European parliament working paper
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- The use of the language in various fields
- Conclusion
- References
- Sami
RomanyIntroductionRefugees brought Romany, an Indo-European, Aryan language, to Finland from Sweden in the 16th century. Romany in Finland is influenced by Swedish (vocabulary) and Finnish (syntax and phonology), and its speakers can hardly understand other Roma. Attempts to promote the language using the folk language principle complicate language teaching and planning. Only older Roma now have an extensive command of traditional Romany. Most of the 10-13,000 Roma (ethnonym, Kaale/Kalé) now live in the centre and south, as a result of mid-20th century urbanisation. 3,000 have migrated to Sweden. The 1975 Housing Act made municipalities improve conditions for the Roma, but assimilation and segregation are still threats, despite renewed efforts in the 1990s to solve their problems of lower housing standards, shorter education and higher rates of unemployment. Their considerable dependency on social services makes traditional and urban life-styles clash. The nomadic way of life, with horse breeding and fortune-telling, has partly given way to racehorse dealing, car/metal scrap dealing and handicrafts. Since 1990 an Advisory Board for Roma Affairs180 monitors the welfare of the Roma, and promotes their language and culture. Romany is not cited in the European Charter, but Part II applies to it. The Roma are one of Finland’s de facto groups, relevant for the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities. The constitution grants the right to maintain and develop their language and culture. Implementation of Acts and Conventions is complicated, for Romany is an in-group language hit by language shift. In the 1990s, the publishing of teaching material was accepted by Roma leaders. The Romany Language Board (1997, composed of linguists and Roma representatives) is responsible for Romany policy decisions. The use of the language in various fieldsEducation: Finnish citizens have the right to study their mother tongue for 2 hours a weekly. Romany began to be taught to Roma school children in 1989. Since 1995 day care in Romany has become legally possible, but training of day care staff and teachers (ca. 30-40) is not widespread. Mother tongue provision applies to upper secondary education since 1999, and is open to adults. Though the state subsidises (86%) optional Romany mother tongue classes, many municipalities claim economic reasons for not offering it. Of the c. 1,600 Roma school-age children, only 200–300 were taught their mother tongue in the late 1990s. The first teaching material, Viljo Koivisto’s ABC-b, was published in 1982. In higher education, the first basic course in Romany was offered at Helsinki University in 1999. Since 1994 the Education Unit for Roma people reports to the Ministry of Education. Public authorities and services: Officials and municipality institutions demand information about Romany culture. Widespread prejudice in society has even included the police force; some claim the Roma have been treated as a subgroup of delinquents, not as an ethnic group. Mass media and information and communication technology: Roma news is broadcast weekly on national radio. The 1993 Finnish Broadcasting Corporation Act181 establishes the production of services in Romany. Two magazines are in Romany. The Arts: There is a Roma theatre. Several singers/musicians have become popular among the majority. The first lengthy publication in Finnish Romany was the Gospels (1970-71). Family and social use of the language: The Roma are loyal to kin and family. Unlike other Roma people, the Finnish Roma lack a corresponding institution to the Kris, or council of elders. Marriage is not an important social institution; partners are expected to be found in other families. The language has traditionally been transmitted orally; it carries symbolic value, and attempts to revitalise it have raised interest among them. Transnational exchanges: There are many Nordic contacts, especially with Swedish Roma since 1954. Bilateral ministerial committees with Sweden have targeted the Roma since the 1960s. There are contacts with the International Romany Federation and co-operation with the European Council, the OSCE and the EU. ConclusionThe Roma remain socially and economically disintegrated, and the language is threatened; younger Roma use Finnish or a variety influenced by Finnish. Many councils do not offer classes, due to a shortage of Roma teachers, prejudice and poor information about the Roma. ReferencesFraurud, Kari & Hyltenstam, Kenneth, Språkkontakt och språkbevarande: Romani i Sverige. In: Hyltenstam, K. (ed.) Sveriges sju inhemska minoritetsspråk, 241-298. Studentlitteratur, Lund, 1999. Grönfors, Martti, Finnish Rom: A Forgotten Cultural Group. In: Cultural Minorities in Finland, 147-160. Publications of the Finnish National Commission for Unesco, 66. Ministry of Education, Helsinki, 1995. Leiwo, Matti, Suomen romanikielen asemasta ja huollosta. In: Pekkola, Seppo (ed.) Sadanmiehet, pp. 127-139. Suomen kielen laitoksen julkaisuja 41. Jyväskylän yliopisto, Jyväskylä, 1999. The Roma People website. http://home6.swipnet.se/~w-69051/romapeople.html. SamiIntroductionThe 60-100,000 Samis have lived for millennia in the same area in Finland, Norway, Sweden and Russia. There are 6,000–6,900 Finnish Samis. About 4,500 live in the Sami homeland, the 3 northernmost municipalities. Utsjoki has a majority of Samis; Inari and Enontekiö have mostly Sami districts. About 450 live in Helsinki. They have traditionally been fishermen, hunters and traders. With reindeer herding (which with handicrafts became a central activity), the siida (Sami village) became the basic social and economic unit. But migrants from the south and the gradual spread of the tax system weakened its role; and only c. 15% work in reindeer herding today. Life styles in the north have been disturbed by mining, reservoirs, the resettlement of the Petsamo Sami (Skolt Sami) and by Finns migrating northwards. The Inari Sami were forced out of their fishing culture and life-style. The Sami had no language and cultural rights in Finland (or the other Nordic countries) until the 60s. Sami culture has been orally transmitted, and handicrafts, songs (joiku) and folktales help preserve their history. Most Sami-speakers speak North Sami. About 300-400 speak Skolt Sami and 300-350 speak Inari Sami. The languages are quite different from each other. The main criteria for being counted as a Sami are self-identification and the ability to speak Sami; at least one parent/grandparent must have been a native Sami-speaker. As an indigenous people, they have the constitutional right ‘to maintain and develop their own languages and cultures.’ They have the right to use Sami before public authorities (1991 Act). The Sami Thing (1991 and 1995 Acts) monitors Sami language rights and culture, and also promotes Sami translation/interpreting skills. The Use of the Sami Language Act (1992) is under review; it gives insufficient support to the use of Sami. State gives growing support, though it has not signed the ILO 69 convention on aboriginal peoples’ rights. The use of the language in various fieldsEducation: The three Sami languages have their own spelling system. North Sami dominates. All are available for mother tongue primary school lessons in Sami homeland municipalities. Some primary schooling in Sami began in Helsinki in 1989. Sami day-care activities have not been set up, despite provisions in the 1973 Day Care Act. North and Inari Sami also exist in upper secondary schools, and the matriculation examination can be taken in Sami. Immersion schemes involving elderly Inari Sami speakers and pre-schoolers have been successful. The State covers the costs of Sami education, including upper secondary education and a vocational training school. Sami is offered at Oulu, Lapland and Helsinki universities182. Quotas for native Sami-speakers are applied for teacher-trainees at the universities of Oulu and Rovaniemi. Teachers are also taught at the Nordic Sami College (in Sami Allaskuvla183) in Kautokeino (Norway). Courses are given at Lapland University: Sami is a minor subject for teachers, lawyers and public officials. The Sami subject teacher-training is under review. Some in-service training education is given for Sami teachers. The courts, public authorities and services: Sami may be used before courts of law, regional and local State authorities whose jurisdiction covers the Sami homeland even partially, and before the Lapland county government. The 1992 Sami Act also apply to the Supreme Court and a wide range of regional and sectoral courts. The district council can require that a State employee in the Sami homeland should know and use the language. Official documents or translations shall on request be given in Sami. Official notifications in the Sami homeland by a State authority are regularly issued in the Sami languages). Acts, Decrees and decisions relevant to the Sami language are usually translated into North Sami. However, Sami has incomplete legal terminology. In the Sami homeland members of the local administrative/public bodies and church authorities may use Sami. Documents and road signs shall be available in Sami. These are often in the three Sami languages. Public officials in the homeland can be granted paid leave of absence to teach Sami, so as to be able to carry out their official duties. Sami first names and family names may not be prevented, according to the Names Act. Mass media and information and communication technology: The Sami radio station run by the Finnish Broadcasting Company broadcasts c. 40 hours/week, and daily radio broadcasts are available on the Sami Radio website. They co-operate with broadcasters in Norway and Sweden that use Sami. Sami TV programmes are not regularly broadcast. The Sami Thing, other institutions and cultural organisations use a TV teletext service. There is a regular Sami magazine, and two Norwegian newspapers in North Sami are sold in Finland. The Arts: Thanks to Sami cultural autonomy, Ministry of Education funding is administered by the Sami Thing. Grants are awarded to Sami organisations for literature, music, visual arts, theatre and handicrafts. Sami writers/poets, painters and musicians have become popular among the general public. In Helsinki there are culture support groups, Sami youth/adult discussion groups, and Sami handicraft courses. The cultural needs of Sami and Finnish-speakers are to be treated equally in the Sami homeland (1998 Library Act). Family and social use of the language: The Sami have become more involved in language and culture maintenance since the 1970s; they more readily identify themselves as Samis and try to learn the languages. Church services and weddings can be held in Sami. Sami-speakers staff the Inari and Utsjoki old peoples’ homes. A few nurses in the Central Hospital of Lapland know Sami, but there is no Sami service at Oulu University Hospital. The Sami sports association has government support. Transnational exchanges: Extensive contacts between the Nordic Sami communities included Samis in Russia in 1992. An accord with the Russian Federation now supports the indigenous Finno-Ugric languages and cultures in Russia, and Russian in Finland. Sami co-operation in sports is active. The Nordic countries share employment services. Samis are included in the Nordic culture agreement (1971). The Nordic Sami Council (Sami Ráddi) and each of the Sami Parliaments work together in, e.g. the joint-Nordic Sami Language Board. Contacts exist with aboriginal peoples, the Barents Sea area people, and with the Arctic indigenous people. The Samis in Finland have held several international conferences in these fields. ConclusionFinland has increased its support to the Samis, and acknowledges the threats they face. Still, the language shift process and pressures on the Samis’ life style have not waned. Language transmission is not assured among Skolt and Inari Sami families. The definition of Sami ethnicity, reindeer herding, and debates about land rights (which remain a sensitive issue in all the Nordic countries, and can cause hostility between Samis and non-Samis) are recurrent issues for Samis; and people’s own or ancestral Sami proficiency is central. Young Samis seem more willing to identify as Samis and to use the language. ReferencesLindgren, Anna-Riitta 2000. Helsingin saamelaiset ja oma kieli. Helsinki: SKS. Seurujärvi-Kari, Irja, Aikio-Puoskari, Ulla, Matti Morottaja, Matti, Saressalo, Lassi, Pentikäinen, Juha & Hirvonen, Vuokko 1995. The Sami People in Finland. In: Cultural Minorities in Finland, 101-145. Publications of the Finnish National Commission for Unesco, 66. Helsinki: Ministry of Education University of Oulu http://www.oulu.fi (Sami-medium higher education)
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