Lule Sami


Lule Sámi language is a Uralic, Sámi language spoken in Lule Lappmark, i.e. around the Lule River, Sweden and in the northern parts of Nordland county in Norway, especially Tysfjord municipality, where Lule Sámi is an official language. It is written in the Latin script, having an official alphabet.

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 and pre-stopped or pre-glottalised nasals. 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.
Lule Sámi possesses the following vowels:
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.
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 and in words whose stems end with unstressed. 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:
The second type of umlaut, called "diphthong simplification" or "monophthongization", is similar to its Northern Sami counterpart, but works differently. The diphthongs and become and respectively, if:
The diphthongs and 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 and to be rounded to and respectively, if the preceding stressed vowel is short.

Unstressed vowel lengthening

If a stressed syllable contains a short vowel followed by a single consonant, then a short vowel in the following syllable is lengthened.
Sammallahti divides Lule Sámi dialects as follows:
Features of the northern dialects of Lule Sámi are:
Features of the southern dialects of Lule Sámi are:
The orthography used for Lule Sámi is written using an extended form of the Latin script.
LetterPhonemeNotes
A a
Á á
B b,
D d,
E e, when unstressed.
F f
G g,
H h
I i
J j
K k, Postaspirated at the beginning of a stressed syllable.
L l
M m
N n
Ŋ ŋ
O oOnly unstressed.
P p, Postaspirated at the beginning of a stressed syllable.
R r
S s
T t, Postaspirated at the beginning of a stressed syllable.
U u
V v
Å å,
Ä ä

Traditionally, the character n-acute has been used to represent the sound, found, for example, in the English word "song". In place of n-acute, many have used ñ or even ng. In modern orthography, such as in the official publications of the Swedish government and the recently published translation of the New Testament, 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 an -j. The genitive is used:
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:
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:
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:
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 Imånmymuv
Second person you dånyour, yoursduv
Third person he, shesånhis, hersuv
First person we måjourmunnu
Second person you dåjyourdunnu
Third person they såjtheirssunnu
First person wemijourmijá
Second person youdijyourdijá
Third person theysijtheirsijá

The next table demonstrates the declension of a personal pronoun he/she in various cases:
SingularDualPlural
Nominativesånsåjsij
Genitivesuvsunnusijá
Accusativesuvsunnuvsijáv
Inessivesujnasunnunsiján
Illativesunjisunnujsidjij
Elativesujstasunnussijás
Comitativesujnasunnujnsijájn

Verbs

Person

Lule Sámi verbs conjugate for three grammatical persons:
Lule Sámi has five grammatical moods:
Lule Sámi verbs conjugate for three grammatical numbers:
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, mood, person and number.
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