Pite Sámi | |
---|---|
bidumsámegiella | |
Native to | Sweden |
Native speakers | 25 to 50 (2010) [1] |
Latin | |
Language codes | |
ISO 639-3 |
sje |
Glottolog |
pite1240 |
ELP | Pite Saami |
Pite Sami language area (red) within Sápmi (grey) | |
Pite Saami is classified as Critically Endangered by the
UNESCO
Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger |
Pite Sámi or Arjeplog Sámi (Pite Sami: Bidumsámegiella, Swedish: Pitesamiska, Norwegian: Pitesamisk) is a Sámi language traditionally spoken in Sweden and used to be spoken in Norway. It is a critically endangered language [2] that has only about 25–50 [1] native speakers left and is now only spoken on the Swedish side of the border along the Pite River in the north of Arjeplog and Arvidsjaur and in the mountainous areas of the Arjeplog municipality.
Pite Sámi is a part of the Western Sámi group, together with Southern Sámi and Ume Sámi to the south, Lule Sámi and Northern Sámi to the north. Of these, Pite Sámi shows closest affinity to Lule Sámi, but a number of features also show similarity to Ume and Southern Sámi.
The Pite Sámi consonant inventory is very similar to that found in neighbouring Lule Sámi, but lacks contrastive voicing of stops and affricates entirely.
Labial | Dental | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Nasal | m | n | ɲ | ŋ | ||
Plosive / Affricate | p | t | t͡s | t͡ʃ | k | |
Fricative | voiceless | f | s | ʃ | h | |
voiced | v | ( ð) | ||||
Semivowel | j | |||||
Lateral | l | |||||
Trill | r |
The Pite Sámi vowel inventory has a relative lack of phonemic diphthongs, compared to other Sámi languages and particularly neighbouring Lule Sámi. Instead, there are more vowel height distinctions.
Monophthongs | Diphthongs | |||
---|---|---|---|---|
Front | Back | Front | Back | |
Close | i | u | ( ie̯) | ( uo̯) |
Close-mid | e | o | uæ̯ | uɑ̯ |
Open-mid | ɛ | ɔ ɔː | ||
Open | a aː |
Sammallahti [4] divides Pite Sámi dialects as follows:
Features of the northern dialects are:
Features of the southern dialects are:
For a long time, Pite Sámi was one of the four Sámi languages without an official written language. A working orthography was developed in 2008–2011 by the Sámi Association of Arjeplog; [5] this version was described by Joshua Wilbur and implemented in the dictionary Pitesamisk ordbok samt stavningsregler, published in 2016. [6] On August 20, 2019, an official orthography was approved for the language. [7] [8] The orthography closely resembles the orthography of neighbouring Lule Sámi.
Letter | Pronunciation [8] | Notes |
---|---|---|
A a | [ ä] | |
Á á | [ äː] | |
B b | [ p] | |
D d | [ t] | |
Đ đ | [ ð] | |
E e | [ eː], [ ɪe̯], [ e] | |
F f | [ f] | |
G g | [ k] | |
H h | [ h] | |
I i | [ ɪ] | |
J j | [ j] | |
K k | [ k], [ ʰk], [ kʰ] | Postaspirated at the beginning of a stressed syllable. |
L l | [ l] | |
M m | [ m] | |
N n | [ n] | |
Ŋ ŋ | [ ŋ] | |
O o | [ oː], [ ʊɒ̝̯] | |
P p | [ p], [ ʰp], [ pʰ] | Postaspirated at the beginning of a stressed syllable. |
R r | [ r] | |
S s | [ s] | |
T t | [ t], [ ʰt], [ tʰ] | Postaspirated at the beginning of a stressed syllable. |
Ŧ ŧ | [ θ] | |
U u | [ ʊ], [ ʊː] | |
V v | [ ʋ] | |
Å å | [ ɒ̝], [ ɒ̝ː] | |
Ä ä | [ æː] |
Digraph | Pronunciation [8] | Notes |
---|---|---|
ie | [ ɪe̯] | |
ua | [ ʊä̯] | |
uo | [ ʊɒ̝̑] | |
uä | [ ʊæ̯] |
A number of (re)sources exist with extensive collections of Pite Sámi lexical items, including grammatical and (morpho)phonological information to various extents. These include:
Pite Sámi has nine cases:
Pite Sámi verbs conjugate for three grammatical persons:
Pite Sámi has five grammatical moods:
Pite Sámi verbs conjugate for three grammatical numbers:
Pite Sámi verbs conjugate for two simple tenses:
and two compound tenses:
Pite Sámi, like Finnish, the other Sámi languages and Estonian, has a negative verb. In Pite Sámi, the negative verb conjugates according to mood ( indicative, imperative and optative), person (1st, 2nd and 3rd) and number (singular, dual and plural). This differs from some of the other Sámi languages, e.g. from Northern Sámi, which do not conjugate according to tense and other Sámi languages, that do not use the optative.
