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In this dissertation, the construction of spaces for Saami language use is explored. The spaces involve learning and use of South Saami, an Indigenous language in Saepmie in Norway and Sweden. Four separate studies shed light on various aspects of these spaces, how they are constructed, how they are used, by whom and for what purposes. 

Against the backdrop of colonisation of the Saami and a long trend of assimilation by means of e.g. schooling, contemporary spaces for Saami language use in formal educational contexts are explored. The spaces are investigated and theorised upon from an insider position by a researcher/practitioner drawing upon a collaborative approach to the production of knowledge. The insider gaze through the lens of the theoretical concepts spaces for Saami language use and Indigenous efflorescence analyses South Saami language teaching, learning and revitalisation as part of a global trend; Indigenous peoples reclaim, revitalise and restore their continuous their languages. 

Factors at the macro, meso and micro levels that condition South Saami teaching, learning and revitalisation are explored. The way Saami practitioners of Indigenous efflorescence, for instance teachers, coordinators, artists and others commit to the language is brought to the fore. By means of their acts of decoloniality, they seek to take responsibility for and challenge the current educational situation. Spaces for Saami language use emerge as time and conditions ripen for them. Although unexpected to many, given the history of assimilation, to the practitioners of Indigenous efflorescence involved in the process, this emergence comes not as a surprise but as a hard-earned result of the struggle. Although much work remains, hope is reawakened when conscious hard work and persistent labour bear fruit. 

This paper explores language teacher identity (LTI) among three preschool teachers. The focus lies on the preschool teachers’ identities as linguistic role models by means of analysing their own descriptions of language learning, that is, their personal experiences of and reflections on language acquisition. Three interviews were made with different in-service preschool teachers. The interviews were analysed by means of narrative inquiry and thematic analysis and guided by literature on LTI, as well as the researcher’s previous experience and knowledge of the current field. The findings illustrate how the teachers assumed a leading position in the South Saami language revitalisation project and cope with the responsibility tied to that position. The discussion of the narratives revolves around language teaching and learning made salient in the narrative process. The study provides a hopeful view of language revitalisation by showcasing that it is not only the expected first-language native speakers that are driving forces in the process of restoring a broken chain of intergenerational language transmission. It further illustrates a way for an Indigenous academic to investigate settings within their own community and collaborate with other stakeholders in a language revitalisation project to generate new insights on language revitalisation.

This licentiate thesis investigates the case and the syntactic position of the direct object in South Saami. The focus is on plural direct objects, which have Differential Object Marking, a phenomenon in which the case alternates between different types of direct objects. In South Saami, some direct objects carry the accusative case form in the plural, while others only carry the plural marker. This variation of suffix displayed on the direct object is contingent on definiteness; definite direct objects consistently display the accusative case form in the plural while indefinite direct objects, specific and nonspecific alike, lack accusative morphology. In addition to case marking, the study presents an analysis of the alternation of the syntactic position of some direct objects. Definite and indefinite specific direct objects can be realized in two positions: as the complement of the verb or in a position as specifier of the light verb projection. By contrast, indefinite nonspecific direct objects obligatorily surface in the complement position of the verb. This variability in syntactic position of some direct objects is analyzed by means of a Specificity Operator, adjoined to the DP-level of every specific NP, definite and indefinite. The operator moves as an instance of quantifier raising in order to take scope over Existential Closure (EC). EC binds NPs in its domain and give them an existential reading. Therefore, when the Specificity Operator raises, it anchors the DP it is adjoined to in a domain, which is unbound by EC and therefore facilitates a specific interpretation. The operator, void of phonological content, can raise alone to the specifier of vP as an instance of covert movement. The operator can also Pied-pipe the DP it is adjoined to, which results in overt movement of the DP. Indefinite nonspecific direct objects lack the Specificity Operator and therefore they remain in-situ in the VP, where they are bound by EC.

In addition to its theoretical value, the thesis will be of use for teachers, students and others with an interest in a better understanding of the case form and the position of the direct object in South Saami.

