Funding cuts could mean death of Sámi languages, say Indigenous parliaments

Sweden and Finland plan to withdraw funding to safeguard nine languages defined as threatened by Unesco

The Indigenous parliaments of Sweden, Finland and Norway have warned that some Sami languages could disappear if Stockholm and Helsinki press ahead with plans to withdraw funding that could hit a critical preservation body.

Sami Giellagaldu was created to safeguard, promote and strengthen the use of the nine Sami languages across the Nordics, including North Sami, which is spoken by an estimated 20,000 people across Norway, Sweden and Finland and classified by Unesco as endangered, and the much smaller Pite Sami and Ute Sami, which have less than 50 speakers each.