Israel Ruong (26 May 1903 − 6 April 1986) was a Swedish-

Sámi Acronyms * SAMI, ''Synchronized Accessible Media Interchange'', a closed-captioning format developed by Microsoft * Saudi Arabian Military Industries, a government-owned defence company * South African Malaria Initiative, a virtual expertise ...

linguist, politician and professor of

Sámi languages The Sámi languages ( ), also rendered in English language, English as Sami and Saami, are a group of Uralic languages spoken by the Indigenous Sámi peoples in Northern Europe (in parts of northern Finland, Norway, Sweden, and extreme northwest ...

and culture at the

University of Uppsala Uppsala University (UU) () is a public research university in Uppsala, Sweden. Founded in 1477, it is the oldest university in Sweden and the Nordic countries still in operation. Initially founded in the 15th century, the university rose to s ...

in Sweden. Israel Ruong spoke

Pite Sámi Pite Sámi or Arjeplog Sámi (, , ) is a Sámi language traditionally spoken in Sweden and Norway. It is a critically endangered language that has only about 25–50''At least 25 speakers in 2010'' according to researcher Joshua Wilbur. At le ...

as his

mother tongue A first language (L1), native language, native tongue, or mother tongue is the first language a person has been exposed to from birth or within the critical period. In some countries, the term ''native language'' or ''mother tongue'' refers ...

. His parents were

catechist Catechesis (; from Greek language, Greek: , "instruction by word of mouth", generally "instruction") is basic Christian religious education of children and adults, often from a catechism book. It started as education of Conversion to Christia ...

s, who lived on the shores of Lake Labbas in the Sámi village of Harrok. His parents and a number of his siblings succumbed to the

Spanish flu The 1918–1920 flu pandemic, also known as the Great Influenza epidemic or by the common misnomer Spanish flu, was an exceptionally deadly global influenza pandemic caused by the H1N1 subtype of the influenza A virus. The earliest docum ...

that rampaged through Arjeplog in 1920. His upbringing in Harrok is described in detail in his article "Harrok-ett samiskt nybygge i Pite Lappmark", which was published in the

Festschrift In academia, a ''Festschrift'' (; plural, ''Festschriften'' ) is a book honoring a respected person, especially an academic, and presented during their lifetime. It generally takes the form of an edited volume, containing contributions from the h ...

for Asbjørn Nesheim entitled ''Kultur på karrig jord : festskrift til Asbjørn Nesheim''. He received his training to become a teacher in

Luleå Luleå ( , , locally ; ; ) is a Cities in Sweden, city on the coast of northern Sweden, and the County Administrative Boards of Sweden, capital of Norrbotten County, the northernmost county in Sweden. Luleå has 48,728 inhabitants in its urban ...

, after which he went on to work as a teacher in the nomad school in

Jukkasjärvi Jukkasjärvi (; Sami: ''Čohkkiras'') is a locality situated in Kiruna Municipality, Norrbotten County, Sweden with 548 inhabitants in 2010. It is situated at 321 meters elevation. The name is of Northern Sami origin, where ''Čohkkirasjávri'' ...

. In 1943, he defended his dissertation entitled ''Lappische Verbalableitung dargestellt auf Grundlage des Pitelappischen.'' From 1947 to 1967, he served as the inspector for nomad schools in Sweden. Ruong served as

associate professor Associate professor is an academic title with two principal meanings: in the North American system and that of the ''Commonwealth system''. In the ''North American system'', used in the United States and many other countries, it is a position ...

in Sámi languages and Ethnology at the University of Uppsala from 1949 to 1969, at which point in time he was promoted to professor. As a linguist, Ruong worked on various aspects of the Sámi languages, especially on their

morphology Morphology, from the Greek and meaning "study of shape", may refer to: Disciplines *Morphology (archaeology), study of the shapes or forms of artifacts *Morphology (astronomy), study of the shape of astronomical objects such as nebulae, galaxies, ...

. Together with

Knut Bergsland Knut Bergsland (7 March 1914 – 9 July 1998) was a Norwegian linguist. Working as a professor at the University of Oslo from 1947 to 1981, he did groundbreaking research in Uralic (especially Sami) and Eskaleut languages. Career He was born in K ...

, he created the Bergsland-Ruong orthography for

Northern Sámi Northern Sámi or North Sámi ( ; ; ; ; ; disapproved exonym Lappish or Lapp) is the most widely spoken of all Sámi languages. The area where Northern Sámi is spoken covers the northern parts of Norway, Sweden and Finland. Geographic distr ...

in 1948. Thanks to the new orthography, Ruong was able to publish schoolbooks in Sámi. In 1970, he published a grammar book in Northern Sámi called ''Min sámegiella''. Ruong was also involved in Sámi politics and was one of the founding members of the (SSR) in 1950. He served as head of the SSR from 1959 to 1967. In addition to his political and educational work, Ruong also served as the editor-in-chief of the Sámi newspaper '' Samefolket'' from 1960 to 1973. In 1983, the Israel Ruong Scholarship () was established by the Nordic Sámi Institute. Since 2007 it is awarded every other year to a researcher that works in one or more of the fields that Ruong himself was interested in.

Brief bibliography

* ''Lappische Verbalableitung dargestellt auf Grundlage des Pitelappischen'' (1943) * ''Studier i lapsk kultur i Pite lappmark och angränsande områden'' (1944) * ''Formlära'' (1957) * ''Niilas ja su sii'da'' (1965) * ''Dovdagat ja bargot'' (1967) * ''Samerna'' (1969) * ''Min sámegiella'' (1970) * ''Index till samefolkets egen tidning-Samefolket 1918–1973 (1985)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ruong, Israel 1903 births 1986 deaths Sámi linguists Sámi non-fiction writers Textbook writers Linguists from Sweden Linguists of Sámi Pite Sámi-speaking people Swedish Sámi politicians Swedish Sámi people Academic staff of Uppsala University Burials at Uppsala old cemetery Swedish Sámi academics 20th-century linguists People from Arjeplog Municipality