This is the cover and front page of the Greenlandic novel “Bussimi Naapinneq” (A Meeting on the Bus - which I previously discussed here and here), translated into North Sámi as Katrine Muitalus (Katrine’s Story)!
So the challenge for you language aficionados is this: is there a published novel translation which has a fewer number of combined speakers than this one, based on [original language speakers + target language speakers]?.
Based on Wikipedia’s upper bounds for both languages I think the above translation comes in at a combined 82,000 speakers. Give me your suggestions!
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Buori sámegielaid vahku! Happy Sámi Language Week!
This week, October 25-31, is celebrated as the Sámi language week to raise awareness of the languages and cultures of the indigenous Sámi people whose homeland, Sápmi, is spread over the northern parts of Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Russia. To celebrate the week, I thought I’d share a few interesting details about these languages:
🔴 There are nine living Sámi languages and approximately 30 000-40 000 speakers
🔵 All the Sámi languages are considered endangered, and some of them are even on the brink of extinction (such as Ume Sámi with only a few native speakers left)
🟢 The largest of the Sámi languages is Northern Sámi with 20 000 speakers, and it’s spoken in Norway, Sweden, and Finland
🟡 Sámi languages belong to the Uralic language family and they are most closely related to the Baltic-Finnic languages (such as Estonian, Finnish, and Karelian). There are a lot of similarities both grammar and vocabulary wise:
Sámi Finnish
brother viellja veli
shaman/witch noaidi noita
nature luondu luonto
forest meahcci metsä
🔴 The Sámi languages have adapted very well to life in the Arctic environment with a huge vocabulary of nature and weather-related words to describe the Arctic nature. Sometimes the Sámi languages are called the languages of snow as there are over 300 different words for snow and ice
🔵 Sámi languages are gender-neutral, and instead of having only six personal pronouns, they have nine of them:
I mun
you don
she, he, they (singular) son
we (of two people) moai
you (of two people) doai
they (of two people) soai
we mii
you dii
they sii
🟢 Some of my favourite words in Northern Sámi: eallin (life), duottar (fell), ráhkisvuohta (love), eadni (mother), muorra (tree), biegga (wind), oabbá (sister), jiekŋa (ice), beaivváš (sun), boazu (reindeer)
Species demographics: The majority of citizens are Æsir (85%) and they are considered an endangered species. 9% of citizens are human. 6% are various species of extraterrestrials who call themselves Sakaarians.
Area: 430 mi²
Major languages: Allspeak is very commonly spoken amongst New Asgardians, Norwegian and Swedish tying for second most common. Northern Sami is also common.
Major exports: Major exports include fish, reindeer meat, mutton, and woolen textiles.
Life expectancy: Life expectancy varies drastically from species to species. Æsir generally live to be approximately 5,000 years old. Human citizens live approximately 85 years. Not much is known about the other extraterrestrial citizens; many of them have admitted to not knowing their own species' life expectancies.
Leader: The current king of New Asgard is King Brunhilde Herjolfdòttir. She was appointed king when her predecessor, King Thor Odinson, abdicated. She has a council to speak for the people, including representatives of the human and extraterrestrial minorities. The country functions as a monarchical republic.
School enrollment: School enrollment is 0% as New Asgard has no schools as of yet. Children currently depend on the adults around them to teach them and education is almost entirely informal.
Climate: Summers are very mild and very bright due to the midnight sun. Winters are extremely cold and snowy. Citizens are often unable to leave their homes days at a time due to the snow. During such times, a national internet server is set up so that inhabitants can still interact while unable to leave their homes.
Holidays: New Asgardians love their parties, and as such, celebrate a great many events. They celebrate the first snowfall, the first time the snow on the ground melts entirely, the first time the sun comes up after the polar night, and March 4th, the day they were granted land on which to rebuild their civilization. There is also a national day of mourning on November 17th to remember Asgard Proper and everyone who died there.
Clothing: New Asgardians dress warmly by necessity. Mostly in wool, although they often use animal skins for warmth in the winter. Pictures are provided below.
