In the first episode of the Mâʹst jiõm mainsteʹče aäkkain podcast (What I wouldn’t talk about with grandma), the awkward situation of the mother tongue is discussed and who can call the Koltan Sámi language their mother tongue.
Many have lost their knowledge of the Koltan Sámi language during their time, because it has been believed that the Finnish language will do better in society. For this reason, in many families only Finnish has been spoken to the children.
However, Harju wanted to teach his own child the language of his family – Koltan Sámi, and studied the language as an adult.
– People think a lot about how to prove that a child is a native speaker or not. It’s the kind of thing you shouldn’t have to ask, Harju reflects.
Being a native speaker divides opinion – however, there are only a handful of speakers
Determining mother tongue divides opinion. Some people think that it is not possible to start speaking Sámi as a first language to a child if it is not one’s first language learned. Others, on the other hand, want to speak the lost language of the family, so that the knowledge of the Koltan Sámi language will continue from one generation to the next.
In the episode of the podcast, we talk about the situation of the Koltan Sámi language as a mother tongue, and in what ways a mother tongue can be defined.
According to the population register, only 32 people have declared Kolta Sámi as their mother tongue, and there are approximately 300 Kolta Sámi people. According to the register, there is only one native speaker outside of Finland. Koltan Sami is spoken in the regions of Russia, Finland and Norway.
Since 2013, it has been possible to mark a certain Sámi language as the mother tongue in the population data: Southern, Inarin, Kildinin, Koltan, Lulejan or Northern Sámi. Different Sámi languages \u200b\u200bhave been marked as mother tongue to a very small extent. Before this, the language could only be marked as a general Sámi language, for example.
What I wouldn’t talk about with my grandma (Mâʹst jiõm mainsteʹče akkain) can be heard on Yle Areena
Fresh episodes of the Koltan Sámi podcast appear on Yle Areena every other Tuesday.
– I think it is very important that the Koltan-speaking youth produce their own content in their own mother tongue. The need for community is great, and it’s not always suitable to talk to your own parent or other relative, says presenter Gauriloff.
Koltan Sámi is an endangered language. However, Koltta Sámi people are becoming more and more interested in studying the endangered language every year. However, there is little content available in Koltan.