Lule Sámi Explained

Lule Sámi
Nativename:julevsámegiella
States:Norway, Sweden
Speakers:650
Date:2015
Ref:[1]
Familycolor:Uralic
Fam2:Sámi
Fam3:Western
Iso2:smj
Iso3:smj
Glotto:lule1254
Glottorefname:Lule Saami
Script:Latin
Nation:Norway
Minority:Sweden[2]
Map:File:Lule-SamiLanguageLocatorMap.svg
Mapcaption:Lule Sami language area (red) within Sápmi (grey)
Map2:Lang Status 40-SE.svg
Notice:IPA

Lule Sámi (Lule Sami: Julevsámegiella, Norwegian: Lulesamisk, Swedish: Lulesamiska) is a Uralic, Sámi language spoken around the Lule River, Sweden, and in the northern parts of Nordland county in Norway, especially the Hamarøy (formerly Tysfjord) municipality, where Lule Sámi is an official language. It is written in the Latin script, having an official alphabet.

History

The language was originally only spoken around the Lule River, in Sweden. During the 18th century some Sámi migrated to Nordland in Norway, and their descendants still live in Norway, and speak Lule Sámi.[3] The first book written in Lule Sámi, Lule Sami: Hålaitattem Ristagasa ja Satte almatja kaskan, was published in 1839 by Lars Levi Læstadius.[3]

Status

With 650 speakers, it is the second largest of all Sámi languages. It is reported that the number of native speakers is in sharp decline among the younger generations. The language has, however, been standardised in 1983 and elaborately cultivated ever since.

Phonology

Consonants

Some analyses of Lule Sámi phonology may include preaspirated stops and affricates (pronounced as //hp//, pronounced as //ht//, pronounced as //ht͡s//, pronounced as //ht͡ʃ//, pronounced as //hk//) and pre-stopped or pre-glottalised nasals (voiceless pronounced as //pm//, pronounced as //tn//, pronounced as //tɲ//, pronounced as //kŋ// and voiced pronounced as //bːm//, pronounced as //dːn//, pronounced as //dːɲ//, pronounced as //gːŋ//). However, these can be treated as clusters for the purpose of phonology, since they are clearly composed of two segments and only the first of these lengthens in quantity 3. The terms "preaspirated" and "pre-stopped" will be used in this article to describe these combinations for convenience.

LabialDentalAlveolarPostalveolarPalatalVelar
Nasalpronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/
Plosive /
Affricate
pronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/
pronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/
Fricativepronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/
pronounced as /ink/
Semivowelpronounced as /ink/
Lateralpronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/
Trillpronounced as /ink/

Vowels

Lule Sámi possesses the following vowels:

Short vowelsLong vowelsDiphthongs
FrontBackFrontBackFrontBack
Closepronounced as /link/ pronounced as /link/pronounced as /link/ pronounced as /link/pronounced as /link/ pronounced as /link/
Midpronounced as /link/ pronounced as /link/pronounced as /link/ pronounced as /link/pronounced as /link/ pronounced as /link/
Openpronounced as /link/ pronounced as /link/

Consonant length and gradation

Consonants, including clusters, that occur after a stressed syllable can occur in multiple distinctive length types, or quantities. These are conventionally labelled quantity 1, 2 and 3 or Q1, Q2 and Q3 for short. The consonants of a word alternate in a process known as consonant gradation, where consonants appear in different quantities depending on the specific grammatical form. Normally, one of the possibilities is named the strong grade, while the other is named weak grade. The consonants of a weak grade are normally quantity 1 or 2, while the consonants of a strong grade are normally quantity 2 or 3.

Throughout this article and related articles, consonants that are part of different syllables are written with two consonant letters in IPA, while the lengthening of consonants in quantity 3 is indicated with an IPA length mark (pronounced as /ː/).

Not all consonants can occur in every quantity type. The following limitations exist:

When a consonant can occur in all three quantities, quantity 3 is termed "overlong".

Phonological processes

Umlaut

Umlaut is a process whereby a diphthong in a stressed syllable changes depending on the vowel in the next syllable.

The first type of umlaut causes an alternation between pronounced as //ea̯// and pronounced as //ie̯// in words whose stems end with unstressed pronounced as //ie̯//. For such words, these two diphthongs can be considered variants of each other, while in words whose stems end with another vowel, these vowels remain distinct. The following table shows the different patterns that occur with different following vowels:

Second vowel uo̯ ie̯ a u i
Stem ends in /ie̯/ea̯ ie̯ ea̯ ie̯
Stem ends in another vowelea̯ - ea̯
Stem ends in another vowelie̯ - ie̯

The second type of umlaut, called "diphthong simplification" or "monophthongization", is similar to its Northern Sami counterpart, but works differently. The diphthongs pronounced as //ea̯// and pronounced as //oɑ̯// become pronounced as //eː// and pronounced as //oː// respectively, if:

The diphthongs pronounced as //ie̯// and pronounced as //uo̯// are unaffected. The reverse process also occurs, turning the long vowels back into diphthongs if the consonant becomes quantity 3 or the vowel in the next syllable becomes long.

The third type of umlaut, progressive umlaut, works in the other direction. It causes the unstressed vowels pronounced as //a// and pronounced as //aː// to be rounded to pronounced as //o// and pronounced as //oː// respectively, if the preceding stressed vowel is short pronounced as //o//.

Unstressed vowel lengthening

If a stressed syllable contains a short vowel followed by a single (quantity 1) consonant, then a short vowel in the following syllable is lengthened.

