<div dir="ltr">
<div class="gmail-field gmail-field-name-title gmail-field-type-ds gmail-field-label-hidden">
<h1 class="gmail-title">No-one assumes responsibility for Sámi language planning – Minister throws the ball to Nordic cooperation</h1> </div><div class="gmail-field gmail-field-name-field-intro-text gmail-field-type-text-long gmail-field-label-hidden">
Sámi language counseling has again been interrupted in Finland as a result of no financing. </div><div class="gmail-required-fields gmail-group-byline gmail-field-group-div" id="gmail-node-ramsalt-article-full-group-byline"><div class="gmail-field gmail-field-name-field-byline gmail-field-type-field-collection gmail-field-label-hidden">
<div class="entity entity-field-collection-item gmail-field-collection-item-field-byline">
<div class="gmail-field gmail-field-name-field-related-profile gmail-field-type-entityreference gmail-field-label-hidden">
<div class="gmail-ds-2col gmail-node gmail-node-profile gmail-view-mode-list_item gmail-clearfix">
<div class="gmail-group-right">
<div class="gmail-field gmail-field-name-title gmail-field-type-ds gmail-field-label-hidden"><div class="gmail-field gmail-field-name-field-byline-label gmail-field-type-list-text gmail-field-label-hidden" style="display:block">
By </div>
<h4><a href="https://thebarentsobserver.com/en/profil/yle-sapmi">Yle Sapmi</a></h4> </div> </div>
</div>
</div></div>
</div><div class="gmail-field gmail-field-name-sharing-buttons-1 gmail-field-type-ds gmail-field-label-hidden">
<div class="gmail-addthis_sharing_toolbox" style="clear:both"><div id="gmail-atstbx" class="gmail-at-share-tbx-element gmail-addthis-smartlayers gmail-addthis-animated gmail-at4-show"><span id="gmail-at-f31e67c9-db1d-4950-a227-db80977db348" class="gmail-at4-visually-hidden">AddThis Sharing Buttons</span><div class="gmail-at-share-btn-elements"><a tabindex="1" class="gmail-at-icon-wrapper gmail-at-share-btn gmail-at-svc-email" style="background-color:rgb(132,132,132);border-radius:0%"><span class="gmail-at4-visually-hidden">Share to Email</span><span class="gmail-at-icon-wrapper" style="line-height:32px;height:32px;width:32px"></span></a></div></div></div></div></div><a tabindex="1" class="gmail-at-icon-wrapper gmail-at-share-btn gmail-at-svc-google" style="background-color:rgb(66,133,244);border-radius:0%"><span class="gmail-at4-visually-hidden">Share to Google Bookmark</span><span class="gmail-at-icon-wrapper" style="line-height:32px;height:32px;width:32px"></span></a><a tabindex="1" class="gmail-at-icon-wrapper gmail-at-share-btn gmail-at-svc-facebook" style="background-color:rgb(59,89,152);border-radius:0%"><span class="gmail-at4-visually-hidden">Share to Facebook</span><span class="gmail-at-icon-wrapper" style="line-height:32px;height:32px;width:32px"></span></a><span class="gmail-at_flat_counter" style="line-height:32px;font-size:11.4px">90</span><a tabindex="1" class="gmail-at-icon-wrapper gmail-at-share-btn gmail-at-svc-twitter" style="background-color:rgb(29,161,242);border-radius:0%"><span class="gmail-at4-visually-hidden">Share to Twitter</span><span class="gmail-at-icon-wrapper" style="line-height:32px;height:32px;width:32px"></span></a><a tabindex="1" class="gmail-at-icon-wrapper gmail-at-share-btn gmail-at-svc-compact" style="background-color:rgb(255,101,80);border-radius:0%"><span class="gmail-at4-visually-hidden">Share to More</span><span class="gmail-at-icon-wrapper" style="line-height:32px;height:32px;width:32px"></span></a><div class="gmail-moscone-container gmail-moscone-header gmail-clearfix gmail-panel-panel"><div class="gmail-moscone-container-inner gmail-moscone-header-inner gmail-panel-panel-inner"><div class="gmail-required-fields gmail-group-byline gmail-field-group-div" id="gmail-node-ramsalt-article-full-group-byline"><div class="gmail-field gmail-field-name-sharing-buttons-1 gmail-field-type-ds gmail-field-label-hidden"><div class="gmail-addthis_sharing_toolbox" style="clear:both"><div id="gmail-atstbx" class="gmail-at-share-tbx-element gmail-addthis-smartlayers gmail-addthis-animated gmail-at4-show"><div class="gmail-at-share-btn-elements"><span class="gmail-at_flat_counter" style="line-height:32px;font-size:11.4px">5</span></div></div></div> </div></div><div class="gmail-field gmail-field-name-published-date gmail-field-type-ds gmail-field-label-hidden">
