Northern Sámi
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Northern Sámi or North Sámi ( ; ; ; ; ; disapproved
exonym An endonym (also known as autonym ) is a common, name for a group of people, individual person, geographical place, language, or dialect, meaning that it is used inside a particular group or linguistic community to identify or designate them ...
Lappish or Lapp) is the most widely spoken of all
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 ...
. The area where Northern Sámi is spoken covers the northern parts of
Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...
,
Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...
and
Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...
.


Geographic distribution

The number of Northern Sámi speakers is estimated to be somewhere between 15,000 and 25,000. About 2,000 of these live in Finland and between 5,000 and 6,000 in Sweden, with the remaining portions being in Norway. Based on the highest estimates above of 18,000 speakers in Norway, and
Statistics Norway Statistics Norway (, abbreviated to ''SSB'') is the Norwegian statistics bureau. It was established in 1876. Relying on a staff of about 1,000, Statistics Norway publish about 1,000 new statistical releases every year on its web site. All rele ...
estimating the total population of Norway to be 5,594,340 at the start of 2025, this gives the percentage of Northern Sámi speakers in Norway as approximately 0.32%. Similar calculations for Sweden and Finland give them as 0.05% and 0.03% respectively in those countries.


History

Among the first printed Sámi texts is ("Swedish and Lappish ABC book"), written in Swedish and what is likely a form of Northern Sámi. It was published in two editions in 1638 and 1640 and includes 30 pages of prayers and confessions of Protestant faith. It has been described as the first book "with a regular Sámi language form". Northern Sámi was first described by Knud Leem () in 1748 and in dictionaries in 1752 and 1768. One of Leem's fellow grammaticians, who had also assisted him, was
Anders Porsanger Anders Porsanger (1735, in Nordkapp – 10 October 1780, in Risør) was a North Sámi linguist and the first Sámi who received a higher education. In 1752, he was invited to assist professor Knud Leem in his efforts to create a Sámi dictionary, ...
, himself Sámi and in fact the first Sámi to receive higher education, who studied at the Trondheim Cathedral School and other schools, but who was unable to publish his work on Sámi due to racist attitudes at the time. The majority of his work has disappeared. In 1832,
Rasmus Rask Rasmus Kristian Rask (; born Rasmus Christian Nielsen Rasch; 22 November 1787 – 14 November 1832) was a Danish linguist and philologist. He wrote several grammars and worked on comparative phonology and morphology. Rask traveled extensively ...
published the highly influential ('Reasoned Sámi Grammar'), Northern Sámi orthography being based on his notation (according to E. N. Setälä). No major official nationwide surveys on the distribution of speakers by municipality or county in Norway have been done. A 2000 survey by the Sami Language Council showed
Kautokeino Municipality Kautokeino (; ; ; ) is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Finnmark Counties of Norway, county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the Kautokeino (village), village of Guovdageaidnu/Kautokeino. Other villag ...
and
Karasjok Municipality or (Northern Sami language, Northern Sami; ) (also: ) is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Finnmark Counties of Norway, county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the Karasjok (village), village of Kara ...
as 96% and 94% Sami-speaking respectively; should those percentages still be true as of the 2022 national population survey, this would result in 2,761 and 2,428 speakers respectively, virtually all of which being speakers of Northern Sámi.
Tromsø Municipality Tromsø Municipality is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Troms county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the Tromsø (city), city of Tromsø. Other notable settlements in the municipality include the vi ...
has no speaker statistics despite having (as of June 2019) the largest voter roll in the
2021 Norwegian Sámi parliamentary election The 2021 Norwegian Sámi parliamentary election was held on 13 September 2021. All 39 seats in the Norwegian Sámi legislature, the Sámi Parliament of Norway, Sámediggi, were up for election. Background Previous election In 2017 Norwegian Sá ...
. A common
urban myth Urban legend (sometimes modern legend, urban myth, or simply legend) is a genre of folklore concerning stories about an unusual (usually scary) or humorous event that many people believe to be true but largely are not. These legends can be e ...
is that
Oslo Oslo ( or ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of 1,064,235 in 2022 ...
has the largest Sámi population despite being nowhere near the core Sápmi area, but it had only the 5th largest voter roll in 2019.


Assimilation

The mass mobilization during the
Alta controversy The Alta conflict or Alta controversy was a series of protests in Norway in the late 1970s and early 1980s against the construction of a hydroelectric power plant on the Alta River in Finnmark, Northern Norway. Timeline *Inhabitants of the vil ...
as well as a more tolerant political environment caused a change to the Norwegian policy of assimilation during the last decades of the twentieth century. In Norway, Northern Sámi is currently an official language in
Troms Troms (; ; ; ) is a Counties of Norway, county in northern Norway. It borders Finnmark county to the northeast and Nordland county in the southwest. Norrbotten Län in Sweden is located to the south and further southeast is a shorter border with ...
and
Finnmark Finnmark (; ; ; ; ) is a counties of Norway, county in northern Norway. By land, it borders Troms county to the west, Finland's Lapland (Finland), Lapland region to the south, and Russia's Murmansk Oblast to the east, and by water, the Norweg ...
counties along with eight municipalities ( Guovdageaidnu,
Kárášjohka Karasjok is a Norwegianized version of the Northern Sami name Kárášjohka. Either one may refer to the following places: * Karasjok Municipality or , a municipality in Finnmark county, Norway * Karasjok (village) or , a village in Karasjok Muni ...
,
Unjárga Nesseby may refer to: * Nesseby Municipality, a municipality in Finnmark county, Norway * Nesseby (village), a village in Nesseby Municipality in Finnmark county, Norway * Nesseby Church, a church in Nesseby Municipality in Finnmark county, Nor ...
, Deatnu, Porsáŋgu, Gáivuotna, Loabák and Dielddanuorri). Sámi born before 1977 have never learned to write Sámi according to the currently used orthography in school, so it is only in recent years that there have been Sámi capable of writing their own language for various administrative positions. In the 1980s, a
Northern Sámi Braille Northern Sámi Braille is the braille alphabet of the Northern Sámi language. It was developed in the 1980s based on the Scandinavian Braille alphabet but with the addition of seven new letters (á, č, đ, ŋ, š, ŧ, ž) required for writing i ...
alphabet was developed, based on the
Scandinavian Braille Scandinavian Braille is a braille alphabet used, with differences in orthography and punctuation, for the languages of the mainland Nordic countries: Danish, Norwegian, Swedish, and Finnish. In a generally reduced form it is used for Greenla ...
alphabet but with seven additional letters (á, č, đ, ŋ, š, ŧ, ž) required for writing in Northern Sámi.


Phonology


Consonants

The consonant inventory of Northern Sámi is large, contrasting voicing for many consonants. Some analyses of Northern Sámi phonology may include preaspirated stops and affricates (, , , , ) and pre-stopped or pre-glottalised nasals (voiceless , , , and voiced , , , ). 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. Notes: * Voiceless stops have voiced or partly voiced allophones when they occur adjacent to voiced sounds, and sometimes also word-initially. * Stops before a
homorganic In phonetics, a homorganic consonant (from Latin and ) is a consonant sound that is articulated in the same place of articulation as another. For example, , and are homorganic consonants of one another since they share the bilabial place of ...
nasal are realised as
unreleased stop A stop consonant with no audible release, also known as an unreleased stop, checked stop or an applosive, is a plosive with no release burst: no audible indication of the end of its occlusion (hold). In the International Phonetic Alphabet, lack of ...
s. Some, particularly younger, speakers instead realise voiceless stops as a glottal stop in this position, and decompose voiced stops into a homorganic nasal + glottal stop combination (, etc.). * is realised as a labiodental fricative in the syllable onset (before a vowel), and as bilabial or in the syllable coda (in a consonant cluster). Although is a fricative, it behaves phonologically like an approximant, in particular like . * Quantity 3 geminated plain stops and affricates (written , , , , , ) are variously described as voiced (, , , , , ) or partly voiced (, , , , , ). * Voiceless sonorants are very rare, but occur more frequently as allophonic realisations. A combination of sonorant followed by in the coda (, , , , , , ), is realised as the equivalent voiceless sonorant (with becoming ). Voiceless only occurs this way, and is quite rare. * A combination of followed by a stop or affricate in the onset (, etc.) is realised as preaspiration (, ). * is extremely rare. * is realized as when it is between two unstressed syllables. * The pronunciation of the cluster varies between , , and depending on dialect. * can be pronounced .


Dialectal variation

Not all Northern Sámi dialects have identical consonant inventories. Some consonants are absent from some dialects, while others are distributed differently. * Western Finnmark lacks , using in its place. This also applies to sequences of pre-stopped and , which become and respectively. is retained before a velar consonant, but as an allophone of . * Eastern Finnmark does not have voiced pre-stopped nasals, replacing them with voiceless equivalents. * Sea Sámi does not have pre-stopped nasals at all, having geminate nasals in their place. * The postaspirated stops do not occur in Western Finnmark dialects, plain stops are used instead. They occur only in recent loanwords from the Scandinavian languages, and only before a stressed syllable when not next to another consonant.


