Kainuu Sami

{{Short description|Extinct Sámi language of Finland}}

{{refimprove|date=June 2013}}

{{Distinguish|Kainuu dialect}}{{Infobox language

| name = Kainuu Sámi

| states = Finland

| extinct = by 1800s{{Cite web|author=Irja Seurujärvi-Kar|year=2011|title="We Took Our Language Back" – The Formation of a Sámi Identity within the Sámi Movement and the Role of the Sámi Language from the 1960s until 2008|pages=39|quote=...Kainuu Sámi (used until 16th–18th century in the area of the Forest Sámi people in central Finland and in the Republic of Karelia).|access-date=1 October 2024|url=https://www.sgr.fi/uudetsivut/files/original/7d1d17af5f44977792645323e2215bab.pdf#page=19}}

| familycolor = Uralic

| fam2 = Sámi

| fam3 = Eastern

| fam4 = Mainland

| fam5 = Kemi Sámi?

| iso3 = none

| glotto = kain1277

| glottorefname = Kainuu Saami

| region = Kainuu

| ethnicity = Forest Sámi

}}

Kainuu Sámi is an extinct Sámi language that was once spoken in Kainuu. It became extinct in the 18th century when the Kainuu Sámi began assimilating to the culture of the growing Finnish population. Kainuu Sámi belonged to the Eastern Sámi language group.

In his review of Jaakko Anhava's book Maailman kielet ja kielikunnat ("Languages and language groups of the world", 1998), researcher of Finno-Ugric languages Tapani Salminen stated that the idea of the existence of a Kainuu Sámi language that is separate from Kemi Sámi is not well reasoned.Salminen, Tapani (2000). Uusi suomenkielinen kokonaisesitys maailman kielistä. Virittäjä, No. 1. Page 154. [https://journal.fi/virittaja/article/download/39997/30449/ PDF]. Retrieved 2022-2-9.

The original inhabitants of Kainuu were Sámi hunter-fishers. In the 17th century, the Governor General of Finland Per Brahe fostered the population growth of Kainuu by giving a ten-year tax exemption to settlers. It was considered necessary at the time by Finnish authorities to populate Kainuu with Finnish farmers because control over the area was threatened from the east by Russians. Those who settled in Kainuu were mainly from Savonia.