November 29, 2018 </div> </div>
</div>
<div class="gmail-moscone-flipped-container gmail-moscone-flipped-column-content gmail-clearfix">
<div class="gmail-moscone-flipped-column-content-region gmail-moscone-flipped-content gmail-panel-panel">
<div class="gmail-moscone-flipped-column-content-region-inner gmail-moscone-flipped-content-inner gmail-panel-panel-inner">
<div class="gmail-field gmail-field-name-body gmail-field-type-text-with-summary gmail-field-label-hidden">
<p>
</p>
<p><em>Text by Sara Wesslin</em></p>
<p> </p>
<p>Sámi Giellagáldu, a competence and resource center that is
responsible for the language planning and counseling of Sámi languages
in Finland, will run out of funds at the end of this year. It is not
sure that its activities will be funded in future, as the Parliament of
Finland will vote on the issue in December in connection with the budget
for 2019. </p>
<p>To be able to serve and guard all the three Sámi languages spoken in
Finland (North, Inari and Skolt Sámi), Sámi Giellagáldu will need
approximately 370,000 euros per year. According to the present budget
proposal, the center will have to cover its activities by about a half
of this sum in future, that is, by 184,000 euros.</p>
<h3>Promoting Sámi languages</h3>
<p>The present Sámi Giellagáldu launched its operations in Finland in
2013. It works in cooperation with the Giellagáldu centers in Norway and
Sweden.</p>
<p>In Finland, Giellagáldu has provided counseling and language planning
in the Inari, Skolt and North Sámi languages. It has also had
responsibility for creating norms for the Sámi languages. For example,
new Sámi words are approved by the Sámi Language Departments coordinated
by Giellagáldu.</p><h2 class="gmail-pane-title" style="text-align:center;color:rgb(166,166,166);font-size:0.75em;line-height:1.66667em;margin-bottom:0.2em">ADVERTISEMENT</h2>
<div style="text-align:center;margin:auto;padding:0px 0px 20px"><div class="gmail-adsense" style="display:inline-block;width:300px;height:250px">
<ins id="gmail-aswift_0_expand" style="display:inline-table;border:medium none;height:250px;margin:0px;padding:0px;width:300px;background-color:transparent"><ins id="gmail-aswift_0_anchor" style="display:block;border:medium none;height:250px;margin:0px;padding:0px;width:300px;background-color:transparent"></ins></ins>
</div></div>
<p>The funding of the center has been interrupted several times during the past five years.</p>
<h3>Could face backlash</h3>
<p>Tiina Sanila-Aikio, the Chair of the Finnish Sámi Parliament, would
never have believed how much the Sámi Giellagáldu could achieve in a few
years.</p>
<p> </p>
<img alt="" src="https://thebarentsobserver.com/sites/default/files/resize/sanila-aikiotiina-1000x666.jpg" width="1000" height="666">
<em>Tiina Sanila-Aikio is Chair of the Finnish Sámi Parliament. Photo: Vesa Toppari / Yle</em>
<p> </p>
<p>With the funding cut off, the necessary work on the Sámi languages will, once again, face a backlash.</p>
<p>«For example, now that the services of the Skolt Sámi Giellagáldu
will come to an end, we will return to the situation in which Skolt Sámi
was earlier. We will no longer have a language specialist who could
help ordinary speakers or provide norms for new words,» Sanila-Aikio
says.</p>
<p>In Norway, the State has guaranteed a permanent annual funding up to
three million Norwegian crowns for the operations of the Sámi
Giellagáldu. But in Finland and Sweden, financing has been on an
