and frequentative aspect. The position of inceptive auxiliaries in North Sámi is not in accordance with neither of the two positions for inceptives suggested by Cinque (2006), since on Cinque's proposal, inceptives that are below modals should also be below the causative and the passive. The North Sámi inceptives álgit and-goahtit are also problematic for Fukuda (2008), since they are located higher that any of the two inceptive positions identified by him. The inceptives involving change of theme vowels could however be associated with Fukuda's higher inceptive position, since they take VP as their complement. Notably, álgit can also appear with only nominal dependents, and I argue that it is then the main verb of the clause.