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In:Handbook of Terminology: Volume 4. Terminology planning in Europe
Edited by Rossella Resi and Frieda Steurs
[Handbook of Terminology 4] 2025
► pp. 128–147

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Planning terminology for northern minority languages

The Saami case

 | University of Oulu | Sámi Giellagáldu
 | University of Oulu | Sámi Giellagáldu
Published online: 26 September 2025
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https://doi.org/10.1075/hot.4.pla1
Abstract
This chapter focuses on the development and standardization of terminology for the Saami languages. The Saami languages form a dialect continuum ranging from mid-Scandinavia to the tip of Kola Peninsula and are spoken in four countries: Norway, Sweden, Finland and Russia. This chapter relies on knowledge accumulated by the authors while working as Saami language advisers, as well as on information collected from previous research and reviews of old documents. The first official body for the standardization of Saami languages, the Saami Language Council, was created in 1971. In the 2020s, a permanent standardization body, Sámi Giellagáldu, was finally established by the three Nordic Saami parliaments. Despite its young age, initial practical hurdles and a degree of financial uncertainty, Sámi Giellagáldu has already achieved many results and proves that an international and multilingual expert body has a lot of potential to support the revitalization of indigenous minority languages.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Language policies in the Nordic countries and the sociolinguistic landscape of the Saami languages
  • 3.Historical background
  • 4.Terminology and language planning for Saami languages at present
    • 4.1Sámi Giellagáldu
    • 4.2Other bodies
  • 5.Features of Saami terminology planning
  • 6.Discussion and future prospects
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
References (40)
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