The Death of the Kemi Sámi Culture
Historical Lapp villages in the 1600s. Copyright: Saamelaiskulttuurin ensyklopedia.
The Kemi Sámi language has recently become an object of exceptional interest outside of Finnish Sápmi. Various kinds of information and views are presented about it, its history, and its speakers – some of which are based more on political opinions than on scientific research. This blog post is based on scientific research based heavily on the article by Valtonen (2023) and is meant to be as objective as possible to allow for information that is not tainted by political opinions or hearsay.
”The issue at hand is often a lack of proper, researched information. More knowledge and understanding are especially needed regarding the reasons that led to the Kemi Sámi language's extinction, the last speakers of the language, other languages spoken in the area at the same time, and how the influence of a dead language can still be present as a substrate in the modern language.” (Valtonen 2023, 207).
“It is useful to begin correcting misinformation by noting that Kemi Sámi is not actually a language, but rather a name given by researchers to a group of different, poorly known regional variants of the Sámi language (e.g., Sammallahti 1998, 26). The name is based on the administrative region from the time of Swedish rule, Kemi Lappmark (“Kemin Lappi”). This region covered the Kemijoki river basin, where the area in which the regional language forms classified as Kemi Sámi were spoken was located. The area where Inari/Anár Sámi was spoken also fell administratively under Kemi Lappmark, even though it is not located in the Kemijoki basin. Inari Sámi is not a part of Kemi Sámi typology, but rather an independent language that is a close relative. For the sake of simplicity, however, Valtonen and other researches use the less precise term “Kemi Sámi” in this text when referring to the continuum of Sámi regional variants that were spoken in the Kemijoki river basin.”(Valtonen 2023, 208).
Only limited samples of Kemi Sámi have survived. The most extensive and highest-quality of these is a collection of texts in the language of Olaus Mattsson Sirma, who was born around 1650, and was likely from the Orajärvi area of the Sodankylä siida. When he began theological studies in Uppsala in 1672, he acted as an expert for Professor Johannes Schefferus, who was gathering material for his book Lapponia (Schefferus 1673). Some of this material has survived as original manuscripts, at least some of which were certainly written by Sirma himself (Kallio et al. 2019, 112–114).
“While later serving as a priest in Enontekiö, Sirma twice translated an abridged version of Johannes Gezelius’s catechism, as well as some psalms and a primer. Of these, the 1716 version of the catechism has survived as a manuscript and was published and partially analyzed by K. B. Wiklund (1913). The language of the catechism is a hybrid, showing features of both Sirma’s native Sodankylä Sámi and Northern Sámi from the Karesuando region. Another key source is Jacob Fellman’s vocabulary list from Sompio and Kuolajärvi, which includes around 420 words. His Anteckningar under min vistelse i Lappmarken I–IV (1844) also contains additional Kemi Sámi words and names. It is also important to remember that the Kemi Sámi variants had contact with other Sámi languages. These contacts, especially as Kemi Sámi weakened, undoubtedly influenced their development. For example, Ervast’s 1737 description of Kemi Lapp notes that many Inari Sámi had married into the Sompio area.“ (Valtonen 2023, 213).
Sammallahti (1998, 26) distinguishes four main regional variants of Kemi Sámi: Sodankylä, Sompio, Savukoski (Kemikylä siida), and Kuolajärvi (present-day Salla). In addition, Frans Äimä and T. I. Itkonen (1918, 2) mention a Kittilä dialect. According to them, it has been suggested that some of the sung texts recorded by Jacob Fellman in Sodankylä might originally have been in the Kittilä variant of Kemi Sámi. At least some of these include elements of Jukkasjärvi Northern Sámi vocabulary and grammar, making linguistic analysis particularly challenging (Valtonen 2023, 212).
There is very little reliable information about the number of speakers of each Kemi Sámi variant. However, changes in livelihood serve as an indirect indicator. Nearly all 18th- and 19th-century sources agree that the transition to agriculture led to a language shift from Sámi to Finnish in Kemi Lappi within one or two generations (e.g., J. Fellman 1906 I: 249; 1906 III: 337; 1906 IV: 400; Sjögren 2020, 3146).
“In Kitka siida, no Sámi households remained by 1760. In 1748, three Sámi families in Kuolajärvi had not yet become settlers. Kemijärvi had no Sámi population left by the same year. By 1804, all residents in Sodankylä and Kittilä were settlers. Two or three families of Northern Sámi origin who had moved there were responsible for herding the reindeer of settler farmers.” (Valtonen 2023, 216).
“During a journey in 1841 through Salla, Kemikylä, Sompio, and toward Inari, M. A. Castrén and Elias Lönnrot observed that all people of Sámi descent in the Kuolajärvi parish had already shifted to Finnish (Lönnrot 2018b, 52). On an earlier visit in 1838, Castrén noted from church records and firsthand observation that many residents of Sodankylä were Sámi by origin but had adopted Finnish language and customs. He made similar notes in Kemijärvi and Peltovuoma and regarded Kittilä as Finnish.” (Valtonen 2023, 218).
