Skolt Saami

Skolt Saami is one of the five living Eastern Saamic languages.

Name
The name skolt, and derived from it Finnish koltta, is likely borrowed from North-Germanic (Norwegian) skalle (cf. Old Norse skoltr, English skull) and means originally 'bald' (skallet in Norwegian).

Location
Skolt Saami is spoken in the borderland area between Russia, Norway and Finland.

Speakers
There are estimated to be about 300 speakers, with the vast majority of whom living in Finland. Only somewhat more than 20 Skolt Saami speakers live in Russia. Although the traditional Skolt Saami dialect of Norway is extinct, the language is again spoken in its original areas there by a few Finnish Skolt Saami domiciled in Norway.

Dialects
Skolt-Saami can be split up into the following dialects:.

Northern Skolt Saami Southern Skolt Saami The names of the dialects coincide with the names of the original Skolt Saami villages (or rather settlement areas, in Skolt Saami called sijdd), but note that a few of them are merged into two common dialects.
 * Njauddâm
 * Paaččjokk – Peäccam – Mue´tǩǩ
 * Suõ´nn’jel
 * Njuõ´ttjäu´rr – Sââ´rvesjäu´rr

Classification

 * Uralic
 * Finno-Ugric
 * Finno-Permic
 * Finno-Saamic
 * Saamic
 * Eastern Saamic
 * Mainland Eastern Saamic

Links

 * 'Skolt Saami language' in Wikipedia
 * Skolt Saami resources in OLAC

Major works on the language

 * Tim Feist. 2010. A Grammar of Skolt Saami Ph.D. thesis, University of Manchester.
 * Toivo Immanuel Itkonen. 2011 (1958). Wörterbuch des Kolta- und Kolalappischen 1–2. Helsiki: SUS ISBN 952-5150-26-7 ISBN 978-952-5667-31-8
 * Matti Miestamo. 2011. Skolt Saami: a typological profile. Journal de la Société Finno-Ougrienne 93. 111–145. ISSN 1798-2987