vulnerability
Diagram showing a cell system with fragments of layers from Kautokeino area
Eimear Tynan Assignment 03
mapping language through membranes
KAUTOKEINO CELL The approach for this assignment is to 1) look at language as an organism and 2) to experiment with developing a layered mapping strategy that mimics an organism-like structure. The concept of a cell structure (see map below)is used to describe how various activities and events have influenced language in Finnmark. This assignment will focus primarily on the Kautokeino municipality. It will examine the inflow of influences and the outflow of resources that have shaped the Sámi language. The aim is to see at what stage does this “cell” become vulnerable regarding the resilience of the language.
Diagram showing layers of activity in the Kautokeino municipality
KAUTOKEINO TERRITORIES: mapping the stakeholders The diagrams below show the layers of the Kautokeino lansdscape. Natural and man-made systems create a complex composition. There is evidence of settled communities and fixed infrastructures placed on and within a vast natural, living and moving matrix. Each of these layers is also communicated through language. Each layer or network speaks its own language. “Much can be deciphered about what cultures use and value by looking at their language “ Arctic Biodiversity Assessment p.655.
Mining licences and buildings
Reindeer routes
Reindeer pastures
Roads network
Electricity network
Water networks
Sร MI LANGUAGE: BACKGROUND Sรกmi is spoken in four countries - Norway, Sweden, Finland and Russia. There are approximately 40 indigenous languages in the arctic regions1. However, the last century has seen a dramatic increase in the extinction of indigenous languages and the threat continues 2. The language status of the Sรกmi languages ranges from severely endangered to critically endangered according to UNESCO3. The main threats are: 1) The decline of native speakers 2) Cultural oppression (e.g. Norwegianization approx. 1850-1980) 3) Territorial infringement 4) Linguistic diversity (strongly linked to point 2)
Map of Sรกmi languages from http://munin.uit.no/bitstream/handle/10037/5551/thesis.pdf?sequence=1 1
http://arcticportal.org/features/702-arctic-indigenous-languages For an overall map of indegenous languages in the arctic region please visit: http://www.arctic-council.org/index.php/en/resources/other-resources/maps 3 http://www.arcticbiodiversity.is/index.php/the-report/chapters/linguistics-diversity 2
SÁMI LANGUAGE: inflows/outflows The following diagram shows , very briefly, the main migration patterns and events that influenced the Sámi language. The Sámi language belongs to the Uralic language family.
INFLOW
OUTFLOW
c. 1000 BC migration from the East * Sámi referred to as Fenni 6th-15th Century - Sámi referred to as Scritobini (skiing finns) and later Lappir - Trade with Vikings 16th-19th Century - Protestant /Orthodox Missionaries - Taxes to Norway, Sweden and Russia - Encouraged immigration to Finnmark 20th-21st Century - Planned integration of Sámi society with Norwegian society (post WWII) - Sámi political revitalization 1
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6th-15th Century Migrations to the coast 16th-19th Century - Sámi boys educated in Trondheim for missionary purposes C18th. -Norwegian established as the national language in C19th. - Sámi children educated in boarding schools C19th. -Closing of the Finnish/Russian border 1852 20th-21st Century - Evacuation during WWII - Training of Sámi teachers for schools
The S Finn ami lang ish s u ome age sep ar 4000 year ated from s ago Prot o
* Sámi ancestors were in contact with Indo-European people as far back as 4000 B.C.E. but a distinct Sámi ethnicity did not emerge until C.2000 years ago (John Weinstock; What Goes Around Comes around: Sámi Time and Indigeneity 1 http://www.academia.edu/1488801/Education_Recognition_and_the_Sami_People_of_Norway
LANGUAGE AND ACTIVITY - TWO EXAMPLES In the following examples two transport media are used - a) the routes of reindeer and their herders, and b) road networks. Language used by the users will be listed below:
Reindeer routes
Road networks
Boazu – semi-domesticated reindeer Goddi – wild reindeer Heagga – (body) life – the individual reindeer Eallu – viability – the herd Duovddalašvuohta – territoriality /coupled landscape Siidaguimmešvuohta – partnership/fellowship Máhtolašvuohta – knowledge/expertise Sajit, nugo livvasadji, gárdesadji jna. /limited places for reindeers rest, gathering etc. Geinnodagat - mandatory passage points Báikkit, nugo giđđaealátbáiki, guottetbáiki, bálggosbáiki jna. – places/ecological niches for early spring grazing, calving, refuge from insects/hot (or cold) weather etc. Johtingeainnut – migratory routes Johtolat – area consisting of alternative migratory routes, places for short stays and herein places for sequential use (by siidas belonging to the same johtolat) Iešguđetlágán eatnamat maiguin heivehallá guođuheami jahkodagaid mielde – Diversity of terrain that supports adaptation to climatic variation
Mobility – mobilitet Accessibility – tilgjengelighet Traffic forecasting, traffic prediction - trafikkberegning, beregning av trafikkprognose Car sharing - bildeling, bilbank, bilpool Road service, roadside assistance - veghjelp, vegassistanse Danger - fare Risk - skade Probability - sannsynlighet Congestion - trengsel Gridlock - vranglås Stop time, idle time - stopptid Delay - forsinkelse Speed limit - fartsgrense, hastighetsgrense Capacity - kapasitet Recurrent congestion - systematisk trengsel Spacing- avstand Merging - fletting Route - rute Route diversion - alternativ rute, omkjøring
Terminology from Mikkel Nils Sara Siida and traditional knowledge http://www.arctic-council.org/arr/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/ Keynote-3-Mikkel-Nils-Sara-Siida-and-traditional-knowledge.pdf
Terminology from ITS Terminology (translated into Se,No, Dk, IS, Fi & EN) http://www.vegvesen.no/_attachment/422094/binary/718403?fast_ title=ITS+ordbok.pdf
Note: the terminology listed above is a very small sample used by reindeer herders
Note: the document includes a total of 870 terms with definitions
LANGUAGE AS ORGANISM As early as 1767 German philosopher Johann Gottfried Herder described language as an organism that “geminates, bears buds, flowers and eventually withers away”1. In the 19th century, words were conceived as the living units of cultural evolution by Victor Hugo (1856) and Gottlob Krause (1885). Charles Darwin (1871) explicitly saw words as units of evolution subject to natural selection (van Driem)2. It is a hotly debated topic but a metaphor that I find appropriate in trying to present the conflicts of the landscape through the lens of language. A membrane of a culture, like a plasma cell for example, is constantly dependent on mechanisms of what it releases and what it must defend. Sometimes it can be resilient to changes and sometimes it can not. Languages of the arctic are struggling to resist the outside pressure of globalisation, exploitation and climate change. Language is a huge part of a culture's identity and should be protected but at the same time it must be allowed to evolve in order to adapt to change.
“Literary Organism “- Stefanie Posavec http://www.academia.edu/374356/The_language-organism-species_analogy_A_complex_adaptive_systems_approach_to_shifting_ perspectives_on_language_ 2 http://www.himalayanlanguages.org/files/driem/pdfs/prague.pdf 1