Kildin Sámi (also sometimes known as Kola Sámi, Eastern Sámi, and Lappish, though all of these are ambiguous) is a Sámi language spoken on the Kola Peninsula of northwestern Russia that today is and historically was inhabited by this group.
The Sámi languages closest to Kildin are Ter Sámi and Akkala Sámi, in Soviet tradition sometimes considered to be dialects of Kildin Sámi. From a strictly geographical point of view, only Kildin and Ter, spoken on the Peninsula, could be regarded as Kola Sámi. It is the largest of the Eastern Sámi languages by number of speakers. Its future, however, appears to be not as bright as that of Skolt Sámi or Inari Sámi because the language is used actively by only very few people today.
Geographic distribution
Originally, Kildin Sámi was spoken in clustered areas of the mainland and coastal parts of the Kola Peninsula. Nowadays, Kildin Sámi speakers can be found in rural and urban areas, including the administrative center of the oblast. The area of Lovozero has the highest concentration of speakers. Other Kildin Sámi speakers are scattered throughout the villages and small towns of the Peninsula: Revda, Kola, Loparskaya, Teriberka, but can also be found in larger more sizable towns of Murmansk Oblast such as Olenegorsk and Apatity. Lovozero is known as the main place where the language is still spoken by 700–800 ethnic Sámi amongst a total village population of approximately 3,000. However, today the Saami are but a minority in Lovozero: the large majority of the population consists of Russians and Izhma Komi. The language has only about 100 active and perhaps 600 passive speakers. As a result of relocation, migration, and forced movement of the group, the community has really fragmented and become divided over other areas in Murmansk Region, thus leading to an inability for the revival and sustenance of their language, traditions, customs, and beliefs.
History
The early period
The Kildin Sámi (Kola Sámi) first came into contact and had more subsequent meetings with the Russians in the 12th century, when Pomor traders from the republic of Novgorod landed on the southern shores of the Kola Peninsula. Russians themselves inhabited and set up shelters in the Kola and the Ter Coast as it was known then during the 13th–14th centuries. During the 15th and 16th centuries, Russians started heavily occupying and building their own communities in northern Karelia and increased exposure between the Kildin Sámi and Russians naturally blossomed as a result. In the 19th century, Kola Sámi were organized and advocated for themselves through "tight-knit familial communities" where they worked in pastures, lived by fishing, and survived through hunting all in a concrete set around defined territory with extended family. During this time, they community shared in spiritual customs and held similar ideologies on their language and community. In the Russian empire, the Kildin Sámi had no authority, rights or privileges, or liberties of autonomy and independence to control their affairs and to educate and teach their language through schools. After the 1917 Revolution which overthrew the tsarist regime of Nicholas II and led to the rise of the Bolsheviks, party systems, and emphasis towards a village-centered, peasant-centered, society, the Soviet state implemented laws or statutes that encouraged the development and protection of Sámi language and Sámi culture.
The Stalinist era
During the 1930s, with an orientation toward Russian nationalism ("Russification") and Russian identity that came about more dramatically with Joseph Stalin's rise to power and his oppressive tactics, Kola Sámi languages and culture came under intense pressure. His oppressive agricultural, economic, and cultural policies also led to the arrest of those who resisted collectivization, including many who lived in the Kola tundras. As Russia entered World War II, Kildin Sámi youth were drafted and impressed to serve in the Red Army, which lessened hardships and prejudices they faced for a temporary period. Although the repression ended after the death of Stalin in 1953, Russification policies continued and the work with the Sámi languages started again only in the beginning of the 1980s when new teaching materials and dictionaries were published.