Kildin Sami

Infobox Language
name=Kildin Sami
nativename=Unicode|самь кӣлл
region=Kola Peninsula, Murmansk Oblast, Russia
speakers=753
iso2=smi
iso3=sjd
familycolor=Uralic
fam1=Uralic
fam2=Finno-Ugric
fam3=Finno-Permic
fam4=Finno-Volgaic
fam5=Finno-Lappic
fam6=Sami
fam7=Eastern
script=Cyrillic

Kildin Sami (also spelled Sámi or Saami; formerly Lappish) is a Sami language spoken by approximately 500 people on the Kola Peninsula in northwestern Russia. Kildin Sami is written using an official Cyrillic script.

Geographic distribution

Although Kildin Sámi is spoken by about 500 people throughout the Kola Peninsula, the area around Lovozero has the highest concentration of speakers. It is the largest of the Eastern Sami languages by virtue of the number of its speakers. Its future, however, appears to not be as bright as that of Skolt Sámi or Inari Sámi. The Sámi language that is often considered to be closest to Kildin Sámi, Akkala Sámi, is often considered to be a dialect of Kildin Sámi.

Writing system

Kildin Sami is written in an extended version of the Cyrillic alphabet that was officially approved in 1937.

unicode|ҍ or letters with * follow palatalized д, т, н.

Long vowels are marked with a macron (¯) over the vowel letter (and above the diaeresis in the cases of unicode|ӓ and unicode|ӭ).

The letters unicode|ӓ, unicode|ҋ/ј, unicode|ӆ, unicode|ӎ, unicode|ӊ, unicode|ӈ, unicode|ҏ, ъ, ь, unicode|ҍ and unicode|ӭ do not occur word initially, either because the letters mark features of preceding consonants (like, e.g. unicode|ӓ, ъ) or the sounds they represent do not occur word initially (like, e.g. unicode|ӆ). So these letters don't normally occur in uppercase, except for all caps text.

The letter h occurs word medially or word finally before the letters к, п, т, ц and ч, and marks preaspiration. It is always lowercase, even in all caps text. In another version of the orthography ' (apostrophe) is used to mark preaspiration.

unicode|Ҋ and unicode|ј are alternate ways of writing the same sound, a voiceless palatal approximant.

The letter щ occurs only in Russian loanwords.

Orthographical issues

Several issues have arisen, however, in ensuring that the official written language gains widespread acceptance: the language's numerous dialects, the myriad ways words can be written and its small number of speakers.

Phonology

Rimma Kurutsj's dictionary presents the following vowels for Kildin Sámi:

External links

* [http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=sjd Ethnologue report for language code:sjd]
*ru icon [http://www.peoples.org.ru/alfsaam.html Алфавит саамского языка (кильдинский диалект)]
*ru icon [http://saamruss.narod.ru/download.html Sami-Russian dictionary, Kuruch R. D., Grammar of Kildin Sami language (DJVU, PDF)]
* [http://www-db.helsinki.fi/cgi-bin/thw?${BASE}=saamien&${OOHTML}=docu&${TRIPSHOW}=format=arten&R=349 Kildin Saami language by Jelena Porsanger]