The Sami case: Internet and the Sami language

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The Sami case Internet and the Sami language

• FILTER Closing Event
• Amsterdam Febuary 10 2006
• Presentation by Jan Atle Toska

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Some major FILTER concerns

• A major concern The dangers of linguistic and
  cultural homogenization The same, yet
  everywhere
• English language and US produced content becoming
  too dominant Badly written and understood
  English as lingua franca?
• Question What is the role of the Internet in the
  processes of homogenization?

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My hypothesis

• The Internet may support processes of
  homogenization, yet at the same time it may also
  strenghten the position of minority language (ML)
  (and culture)
• Regarding ML the Internet may
• Expand the possibilities for dispersed ML
  users to communicate with each other
• Expand the areas of ML use
• Enhance the access to ML teaching and learning
  opportunities

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The Sami case

• The Sami language is a non Indo-European ML in
  Finland, Norway, Sweden and Russia
• Norway has the largest Sami population 20-30 000
  
• The Sami people in Norway has to be bilingual
  (Norwegian and Sami)
• A process of fornorsking has been going on for
  centuries. Many Sami people does not know the
  language of their ancestors

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Political initatives for the Sami

• In the last 20-25 years A new minority policy in
  Norway, establishing a Sami parliament and a Sami
  university college (making up for old sins)
• The position of the Sami language has been
  strenghtend in the new Sami generation (its cool
  to be Sami and speak the language)
• An interesting point Mastering your mother
  tongue may be a prerequisite for mastering a
  second and third (etc) language like Norwegian
  and English

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Internet use and Sami language

• The use of Internet is important in strenghtening
  the situation of Sami as a ML
• Establishing a Sami learning portal for
  kindergarden and schools containing learning
  material in Sami www.skolenettet.ls.no
• Developing distance higher education courses
  in Sami language and culture, in particular to
  meet the need for Sami teachers
• Establishing a Sami e-school for continuing
  education www.e-skuvla.no

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Some challenges

• The lack of teachers mastering the Sami language
  is a problem on all levels of the educational
  system. This problem is even bigger in the lesser
  used variants of Sami Lule and South Sami
• The problem of Sami letters was a concern until
  recently. Now the political authorities in
  Finland, Norway and Sweden have signed an
  agreement with Microsoft making it possible to
  use Sami letters in the new version of Microsoft
  Office

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Conclusions

• In Norway the Internet has been used quite
  successfully to enhance the situation of Sami as
  a ML
• But The Sami language with so few users is still
  an endangered language species
• If the Sami language disappears in the future,
  however, this will not be an effect caused by the
  Internet
• Read more about this in the upcoming FILTER book!
  Thank you

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The End More information

• Information (also in English) www.samediggi.no