Skolt Saami

Skolt Saami
Autoglottonym:	Sääˊmǩiõll
Pronunciation:	[{{{Pronunciation}}}]
Ethnologue name:	Saami, Skolt
OLAC name:	{{{OLACname}}}
Location point:
Genealogy
Family:	Uralic
Genus:	Saamic
Speakers
Country:	Finland, Norway, Russian Federation
Official in:	Finland (Inari)
Speakers:
Writing system:	{{{WritingSyst}}}
Codes
ISO 639-3:	{{{ISO3}}}

Skolt Saami is one of the five living Eastern Saamic languages. The name "skolt" is derived from the Scandinavian "skalle" meaning "scull", however the Skolt Saami people themselves prefer to be referred to as "Eastern Saami" since "Skolt" is perceived to be more negative. Skolt Saami, Inari Saami and Akkala Saami are spoken on the mainland and Kildin Saami and Ter Saami are peninsular languages. There are estimated to be about 330-340 speakers, with the majority of whom (about 300) living in Finland, with Russia (about 30 speakers) and Norway (with 3 speakers) the other two countries where it is spoken. Since the Skolt Saami populations are distributed over these three countries and not all Skolt Saami acquire the language, Skolt Saami is considered a minority language which is threatened by extinction. Almost all of its speakers are bilingual.

Other Languages

• German Skolt-Saami
• Spanish Sami skolt
• Norwegian (Nynorsk) Skoltesamisk