The Inari Saami Language Association conducts research on Inari Saami in collaboration with the University of Oulu and the Arctic University of Norway, and participates in Inari Saami language technology work.
Inari Saami Continuing Education 2007–2013, CASLE
From 2007 to 2013, the Association planned, implemented, and documented the Inari Saami Continuing Education Project, the so-called CASLE project, which trained a total of 17 new Inari Saami speakers from various professions during the academic year 2009–2010. The project aimed to produce a new generation of language speakers to replace the lost working-age generation.
During the planning and implementation phases, the project involved an education planner (100%) and a language sociologist (50%). In the documentation phase, a journalist (100%) worked within the Association.
The project was implemented by the Giellagas Institute at the University of Oulu, with the Saami Education Centre as a partner. The project has been documented in the book Revitalising Indigenous Languages. How to recreate a lost generation. Bristol: Multilingual Matters (2013).
100 Writers for Inari Saami
From 2015 to 2021, the Inari Saami Language Association implemented the “100 Writers for Inari Saami” project. The goal of the project was to establish a writing culture for Inari Saami, activate language speakers to write in Inari Saami, support the writing of their texts, strengthen technical writing, publish texts produced by writers, and establish new writing arenas in Inari Saami. Through the project, the Association has placed particular emphasis on developing the reading and writing skills of young individuals by providing reading materials for them.
1,000 Pages of Youth Literature
From 2017 to 2022, the Inari Saami Language Association implemented the “1,000 Pages of Youth Literature” project. This project was necessary because there weren’t any reading materials available in Inari Saami for young people. As the name suggests, the project involved translating 1,000 pages of youth literature from various languages. The translation phase of the project was funded by the Kone Foundation.
Inari Saami language experts and advanced Inari Saami university students served as translators. The translation work was supervised by the Giellagas Institute at the University of Oulu. Language checking was carried out by the Giellagas Institute and the Inari Saami Language Association.
100 Books in Inari Saami
The Inari Saami Language Association aims to continue improving the availability of literature in Inari Saami. The goal is to eventually have 100 books in Inari Saami.
Language Technology Research
The Inari Saami Language Association is actively involved in the development of language technology tools and related research. Writers are assisted by a spellchecker that detects spelling errors in texts. At their disposal is also a grammar checker, which identifies grammatically incorrect structures in the text. These include particularly errors due to the negative impact of Finnish sentence structures on the Inari Saami language. These tools improve the quality of texts and assist writers in quality assurance tasks. Even though the tools have been developed with a focus on Inari Saami as a second language, they are suitable for anyone writing in Inari Saami.