extremely uncertain basis ever since the Sámi Giellagáldu launched its
activities.</p>
<p>For the years 2014–15, the center could not run any operations in
Finland. This meant that no services on language planning were provided
for the three Sámi languages spoken in Finland. During this period, the
Sámi Language Departments of Giellagáldu could not, due to lack of
funding, meet in order to decide on new norms and words.</p>
<p>According to Sanila-Aikio, the future of this language cooperation
now depends on the decisions that will be made by the States of Finland
and Sweden.</p>
<h3>Who has responsibility?</h3>
<p>Every year when the future of the Sámi Giellagáldu’s operations
becomes a topic, there is discussion on the roles of the different
actors. In Finland, revitalization of the three Sámi languages is the
task of just a handful of institutions.</p>
<p>In addition to Giellagáldu, language planning in Finland has been the
task of Kotus, the Institute for the Languages of Finland. At present,
Kotus primarily works with the vocabularies and language planning of
Finnish and Swedish. But Kotus also has a Sámi Language Committee, which
coordinates the language planning of the Sámi languages. The committee
meets approximately four times a year.</p>
<p>However, the Institute for the Languages of Finland is not
responsible for providing daily advice on the use of language, says
Matti Räsänen, an expert on language policy. </p>
<p>«In practice, we lack resources. We only come in contact with the
Sámi languages through the Sámi Language Committee and its members. Sámi
language planning is important, but we focus on Finnish and Swedish,»
Räsänen states.</p>
<img alt="" src="https://thebarentsobserver.com/sites/default/files/resize/rasanenmatti_-1000x750.jpg" width="1000" height="750">
<em>Matti Räsänen is expert on language policy. Photo: Institute for the Languages of Finland</em>
<p>In 2012, Sámi language planning was moved from Kotus to the Giellagas Institute of the University of Oulu.</p>
<p>However, Giellagas has no employees focusing on language planning:
the Institute has only one position for a lecturer in Inari Sámi and one
post for a tutor in North Sámi. These positions are partly financed by
the funds for the positions that were moved from Kotus to Giellagas.</p>
<p>The Giellagas Institute of the University of Oulu has responsibility
for carrying out research and providing university-level teaching in the
Sámi languages, not so much for providing everyday Sámi language
counseling or work on vocabularies. These tasks have earlier been
covered by the competence and resource center Sámi Giellagáldu.</p>
<blockquote><span class="gmail-quote-icon gmail-fa gmail-fa-quote-left"></span>
<p>Our work on minority languages is, at present, restricted to the
committees, and we cannot provide services in language planning in the
Sámi languages.</p>
<p>Matti Räsänen, Institute for the Languages of Finland</p>
</blockquote>
<p> </p>
<p>Matti Räsänen from Kotus, the Institute for the Languages of Finland,
is not happy about the situation in which the revitalization of the
Sámi languages has been for years.</p>
<p>«The situation is difficult, and we are certainly not satisfied with
it. We should find a solution to this. Linguistic counseling and
language nests are the kind of activities that should have permanent
funding,» Räsänen emphasizes.</p>
<p>Because of a shortage of resources, the Institute of the Languages of
Finland cannot contribute to concrete measures concerning language
advice. Therefore, Räsänen emphasizes the role of the Sámi Parliament,
the Sámi Giellagáldu and the University of Oulu in the revitalization of
the Sámi languages.</p>
<p>«At present, they play a central role in this. We in Kotus can only monitor the language environment and policy in Finland.»</p>
<h3>Nordic funds</h3>
<p>According to Sanni Grahn-Laasonen, the Finnish Minister of Education,
