Inari Sámi (or anarâškielâ) is spoken by some 400 people living around Lake Inari in Finland’s northeastern corner. Of those, less than 300 have it as their first language.
Pirita Näkkäläjärvi is head of YLE Sápmi, a branch of Finland’s state broadcasting corporation. She tells BarentsObserver it is the radio’s duty to also publish news in the endangered languages.
“We are the only media in the world that regularly broadcasts on the radio in the Inari and Skolt Sámi languages. Since we have also other publishing platforms, such as our brand new website, it is our duty to utilize them to publish also in the Inari Sámi language,” says Pirita Näkkäläjärvi.
The first news article in Inari Sámi was published this week. Traditionally YLE Sápmi broadcast and webpublish news in northern Sámi, the language spoken by the majority of the Sámi population in northern Finland, Norway and Sweden.
Along with Finnish, Skolt Sámi and Northern Sámi, Inari Sámi is one of the four official languages in the municipality of Inari. The municipality is both Finland’s largest and sparsely populated with a population of 6,700. That is 0,45 inhabitants per square kilometer.
YLE Sápmi is also soon going online with articles in Skolt Sámi, another language spoken by some 400 people in the area around the Lake. “We are restricted by resources, but our multi-talented Inari and Skolt Sámi journalists have been trained in the internet publishing skills in the recent weeks,” says Pirita Näkkäläjärvi to BarentsObserver.
Skolt Sámi language was earlier also spoken by a small group in Neiden on the Norwegian side of the border, as well as in some villages on the Russian side of the border. The state borders in this area was made up in 1826 and after the Russian revolution and Finland’s independence, the Skolt Sámi population could no longer move freely between the Soviet Union on one side and Finland and Norway on the other.
