The inferior position of the Sami Language in a bilingual Nursing home in Norway

Abstract

This is an article on the relation between the market for Sámi language in a contemporary bilingual Norwegian nursing home and the Norwegian history of the Sámi language. Bilingual nursing homes are supposed to invest in the Sámi language and thus increase its value. It was, however, difficult to identify investments in the Sámi language in the institution although nearly 50% of the residents were registered as Sámis by the head of the nursing home. The inferior position of the Sámi language seems to have become an unarticulated, unconscious, embodied part of the language practices in the nursing home, as if discrimination accumulates across spheres and generations. The study is based on Bourdieu’s theory on the symbolic power of language, on praxeological methodology and interviews with nursing staff.