In the northernmost regions of Western Europe, where reindeer herding and fishing are the common livelihoods, there is a minority language of an indigenous group named Saami. The Saami language has over nine regional dialects and is spoken mainly in Norway, Sweden, Finland and Russia. We will be focusing on the largest population of Saami speakers: those who speak the Northern dialect in Norway.

Two key factors contributed to Northern Saami language being minoritized in Norway. The first is social exclusion, where Saami, its language and its speakers, did not inspire or adhere to Norway’s new domestic policy of National Romanticism after the country’s departure from Danish rule in 1814 (Trigg-Hauger, 2015). Within this Romanticisation, there was a schematisation of the North and South, as stated by Leerssen (2009, quoted in Stouggard-Nielsen, 2020, p.166)  the North was considered ‘frugal and cerebral,’ and the South was dubbed ‘sensual and opulent.’ This informed attitudes towards Northern Sami, with evidence of second level language shift shown by the 1882 census (Thorvaldsen, 2001), where the Saami people surveyed in the available towns were at least bilingual (Norwegian and Saami) or trilingual (Finnish, Norwegian and Saami). Relations across borders and languages were not in accordance with Norway’s desire for unity and would lead to eventual legislative changes continuing from late-19th century onward. In 1898, the Norwegian government revised its School Law meaning that Saami was no longer able to be spoken within school settings (Bucken-Knapp, 2003, p.105). The most egregious of efforts for forced assimilation was the Land Act of 1902 which asserted that land was only to be sold to Norwegian citizens, namely those who ‘[use] the Norwegian language for their everyday tongue,’ (Trigg-Hauger, 2015, pp.9-10) stripping Sami people of their livelihoods and homes. It is by these factors that Northern Sami language was minoritized in Norway, the desire for a distinct cultural identity encouraged an exclusion of all that did not adhere to this ‘romantic’ ideology. As a result, legislative measures were able to be administered with little objection and Saami speakers had little opportunity or incentive to speak their language meaning what was once social objection became a legal offence.

Reference List:

Bakró-Nagy, M., Laakso J., and Skribnik, E. (2022) “North Saami.” Aikio, Ante, and Jussi Ylikoski, The Oxford Guide to the Uralic Languages, pp.147-177.

Bucken-Knapp, G. (2003) ‘The Shifting Fate of Sami Languages in Norway’, in Elites, Language, and the Politics of Identity. Albany: State University of New York Press , pp. 99–124.

Stouggard-Nielsen, J. (2020), ‘Nordic Nature: From Romantic Nationalism to the Anthropocene’ in A. Lindskog (ed.), Introduction to Nordic Cultures, London: UCL Press, pp. 165- 180

Thorvaldsen, G. (2001), ‘Norway- The Historical Data Centre’ in L.Y Dillon (ed.), Handbook of International Historical Microdata for Population Research, Minnesota: Minnesota Population Centre, pp.179-206..

Trigg-Hauger, I. (2015), ‘Changing existences in Norway, 1855 to 1914: Sami and Reisende Identities Post-National Romanticism’,  University of Oslo, pp.2-18.

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