Dialects

Sammallahti[4] divides Lule Sámi dialects as follows:

Features of the northern dialects of Lule Sámi are:

Features of the southern dialects of Lule Sámi are:

Orthography

The orthography used for Lule Sámi is written using an extended form of the Latin script.

LetterPhoneme(s)Notes
A apronounced as //a//
Á ápronounced as //aː//
B bpronounced as //p//, pronounced as //b//
D dpronounced as //t//, pronounced as //d//
E epronounced as //eː//, pronounced as //ie̯//pronounced as //ie̯// when unstressed.
F fpronounced as //f//
G gpronounced as //k//, pronounced as //ɡ//
H hpronounced as //h//
I ipronounced as //i//
J jpronounced as //j//
K kpronounced as //k//, pronounced as //kʰ//Postaspirated at the beginning of a stressed syllable.
L lpronounced as //l//
M mpronounced as //m//
N npronounced as //n//
Ŋ ŋpronounced as //ŋ//
O opronounced as //uo̯//Only unstressed.
P ppronounced as //p//, pronounced as //pʰ//Postaspirated at the beginning of a stressed syllable.
R rpronounced as //r//
S spronounced as //s//
T tpronounced as //t//, pronounced as //tʰ//Postaspirated at the beginning of a stressed syllable.
U upronounced as //u//
V vpronounced as //v//
Å åpronounced as //o//, pronounced as //oː//
Ä äpronounced as //ea̯//
/oɑ̯/Only stressed.
/e/Only stressed.
/iː/
/uː/

Traditionally, the character (Ń) has been used to represent pronounced as /link/. In place of n-acute (available in Unicode and mechanical type writers, but not in Latin-1 or traditional Nordic keyboards), many have used (ñ) or even (ng). In modern orthography, such as in the official publications of the Swedish government and the translation of the New Testament published 2007, it is usually replaced with (ŋ), in accordance with the orthography of many other Sámi languages.

Grammar

Cases

Lule Sámi has seven cases:

Nominative

Like the other Uralic languages, the nominative singular is unmarked and indicates the subject of a predicate.The nominative plural is also unmarked and is always formally the same as the genitive singular.

Genitive

The genitive singular is unmarked and looks the same as the nominative plural. The genitive plural is marked by a-j. The genitive is used:

Accusative

The accusative is the direct object case and it is marked with -v in the singular. In the plural, its marker is -t, which is preceded by the plural marker -j.

Inessive

The inessive marker is -n in the singular and the plural, when it is then preceded by the plural marker -j. This case is used to indicate:

Illative

The illative marker is -j in the singular and -da in the plural, which is preceded by the plural marker -i, making it look the same as the plural accusative. This case is used to indicate:

Elative

The elative marker is -s in the singular and the plural, when it is then preceded by the plural marker -j. This case is used to indicate:

Comitative

The comitative marker in the singular is -jn and -j in the plural, which means that it looks like the genitive plural. The comitative is used to state with whom or what something was done.

Pronouns

The personal pronouns have three numbers – singular, plural and dual. The following table contains personal pronouns in the nominative and genitive/accusative cases.

 EnglishnominativeEnglishgenitive
First person (singular) I mån my muv
Second person (singular) you (thou) dån your, yours duv
Third person (singular) he, she sån his, her suv
First person (dual) we (two) måj our munnu
Second person (dual) you (two) dåj your dunnu
Third person (dual) they (two) såj theirs sunnu
First person (plural) we mij our mijá
Second person (plural) you dij your dijá
Third person (plural) they sij their sijá

The next table demonstrates the declension of a personal pronoun he/she (no gender distinction) in various cases:

 SingularDualPlural
Nominative sån såj sij
Genitive suv sunnu sijá
Accusative suv sunnuv sijáv
Inessive sujna sunnun siján
Illative sunji sunnuj sidjij
Elative sujsta sunnus sijás
Comitative sujna sunnujn sijájn

Verbs

Person

Lule Sámi verbs conjugate for three grammatical persons:

Mood

Lule Sámi has five grammatical moods:

Grammatical number

Lule Sámi verbs conjugate for three grammatical numbers:

Tense

Lule Sámi verbs have two simple tenses:

and two compound tenses:

Negative verb

Lule Sámi, like Finnish, the other Sámi languages, and some Estonian dialects, has a negative verb. In Lule Sámi, the negative verb conjugates according to tense (past and non-past), mood (indicative, imperative and optative), person (1st, 2nd and 3rd) and number (singular, dual and plural).

Present
indicative
Past
indicative
ImperativeOptative
1st singularivittjiv - -
2nd singulariittjialeallu
3rd singularijittjijallisallus
1st dualenejmaallonallun
2nd dualähppeejdaal'lealluda
3rd dualäbáejgaalliskaalluska
1st pluralepejmaallopallup
2nd pluralehpitejdaallitallut
3rd pluraleettjinallisaallusa

Literature

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Fant hemmelighetene i lulesamenes språk . no . Found the secrets in the language of the Lule Sami . Forskning.
  2. Web site: To which languages does the Charter apply? . 3 . European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages . . 2014-04-03 . https://web.archive.org/web/20131227174247/http://hub.coe.int/c/document_library/get_file?uuid=d74fc9bd-0c0c-40ac-9e47-26d4887daf8e&groupId=10227 . 2013-12-27 . dead.
  3. Web site: Andersen . Oddmund . 6 February 2023 . 14 February 2009 . Great Norwegian Encyclopedia . lulesamer . Lule Sámis .
  4. Book: Sammallahti, Pekka. The Saami Languages: An Introduction. 1998. Davvi Girji. Kárášjohka.