Consonant length and gradation

Consonants, including
clusters may refer to: Science and technology Astronomy * Cluster (spacecraft), constellation of four European Space Agency spacecraft * Cluster II (spacecraft), a European Space Agency mission to study the magnetosphere * Asteroid cluster, a small ...
, 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 Consonant gradation is a type of consonant mutation (mostly lenition but also assimilation) found in some Uralic languages, more specifically in the Finnic, Samic and Samoyedic branches. It originally arose as an allophonic alternation ...
, 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. * Quantity 1 includes any single consonant. It originates from Proto-Samic single consonants in the weak grade. * Quantity 2 includes any combination of consonants (including two of the same) with a short consonant in the coda of the preceding syllable (in Eastern Finnmark, any combination of consonants preceded by a long vowel or diphthong). It originates from Proto-Samic single consonants in the strong grade, as well as combinations of two consonants in the weak grade. * Quantity 3 includes any combination of consonants (including two of the same) with a long consonant in the coda of the preceding syllable (in Eastern Finnmark, any combination of consonants preceded by a short vowel or diphthong). It originates from Proto-Samic combinations of two consonants in the strong grade. 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: * Single is restricted to quantity 1, and does not alternate. * Postaspirated consonants do not occur after a stressed syllable, and thus do not have any quantity distinctions. * Voiced stops and affricates only occur in quantity 3. In quantity 1, voiced stops are allophones of the corresponding voiceless stops. * , and occur in quantity 2 and 3, but not in quantity 1. When a consonant can occur in all three quantities, quantity 3 is termed "overlong". In quantity 3, if the syllable coda consists of only , or , the additional length of this consonant is realised phonetically as an epenthetic vowel. This vowel assimilates to the quality of the surrounding vowels: * Between two rounded vowels (but not the diphthong ) in the adjacent syllables, it becomes . * Before a front vowel in the next syllable, it becomes , e.g. , phonetically . * Otherwise, it becomes , e.g. , phonetically . This does not occur if the second consonant is a dental/alveolar stop, e.g. , phonetically , or , phonetically .


Vowels

Northern Sámi possesses the following vowels: Closing diphthongs such as also exist, but these are phonologically composed of a vowel plus one of the semivowels or . The semivowels still behave as consonants in clusters. Not all of these vowel phonemes are equally prevalent; some occur generally while others occur only in specific contexts as the result of sound changes. The following rules apply for stressed syllables: * Short , , and , the normal diphthongs, and the long vowel occur generally. * The other long vowels occur only in the context of diphthong simplification (below). * Short is rare, and mostly occurs due to the combination of diphthong simplification plus stressed vowel shortening. * Rising diphthongs and half-long occur only due to unstressed vowel shortening in the next syllable. The distribution in post-stressed syllables (unstressed syllables following a stressed one) is more restricted: * Short and long , and occur generally. * Short and occur more rarely, sometimes from Proto-Samic ''*i'' and ''*u'' and sometimes as a result of unstressed vowel shortening. * Short and occur only before . * No diphthongs occur at all, nor do half-long or long and . In a second unstressed syllable (one that follows another unstressed syllable), no long vowels occur and , and are the only vowels that occur frequently. The standard orthography of Northern Sámi distinguishes vowel length in the case of versus , although this is primarily on an etymological basis. Not all instances of are phonemically long, due to both stressed and unstressed vowel shortening. Some dialects also have lengthening of under certain circumstances. Nonetheless, a default length can be assumed for these two letters. For the remaining vowels, vowel length is not indicated in the standard orthography. In reference works, macrons can be placed above long vowels that occur in a position where they can be short. Length of and in a post-stressed syllable is assumed, and not indicated, except in the combinations and , where these letters can also indicate short vowels.


Dialectal variation

The Eastern Finnmark dialects possess additional contrasts that other dialects of Northern Sámi do not: * There is a maximally three-way contrast among open vowels between , and , both short and long. ** The vowel spelled is in stressed syllables, in unstressed syllables. ** The vowel spelled is in stressed syllables if the next syllable has a back vowel (including but not ), and everywhere else (including all unstressed syllables). * In other eastern varieties, only a two-way contrast between and is found. Jarvansalo (2006) reports the
Kárášjohka Karasjok is a Norwegianized version of the Northern Sami name Kárášjohka. Either one may refer to the following places: * Karasjok Municipality or , a municipality in Finnmark county, Norway * Karasjok (village) or , a village in Karasjok Muni ...
dialect following this contrast, but having for , for stressed . * There is a length contrast between short and long diphthongs. In other dialects, this distinction exists as well, but is allophonic. Some Torne dialects have and instead of stressed and (from diphthong simplification) as well as unstressed and .


Phonological processes


Diphthong simplification

Diphthongs can undergo simplification when the following syllable contains short ''e'', short ''o'', ''ii'' , or ui . This means that only the first vowel of the diphthong remains, which also undergoes lengthening before grade 1 and 2 consonant clusters and geminates. Note that some instances of ''e'', ''o'', and ''ui'' (specifically /uːj/) do not cause simplification. Below are some examples: * ''ie'' → ''ī'': "to run" → "I ran" * ''ea'' → ''ē'': "summer" → "of the summers" * ''oa'' → ''ō'': "to sew" → "they sew" * ''uo'' → ''ū'': "tree" → "into the tree"


Unstressed vowel shortening

Shortening of long vowels in unstressed syllables occurs irregularly. It commonly occurs in the first element of a compound word, in a fourth syllable, and in various other unpredictable circumstances. When shortened, and are lowered to and , except before . Shortened vowels are denoted here, and in other reference works, with an underdot: ''ạ'', ''ẹ'', ''ọ'', to distinguish them from originally-short vowels. When a long vowel or diphthong occurs in the stressed syllable before the shortened vowel, it becomes half-long/rising. * "oldest" (nom. sg.) ~ (acc. sg.) * "fearless" (nom. sg.) ~ (acc. pl.) When the consonant preceding the shortened vowel is quantity 3, any lengthened elements are shortened so that it becomes quantity 2. However, the resulting consonant is not necessarily the weak-grade equivalent of that consonant. If the consonant was previously affected by consonant lengthening (below), this process shortens it again. * "mother" → "mother pig"; contrast the weak grade in * "year" → "half-year"


Stressed vowel shortening

In the Eastern Finnmark dialects, long vowels as well as diphthongs are shortened before a quantity 3 consonant. This is phonemic due to the loss of length in quantity 3 in these dialects. * "mother" (nom. sg.) ~ (gen. pl.) * "waterfall" (nom. sg.) ~ (ill. sg.) * "teaching" (nom. sg.) ~ (acc. sg.) * "guest" (nom. sg.) ~ (acc. sg.) * "grandmother" (nom. sg.) ~ (acc. sg.) Outside Eastern Finnmark, long is only shortened before a long preaspirate, not before any other consonants. The shortening of diphthongs remains allophonic due to the preservation of quantity 3 length, but the shortening of long vowels that result from diphthong simplification is phonemic.


Stressed vowel lengthening

In the Eastern Finnmark dialects, short vowels are lengthened when they occur before a quantity 1 or 2 consonant. Combined with the preceding change, vowel length in stressed syllables becomes conditioned entirely by the following consonant quantity. Moreover, because the coda lengthening in quantity 3 is lost in these dialects, vowel length becomes the only means for distinguishing quantities 3 and 2 in many cases. * "lock" (nom. sg.) ~ (acc. sg.) * "nail" (nom. sg.) ~ (acc. sg.) * "cat" (nom. sg.) ~ (acc. sg.)


Lengthening of unstressed short /a/

In the Western Finnmark dialects, a short in a post-stressed syllable is lengthened to if the preceding consonants are quantity 1 or 2, and the preceding syllable contains a short vowel. Compare the Eastern Finnmark pronunciations of these words under "stressed vowel lengthening". * "lock" (nom. sg.) ~ (acc. sg.). * "nail" (nom. sg.) ~ (acc. sg.) * "cloud" (nom. sg.) ~ (acc. sg.) A long that originates from this process does ''not'' trigger consonant lengthening.


