Elderly woman fears Sámi dialect loss in Sør-Varanger, Norway

An 82-year-old woman named Inger Elise lives alone in Hesseng, located in Sør-Varanger, Norway. Occasionally, she gets the chance to speak her native Sámi language, which brings her joy. “It is really fun to speak Sámi when I meet others who can as well,” she says. In this municipality of approximately 9,000 residents, only a handful speak Sámi fluently. She mentions a police chief, a doctor, and a kiosk worker who know the language, but none share her specific dialect. Inger Elise fears that the dialect will die with the older generation unless more people begin to speak it.

Torkel Rasmussen, a professor of Sámi language, emphasizes that the preservation of dialects largely depends on individual determination. Although he learned Northern Sámi, he hasn’t focused on dialects. Nonetheless, he acknowledges their importance for linguistic diversity and cites a successful method from the Finnish side of Sápmi, where learners regularly interact with native speakers to learn both the language and its dialects. In Sør-Varanger, it may also be possible to revive the dialect, given that around 100 people speak Sámi, albeit only a few of them share Inger’s dialect.

In Nesseby, there is a similar concern about the potential loss of the Nesseby Sámi dialect among youth. Efforts to save this dialect have led to the launch of a new podcast titled “De višan gullat,” which promotes the dialect and discussions about its future. Inger Elise feels the effects of language loss firsthand, struggling to remember words in her mother tongue. While her oldest son understands Sámi, he does not speak it. She believes it is vital for her dialect to survive and considers holding courses to teach it to others.