New Asgardians ready for some summer fun! (courtesy of Pintrest)
New Asgardian boy getting ready to learn ice fishing. (courtesy of Google)
New Asgardian man going for a morning sled ride. (courtesy of Google)
New Asgardian woman pretending not to judge you. (courtesy of Google)
Food: Most New Asgardians eat a mix of fish, mutton, and reindeer meat along with whatever plants they can grow in the summer or within their homes.
Fun facts:
New Asgardians are very active people. They enjoy sports such as reindeer racing, ice diving, and a game called ismål.
New Asgard is currently banned from competing in the Olympics. The IOC is exploring scaling options but, until those are determined, only humans may compete.
There are more women than there are men. There are almost 1,000 Æsir women in New Asgard, but only approximately 200 men. (Don’t think about that too hard)
Considering that the Northuldrans are based on the Sami people, the Northuldran characters should have Sami names. They obviously do not. Why is that?
The simplest explanation would be – this particular aspect of the Sami culture was not included in the adaptation.
Another possibility is that the Northuldrans do, in fact, have indigenous names, but only use those amongst themselves, giving the outsiders commonly accepted equivalents, which are easier to pronounce/remember.
Going even further than that – If we operate under the assumption that Arendelle is a Scandinavian state, their Native language is some sort of Scandinavian, and all the characters’ names have been adapted for the benefit of the English-speaking audience, the English dubbing of the movie may not be entirely correct when it comes to pronunciation of names.
Therefore, the Sami equivalents of the Northuldran names could be:
Iduna – Iiddá, Iinná (or she was named after the goddess Iðunn, in which case “Iduna” may have simply been the Northuldran version of Iðunn to begin with)
Honeymaren – Hánna Máren (or she started off as Máren and the “Honey” part was added later in life as a title, something like “Máren the Honey”)
Ryder – Ráidner
Yelana – Heleainná
(This is a crazy idea, but at hopefully it will entertain you ^_^)
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A preview of the Minority Language Report for Northern Sami.
To all speakers of Northern Sami, is there anything I got wrong in the video or is there something else about the language you think I should've mentioned?
Check out the full video at https://youtu.be/vSb9N6cxl9Y.
This is the second post of this kind. As in the last post #1 I want to introduce you to important helpers of revitalising and documenting endangered and lesser-used languages here on tumblr. So, I will name some langblrs that deal partly or wholly with those languages. If you know more of such langblrs please tell me right away and I will mention them in a next post.
Greenlandic
Kalaallisut is a lesser-used language and certainly a minority language within the Danish realm.
@tulunnguaq
Laz language
ლაზური ენა, lazuri ena, or ჭანური ენა, ç̌anuri ena is an endangered Kartvelian language spoken by 22,000 people in Turkey and Georgia that is related to Georgian.
@anadolular
Chickasaw
Chikashshanompa’ is a Muscogean language that is currently spoken by less than 75 people in Oklahoma.
@fractalrainbow
Irish
Gaeilge is the national language of Ireland but only has around 74,000 mother speakers.
@teangacha
@chronically-chilll
@seanfhocail
Scottish Gaelic
Gàidhlig is also a Celtic language as Irish is and is spoken in Scotland and Canada by only 57,000 mother speakers.
@ambi-alba
@selchieproductions
@sgribhisg
Cornish
Kernowek is a revived Celtic language that has gained some new mother speakers again.
@fortheloveoflanguistics (Also about language revitalisation in general)
Sami languages
Saami languages are Uralic languages, related to Finnish and Estonian, and are spoken by around 30,000 mother speakers.
@selchieproductions (Southern Swedish Saami)
@fara-learns-sami (Northern Saami)
I really hope that this will inspire more of you to submit other blogs that deal with a certain endangered, lesser-used or minority/regional language or with language endangerment and revitalisation in general. The network and possibilities of tumblr are such good resources for languages that have hardly any visibility elsewhere and especially no resources to learn with. So, let’s spread this message further, so I will get more submission of endangered langblrs to share with you. Thanks a lot!