Consonant lengthening

In dialects outside Eastern Finnmark, in quantity 2, the last coda consonant is lengthened if the following vowel is long, and the preceding vowel is a short monophthong. Since the coda now contains a long consonant, it is considered as quantity 3, but the lengthening is mostly allophonic and is not indicated orthographically. It is phonemic in the Western Finnmark dialects when the following vowel is , because lengthening is triggered by an original long but not by an original short that was lengthened (as described above). The new consonant may coincide with its Q3 consonant gradation counterpart, effectively making a weak grade strong, or it may still differ in other ways. In particular, no change is made to syllable division, so that in case of Q2 consonants with a doubled final consonant, it is actually the first of this pair that lengthens, making it overlong. * "year" (nom. sg.) ~ (acc. sg.) * "fear" (nom. sg.) ~ (acc. sg.) * "sum" (nom. sg.) ~ (acc. sg.); contrast "polar night" ~ (acc. sg.) * "eye" (nom. sg.) ~ (acc. sg.); contrast "palm tree" ~ (acc. sg.) * "bird" (nom. sg.) ~ (acc. sg.); contrast "period" ~ (acc. sg.) Lengthening also occurs if the preceding vowel is a close diphthong or . In this case, the diphthong also shortens before the new quantity 3 consonant. * , phonetically "protection" (nom. sg.) ~ , phonetically (acc. sg.); contrast "track, trail" , phonetically ~ (acc. sg.) with no lengthening. * , phonetically "field" (nom. sg.) ~ , phonetically (acc. sg.)


Prosody

Stress is generally not phonemic in Northern Sámi; the first syllable of a word always carries primary stress. Like most Sámi languages, Northern Sámi follows a pattern of alternating (
trochaic In poetic metre, a trochee ( ) is a metrical foot consisting of a stressed syllable followed by an unstressed one, in qualitative meter, as found in English, and in modern linguistics; or in quantitative meter, as found in Latin and Ancien ...
) stress, in which each odd-numbered syllable after the first is secondarily stressed and even-numbered syllables are unstressed. The last syllable of a word is never stressed, unless the word has only one syllable. Consequently, words can follow three possible patterns: * A single stressed syllable. * An even number of syllables: Ending in a stressed odd-numbered syllable followed by an unstressed even-numbered syllable. * An odd number of syllables: Ending in a stressed odd-numbered syllable followed by an unstressed even-numbered syllable, and an unstressed odd-numbered (final) syllable. This gives the following pattern, which can be extended indefinitely in theory. S indicates stress, _ indicates no stress: * S * S _ * S _ _ * S _ S _ * S _ S _ _ * S _ S _ S _ * etc. The number of syllables, and the resulting stress pattern, is important for grammatical reasons. Words with stems having an even number of syllables from the last inflect differently from words with stems having an odd number of syllables. This is detailed further in the grammar section. In compound words, which consist of several distinct word roots, each word retains its own stress pattern, potentially breaking from the normal trochaic pattern. If the first element of a compound has an odd number of syllables, then there will be a sequence of two unstressed syllables followed by a stressed one, which does not occur in non-compound words. In some cases, the first element of a compound has only one syllable, resulting in two adjacent stressed syllables. Hence, stress is lexically significant in that it can distinguish compounds from non-compounds. Recent loanwords generally keep the stress of the language they were borrowed from, assigning secondary stress to the syllable that was stressed in the original word. The normal trochaic pattern can also be broken in this case, but words will still be made to fit into the even or odd inflection patterns. Words with penultimate stress ending in a consonant will follow the odd inflection: * "neon" * "apostle" Words with antepenultimate or earlier stress will have the stress modified, as this is not allowed in Northern Sámi: * "pineapple" * "Africa" * "America" Final stress is not allowed, so if the original word has final stress, an extra dummy syllable (generally ''a'') is added in Northern Sámi to avoid this. * "car" * "bomb" * "culture" * "adverb" * "tomato" * "lawyer" * "capacity" * "mathematics" As a result of retaining the original stress pattern, some loanwords have sequences of three unstressed syllables, which do not occur in any other environment: * "to specialise" * "to theorise" * "administration" Conjunctions,
postpositions Adpositions are a class of words used to express spatial or temporal relations (''in, under, towards, behind, ago'', etc.) or mark various semantic roles (''of, for''). The most common adpositions are prepositions (which precede their complemen ...
,
particles In the physical sciences, a particle (or corpuscle in older texts) is a small localized object which can be described by several physical or chemical properties, such as volume, density, or mass. They vary greatly in size or quantity, from s ...
, and monosyllabic pronouns tend to be unstressed altogether, and therefore fall outside the above rules.


Dialects

Sammallahti divides Northern Sámi dialects into certain regions as follows: * Finnmark dialects ** Western Finnmark: eastern
Enontekiö Enontekiö (; ; ; ; ) is a municipality in the Finnish part of Lapland with approximately inhabitants. It is situated in the outermost northwest of the country and occupies a large and very sparsely populated area of about between the Swedis ...
, northern
Sodankylä Sodankylä (; ; ; ) is a municipality of Finland. It is located in the region of Lapland, and lies at the northern end of Highway 5 ( E63) and along Highway 4 ( E75). The Kitinen River flows near the center of Sodankylä. Its neighbouring mun ...
, and part of Inari in Finland plus
Kautokeino Kautokeino () may refer to: Places *Kautokeino Municipality (also known as: ), a municipality in Finnmark county, Norway *Kautokeino (village) , , or is the administrative centre of Kautokeino Municipality in Finnmark county, Norway. The vill ...
and
Alta Alta or ALTA may refer to: Acronyms * Alt-A, short for Alternative A-paper, is a type of US mortgage * American Land Title Association, a national trade association representing the land title industry * American Literary Translators Association, ...
in Norway ** Eastern Finnmark:
Utsjoki Utsjoki (; ; ; ; ) is a municipality in Finland, the northernmost in the country. It is in Lapland and borders Norway as well as the municipality of Inari. The municipality was founded in 1876. It has a population of () and covers an area of ...
and part of Inari in Finland plus
Karasjok Karasjok is a Norwegianized version of the Northern Sami name Kárášjohka. Either one may refer to the following places: * Karasjok Municipality or (Northern Sami language, Northern Sami; ) (also: ) is a List of municipalities of Norway, ...
,
Porsanger Porsanger may refer to: Places * Porsanger Municipality, a municipality in Finnmark county, Norway * Porsanger Peninsula, peninsula in Finnmark county, Norway * Porsanger Fjord, fjord in Finnmark county, Norway People * Anders Porsanger (1735 ...
, and Tana in Norway * Torne dialects ** Finnish Wedge: western
Enontekiö Enontekiö (; ; ; ; ) is a municipality in the Finnish part of Lapland with approximately inhabitants. It is situated in the outermost northwest of the country and occupies a large and very sparsely populated area of about between the Swedis ...
in Finland plus Skibotnelva, Gálggojávri, and
Nordreisa Nordreisa may refer to: Places * Nordreisa Municipality, a municipality in Troms county, Norway * Nordreisa Church, a church in Nordreisa Municipality in Troms county, Norway Other * Nordreisa IL, a sports club in Nordreisa Municipality in Troms c ...
in Norway **
Karesuando Karesuando (; or ; Northern Sámi: ; Meänkieli: ''Karesuanto'') is the northernmost locality in Sweden. It is situated in Kiruna Municipality, Norrbotten County, Sweden, with 303 inhabitants in 2010 and 350 in 2011. It is a church village, l ...
: Könkämävuoma and Lainiovuoma in Sweden plus
Lyngen Lyngen may refer to: Places * Lyngen Municipality, a municipality in Troms county, Norway *Lyngen (fjord) , , or is a fjord in Troms county, Norway. The long fjord is the longest fjord in Troms county and it is often used as the dividing line ...
and
Balsfjord Balsfjord or Balsfjorden may refer to: Places *Balsfjord Municipality, a municipality in Troms county, Norway *Balsfjorden or is a fjord in Troms county, Norway. The long fjord runs through Balsfjord Municipality and Tromsø Municipality. It ...
in Norway **
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'' ...
: Saarivuoma, Talma, Rautasvuoma and Kaalasvuoma in Sweden plus Vågsfjord and
Ofotfjord The Ofotfjord (; ) is a fjord in Nordland county, Norway. It is an inlet of the Norwegian Sea, located about north of the Arctic Circle. The long Ofotfjord is Norway's 12th longest fjord and it is also the 18th deepest, with a maximum depth of ...
in Norway ** Kaitum: Norrkaitum and Mellanbyn in Sweden * Sea Sámi The written language is primarily based on the western Finnmark dialects, with some elements from the eastern Finnmark dialects.


Western Finnmark dialects

Features of the western Finnmark dialects are: * Merging of the velar nasals into the palatal nasals, except before a (plain or preaspirated) homorganic stop. * Lengthening of short when the preceding syllable contains a short vowel and a quantity 1 or 2 consonant. This new long does not trigger consonant lengthening. * Kautokeino: Merging of into . * Kautokeino: Assibilation of into .


