“The land is different when you have lived there”. Socioonomastics study of reindeer herders’ toponymic competence in Lákkonjárga orohat Njulloslákkuid siida and Sállevári bálggus

This study focuses on the toponymic competence of Sámi reindeer herders in the early 21st century from a socio-onomastic perspective. The aim of the study is to determine how place names have been transferred between two generations and which socio-onomastic factors influence the transmission of toponymic competence among reindeer herders.

The analysis employs onomastic, socio-onomastic, and interdisciplinary methods. The contextual information sheds light on the linguistic situation in society, changes in the living environment and land use, work practices in reindeer herding, communal relationships, and the historical developments of the region. The study utilizes both established onomastic research methods and new approaches developed specifically for this research.

The research areas are two reindeer herding districts: the Sallivaara herding district in Finland and the Lákkonjárga herding district in Norway. The research material consists of place names passed down through oral tradition and contextual information provided by reindeer herders during interviews conducted in 2007, 2008, 2015, and 2016. The dataset includes a total of 1,783 North Sámi place names, of which 940 are in the Sallivaara herding district and 843 in the Lákkonjárga herding district. A total of 18 male informants participated in the study, nine from each research area. Representatives of the younger generation were between 31 and 48 years old at the time of the interviews, born between 1970 and 1987, while representatives of the older generation were between 57 and 87 years old, born between 1931 and 1951.