Inari Sami language
| Inari Sámi | |
|---|---|
| anarâškielâ | |
| Native to | Finland |
| Ethnicity | Inari Sami people |
|
Native speakers
|
300 (2001 census) |
| Latin | |
| Official status | |
|
Recognised minority
language in |
|
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-2 | |
| ISO 639-3 | |
| Glottolog | inar1241 |
Inari Sami is 7 on this map.
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Inari Sámi (anarâškielâ) is a Sami language spoken by the Inari Sami of Finland. It has approximately 300 speakers, the majority of whom are middle-aged or older and live in the municipality of Inari. According to the Sami Parliament of Finland, 269 persons used Inari Sami as their first language. It is the only Sami language that is spoken exclusively in Finland. The language is classified as being seriously endangered as few children learn it.
The first book in Inari Sámi was Anar sämi kiela aapis kirje ja doctor Martti Lutherus Ucca katkismus, which was written and translated by Edvard Wilhelm Borg in 1859. The written history of modern Inari Sámi, however, is said to begin with Lauri Arvid Itkonen's translation of the history of the Bible in 1906, although he had already translated some other books into Inari Sámi (Martin Luther and John Charles Ryles). After that, Inari Sami was mainly published in books written by linguists, Frans Äimä and Erkki Itkonen, in particular. For many years, very little literature was written in Inari Sami, although Sämitigge has funded and published a lot of books, etc., in recent years.
Since 1992, Finland's Sami have had the right to interact with officials in their own language in areas where they have traditionally lived: Enontekiö, Utsjoki, Inari and the northern part of Sodankylä as official policy favors the conservation of the language. All announcements in Inari, which is the only officially quadrilingual municipality in Finland, must be made in Finnish, North Sami, Inari Sami and Skolt Sami. Only about 10% of the public servants in the area, however, can serve the Inari Saami-speaking population in Inari Saami, so Finnish is used by the remaining 90%.
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