Eastern Finnmark dialects

The eastern Finnmark dialects have the following characteristics: * Lengthening of stressed vowels before quantity 1 and 2 consonants. * Shortening of the first element of quantity 3 consonants, merging them with quantity 2 consonants (unless the second element of the corresponding Q2 consonant is doubled, which keeps them distinct). Combined with the previous change, this causes Q3-Q2 gradation in Eastern Finnmark to become primarily about vowel length rather than consonant length. * A distinction between and , the former spelled and reflecting Proto-Samic ''*ā'', the latter spelled and reflecting Proto-Samic ''*ë''. * Fronting of to in unstressed syllables. * Umlaut: fronting of vowels before a following front vowel in the second syllable (including produced by the previous change). ** is fronted to . ** is fronted to . ** is fronted to . ** is fronted to . * Between vowels, lenition of to , and of to , which in modern speech becomes between a stressed vowel and a front vowel, and
zero 0 (zero) is a number representing an empty quantity. Adding (or subtracting) 0 to any number leaves that number unchanged; in mathematical terminology, 0 is the additive identity of the integers, rational numbers, real numbers, and compl ...
otherwise. * Raising of the non-close diphthongs and . ** Along the lower Tana river, these merge entirely with standard and , resulting in and (when not fronted) or and (when fronted). ** Along the upper Tana, the non-close diphthongs are only raised before single and (original) geminate consonants, and they may or may not merge with original and . ** In dialects south of
Tana bru , , or is the administrative centre of Deatnu-Tana Municipality in Finnmark county, Norway. The village lies on the western bank of the Tana River, along the European route E6 highway. The village has a population (2023) of 743 which gives ...
, only fronted and are raised to and .


Torne dialects

* Jukkasjärvi, Karesuando, Finnish Wedge: Loss of distinction between postalveolar and plain alveolar consonants, with the result being alveolar in Karesuando and postalveolar in the Finnish Wedge. * Use of ''-n'' instead of ''-s'' in the locative singular. This originates from the old inessive case, whereas the standard ending is from the old elative case. * Use of ''-o'' instead of ''-u'' in the third-person singular present tense. * Jukkasjärvi and Kaitum: Use of ''-is'' instead of ''-in'' in the locative plural. Again, these originate from two different older cases. * Karesuando: Long and from diphthong simplification are re-diphthongised to and . * Jukkasjärvi and Karesuando: Raising of short to before and . * Jukkasjärvi and Karesuando: and instead of standard long and in post-stressed syllables. * All except Finnish Wedge: and instead of standard and from the Proto-Samic clusters ''*mt'' and ''*mč''.


Sea Sámi dialects

* Lack of fortition in strong-grade nasals and glides, thus , , , rather than , , and . * Use of ''-st'' instead of ''-s'' in the locative singular. * Eastern Sea Sámi: Loss of distinction between postalveolar and plain alveolar consonants.


Orthography

Northern Sámi has a long orthographic history, which includes no fewer than 9
Latin alphabets The lists and tables below summarize and compare the letter inventories of some of the Latin-script alphabets. In this article, the scope of the word "alphabet" is broadened to include letters with tone marks, and other diacritics used to represe ...
.


History

The roots of the current orthography for Northern Sámi were laid by
Rasmus Rask Rasmus Kristian Rask (; born Rasmus Christian Nielsen Rasch; 22 November 1787 – 14 November 1832) was a Danish linguist and philologist. He wrote several grammars and worked on comparative phonology and morphology. Rask traveled extensively ...
who, after discussions with
Nils Vibe Stockfleth Nils Joachim Christian Vibe Stockfleth (11 January 1787 in Fredrikstad (town), Fredrikstad, Norway – 26 April 1866 in Sandefjord (town), Sandefjord) was a Norwegian cleric who was instrumental in the first development of the Northern Sámi or ...
, published in 1832. Rask opted for a phonemic orthographic system. All of the orthographies that have been used for Northern Sámi trace their roots back to Rask's system, unlike the orthographies used for Lule and
Southern Sámi Southern or South Sámi (; ; ) is the southwesternmost of the Sámi languages, and is spoken in Norway and Sweden. It is an endangered language. The designated main village of the language in Norway is Snåasen Municipality (Snåsa) where the c ...
, which are mainly based on the orthographical conventions of
Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...
and Norwegian. Following in the tradition of Rask meant that diacritics were used with some consonants (, , , , and ), which caused data-processing problems before
Unicode Unicode or ''The Unicode Standard'' or TUS is a character encoding standard maintained by the Unicode Consortium designed to support the use of text in all of the world's writing systems that can be digitized. Version 16.0 defines 154,998 Char ...
was introduced. Both Stockfleth and J. A. Friis went on to publish grammar books and dictionaries for Sámi. It can be said that Northern Sámi was better described than Norwegian was before
Ivar Aasen Ivar Andreas Aasen (; 5 August 1813 – 23 September 1896) was a Norwegian philologist, lexicographer, playwright, and poet. He is best known for having assembled one of the two official written versions of the Norwegian language, Nynorsk, from ...
published his ''Grammar of the Norwegian Dialects''. Northern Sámi was and is used in three countries, each of which used its own orthography for years. Friis' orthography was used when work on translating the Bible into Northern Sámi commenced, in the first Sámi newspaper called ''
Saǥai Muittalægje ''Saǥai Muittalægje'' was an early Sámi newspaper published twice a month from July 1904 to September 1911. Although only 33 issues were published, ''Saǥai Muittalægje'' played an important role in building Sámi identity and supporting opp ...
'', and in the Finnemisjonen's own newspaper ''
Nuorttanaste is a Northern Sámi religious publication based in Norway. It has published continuously since 1898, making it the longest running Sámi publication still being published. History (modern Northern Sámi spelling ), which means "The Eastern Sta ...
''. The groundwork for Northern Sámi lexicography was laid by
Konrad Nielsen Konrad Hartvig Isak Rosenvinge Nielsen (28 August 1875 – 27 November 1953) was a Norwegian philologist. He spent most of his career as a professor at the Royal Frederick University (University of Oslo) as a lecturer, textbook writer, lexicogra ...
who used an orthography of his own creation in his dictionary . Starting in 1948, the orthographies used in Norway and Sweden were combined into a single '' Bergsland- Ruong orthography''. It was not greatly used in Norway. In 1979, an official orthography for Northern Sámi was adopted for use in Norway, Sweden and Finland. Thus, until the official orthography currently in use was adopted in 1979, each country had its own, slightly different standard, so it is quite possible to come across older books that are difficult to understand for people unacquainted with the orthography: # # (The children have come to school.) The first sentence is from Antti Outakoski's from 1950; the second one is how it would be written according to the current orthography.


Alphabet

The most recent alphabet was approved in 1979 and last modified in 1985: When typing, if there is no way of entering the letters particular to Northern Sámi () correctly, an acute accent is sometimes placed over the corresponding
Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...
letter as a substitute. These substitutions are still found in books printed after the common orthography was adopted due to system limitations when typing.


Marks used in reference works

Some additional marks are used in dictionaries, grammars and other reference works, including in this article. They are not used in normal writing. The following are used in
Pekka Sammallahti Pekka Lars Kalervo Sammallahti (, May 21, 1947 in Helsinki) is a professor of Sámi languages at the Giellagas Institute at the University of Oulu. A prolific writer, he has published more than 100 books and articles related to Sápmi and the vario ...
's : * A vertical mark ˈ or apostrophe or other similar mark is placed between two identical consonants to indicate an overlong (quantity 3) consonant, e.g. ''golˈli'' "gold". * The same mark may be used in the combination to indicate the Q3 consonant cluster . * A macron is placed above vowel letters to indicate a long vowel (, , , ). * A dot is placed below vowel letters to indicate an unstressed vowel that has been shortened (, , ), which in turn hints that preceding vowels are rising/half-long, and preceding Q3 consonants are shortened.


Multigraphs

Northern Sámi orthography includes many combinations of multiple letters. In most cases, a double consonant letter corresponds to a doubled consonant phoneme, e.g. ''mm'' stands for . Overlong (quantity 3) consonants are not distinguished from regular double consonants, but are commonly denoted with a vertical mark between the two consonant letters (, , etc.) in reference works. Combinations of different consonant letters stand for their equivalent individual phonemes, as described by the pronunciations of the individual letters, above. The last consonant in a sequence may be doubled. This indicates that the consonant cluster is quantity 2, while a cluster with an undoubled last consonant is generally quantity 3. It often also indicates a doubling of the corresponding consonant phoneme, but not if the preceding consonant is voiceless. The following details combinations of multiple letters which are exceptions to the general pronunciation rules of each letter.


Diphthongs

The diphthongs, as may be expected, are written using a combination of two letters. Length is not indicated, nor is the distinction between normal and rising diphthongs. This distinction can be inferred by the presence of and in the next syllable (which must always be shortened vowels when following a diphthong), and in reference works by the presence of vowels with an underdot in the next syllable.


