Ter Sámi

Quality 0.50 · 2 views · Updated 2 months ago

Nearly extinct Uralic language

title: "Ter Sámi" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["sámi-in-russia", "eastern-sámi-languages", "indigenous-languages-of-european-russia", "endangered-uralic-languages", "endangered-languages-of-europe"] description: "Nearly extinct Uralic language" topic_path: "linguistics" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ter_Sámi" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Nearly extinct Uralic language ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox language"]

Field	Value
name	Ter Sámi
nativename	saa´mekiill са̄мькӣлл
states	Russia
speakers	2
date	2011
ref
familycolor	Uralic
fam2	Sámi
fam3	Eastern Sámi
iso3	sjt
glotto	ters1235
glottorefname	Ter Saami
script	Latin script (historical), Cyrillic script (current)
map	File:Ter-SamiLanguageLocatorMap.svg
mapcaption	Ter Sami language area (red) within Sápmi (grey)
map2	Lang Status 20-CR.svg
mapcaption2
region	Murmansk Oblast, St. Petersburg
speakers2	30 (2007)
ethnicity	Kola Sámi
::

| name = Ter Sámi | nativename = saa´mekiill са̄мькӣлл | states = Russia | speakers = 2 | date = 2011 | ref = | familycolor = Uralic | fam2 = Sámi | fam3 = Eastern Sámi | iso3 = sjt | glotto = ters1235 | glottorefname = Ter Saami | script = Latin script (historical), Cyrillic script (current) | map = File:Ter-SamiLanguageLocatorMap.svg | mapcaption = Ter Sami language area (red) within Sápmi (grey) | map2 = Lang Status 20-CR.svg | mapcaption2 = | region = Murmansk Oblast, St. Petersburg | speakers2 = 30 (2007) | ethnicity = Kola Sámi}} Ter Sámi is the easternmost of the Sámi languages. It was traditionally spoken in the northeastern part of the Kola Peninsula, but now it is a moribund language; in 2004, only ten speakers were left. By 2011, the number of speakers had decreased to two. Other estimates counted about 30 Ter Sámi speakers in Murmansk Oblast, as well as in St. Petersburg, in 2007. The mean age of the youngest Ter Sámi speakers at that time was 50. ::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f8/Sami_dialects_and_settlements_in_Russia_map.svg" caption="Ter}}"] ::

History

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e3/ZoyaGerasimovaNinaAfanasyevaInterview.jpg" caption="Zoya Gerasimova (left), one of the last speakers of Ter Sámi, speaking with [[Nina Afanasyeva]] (2006)" alt=""] ::

In the end of the 19th century, there were six Ter Sámi villages in the eastern part of the Kola Peninsula, with a total population of approximately 450. In 2004, there were approximately 100 ethnic Ter Sámi of whom two elderly persons speak the language; the rest have shifted their language to Russian.

The rapid decline in the number of speakers was caused by Soviet collectivisation, in the 1930s, and the largest Ter Sámi village, Yokanga, was declared "perspectiveless" and its inhabitants were forced to move to the Gremikha military base.

Documentation

There are no educational materials or facilities in Ter Sámi, and the language has no standardized orthography. The language is incompletely studied and documented, though text specimens and audio recordings as well as dictionaries for linguistic purposes exist.

Phonology

Consonants

::data[format=table] | Labial | Alveolar | Post- alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | Plosive | Affricate | Fricative | Nasal | Approximant (Lateral) | Trill | |---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | ::

All consonants except for /j/ may be palatalized [ʲ].
Consonants /t, d/ can also sound as half-palatalized.

Vowels

::data[format=table]

Front	Central	Back	short	long	short	long	short	long	Close	Mid	Open



::

After palatalized consonants, is realized as .

Writing system

A spelling system for Sámi languages using the Latin alphabet and based on Skolt Sámi was developed in the 1930s. Oktyabrina Voronova published the only poetry booklet in Ter Sámi in 1989 using an orthography based on the Cyrillic Kildin Sámi orthography of 1982. А аÄ äБ бВ вГ гД дЕ еË ë

[a][æ][b][v][g][d][jɛ][jɔ]

Ж жЗ зҺ һИ иЙ йҊ ҋЈ јК к

[ʒ][z][ʰ][i][j][j̥][k]

Л лӅ ӆМ мӍ ӎН нӉ ӊӇ ӈО о

[l][l̥][m][m̥][n][n̥][ŋ][ɔ]

П пР рҎ ҏС сТ тУ уФ фХ х

[p][r][r̥][s][t][u][f][x]

Ц цЧ чШ шЩ щЪ ъЫ ыЬ ьЭ э

[ts][ʧ][ʃ][ʃtʃ]”[ɨ]’[ɛ]

