Eastern Saamic

The East-Saamic languages constitute a subgroup of Saamic. They can be divided further into a western mainland group (with Inari Saami, Skolt Saami and Akkala Saami) and an eastern peninsular group (with Kildin Saami and Ter Saami).

Eastern Saamic constitutes the eastern branch of Saamic and is spoken in Finland and Russia. It can be subdivided into the mainland group (Inari Saami, Skolt Saami with Akkala Saami) and the peninsular group (Kola Saami: Kildin Saami, Ter Saami).

Typical features of Eastern Saamic include:

• Preservation of *š in clusters
• Preservation of long nasals.
• Loss of intervocalic *nč with following contraction
• Loss of final vowels in third syllables and (except in Inari) in second syllables.

Other Languages

• German Ostsaamische Sprachen