Ending in

The combinations , and indicate , and respectively. The first letter is doubled to indicate longer versions, and a vertical line is then used for overlong . In the case of , there are two possible interpretations: as a single quantity 2 consonant , or as a quantity 3 consonant cluster (e.g. ), although the latter is rare. These two cases are distinguished by their behaviour in consonant gradation. In the first case, appears in the strong grade while appears in the weak grade, and these represent overlong and long respectively. In the second case, , alternatively written , appears in the strong grade while appears in the weak grade, representing the clusters and respectively.


Beginning with

Preaspiration is indicated with a preceding . Long preaspiration is indicated by doubling the second letter. This is exactly the opposite of how normal clusters are written. Voiceless sonorants are also indicated by a preceding , but they have three lengths. Overlong length is indicated by a vertical line in reference works, as with other sonorants.


Stop-nasal combinations

Pre-stopped nasal consonants (Q2) are indicated by a preceding letter for a voiceless stop. Voiced pre-stopped nasals (Q3) are written with a voiced stop in place of the voiceless one.


Hyphenation

With just a single consonant between syllables, the hyphen goes before that consonant. * i-ja * de-há-laš If a word contains a double consonant letter, the hyphen is always placed between those two letters. The combination , when preceded by a vowel, counts as a double consonant and thus gets a hyphen in between. * guol-li * áhk-ká * beaiv-váš * krist-ta-laš * bi-o-lo-gii-ja With other combinations of two consonants, the hyphen goes between those. Again, if counts as a consonant, it goes between that and the next one. * Sáp-mi * bái-di * kon-sear-ta * duos-tan There are a few exceptions where the hyphen goes before all consonants. * pro-gram-ma * in-du-strii-ja In compound words, a hyphen always goes between two parts of a compound. * má-ilm-mi * gas-ka-i-ja-beaiv-váš


Grammar

Northern Sámi is a highly inflected language that shares many grammatical features with the other
Uralic languages The Uralic languages ( ), sometimes called the Uralian languages ( ), are spoken predominantly in Europe and North Asia. The Uralic languages with the most native speakers are Hungarian, Finnish, and Estonian. Other languages with speakers ab ...
. Sámi has also developed considerably into the direction from originally an agglutinative morphology, to that of
fusional Fusional languages or inflected languages are a type of synthetic language, distinguished from agglutinative languages by their tendency to use single inflectional morphemes to denote multiple grammatical, syntactic, or semantic features. For ex ...
and inflected one, much like
Estonian Estonian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Estonia, a country in the Baltic region in northern Europe * Estonians, people from Estonia, or of Estonian descent * Estonian language * Estonian cuisine * Estonian culture See also

...
to which it is distantly related. Therefore, morphemes are marked not only by suffixes but also by
morphophonological Morphophonology (also morphophonemics or morphonology) is the branch of linguistics that studies the interaction between morphological and phonological or phonetic processes. Its chief focus is the sound changes that take place in morphemes (m ...
modifications to the root. Of the various morphophonological alterations, the most important and complex is the system of
consonant gradation Consonant gradation is a type of consonant mutation (mostly lenition but also assimilation) found in some Uralic languages, more specifically in the Finnic, Samic and Samoyedic branches. It originally arose as an allophonic alternation ...
.


Consonant gradation

Consonant gradation is a pattern of alternations between pairs of consonants that appears in the inflection of words. The system of consonant gradation in Northern Sámi is complex, especially compared to that found in the Finnic languages. A word stem can appear in two ''grades'': the strong grade and the weak grade. A given word can alternate either between quantity 3 in the strong grade and quantity 2 in the weak grade, or between quantity 2 in the strong grade and quantity 1 in the weak grade. Historically, the weak grade appeared when the syllable following the consonant was closed (ended in a consonant), but the loss of certain vowels or consonants have obscured this in Northern Sámi and it is now a more-or-less opaque process. In verbs, some nouns, and in some processes of word derivation, a Q2 strong grade can become "extra strong" Q3, alternating in all three quantities. This is caused by the historical loss of a consonant (often or ) between the second and third syllable, which triggered
compensatory lengthening Compensatory lengthening in phonology and historical linguistics is the lengthening of a vowel sound that happens upon the loss of a following consonant, usually in the syllable coda, or of a vowel in an adjacent syllable. Lengthening triggered ...
on the gradating consonant.


Quantity 3 ~ 2 alternations

Alternations between quantities 3 and 2 are either consonant clusters or sequences of two identical consonants. In the strong grade, the first consonant forms the coda of the preceding syllable, and the remaining consonants form the onset of the following syllable. In the weak grade, only the last consonant belongs to the onset of the next syllable, and the remaining consonants belong to the coda of the preceding syllable. Thus, when there are three or more consonants, the syllable division changes between the grades. In addition, the strong grade by default has a lengthened consonant in the coda, while this lengthening is generally absent in the weak grade. However, this lengthening is subject to the modifying effects of consonant lengthening and unstressed vowel shortening, which can in some occasions level the length distinctions, so that length not an absolute indicator of grade (though it is of ''quantity''). In Eastern Finnmark, no lengthening is found at all, instead of length the preceding vowel is short, while the vowel becomes long when the length would be absent. Doubling of the last consonant is another distinguishing feature of the weak grade, although it only occurs if the preceding consonant is voiced. The additional consonant is always assigned to the coda (the double consonant is split between syllables), so that it obligatorily shifts the syllable boundary relative to the strong grade: * ''vl'' ~ ''vll'' * ''id'' ~ ''idd'' Consonant lengthening can then, in turn, lengthen the first of this pair again (the one in the coda). In writing, the last consonant is doubled in the weak grade, even if the preceding consonant is voiceless, simply to distinguish the two grades visually: * ''st'' ~ ''stt'' * ''vst'' ~ ''vstt'' Sequences of two identical consonants gradate in the same way, with lengthening of the first consonant in the strong grade (again, subject to modification, and not in Eastern Finnmark), but without any doubling of the last consonant in the weak grade. For most pairs of consonants, no difference is made between the grades orthographically, both are written with a double consonant. In reference works, the special mark ˈ is placed between the consonants to indicate the strong grade. Some cases are indicated specially in the orthography, but behave as expected from a phonological point of view: * Clusters beginning with (preaspirated stops): the second consonant is written doubled in the ''strong'' grade instead of the weak grade. In Eastern Finnmark the length is lost, making both grades identical (but still with different preceding vowel lengths). ** ''hpp'' (EF ) ~ ''hp'' ** ''htt'' (EF ) ~ ''ht'' ** ''hcc'' (EF ) ~ ''hc'' ** ''hčč'' (EF /h.t͡ʃ/) ~ ''hč'' ** ''hkk'' (EF ) ~ ''hk'' * Clusters of plus pre-stopped nasal: orthographically indicated the same as lone pre-stopped nasals (below), but both grades have a voiceless stop, and differ only in the length of the first consonant and syllabification. In Eastern Finnmark, the stop is missing from the strong grade. ** ''rbm'' (EF ) ~ ''rpm'' ** ''rdn'' (EF ) ~ ''rtn'' ** ''rdnj'' (EF ) ~ ''rtnj'' ** ''rgŋ'' (EF ) ~ ''rkŋ'' * Sequences of two : the strong grade is indicated by a doubled first consonant, the weak grade by only a single one. This is possible because this consonant cannot occur singly (as quantity 1). ** ''llj'' ~ ''lj'' * Sequences of two : both grades are indicated identically. The strong grade can be distinguished with an overlength mark in reference works. ** ''nˈnj'' ~ ''nnj'' * Sequences of two voiceless sonorants: both grades are indicated identically. The strong grade can be distinguished with an overlength mark in reference works. ** ''hjˈj'' ~ ''hjj'' ** ''hlˈl'' ~ ''hll'' ** ''hmˈm'' ~ ''hmm'' ** ''hnˈn'' ~ ''hnn'' ** ''hrˈr'' ~ ''hrr'' In some clusters, there is an alternation in the quality of the first consonant between the two grades. * Clusters beginning with in the strong grade: becomes in the weak grade. is inserted before a stop or affricate, and in other cases the last consonant phoneme can be doubled in the weak grade. ** ''kc'' ~ ''vcc'' () ** ''ks'' ~ ''vss'' ** ''kst'' ~ ''vstt'' ** ''kt'' ~ ''vtt'' () * Clusters of pre-stopped nasals: a voiced stop occurs in the strong grade, and a voiceless stop in the weak grade. The voiceless stop, in turn, blocks doubling of the last consonant. In this case, however, there is no doubling in the orthography. In Eastern Finnmark, the stop is devoiced in the strong grade, making the two grades identical (but still with different preceding vowel lengths). In Sea Sámi, this alternation is replaced by geminate nasals. ** ''bm'' (EF ) ~ ''pm'' ** ''dn'' (EF ) ~ ''tn'' ** ''dnj'' (EF ) ~ ''tnj'' ** ''gŋ'' (EF ) ~ ''kŋ'' * Clusters of a voiced consonant (except ) plus pre-stopped nasal: the stop is voiceless and occurs only in the strong grade, the weak grade has doubling of the nasal. In Eastern Finnmark, the stop is missing from the strong grade. ** ''lbm'' (EF ) ~ ''lmm'' ** ''idn'' (EF ) ~ ''inn'' ** ''vdnj'' (EF ) ~ ''vnnj'' ** ''lgŋ'' (EF ) ~ ''lŋŋ'' * Sequences of two homorganic plain stops: the first stop is voiced in the strong grade, voiceless in the weak grade. The strong grade is represented orthographically by a pair of voiced consonants. ** ''bb'' ~ ''pp'' ** ''dd'' ~ ''tt'' ** ''gg'' ~ ''kk'' ** ''zz'' ~ ''cc'' ** ''žž'' ~ ''čč'' * Sequences of two palatal stops: these are phonetically the same as the previous, but different orthographically. ** ''ddj'' ~ ''dj''