From this reading it can be said that at that time, the speakers of northern Sámi did have contacts to these areas, which influenced their language. It can also be argued that when the eventual finnishization through acculturation or assimilation occured, the connection to the Sámi culture disappeared.
“Recently, particularly on social media and the internet, claims have emerged that Kemi Sámi speakers may have survived into the first half of the 20th century. However, these claims are based on hearsay and second-hand oral histories, which cannot be verified. Although it is known that people speaking Sámi lived in the historical Kemi Lappi region into the 19th and 20th centuries, the exact language variety they spoke often cannot be determined. Listeners frequently did not understand Sámi, and only later defined the language they had heard as Sámi.” (Valtonen 2023, 224).
Emeritus Professor Pekka Sammallahti has since the 1960s attempted to trace individuals said to have spoken or known someone who spoke Kemi Sámi. He encountered several people in Sodankylä who had learned Northern Sámi from westward migrants arriving in the 1870s for reindeer work in Vuohčču area, but not one speaker of Kemi Sámi was ever found (Niemi 2022 in Valtonen 2023, 225).
Church records and court documents show that from the latter half of the 18th century onward, Northern Sámi reindeer herders moved into Kemi Lappi. In their home regions – particularly Jukkasjärvi in Norrbotten and the Kautokeino area in Norway – grazing lands had become limited due to disease and overuse. Many settled in Muonio and Kittilä, but others migrated further south to Sodankylä, Sompio, Kuusamo, Tervola, Kemijärvi, and Rovaniemi. Some became settlers, while others retained reindeer herding and the Sámi language at least into the mid-1800s (Warelius 1848, 64–65; Rosberg 1910, 67–68; Enbuske 2008, 426–431; Hætta & Bær 1993 in Valtonen 2023, 226).
Finnish settlement and its far-reaching social consequences played a central role in the disappearance of the Kemi Sámi. Over time, this influx of settlers spread throughout the region, eventually reducing the Kemi Sámi – and later even the Inari Sámi – to a minority within their traditional homelands.
“The story of Kemi Sámi is a prime example of how a language dies as a result of processes initiated by social and cultural displacement. The death of the language was the outcome of a process that began when the Sámi of Kemi Lappi no longer wished to use their mother tongue or teach it to their children. Language shift was seen as a means of improving life and gaining social status. Such a dramatic shift in language attitudes does not happen without external pressures. Ultimately, the death of Kemi Sámi as an independent language stemmed from unequal power relations.” (Valtonen 2023, 235).
What do I have to say on this matter? From purely linguistic viewpoint (language is what carries cultures), we are still facing challenges with the languages that are still alive.
In Finland, we have three living Sámi languages: the Skolt, Anár and Northern Sámi. We have retained our distinct cultures, languages, traditional livelihoods and political structures. Unfortunately not every Sámi group and language has survived. Kemi Sámi dialects died over 200 years ago, and the last speaker of Akkala Sámi died in 2003.
Ter, Ume and Pite Sámi are all in critical situation. In Finland, good progress has been made in Anár and Skolt Sámi education and revitalization. From my perspective, all efforts should be made to ensure the continuation of these living languages and cultures.
Hirvas-Lasse Aila Antero Janne
(Janne Hirvasvuopio)
The author recognizes that he is not a historian, but has extensive background in Indigenous Peoples’ history, jurisprudence and international law.
References
Enbuske, Matti. 2008. Vanhan Lapin valtamailla: Asutus ja maankäyttö Kemin Lapin ja Enontekiön alueella 1500-luvulta 1900-luvun alkuun.
Ervast, Johan Bartholdi. 1956. Descriptio Lapponiae Kiemiensis eli Kemin-Lapin kuvaus vuodelta 1737.
Fellman, Jacob. 1906. Anteckningar under min vistelse i Lappmarken I‒IV.
Hætta, Lars & Bær, Anders. 1993. Usko ja elämä: Koutokeinon saamelaisten hengellisestä elämästä...
Itkonen, T. I. & Äimä, Frans. 1918. Jacob Fellmanin muistiinpanot Sompion ja Kuolajärven lapinmurteista.
Kallio, Kati; Valtonen, Taarna & Jouste, Marko. 2019. Olaus Sirman runojen vertailevaa luentaa.
Kulpakko, Toivo. 1995. Saamensuvut Inarissa.
Lönnrot, Elias. 2018b [1902]. Elias Lönnrotin matkat II: 1841–1844.
Niemi, Tapani. 2022. Tapani Niemen julkinen Facebook-päivitys 23.11.2022...
Rosberg, J. E. 1910. Anteckningar om lapparna i Finland.
Sammallahti, Pekka. 1998. The Saami languages. An introduction.
Schefferus, Johannes. 1673. Lapponia.
Sjögren, Anders Johan. 2020 [1806‒1855]. Allmänna Ephemerider: Dagböckerna 1806–1855.
Valtonen, Taarna. (2023). Miksi keminsaame kuoli? Sosiolingvistinen rekonstruktio keminsaamen sammumiseen johtaneista tekijöistä. Helsinki/Turku/Oulu.
Warelius, Antero. 1848. Bidrag till Finlands kännedom i ethnografiskt hänseende.
Wiklund, K. B. 1913. En kemilapsk text från år 1716.
