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The Sami case: Internet and the Sami language

The Sami case: Internet and the Sami language. FILTER Closing Event Amsterdam Febuary 10 2006 Presentation by Jan Atle Toska. Some major FILTER concerns. A major concern: The dangers of linguistic and cultural homogenization: ”The same, yet everywhere”

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The Sami case: Internet and the Sami language

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  1. The Sami case: Internet and the Sami language FILTER Closing Event Amsterdam Febuary 10 2006 Presentation by Jan Atle Toska

  2. 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?

  3. 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

  4. 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

  5. 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 (it’s 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

  6. 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

  7. 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

  8. 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

  9. The End: More information Information (also in English): www.samediggi.no

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