Daennie licentiaatetjaalegisnie gïehtjedem guktie Åarjelsamien direkte objeekth gelliengiertesne kaasushgïetjieh åadtjoeh. Manne gelliengiertem veeljeme juktie åarjelaemien gïele Differential Object Marking åtna. Naakenh direkte objeekth dam giehtjiem -idie guedtieh, mij ackusatijvem gelliengïertesne muana. Jeatjah direkte objeekth barre låhkoegiehtjiem -h guedtieh, mij ajve gelliengïertem muana, menh ij kaasusem. Dan åvteste direkte objeekti kaasushaamoeh molsedieh. Mov gïehtjidimmie vuesehte ahte definijte direkteobjeekth gelliengiertesne dam ackusatijvegïehtjiem. Eah indefinijte direkte objeekth dam gïethjiem utnieh, valla barre gelliengierehaamoem utnieh. Manne vielie gïehtjedem gusnie, dennie raaje- sisnie, leah dej direkte objeekti sijjieh. Gaavneme ahte joekehtsh leah aaj ovmessie direkte objeekti gaskoeh. Definijte jïh indefinijte specifijke direkte objeekth utnieh göökte sijjieh gusnie maehtieh jïjhtedh, valla indefinite ovspecifijke direkte objeekth utnieh ajve aktem sijjiem gusnie maehtieh årrodh. Gaajhkh dah golme ovmessie direkte objeekth maehtieh maadthsijjesne årrodh goh verben komplemeente, valla definijte jïh indefinijte specifijke direkte objeekth maehtieh aaj aktene vP:n specificeerijisnie jïjhtedh. Manne daam joekehtehtem jïh vuesehtem mannasinie naemhtie jis. Mov innovasjovne lea akte specifijkeoperatovre. Dïhte lea adjungeradamme fïerhten DP:se mij lea definijte jallh indefinijte specifijke. Dïhte operatovre iktesth bæjjene DP:n sistie vP specificeerijen sïjse, men dïhte maahta aaj dam DP:m buektedh Pied-pipingen tjïrrh. Dïhte specifijkeoperatovre bæjjene juktie edtja baataridh Existential Closuren (EC) jaksoste. Gosse operatovre bæjjene, dïhte dan sov DP:m dïbrehte akten domeenese, gusnie specifijke guarkoe daerpies sjædta. Dah direkte objeekt mah eah specifijkeoperatovrem utnieh tjoerieh baetsedh VP:n sijse, jïh dannasinie EC dejtie veadta. Dannasinie existentielle guarkoem åadtjoeh.

Daate tjaalege vihkeles lingvistihke teorijese, valla aaj lohkehtæjjide, learoehkidie jïh jeatjide guhth sïjhth buerebe guarkedh mij kaasusidie lea direkte objeekten jïh gusnie, dennie raajesisnie, dïhte objeekte jæjhta.

I den här licentiatavhandling undersöks kasusformen hos de direkta objekten och deras syntaktiska position i sydsamiskan. Fokus ligger på direkta objekt i pluralis, vilka uppvisar fenomenet differentiell objektsmarkering, som innebär att vissa direkta objekt bär ackusativsuffixet i plural medan andra endast bär pluralsuffixet. Denna variation i objektsmarkering är känslig för definithet. Definita direkta objekt har accusativändelsen medan indefinita, både specifika och icke-specifika direkta objekt, saknar den. Utöver själva realiseringen av kasussuffix undersöks också de direkta objektens syntaktiska position. En analys presenteras som definierar olika typer av nominalfraser och skiljer definita och specifika direkta objekt från icke-specifika direkta objekt. Den första typen uppvisar variation i sin syntaktiska placering och har möjligheten att dyka upp både i komplementställning till verbet och i en den lilla verbfrasens specificerare, det vill säga vid gränsen för den lexikala fasen. Indefinita icke-specifika direkta objekt, som utgör den andra typen, kan bara uppträda i en position som komplement till verbet. På basis av den analys som inkluderar min innovation Specifikhetsoperatorn, vilken är adjungerad till alla definita och specifika direkta objekts DP-nivå, kan de två positionerna förklaras. Specifikhetsoperatorn flyttar alltid till vP:s specifierare som en kvantifierarinteraktion, där Specifikhetstoperatorn får räckvidd över Existential Closure (EC) och förankrar sin DP i en domän där en specifik tolkning blir nödvändig. Detta är en typ av osynlig flytt. Flytten kan också vara synlig. I det fallet sker medfraktning (Pied-piping) när Specifikhetsoperatorn tar med sig den DP den är adjungerad till när den flyttar till vPs specifierare. Direkta object som saknar Specifikhetsoperatorn stannar i positionen som komplement till verbet och binds därför av EC, vilket leder till att de får en existentiell tolkning.

