Kildin Saami

Kildin Saami is a seriously endangered Eastern Saamic (Uralic) language spoken in the Russian Federation.

Name
The name Kildin is borrowed from Russian kilʼdin-, the name for an island on the Barents Sea coast close to present-day Murmansk. The Russian name of the island goes back to the Kildin Saami toponym kīllt, which originally referred only to one rather peripheral dialect of this language.

Location
Kildin Saami is spoken on the Kola peninsula in northwesternmost Russia.

Speakers
The number of active fluent speakers is estimated at around 100 (2011); the overall number of speakers goes perhaps up to 800.

Dialects

 * Arsjogk
 * Kīllt
 * Koardegk
 * Lejjavvʼr (†)
 * Lujavvʼr
 * Māziell`k (†)

Classification

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

Works on the language

 * Blokland, Rogier and Michael Rießler. 2011. Saami-Russian-Komi contacts on the Kola Peninsula. Language contact in times of globalization, ed. by Cornelius Hasselblatt, Peter Houtzagers and Remco van Pareren. Amsterdam: Rodopi. 5–26.
 * Kert, Georgij M. 1971. Saamskij jazyk. Leningrad: Nauka.
 * Scheller, Elisabeth. 2011. The Sámi language situation in Russia. Ethnic and linguistic context of identity, ed. by Riho Grünthal and Magdolna Kovács. Helsinki: SUS. 79–96.

Links and resources

 * 'Kildin Saami' in Wikipedia
 * 'Кӣллт_са̄мь_кӣлл' in the Kildin Saami Wikimedia Incubator
 * Kildin Saami grammar in Galoes
 * 'Kildin Saami: a brief introduction' by Michael Rießler

Other languages

 * German Kildinsaamisch