Pre-Finno-Ugric substrate refers to substratum loanwords from unidentified non-Indo-European and non-Uralic languages that are found in various Finno-Ugric languages, most notably Sámi. The presence of Pre-Finno-Ugric substrate in Sámi languages was demonstrated by Ante Aikio. Janne Saarikivi points out that similar substrate words are present in Finnic languages as well, but in much smaller numbers. The proposed substrate influence in Finnic may have been related either by borrowing or a direct genetic relationship to the languages that influenced Sámi.
Borrowing to Sámi from Paleo-Laplandic probably still took place after the completion of the Great Sámi Vowel Shift. Paleo-Laplandic likely became extinct about 1500 years ago.