Bortom sitt värde för lingvistisk teoribildning kommer avhandlingen också att bli viktig för lärare, studenter och elever såväl som för andra med ett intresse av att bättre förstå vilket kasus som uppträder på sydsamiska direkta objekt och dessa objekts position i satsen.

In Chapter 5 Mikael Vinka, Christian Waldmann, David Kroik and Kirk Sullivan consider the creation of corpora in the Saami language and how these can be used to support minority language education in pre-school. Using examples both from the CHILDES database and from South Saami they illustrate how corpora may support the development of culturally relevant teaching materials.

This presentation considers creation of spoken minority language corpora and how these can be used to support minority language education across the entire educational spectrum. The Saami languages are a group of minority languages spoken in Northern Scandinavia, Finland and Russia. In the Saami context there is currently one major language project that focuses on North Saami, Davvisámegiel mánáid giellaovdáneapmi (DASAGO), and is building two longitudinal corpora, one for monolingual acquisition and one for bilingual North Saami/Norwegian. Of the Saami languages, North Saami is the most widely spoken with approximately 25 000 speakers. The DASAGO project has no explicit educational objectives, yet its findings will be of relevance for the development of educational materials for North Saami. Another project creating an oral language corpus for a Saami language is Mávulasj, a spoken Lule Saami documentation project that has explicit educational objectives. Lule Saami has approximately 500 speakers. Creating spoken language corpora that are of relevance for education is complex. Drawing on the experiences of creating these corpora, we explore the complexities of spoken minority language corpus creation through an ongoing South Saami project based in Umeå, Sweden. South Saami is a language with circa 500 speakers and in contrast to North Saami the speakers are spread over a large geographic area. The low number of speakers, the geographical spread, and the even lower number of advanced first language speakers, poses additional problems for the South Sami spoken corpus’ construction, and its use in the development of education materials. Using examples, we illustrate how corpora can be used to support the development of culturally relevant innovative teaching materials that can assist in language revitalization, and illustrate how corpora can be misused and result in linguistically incorrect teaching materials.

The school was one of the main institutions where policies of colonization and assimilation took place. Currently, in the four countries where Sami people reside, namely Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Russia, different policies for supporting Sami languages are carried out. Sami teaching at school is provided in these countries to different extents. In addition to physical teaching in these four countries, remote Sami language education in primary and secondary schools is provided solely in Norway, Sweden, and Finland. In Norway, two universities offer different Sami language courses within teacher training programmes. In addition, the Sami University of Applied Sciences carries out North Sami teacher education, both for early childhood education as well as primary and secondary education, and it is taught in the North Sami language. In Sweden, the University of Umeå provides courses for Sami language teachers. In Finland, several universities offer Sami language courses for teachers. In Russia, the Murmansk Arctic State University offers a philological master programme called ‘Technologies of the Sami Language Teaching’. The Institute of the Peoples of the North of the Herzen University offers pedagogical education at the bachelor level. Within this education, Sami language courses are provided. This chapter demonstrates the positive policy tendencies regarding Sami people in four countries and their languages. Besides this, there are an increasing number of projects on Sami language learning and professional training across the four countries. Nevertheless, there is still work to be done to improve the existing tendencies.