it is time to find Nordic funding for the operations of Giellagáldu.</p>
<p>«In the Ministry of Education and Cultural Affairs, we realize that
there is a need to find a permanent solution for funding as soon as
possible, and, primarily, in the form of a Nordic solution. It is
possible to increase resources and funding in Finland, if people demand
it,» Grahn-Laasonen says.</p>
<p>The minister does not promise permanent funding, but feels that there
is a strong political will in Finland to keep all the three Sámi
languages spoken in the country alive. According to Grahn-Laasonen, the
Ministry is committed to the revitalization and development of the Sámi
languages.</p>
<p>«I will not give you a maximum sum, but I do consider it essential to
reflect on how to use funds effectively and how the three Sámi
languages can be kept alive for future generations. This requires good
cooperation and a willingness to come up with joint solutions.»</p>
<h3>Report from Nordic working group</h3>
<p>According to Grahn-Laasonen, the Government is now waiting for the
propositions of a Nordic working group as concerns the operations of the
Sámi Giellagáldu. The matter is being prepared by the Ministry of
Justice.</p>
<p>Representatives of the Ministry of Justice say that NÄS, a Nordic
state employees’ cooperation body in Sámi matters, decided in its
meeting in August to set up a working group. Its task is to prepare a
proposition concerning the organization of the Sámi Giellagáldu.</p>
<p>The first propositions of the working group will probably be
submitted in April 2019, Johanna Hautakorpi, Ministerial Adviser of the
Ministry of Justice, says.</p>
<p> «The work is presided by the Norwegian authorities, with officials
from the three countries and the Sámi Parliaments participating. The
working group aims to deal with its work at the Nordic Ministerial
Meeting on Sámi Affairs at the end of November, and the proposition
should be completed by the end of April,» Hautakorpi says.</p>
<p> </p>
<p><em>Translation from Finnish by Kaija Anttonen</em></p>
<hr>
<p><em><a href="https://yle.fi/uutiset/3-10493541" target="_blank">This story </a>is
originally posted by Yle Sapmi and re-published as part of Eyes on
Barents, a collaborative partnership between news organizations and
bloggers in the Barents region</em></p>
</div><div class="gmail-field gmail-field-name-adsense-label-1 gmail-field-type-ds gmail-field-label-hidden">
<h2 class="gmail-pane-title" style="text-align:center;color:rgb(166,166,166);font-size:0.75em;line-height:1.66667em">ADVERTISEMENT</h2>
</div><div class="gmail-field gmail-field-name-adsense-body gmail-field-type-ds gmail-field-label-hidden">
<div style="text-align:center"><div class="gmail-adsense" style="display:inline-block;width:336px;height:280px">
<ins id="gmail-aswift_1_expand" style="display:inline-table;border:medium none;height:280px;margin:0px;padding:0px;width:336px;background-color:transparent"><ins id="gmail-aswift_1_anchor" style="display:block;border:medium none;height:280px;margin:0px;padding:0px;width:336px;background-color:transparent"></ins></ins>
</div></div> </div></div></div></div>
<br clear="all"><br>-- <br><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_signature" data-smartmail="gmail_signature">=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+<br><br> Harold F. Schiffman<br><br>Professor Emeritus of <br> Dravidian Linguistics and Culture <br>Dept. of South Asia Studies <br>University of Pennsylvania<br>Philadelphia, PA 19104-6305<br><br>Phone: (215) 898-7475<br>Fax: (215) 573-2138 <br><br>Email: <a href="mailto:haroldfs@gmail.com" target="_blank">haroldfs@gmail.com</a><br><a href="http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/" target="_blank">http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/</a> <br><br>-------------------------------------------------</div></div>