Quantity 2 ~ 1 alternations

Alternations between 2 and 1 are less predictable than alternations between quantities 3 and 2. The weak grade is always represented by a single consonant, which forms the onset of the next syllable, and the preceding syllable has no coda. The corresponding strong grade additionally has a single consonant in the coda, which may the same as the following onset consonant or different. The coda consonant in the strong grade may undergo consonant lengthening to receive additional length. A double consonant in the strong grade always alternates with a single consonant in the weak grade. This occurs with all nasals, sonorants and fricatives (except and ). Orthographically, this is represented as a double versus a single consonant letter. * ''hrr'' ~ ''hr'' * ''mm'' ~ ''m'' * ''nnj'' ~ ''nj'' * ''ss'' ~ ''s'' * ''đđ'' ~ ''đ'' A cluster of short and a voiceless consonant (preaspirated) in the strong grade alternates with a single voiced consonant in the weak grade. * ''hp'' ~ ''b'' ( in Eastern Finnmark) * ''ht'' ~ ''đ'' * ''hc'' ~ ''z'' * ''hč'' ~ ''ž'' * ''hk'' ~ ''g'' ( or zero in Eastern Finnmark) A cluster of a voiceless pre-stopped nasal in the strong grade drops the stop in the weak grade. In Sea Sámi, the strong grade has a double nasal, without the stop. * ''pm'' ~ ''m'' * ''tn'' ~ ''n'' * ''tnj'' ~ ''nj'' * ''kŋ'' ~ ''ŋ'' Double alternates with . * ''dj'' ~ ''j''


Changes to word-final consonants

Only a limited number of consonants are allowed at the end of a word, those being ''l'', ''n'', ''r'', ''s'', ''š'', ''t'', and ''i'' (pronounced ). The consonant clusters ''it'' and ''in'' are also allowed. Therefore, consonants will be modified or deleted when they come to stand word-finally: * Consonant clusters are simplified to the first consonant, e.g. ''ld'' and ''rd'' become ''l'' and ''r'', respectively. * The consonants ''b'', ''d'' (pronounced ), ''g'', ''h'', and ''hk'' all become ''t''. * The affricates ''z'', ''ž'' and ''žž'' become fricative ''s'' and ''š''. * ''m'' becomes ''n''. Some recent loanwords such as retain /m/. * The consonants ''g'', ''m'', and ''n'' can also disappear entirely in certain words.


Post-stressed vowel alternations

Certain inflectional endings and derivational suffixes trigger changes in the first unstressed (post-stressed) vowel of the stem. These changes are generally the result of umlaut effects in Proto-Samic. The following changes may be noted. An empty table cell means there is no change, ''S'' indicates diphthong simplification. There are some vowel alternations that do not have a clear rule or cause. For example, the change of ''a'' to ''á'' in the present tense third-person singular of verbs is unexpected and must simply be taken as-is. Likewise, the appearance of ''u'' or ''o'' in some verb imperative forms is not based on any rule, but is an inherent part of the ending.


Inflection types

All inflected words, whether nouns, adjectives or verbs, can be divided into three main inflectional classes. The division is based on whether there is an even or odd number of syllables from the last stressed syllable to the end of the word. * Words with even inflection (, also called "vowel stems") have an even number of syllables from the last stressed syllable of the stem; usually two, but sometimes also four. * Words with odd inflection (, also called "consonant stems") have an odd number of syllables from the last stressed syllable of the stem; usually three, but very rarely one or five. * Words with contracted inflection () have an even number of syllables from the last stressed syllable of the stem, but have the consonant gradation pattern of odd-inflection words. If the gradation has three levels, the strong grade is always level 3. For nouns and adjectives, the stem is taken from the accusative/genitive singular rather than the nominative, as the latter often drops the final vowel and sometimes also the preceding consonant. For verbs, the infinitive is used to determine the stem, by removing the infinitive ending ''-t''. Words with even and contracted inflection can be divided further, based on the final vowel of the stem. For even-inflected words, this vowel is most commonly ''a'', ''i'' or ''u'', while for contracted words it is mostly ''á'', ''e'' or ''o''. Words with odd inflection are not differentiated by stem-final vowel.


Nouns

Nouns inflect in singular () and plural (), and also in 7 cases. The following table shows the general endings; the actual forms can differ based on consonant gradation and the inflection type of the word. The accusative and genitive are usually identical. There is no singular-plural distinction in the essive, so for example is interpreted as either "as a child" or "as children".


Even nouns

Nouns with even inflection have an inherent stem-final vowel. They also usually have consonant gradation of the last consonant in the stem, where the strong grade appears in the nominative singular, illative singular and essive, while the weak grade appears in the remaining forms. Some even nouns do not gradate. These can generally be divided into two groups: * Originally non-gradating odd nouns that have undergone contraction. These appear with quantity 3 in all forms. The most notable of these are the agent nouns, which were formed in Proto-Samic with the suffix ''*-jē'', but do not have any visible suffix in Northern Sámi anymore. * Recent loanwords. These may appear with any consonant or cluster permissible in Northern Sámi. The most common even nouns are the nouns with a stem ending in ''-a'', ''-i'' or slightly rarer ''-u''. Even-syllable nouns with a stem ending in ''-á'', ''-e'' or ''-o'' also exist, but are much rarer. Even nouns with four or more syllables sometimes drop the final vowel in the nominative singular. Consequently, simplification of the final consonant occurs. The stem of these nouns always ends in ''-a''.


Odd nouns

Nouns with odd inflection are not distinguished by the stem-final vowel, all use the same set of endings. They can be divided into two types, gradating and non-gradating nouns: * Non-gradating odd nouns originate from Proto-Samic nouns ending in a vowel. They have the same stem in all forms, with no gradation, although the last consonant(s) may be modified word-finally in the nominative singular. * Gradating odd nouns originate from Proto-Samic nouns ending in a consonant. They have consonant gradation, where the weak grade appears in the nominative and essive singular, and the strong grade appears in the remaining forms. The vowels ''i'' and ''u'' change to ''á'' and ''o'' respectively in the last syllable of the strong-grade stem, caused by a former Proto-Samic ''*ë'' in the endings. The stem-final consonants ''-g'', ''-m'' and ''-n'' disappear in the weak-grade forms, so that the essive ending is attached directly to the preceding vowel. The following table shows three gradating odd nouns.


Contracted nouns

Nouns with contracted inflection are in origin gradating odd nouns, mostly with a stem ending in ''-j'' or ''-s'', sometimes also ''-ž'' (in ). In the strong-grade forms, the last-syllable vowel is modified as in gradating odd nouns. However, the stem-final consonant has been lost, causing contraction of the two neighbouring syllables. The preceding consonant cluster receives
compensatory lengthening Compensatory lengthening in phonology and historical linguistics is the lengthening of a vowel sound that happens upon the loss of a following consonant, usually in the syllable coda, or of a vowel in an adjacent syllable. Lengthening triggered ...
, making them quantity 3 regardless of original length. Consequently, the strong grade forms of such nouns have an even number of syllables and receive the same endings as even nouns, but do not gradate. In the weak-grade forms, the original uncontracted form is usually preserved. The original final consonant ''-j'' has been lost after the vowels ''u'' and ''i'', so that it does not appear in any of the forms anymore.


