Dialects

The Sámi Languages
There are ten Sámi languages. Speakers of languages from areas separated by great distances can not necessarily understand one another.

1. SørSámisk
2. UmeSámisk
3. PiteSámisk
4. LuleSámisk
5. NordSámisk
6. EnareSámisk
7. SkolteSámisk
8. AkkalaSámisk
9. KildinSámisk
10. TerSámisk

Language, dialect or variety?
Depending on how you classify languages and dialects, there are said to be between 2,000 and 6,000 languages in the world. If we consider Swedish and Norwegian to be two different languages, then Sámi should also be subdivided into several languages. However, as the Sámi are a relatively small group of people, the decision has been taken to refer to all the variants of Sámi as one Sámi language, and to divide the language into three main dialects.

Linguistic frontiers not the same as national borders
The fact that the frontiers for the Sámi linguistic areas do not coincide with the national boundaries is a clear sign that the national borders in the north splintered the Sámi's areas. Eastern Sámi dialects are spoken on the Kola Peninsula in Russia; Central Sámi dialects are spoken in Finland, Norway and Sweden; Southern Sámi dialects are spoken in Norway and Sweden. Northern Sámi, Lule Sámi and Arjeplog Sámi (belonging to the main Central Sámi dialect), Southern Sámi and Ume Sámi (a variety with linguistic features of both southern and northern origin) are all spoken in Sweden. The boundaries between the different varieties are not clearly defined, but rather tend to change gradually.

Northern Sámi the largest
Northern Sámi has the most speakers, being spoken by an estimated 15-17,000 people across the entire Sámi area, of which 5-6,000 are in Sweden. Northern Sámi has also spread into Lule Sámi and Southern Sámi areas as a result of the authorities' forcible relocation of Northern Sámi people to these areas during the 1930s.

Difficult to understand each other
One estimate is that around 500 people speak Lule Sámi and a similar number speak Southern Sámi. The differences that exist mean that a Sámi from one area may have difficulty understanding a Sámi from another area. The differences are comparable with the differences between Swedish, Norwegian and Danish. People who have grown accustomed to a different dialect can talk with each other, while others find it more difficult to communicate. The differences between the varieties located furthest away from each other - the Sámi language in the east and Sámi in the south - are almost as great as the differences between Swedish and German.

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