Southern Sami
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Southern Sami is a seriously endangered language. The last strongholds of this language are the municipalities of Snåsa and Hattfjelldal in Norway. There are approximately 2000 people considered Southern Sámi in Norway and Sweden, although only approximately 500 of them can fluently speak the language.
Grammar
Consonant gradation
Like Ume Sámi, Southern Sami does not have consonant gradation.
Cases
Southern Sámi has has 8 cases:
Southern Sámi is one of the few Sámi languages that still differentiates between the accusative and the genitive morphologically.
Verbs
Person
Southern Sami verbs conjugate for three grammatical persons:
Mood
Tense
Negative verb
Southern Sami, like Finnish, the other Sámi languages and Estonian, has a negative verb. In Southern Sámi, the negative verb conjugates according to tense and person.
Phonology
Syntax
Unlike the other Sámi languages, Southern Sámi is an SOV language.
Writing system
Even though Southern Sámi is one of the six Sámi languages that has an official written language, only a few books have been published for the language, one of which is a good-size Southern Sámi-Norwegian dictionary
Roman alphabet: A/a, B/b, D/d, E/e, F/f, G/g, H/h, I/i, (Ï/ï), J/j, K/k, L/l, M/m, N/n, O/o, P/p, R/r, S/s, T/t, U/u, V/v, Y/y, Æ/æ, Ø/ø, Å/å
Ä/ä is a variant of Æ/æ, Ö/ö is a variant of Ø/ø.
C/c, Q/q, W/w, X/x, Z/z are also used in words of foreign origin.
References
- Bergsland, Knut. Røroslappisk grammatikk, 1946.
- Bergsland, Knut. Sydsamisk grammatikk, 1982.
- Bergsland, Knut and Lajla Mattson Magga. Åarjelsaemien-daaroen baakoegærja, 1993.
- Hasselbrink, Gustav. Südsamisches Wörterbuch I–III
External links
- [Sámi lottit] Names of birds found in Sápmi in a number of languages, including Skolt Sámi and English. Search function only works with Finnish input though.
- [Southern Sámi grammar]
- [Southern Sámi analyzer]
- [Samien Sijte] - Southern Sámi Museum and Cultural Center
- [Sørsamisk forskning og undervisning] - Universitetet i Tromsø
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