Possessive suffixes

The possessive suffixes are similar in meaning to the English personal possessive determiners ''my'', ''your'', ''their'' and so on. There are 9 possessive suffixes: one for each person in singular, dual and plural. Possessive suffixes attach to the end of a noun, after the case ending. Thus, for example, ''ruovttus'' "in a house" may become ''ruovttustan'' "in my house". Like noun case endings, the suffixes have different forms depending on whether they are attached to a stem with an even or odd number of syllables, and (in the case of even-syllable stems) depending on the last vowel of the stem. The following table shows the suffixes: The suffixes attach to a combination of noun plus case ending, so the stem that the suffix is attached to may not be the stem of the noun. Rather, a new "possessive stem" is formed from the noun with its case ending included. This stem is not always identical to the ending of the noun on its own; some case endings undergo modifications or the addition of a final vowel. Thus, certain cases may have possessive stems that inherently end in ''-a'', other cases may have ''-i'', but this is only significant if the combination has an even number of syllables. The following table shows the possessive stems for each case, for four of the nouns whose inflection was given above. If the stem ends in a vowel, it is even and the suffixes with the matching vowel are used. If the stem ends in a consonant, it is odd and the odd endings are used. In the comitative plural, the possessive suffix attaches between the possessive stem and the final ''-guin''. As can be seen in the table, for the nominative, accusative and genitive singular cases, the possessive stem is identical to the noun stem. The stem also undergoes consonant gradation in the accusative and genitive singular forms, and endings beginning with ''e'' or ''o'' also trigger diphthong simplification. The noun is in the strong grade with the first-person possessive suffixes, and in the weak grade with the second- and third-person possessives. The possessive forms of ''ruoktu'' are:


Adjectives

Adjectives inflect the same as nouns do, and have the same cases and inflection types.


Attributive form

Adjectives also have an additional form, the attributive form (). This form is used when the adjective is used attributively, where it precedes the noun. The attributive does not receive any endings, so it does not have cases or number. Its formation is also unpredictable: for some adjectives, it is formed from the nominative singular by adding an extra ending of some kind to the stem, while for others the attributive is formed by ''removing'' part of the stem. It may also be identical to the nominative singular. Some examples: A couple of adjectives do not have an attributive form. These are the frequently-used adjective "good", and for some speakers also "angry, evil". When these adjectives are used attributively, the case and number of the adjective matches that of the noun it is an attribute of (as in for example Finnish). As an example, take the sentence "" (English: "''She has done me a good deed.''"). Here, is inflected in the accusative as to match .


Comparison


Pronouns and determiners


Personal pronouns

The personal pronouns inflect irregularly, and also have a third number, the
dual Dual or Duals may refer to: Paired/two things * Dual (mathematics), a notion of paired concepts that mirror one another ** Dual (category theory), a formalization of mathematical duality *** see more cases in :Duality theories * Dual number, a nu ...
(''guvttiidlohku''). The dual is used to refer to exactly two people. The following table shows the forms.


Demonstratives

The five demonstrative determiners/pronouns inflect somewhat irregularly as well. The nominative singular and nominative plural are identical, and some other cases have endings not found in nouns. When these words modify a noun rather than standing alone, the demonstrative is in the same case as the noun, with the following exceptions: * A noun in the illative or locative singular is preceded by a demonstrative in the accusative/genitive singular form. * A noun in the comitative plural is preceded by a demonstrative in either the comitative or the accusative/genitive plural form.


Interrogatives

The interrogative/relative pronouns/determiners ''gii'' "who" and ''mii'' "what" are likewise irregular. In the accusative singular of ''mii'', there are two possible forms. The "regular" form ''man'' is used when there is an implication of a choice from a limited number of options. The form ''máid'' has no such implication. These two pronouns, as well as other interrogatives (which inflect regularly) can act as determiners and modify nouns. The rules for which case to use are the same as for the demonstrative. The form ''máid'' is followed by a noun in the accusative plural form.


Reflexive pronoun

The reflexive pronoun is ''ieš'' (dual and plural ''ieža''), meaning ''myself'', ''yourself'', ''himself'', ''herself'' and so on. In its base form, the pronoun occurs only in the nominative case and is never used on its own; it always occurs next to the subject of the sentence, where it acts as an adverb to strengthen it. Compare for example sentences such as ''I myself have never seen it.''. The other cases can occur by themselves, but only in the singular, and are always used in combination with a possessive suffix that matches the subject of the sentence (i.e. always ''I see myself'', never ''I see himself''). These forms are irregular as well as
suppletive In linguistics and etymology, suppletion is traditionally understood as the use of one word as the inflection, inflected form of another word when the two words are not cognate. For those learning a language, suppletive forms will be seen as "irre ...
: the illative and locative forms derive from completely different roots. There are also several alternative stems.


Verbs


Finite verbal categories

The conjugation of Northern Sámi
verb A verb is a word that generally conveys an action (''bring'', ''read'', ''walk'', ''run'', ''learn''), an occurrence (''happen'', ''become''), or a state of being (''be'', ''exist'', ''stand''). In the usual description of English, the basic f ...
s resembles that of Finnish. There are three
grammatical person In linguistics, grammatical person is the grammatical distinction between deictic references to participant(s) in an event; typically, the distinction is between the speaker ( first person), the addressee ( second person), and others ( third p ...
s (''persovnnat''), and three
grammatical number In linguistics, grammatical number is a Feature (linguistics), feature of nouns, pronouns, adjectives and verb agreement (linguistics), agreement that expresses count distinctions (such as "one", "two" or "three or more"). English and many other ...
s (''logut''), singular, dual and plural. There are four or five
grammatical mood In linguistics, grammatical mood is a grammatical feature of verbs, used for signaling modality. That is, it is the use of verbal inflections that allow speakers to express their attitude toward what they are saying (for example, a statement ...
s (''vuogit''): *
indicative A realis mood ( abbreviated ) is a grammatical mood which is used principally to indicate that something is a statement of fact; in other words, to express what the speaker considers to be a known state of affairs, as in declarative sentence Dec ...
(''indikatiiva'' or ''duohtavuohki''), indicating real events or statements of fact. * imperative (''imperatiiva'' or ''gohččunvuohki''), indicating commands. *
optative The optative mood ( or ; abbreviated ) is a grammatical mood that indicates a wish or hope regarding a given action. It is a superset of the cohortative mood and is closely related to the subjunctive mood but is distinct from the desiderative ...
(''optatiiva'' or ''ávžžuhusvuohki''), indicating wishes, things that the speaker would like to see done or realised. The optative is not usually considered a distinct mood, but is generally combined with the imperative. * conditional (''konditionála'' or ''eaktovuohki''), indicating conditional or hypothetical statements, like the English subjunctive and the verb "would". *
potential Potential generally refers to a currently unrealized ability. The term is used in a wide variety of fields, from physics to the social sciences to indicate things that are in a state where they are able to change in ways ranging from the simple r ...
(''potientiála'' or ''veadjinvuohki''), indicating ability or possibility. Tense is also distinguished, but only in the indicative. There are two tenses (''tempusat''): *
present The present is the period of time that is occurring now. The present is contrasted with the past, the period of time that has already occurred; and the future, the period of time that has yet to occur. It is sometimes represented as a hyperplan ...
(''preseansa'' or ''dálá áigi''), which is also used for
future The future is the time after the past and present. Its arrival is considered inevitable due to the existence of time and the laws of physics. Due to the apparent nature of reality and the unavoidability of the future, everything that currently ex ...
events (
nonpast tense The nonpast tense (also spelled non-past) (abbreviated ) is a grammatical tense that distinguishes an action as taking place in times present or future. The nonpast tense contrasts with the past tense, which distinguishes an action as taking place ...
). *
past The past is the set of all Spacetime#Definitions, events that occurred before a given point in time. The past is contrasted with and defined by the present and the future. The concept of the past is derived from the linear fashion in which human ...
(''preterihtta'' or ''vássán áigi''). In addition, each mood and tense has a so-called connegative form. This form is used in negative sentences, when combined with the negative verb.


Non-finite verbal categories

Finally, there are several non-finite forms.


=Infinitive

= The
infinitive Infinitive ( abbreviated ) is a linguistics term for certain verb forms existing in many languages, most often used as non-finite verbs that do not show a tense. As with many linguistic concepts, there is not a single definition applicable to all ...
is the dictionary form of the verb.


=Present participle

= The present
participle In linguistics, a participle (; abbr. ) is a nonfinite verb form that has some of the characteristics and functions of both verbs and adjectives. More narrowly, ''participle'' has been defined as "a word derived from a verb and used as an adject ...
is an adjective indicating a current or ongoing action. It is identical in form to the
agent noun In linguistics, an agent noun (in Latin, ) is a word that is derived from another word denoting an action, and that identifies an entity that does that action. For example, ''driver'' is an agent noun formed from the verb ''drive''. Usually, '' ...
, and has the same origin. However, the participle has only an attributive form, no case forms. * ''oađˈđi mánná'' – a sleeping child * ''áhpásmeaddji buohcci'' – a recovering patient


=Past participle

= The past participle is an adjective indicating a past or completed action. Like the present participle, it has only an attributive form. It is also used in forming the
periphrastic In linguistics and literature, periphrasis () is the use of a larger number of words, with an implicit comparison to the possibility of using fewer. The comparison may be within a language or between languages. For example, "more happy" is periph ...
perfect tense, and as the connegative form of the past indicative. * ''oađđán mánná'' – child who slept * ''áhpásman buohcci'' – patient who recovered


=Agent participle

= The agent participle is an adjective indicating a past or completed action that has been completed by a particular agent. It only exists for transitive verbs. The agent precedes the participle and is in the genitive case, much like its Finnish counterpart: * ''áhči čállin reive'' – the letter written by the father


=Negative participle

= The negative participle is an adjective indicating an action that has not been done by or to something. It can be either active or passive in meaning. * ''logakeahtẹs reive'' – unread letter * ''jugakeahtẹs vuola'' – undrunk beer * ''muitalkeahtẹs muitalus'' – untold story


=Action noun

= The action noun is a noun which indicates the action itself. It is not a verb form as such, but is often used in verbal constructions.