Non-past indicative | Past indicative | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Singular | Dual | Plural | Singular | Dual | Plural | ||
1st person | iv | ien | iehp, iep | 1 | ittjiv | iejmen, ittjijmen | iejmeh, ittjijmeh |
2nd person | ih | iehpen, ähpen, ihpen | iehpit, ihpit | 2 | ittjih | iejten, ittjijten | iejteh, ittjijteh |
3rd person | ij | iepá, iepán | ieh | 3 | ittjij | iejkán, ittjijka | ittjin |
For non-past indicative versions that have more than one form, the second one is from the dialect spoken around Björkfjället and the third is from the Svaipa dialect. The plurality in the other forms is due to parallel forms that are not bound by dialect.
Singular | Dual | Plural | |
---|---|---|---|
Imperative | |||
2nd person | ieleh | iellen | iellit |
Optative | |||
1st person | alluv | iellun, allun | iellup, allup |
2nd person | alluh | ielluten, alluten | ielluteh, alluteh |
3rd person | allus | ielluska, alluska | ielluseh, alluseh |
Pite Sámi | |
---|---|
bidumsámegiella | |
Native to | Sweden |
Native speakers | 25 to 50 (2010) [1] |
Latin | |
Language codes | |
ISO 639-3 |
sje |
Glottolog |
pite1240 |
ELP | Pite Saami |
Pite Sami language area (red) within Sápmi (grey) | |
Pite Saami is classified as Critically Endangered by the
UNESCO
Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger |
Pite Sámi or Arjeplog Sámi (Pite Sami: Bidumsámegiella, Swedish: Pitesamiska, Norwegian: Pitesamisk) is a Sámi language traditionally spoken in Sweden and used to be spoken in Norway. It is a critically endangered language [2] that has only about 25–50 [1] native speakers left and is now only spoken on the Swedish side of the border along the Pite River in the north of Arjeplog and Arvidsjaur and in the mountainous areas of the Arjeplog municipality.
Pite Sámi is a part of the Western Sámi group, together with Southern Sámi and Ume Sámi to the south, Lule Sámi and Northern Sámi to the north. Of these, Pite Sámi shows closest affinity to Lule Sámi, but a number of features also show similarity to Ume and Southern Sámi.
The Pite Sámi consonant inventory is very similar to that found in neighbouring Lule Sámi, but lacks contrastive voicing of stops and affricates entirely.
Labial | Dental | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Nasal | m | n | ɲ | ŋ | ||
Plosive / Affricate | p | t | t͡s | t͡ʃ | k | |
Fricative | voiceless | f | s | ʃ | h | |
voiced | v | ( ð) | ||||
Semivowel | j | |||||
Lateral | l | |||||
Trill | r |
The Pite Sámi vowel inventory has a relative lack of phonemic diphthongs, compared to other Sámi languages and particularly neighbouring Lule Sámi. Instead, there are more vowel height distinctions.
