Mikael Svonni

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Mikael Svonni
Mikael Svonni in 2006
Mikael Svonni in 2006
Born
Enok Mikael Svonni

(1950-09-03) 3 September 1950 (age 73)
NationalitySwedish Sámi
Occupation(s)Linguist
Professor
Translator
Publisher
AwardsGollegiella (2014)

Enok Mikael Svonni (born 3 September 1950) is a

Sámi
linguist, professor, and translator.

Early life

Svonni grew up in a

Northern Sami: Rávttasjávri).[1]

Career

In 1993, he successfully defended his dissertation at Umeå University on the Sámi spoken by Sámi schoolchildren, a topic which many of his publications are devoted to. From that year until 2008, Svonni worked as a professor of Sami Language Studies at the Department of Language Studies at Umeå University. In 2008, he was named professor of Sámi Linguistics at the University of Tromsø where he worked until his retirement in 2017[2]

During his academic career, he published scientific articles about Sámi in schools and later on worked on grammatical issues in Sámi.

As a translator, he has translated books like

Ronia, the Robber's Daughter and August Strindberg's A Dream Play into Northern Sámi.[3][4]

Awards

He won the Gollegiella language award in 2014 in recognition and appreciation of the many years he has dedicated to the Northern Sámi language in Sweden.[5][6]

Personal life

He is married to Inez Svonni Fjällström, with whom he has three children.[1] They live in Rávttas, north of Kiruna. Together, they founded a publishing house called Ravda Lágádus[3] in order to publish a wider range of non-fiction, fiction, and children's books in Sámi.[4][7]

Selected bibliography

References

  1. ^ a b c "Professorn drar västerut" [The professor heads west] (in Swedish). Folkbladet. May 24, 2008. Retrieved August 6, 2018.
  2. ^ "Professor Mikael Svonni blir pensjonist" [Professor Mikael Svonni to retire] (in Norwegian and English). UiT. Retrieved August 5, 2018.
  3. ^ a b "Det samiska boklandskapet har fått en vitamininjektion" (in Swedish). Samiskt informationscentrum. February 13, 2017. Retrieved August 5, 2018.
  4. ^ a b Lind, Jakob (November 5, 2016). "De vill sprida den samiska litteraturen" (in Swedish). Norrländska Socialdemokraten, NSD. Retrieved August 6, 2018.
  5. ^ "Gollegiella – Davviriikkalaš sámegiela giellabálkkašupmi" [Gollegiella - Pan-Nordic Sámi language award] (in Northern Sami). Suoma Sámediggi. Retrieved August 6, 2018.
  6. ^ "Pohjoismainen saamen kielen palkinto Gollegiella kolmelle henkilölle" [Pan-Nordic Sámi language award Gollegiella to three people] (in Finnish). Finnish Ministry of Justice. November 21, 2014. Retrieved August 5, 2018.
  7. ^ "Lágádusa birra" [About the Publishing House] (in Northern Sami). Ravda Lágádus. Retrieved August 5, 2018.

External links