=Action inessive

= The action inessive (also called the "action essive") indicates "in (the process of)" or "while". It is used together with the copula ''leat'' to express a current, ongoing action, much like the English continuous. * ''mánná lea oađđimin'' – the child is sleeping * ''mun lean juhkamin vuola'' – I am drinking beer The action inessive originates in the inessive case of the action noun, a case which no longer exists for nouns in Northern Sámi.


=Action elative

= The action elative (also called the "action locative") indicates "from (the action of)". It is used to indicate the cessation of an action, but is also required idiomatically by certain verbs. * ''mun vajálduhtin oađđimis'' – I forgot to sleep The action elative originates in the elative case of the action noun, a case which became the locative in regular nouns.


=Action comitative

= The action comitative indicates "through" or "by". It originates in the comitative case of the action noun.


=Purposive converb

= The purposive
converb In theoretical linguistics, a converb ( abbreviated ) is a nonfinite verb form that serves to express adverbial subordination: notions like 'when', 'because', 'after' and 'while'. Other terms that have been used to refer to converbs include ''adv ...
expresses "in order to".


=Simultaneous converb

= The simultaneous converb expresses that an action took place "during" or "while (doing)" another one. It is always accompanied by a possessive suffix.


=Negative converb

= The negative converb (also called the "verb abessive") expresses "without".


=Verb genitive

= The verb genitive is an adverbial form often used to indicate the way/method, accompanied by a verb of motion. It only exists for some verbs and is not very productive, so it is better considered a derivational form rather than an inflectional form.


=Supine

= The
supine In grammar, a supine is a form of verbal noun used in some languages. The term is most often used for Latin, where it is one of the four principal parts of a verb. The word refers to a position of lying on one's back (as opposed to ' prone', l ...
expresses "in order to". It is only used in western Northern Sámi dialects.


Verbs with even inflection


Verbs with odd inflection


Verbs with contracted inflection


Negative verb

Northern Sámi, like other Uralic languages, has a
negative verb Dryer defined three different types of negative markers in language. Beside negative particles and negative affixes, negative verbs play a role in various languages. The negative verb is used to implement a clausal negation. The negative predic ...
that conjugates according to mood (indicative and imperative),
person A person (: people or persons, depending on context) is a being who has certain capacities or attributes such as reason, morality, consciousness or self-consciousness, and being a part of a culturally established form of social relations suc ...
(1st, 2nd and 3rd) and
number A number is a mathematical object used to count, measure, and label. The most basic examples are the natural numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, and so forth. Numbers can be represented in language with number words. More universally, individual numbers can ...
(singular, dual and plural). It does not conjugate according to tense.


Numbers

Northern Sámi uses a
decimal The decimal numeral system (also called the base-ten positional numeral system and denary or decanary) is the standard system for denoting integer and non-integer numbers. It is the extension to non-integer numbers (''decimal fractions'') of th ...
numeral system. Cardinal numbers inflect like adjectives, but have no attributive form. Instead, the numeral matches the noun it modifies in case and number. All numerals except for ''okta'' (1) use the nominative singular form also for the accusative singular (both are in the same consonant grade). For ''čieža'' (7), ''gávcci'' (8), ''ovcci'' (9), ''logi'' (10) and ''čuođi'' (100), the genitive singular form is used also for the nominative and accusative singular (they are all in the weak grade). In the plural, they inflect like all other nominals.


0-10

The numbers from 0 to 10 are:


11-19

The numbers 11 to 19 are formed by compounding a number from 1 to 9 with ''-nuppẹlohkái'' (literally "into the second ten").


20-99

The numbers 20 to 90 are formed by simply compounding the multiple with ''logi''. Combinations of a decade and a unit are constructed by compounding the decade with the unit directly, as in English. For example: * 28 ''guoktẹlogigávcci'' * 83 ''gávccilogigolbma'' * 99 ''ovccilogiovcci'' There is also a traditional number system that functions similarly to the numbers 11-19 where the unit comes first, followed by and ordinal number and the word , i.e. "into the ''n''th ten": * 21 ''oktagoalmmátlohkái'' "one into the third ten" * 31 ''oktanjealjátlohkái'' "one into the fourth ten"


Hundreds

100 is ''čuođi''. Multiples of 100 are expressed like multiples of 10, by simple compounding: 200 ''guoktẹčuođi'', 300 ''golbmačuođi'' and so on. Combinations of a hundred and a lower number follow the same pattern, again by compounding, with the hundred coming first. * 112 ''čuođiguoktẹnuppelohkái'' * 698 ''guhttačuođiovccilogigávcci'' * 999 ''ovccičuođiovccilogiovcci''


Thousands

1000 is ''duhát''. The pattern is the same as with the hundreds. * 5 203 ''vihttaduhátguoktẹčuođigolbma'' * 9 001 ''ovcciduhátokta'' * 32 348 ''golbmalogiduhátgolbmačuođinjealljẹlogigávcci'' * 123 456 ''čuođiguoktẹlogigolbmaduhátnjealljẹčuođivihttalogiguhtta''


Millions and above

Northern Sámi uses the long scale system. * 1 000 000 '' miljovdna'' * 1 000 000 000 '' miljárda'' * 1 000 000 000 000 '' biljovdna'' * 1 000 000 000 000 000 '' biljárda'' * etc. Combinations with lower numbers are much the same as with the thousands. Multiples use the accusative/genitive forms ''miljovnna'' and ''miljárdda'' instead. * 117 401 067 ''čuođilogičiežamiljovnnanjealljẹčuođioktaduhátguhttalogičieža'' * 10 987 654 321 ''logimiljárddaovccičuođigávccilogičiežamiljovnnaguhttačuođivihttaloginjealljẹduhátgolbmačuođiguoktẹlogiokta''


Ordinal numbers

Ordinal numbers behave and inflect like regular adjectives. Except for ''nubbi'', they have an attributive form, which is identical to the nominative singular. For the vast majority of numbers, the ordinal form is created by suffixing ''-t'', and putting the stem in the weak grade. The final vowel of the stem is often altered as well. When a number is composed of multiple parts, only the last one is converted to an ordinal, the rest stay in their cardinal form. Thus, 13th ''golbmanuppẹlogát'', 22nd ''guoktẹloginubbi'', 409th ''njealljẹčuođiovccát'', 9001st ''ovcciduhátvuosttaš''.


Syntax

Northern Sámi is, like English, an
SVO language SVO may refer to: * Association football clubs in Germany: ** SVO Germaringen ** SV Oberachern * Silver vanadium oxide battery (SVO battery) * San Jose Chamber of Commerce, a chamber of commerce in San Jose, California, United States, known as the S ...
.


References


External links


Say it in Saami
Yle's colloquial Northern Saami-Inari Saami-Skolt Saami-English phrasebook online
Bustávat davvisámegillii
Northern Saami alphabet by the Finnish Saami Parliament
Northern Sámi to Norwegian Bokmål online machine translation
(translates text, docx, urls)
Interactive morphology-enriched Northern Saami <-> Norwegian / Finnish dictionary

Dependency-parsed searchable 25m word Northern Saami corpus


A Northern Sámi-English vocabulary (5500+ words in Sámi as of 12 September 2013)
Names of birds found in Sápmi in a number of languages, including Skolt Sámi and English. Search function only works with Finnish input though.

OAHPA! Online interactive Sámi pedagogical program suite



Sámi dictionary and terminology database

Sámi proofing tools project

Sátnemeahccái project for children

Gradation described


*
Irja Seurujärvi-Kari Irja Seurujärvi-Kari (born 21 March 1947, Utsjoki) is a Finnish Sámi politician and academic. Education and academic career Seurujärvi-Kari obtained a master's degree in English philology from the University of Oulu in 1974, and a PhD in F ...
br>talking in Northern Sámi



Sámi alphabet – Flash/Sound
{{DEFAULTSORT:Northern Sámi Language Sámi in Finland Sámi in Norway Sámi in Sweden Western Sámi languages Languages of Finland Languages of Norway Languages of Sweden Subject–verb–object languages