Monophthongs | Diphthongs | |||
---|---|---|---|---|
Front | Back | Front | Back | |
Close | i | u | ( ie̯) | ( uo̯) |
Close-mid | e | o | uæ̯ | uɑ̯ |
Open-mid | ɛ | ɔ ɔː | ||
Open | a aː |
Sammallahti [4] divides Pite Sámi dialects as follows:
Features of the northern dialects are:
Features of the southern dialects are:
For a long time, Pite Sámi was one of the four Sámi languages without an official written language. A working orthography was developed in 2008–2011 by the Sámi Association of Arjeplog; [5] this version was described by Joshua Wilbur and implemented in the dictionary Pitesamisk ordbok samt stavningsregler, published in 2016. [6] On August 20, 2019, an official orthography was approved for the language. [7] [8] The orthography closely resembles the orthography of neighbouring Lule Sámi.
Letter | Pronunciation [8] | Notes |
---|---|---|
A a | [ ä] | |
Á á | [ äː] | |
B b | [ p] | |
D d | [ t] | |
Đ đ | [ ð] | |
E e | [ eː], [ ɪe̯], [ e] | |
F f | [ f] | |
G g | [ k] | |
H h | [ h] | |
I i | [ ɪ] | |
J j | [ j] | |
K k | [ k], [ ʰk], [ kʰ] | Postaspirated at the beginning of a stressed syllable. |
L l | [ l] | |
M m | [ m] | |
N n | [ n] | |
Ŋ ŋ | [ ŋ] | |
O o | [ oː], [ ʊɒ̝̯] | |
P p | [ p], [ ʰp], [ pʰ] | Postaspirated at the beginning of a stressed syllable. |
R r | [ r] | |
S s | [ s] | |
T t | [ t], [ ʰt], [ tʰ] | Postaspirated at the beginning of a stressed syllable. |
Ŧ ŧ | [ θ] | |
U u | [ ʊ], [ ʊː] | |
V v | [ ʋ] | |
Å å | [ ɒ̝], [ ɒ̝ː] | |
Ä ä | [ æː] |
Digraph | Pronunciation [8] | Notes |
---|---|---|
ie | [ ɪe̯] | |
ua | [ ʊä̯] | |
uo | [ ʊɒ̝̑] | |
uä | [ ʊæ̯] |
A number of (re)sources exist with extensive collections of Pite Sámi lexical items, including grammatical and (morpho)phonological information to various extents. These include:
Pite Sámi has nine cases:
Pite Sámi verbs conjugate for three grammatical persons:
Pite Sámi has five grammatical moods:
Pite Sámi verbs conjugate for three grammatical numbers:
Pite Sámi verbs conjugate for two simple tenses:
and two compound tenses:
Pite Sámi, like Finnish, the other Sámi languages and Estonian, has a negative verb. In Pite Sámi, the negative verb conjugates according to mood ( indicative, imperative and optative), person (1st, 2nd and 3rd) and number (singular, dual and plural). This differs from some of the other Sámi languages, e.g. from Northern Sámi, which do not conjugate according to tense and other Sámi languages, that do not use the optative.
Non-past indicative | Past indicative | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Singular | Dual | Plural | Singular | Dual | Plural | ||
1st person | iv | ien | iehp, iep | 1 | ittjiv | iejmen, ittjijmen | iejmeh, ittjijmeh |
2nd person | ih | iehpen, ähpen, ihpen | iehpit, ihpit | 2 | ittjih | iejten, ittjijten | iejteh, ittjijteh |
3rd person | ij | iepá, iepán | ieh | 3 | ittjij | iejkán, ittjijka | ittjin |
For non-past indicative versions that have more than one form, the second one is from the dialect spoken around Björkfjället and the third is from the Svaipa dialect. The plurality in the other forms is due to parallel forms that are not bound by dialect.
Singular | Dual | Plural | |
---|---|---|---|
Imperative | |||
2nd person | ieleh | iellen | iellit |
Optative | |||
1st person | alluv | iellun, allun | iellup, allup |
2nd person | alluh | ielluten, alluten | ielluteh, alluteh |
3rd person | allus | ielluska, alluska | ielluseh, alluseh |