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.

thumbnail|300px|Sámi dialects and settlements in Russia:

History

thumb|Zoya Gerasimova (left), one of the last speakers of Ter Sámi, speaking with [[Nina Afanasyeva (2006)|alt=]]

In the end of the 19th century, there were six Ter Sámi villages in the eastern part of the Kola Peninsula, 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.

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.

<!--The earliest known documentation of Sámi languages is a short Ter Sámi vocabulary collected by the British explorer Stephen Burrough in 1557; the vocabulary was published by Richard Hakluyt.-->

Phonology

Consonants

{| class="wikitable" style=text-align:center

!

!Labial

!Alveolar

!Post-<br>alveolar

!Palatal

!Velar

!Glottal

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!Plosive

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!Affricate

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!Fricative

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!Nasal

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! rowspan="2" |Approximant<br>(Lateral)

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!Trill

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  • All consonants except for /j/ may be palatalized [ʲ].
  • Consonants /t, d/ can also sound as half-palatalized.

Vowels

{| class="wikitable" style=text-align:center

! rowspan="2" |

! colspan="2" |Front

! colspan="2" |Central

! colspan="2" |Back

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!<small>short</small>

!<small>long</small>

!<small>short</small>

!<small>long</small>

!<small>short</small>

!<small>long</small>

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!Close

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!Mid

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!Open

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  • 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.<!--

А аÄ äБ бВ вГ гД дЕ еË ë

[a][æ][b][v][g][d][jɛ][jɔ]

Ж жЗ зҺ һИ иЙ йҊ ҋЈ јК к

[ʒ][z][ʰ][i][j][j̥][k]

Л лӅ ӆМ мӍ ӎН нӉ ӊӇ ӈО о

[l][l̥][m][m̥][n][n̥][ŋ][ɔ]

П пР рҎ ҏС сТ тУ уФ фХ х

[p][r][r̥][s][t][u][f][x]

Ц цЧ чШ шЩ щЪ ъЫ ыЬ ьЭ э

[ts][ʧ][ʃ][ʃtʃ]”[ɨ]’[ɛ]

Ӭ ӭЮ юЯ я

[ɛ][ju][ja]

A aĀ āÅ åB bC cČ čD dE e

[a][a:][ɒ][b][ts][ʧ][d][e]

Ē ēF fG gH hI iĪ īƗ ɨJ j

[e:][f][g][x/ʰ][i][i:][ɨ][j]

K kL lM mN nŊ ŋO oŌ ōP p

[k][l][m][n][ŋ][o][o:][p]

S sŠ šT tU uŪ ūV vZ zŽ ž

[s][ʃ][t][u][u:][v][z][ʒ]

Ʒ ʒǮ ǯ’

[dz][dʒ][ʲ]-->

{| style="font-family:Microsoft Serif; font-size:1.6em; border-color:#000000; border-width:1px; border-style:solid; border-collapse:collapse; background-color:#F8F8EF; text-align:center; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em;"

|+Ter Sámi alphabet

| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" |А а

| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" |Ӓ ӓ

| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" |Б б

| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" |В в

| style="width:3.5em" |Г г

| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" |Д д

| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" |Е е

| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" |Ё ё

| style="width:3em; text-align:center; padding: 3px;" |Ж ж

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|З з

|И и

|Й й

|К к

|Л л

|Ӆ ӆ

|М м

|Ӎ ӎ

|Н н

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|Ӊ ӊ

|Ӈ ӈ

|О о

|П п

|Р р

|Ҏ ҏ

|С с

|Т т

|У у

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|Ф ф

|Х х

|Ц ц

|Ч ч

|Ш ш

|Ъ ъ

|Ы ы

|Ӹ ӹ

|Ь ь

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|Ҍ ҍ

|Э э

|Ӭ ӭ

|Ю ю

|Я я

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Morphology

Ter Sámi has 8 cases, Nominative, Genitive, Accusative, Essive, Inessive-Lative, Dative-Illative, Abessive, and Comitative.

{| class="wikitable"

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!case

!singular

!plural

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| -

|change of the main part of word

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|change of the main part of word

|change of the main part of word

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|change of the main part of word

|t

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|n

|n

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|s't

|n

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|a, i

|t

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|ta

|ta

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|n

|k'em, g'em

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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.

{| class="wikitable"

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!Word

!Meaning

!Plural

!Meaning

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|mi̮rr

|forest

|mi̮r

|forests

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|k'iлл

|language

|k'iл

|languages

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|šiɛn'n'

|swamp

|šiɛn'

|swamps

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|tast

|star

|taast

|stars

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The word ku 'who' in the cases.

{| class="wikitable"

|+

!Case

!Singular

!Plural

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!Nominative

|ku

|kogg

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!Genitive

|konn

|kojt

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!Accusative

|konn

|kojt

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!Essive

|kon'n'in

|kojn

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!Inessive

|kon'n'es't

|kojn

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!Dative

|kon'n'i

|kojt

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!Abessive

|konta

|kojta

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!Comitative

|kon'in

|kojgujm

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Vocabulary

{| class="wikitable"

|+ Sample vocabulary in Ter Sámi

! Ter Sámi || Latin transcription || English gloss

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| vɨejjve

| head

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| nɨkčɨm

| tongue

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| kidt

| hand

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| lonn't

| bird

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| čadc'e

| water

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| kiedd'ke

| stone

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| abb're

| rain

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| toll

| fire

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Notes

  • 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)