Ӭ ӭЮ юЯ я

[ɛ][ju][ja]

A aĀ āÅ åB bC cČ čD dE e

[a][a:][ɒ][b][ts][ʧ][d][e]

Ē ēF fG gH hI iĪ īƗ ɨJ j

[e:][f][g][x/ʰ][i][i:][ɨ][j]

K kL lM mN nŊ ŋO oŌ ōP p

[k][l][m][n][ŋ][o][o:][p]

S sŠ šT tU uŪ ūV vZ zŽ ž

[s][ʃ][t][u][u:][v][z][ʒ]

Ʒ ʒǮ ǯ’

[dz][dʒ][ʲ]-- ::data[format=table title="Ter Sámi alphabet"]

Ҍ ҍ	Э э	Ӭ ӭ	Ю ю	Я я
::

Morphology

Ter Sámi has 8 cases, Nominative, Genitive, Accusative, Essive, Inessive-Lative, Dative-Illative, Abessive, and Comitative. ::data[format=table title=""]

case	singular	plural
{{sc	NOM}}	-
{{sc	GEN}}	change of the main part of word
{{sc	ACC}}	change of the main part of word
{{sc	ESS}}	n
{{sc	INE}}	s't
{{sc	DAT}}	a, i
{{sc	ABE}}	ta
{{sc	COM}}	n
::

Examples of the genitive

(in the UPA)

= raining cloud

= slaughter of deer

= German inhabitant

= Russian boys

Plurals

In the nominative case, the base word changes when a plural is made. ::data[format=table title=""]

Word	Meaning	Plural	Meaning
mi̮rr	forest	mi̮r	forests
k'iлл	language	k'iл	languages
šiɛn'n'	swamp	šiɛn'	swamps
tast	star	taast	stars
::

The word ku 'who' in the cases. ::data[format=table title=""]

Case	Singular	Plural	Nominative	Genitive	Accusative	Essive	Inessive	Dative	Abessive	Comitative
ku	kogg
konn	kojt
konn	kojt
kon'n'in	kojn
kon'n'es't	kojn
kon'n'i	kojt
konta	kojta
kon'in	kojgujm
::

Vocabulary

::data[format=table title="Sample vocabulary in Ter Sámi{{Cite web |title=Tersamisk - Allkunne |url=https://www.allkunne.no/framside/sprak/sprak-i-verda/tersamisk/7/84127/ |access-date=2021-01-24 |website=www.allkunne.no |language=no}}"] | Ter Sámi || Latin transcription || English gloss | |---| | выэййвэ | | ныкчым | | кидт | | лоннҍт | | чадце | | ке̄ддҍкэ | | аббьрэ | | толл | ::

Notes

References

"Ter Sámi alphabet, pronunciation and language". Omniglot.com.
Nilsen, Thomas. (2010-02-19). "Sami languages disappears". Barent's Observer.
Scheller, Elizabeth. (2011). "Ethnic and Linguistic Context of Identity: Finno-Ugric Minorities". University of Helsinki, Department of Finnish, Finno-Ugrian and Scandinavian Studies.
Rießler, Michael. (2007). "Språk og språkforhold i Sápmi". Nordeuropa-Institut.
Tiuraniemi Olli: "Anatoli Zaharov on maapallon ainoa turjansaamea puhuva mies", ''Kide'' 6 / 2004.
Itkonen T. I.: "Koltan- ja kuolanlapin sanakirja", Helsinki: [[Société Finno-Ougrienne]], 1958.
Itkonen T. I.: "Koltan- ja kuolanlappalaisia satuja", 1931.''[[Société Finno-Ougrienne. Memoires de la Société Finno-Ougrienne]] 60''
Aikio Samuli: "Olbmot ovdal min - Sámiid historjá 1700-logu rádjái". Girjegiisá: Kárášjohka, 1992.
Tereškin, Sergej N.. (2002). "Jokan'gskij dialekt Saamskogo Jazyka". Sankt Petersburg: Rossijskij Gosudarstvennyj pedagogičeskij Universitet imeni.
"Ter Sami alphabet, pronunciation and language". Omniglot.com.
Rießler, Michael (2018). "Kola Sámi literature (Kildin Sámi, Ter Sámi, Akkala Sámi)". In: [https://helda.helsinki.fi/bitstream/handle/10138/305133/riesler2018b.pdf?sequence=1 ''"Čálli giehta olla guhkás" A writing hand reaches further ({S}ámi proverb)''] Johanna Domokos (ed.). Helsinki: Yhdenvertaisen kulttuurin puolesta ry, pp. 73–78.
Tereškin, Sergej. (2002). ". Йоганьгский диалект саамского языка".
"Tersamisk - Allkunne".

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::