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.
History
In the end of the 19th century, there were six Ter Sámi villages in the eastern part of the Kola Peninsula, Yokanga, Lumbovka, Ponoy, Sosnovka, Kuroptevsky, and Kamensky 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.Tiuraniemi Olli: "Anatoli Zaharov on maapallon ainoa turjansaamea puhuva mies", Kide 6 / 2004.
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.Itkonen T. I.: "Koltan- ja kuolanlapin sanakirja", Helsinki: Société Finno-Ougrienne, 1958.Itkonen T. I.: "Koltan- ja kuolanlappalaisia satuja", 1931.Memoires de la Société Finno-Ougrienne 60
Phonology Consonants LabialAlveolarPost-alveolarPalatalVelarGlottalPlosive 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 FrontCentralBackshortlongshortlongshortlongCloseMidOpen
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.Rießler, Michael (2018). "Kola Sámi literature (Kildin Sámi, Ter Sámi, Akkala Sámi)". In: "Čálli giehta olla guhkás" A writing hand reaches further ({S}ámi proverb) Johanna Domokos (ed.). Helsinki: Yhdenvertaisen kulttuurin puolesta ry, pp. 73–78. +Unofficial Ter Sámi alphabetА аӒ ӓБ бВ вГ гД дЕ еЁ ёЖ жЗ зИ иЙ йК кЛ лӅ ӆМ мӍ ӎН нӉ ӊӇ ӈО оП пР рҎ ҏС сТ тУ уФ фХ хЦ цЧ чШ шЪ ъЫ ыӸ ӹЬ ьҌ ҍЭ эӬ ӭЮ юЯ я
Morphology Ter Sámi has 8 cases, Nominative, Genitive, Accusative, Essive, Inessive-Lative, Dative-Illative, Abessive, and Comitative. +casesingularplural -change of the main part of wordchange of the main part of wordchange of the main part of wordchange of the main part of wordtnns'tna, ittatank'em, g'em
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. +WordMeaningPluralMeaningmi̮rrforestmi̮rforestsk'iллlanguagek'iлlanguagesšiɛn'n'swampšiɛn'swampstaststartaaststars
The word ku 'who' in the cases. +CaseSingularPluralNominativekukoggGenitivekonnkojtAccusativekonnkojtEssivekon'n'inkojnInessivekon'n'es'tkojnDativekon'n'ikojtAbessivekontakojtaComitativekon'inkojgujm
Vocabulary + Sample vocabulary in Ter Sámi Ter Sámi Latin transcription English gloss vɨejjve head nɨkčɨm tongue kidt hand lonn't bird čadc'e water kiedd'ke stone abb're rain toll fire
Notes
External links
Ter saami dictionary Die Struktur der Nominalphrase im Tersaamischen (in German) Koltan- ja kuolanlapin sanakirja (Kola Saami dictionary translating into Finnish and German, includes Ter Saami) Koltan- ja kuolanlappalaisia satuja (texts in Kola Saami languages, includes Ter Saami)