Leif Rantala

Leif Rantala in stylized and conceptual profile wearing a Sami Traditional headgear and costume

Leif Rantala (26 December 1947, Liljendal – 8 January 2015, Rovaniemi)[1] was a Finnish-Swedish linguist, and a specialist of Sami languages, cultures of history, especially of the Kola Peninsula.

Valentina Sovkina characterized Rantala in Facebook with the following words: “He left a large, radiant footprint in the lives of the Sami people, with his interest in and knowledge of the Skolt Sami and the Sami of the Kola Peninsula.”[2]

Activities in science and society

Rantala graduated from Helsinki University with a MA degree in Finno-ugric languages in 1975. His thesis dealt with the Saami place names in Polmak.[3] He worked at the University of Lapland in Rovaniemi, mainly as a teacher of the Northern Saami language. He was an expert of the Saami peoples and cultures of Pechenga and the Kola Peninsula. He collected a sizable collection of ethnographic materials from the Saami of Russia.[1]

Rantala often had to work as a translator, when the civil servants in Finnish Lapland did not know Saami. “I have sometimes had to translate texts, when people have complained about the non-existent command of Saami of e.g. the police. How many Finnish civil servants have taken the trouble to learn Saami? I don’t think there are too many of them.” According to Rantala, society should use various perks to motivate civil servants to learn Saami.[4]

Works[5]

Translations[5]

Work edited[5]

References

  1. 1 2 Johanna Sarjas (2015-01-09). "Kuolan niemimaan tutkija Leif Rantala on kuollut" [Leif Rantala, scholar of the Kola Peninsula, has died] (in Finnish). Yle Lappi. Retrieved 2015-01-09.
  2. Valentina Sovkina (2015-01-09). "Facebook wall". Facebook (in Russian). Translation Pekka Sammallahti/Panu Hallamaa. Retrieved 2015-01-09.
  3. Leif Rantala (1975). De samiska ortnamnen i Polmak (in Swedish). MA thesis in Finno-ugric languages, Helsinki University.
  4. "Rantala: Virkamiehet saamenkielen oppiin" [Civil servants should learn Saami] (in Finnish). Yle Lappi. 2011-04-15. Retrieved 2015-01-09.
  5. 1 2 3 National Library of Finland. "Fennica catalogue". Retrieved 2015-01-09.
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