3 Get to know the South Saami language
Written South Saami
Take a look at the text in South Saami below. What strikes you at the first glance?
Gosse nyjsenæjja galka tjaangedh gåatan, dellie ij edtjh saaht-laakan vaedtsedh, men vaarjoem tjåanghkan tjynghkerdidh, jïh ij edtjh silledh mubpiej juelkiej bijjelen, men mubpiej genhtsemi vaedtsedh, maadteren baaktoe (Bergsland, 1987:89).
[English translation: When a woman enters the turf hut, she cannot walk in whatever fashion, rather she should gather her clothes together and not stride over the legs of others, walking behind the others, along the walls.]
South Saami was officially codified as a written language in 1978. In contrast to North Saami that has developed an alphabet of its own with diacritical signs, South Saami is written with the same letters as Norwegian and Swedish. However, as South Saami has a wider variety of sounds, South Saami often combines letters to signify distinct sounds. The South Saami alphabet is this:
A, aa, ae, b, de, e, ea, ee, f, gh, i, ie, ï, ïe j, k l,m, n, nj, ng, o, oe, p, r, s, sj, t, tj, ts, u, ua, ue, v, y, yö, æ, ö, öö, å, åa, åe, åå
What does South Saami sound like?
Let’s take a listen to the same text read out loud. Push play and listen:
Gosse nyjsenæjja galka tjaangedh gåatan, dellie ij edtjh saaht-laakan vaedtsedh, men vaarjoem tjåanghkan tjynghkerdidh, jïh ij edtjh silledh mubpiej juelkiej bijjelen, men mubpiej genhtsemi vaedtsedh, maadteren baaktoe (Bergsland, 1987:89).
The language and the way of life
Did you know that there are more than 100 different words in South Saami that describes snow?
Weather conditions and the snow have been decisive for the survival of the reindeer and for working with the herds. In order to herd the reindeer well, one needs deep knowledge of nature. The needs of the reindeer for water, food, rest, movement etc are dependant of the snow. The snow also decides the herder’s possibilities for watching, tracking and moving the herd.
Here are some examples of the precision of the language on snow:
| Fleavmoe | new snow (loose and dry) |
| Faskoes | loose and light snow (lots of it) |
| Gåavre lopme | very loose snow |
| Saervies lopme | loose snow in spring |
| Govne lopme | good pasture, the snow is dry as ash |
SOV word order
A characteristic trait of South Saami is SOV word order, that is that the subject, object and verb usually appear in that order. North Saami on the other hand, is a SVO language.
| Manne | gærjam | lohkeme |
| I | a book | have read |
| Manne | aajjan | miesieh | mïerhkesjim |
| I | grandfather’s | calves | I tagged |
The rule is not absolute. Adverbials in particular may appear after the verb. The pattern may be broken if one wishes to stress something.
Verbs
Verbs play a very important role in South Saami. The language is rich in verbs, and they are inflected to give specific information about the action (tense, aspect, mood and voice).
| Piere | burvhiem | tjöönghkelgööti |
| Peter | moss | he started to pick |
| Manne | tjoeverem | guelide | tjöölestidh |
| I | have to | the fish | gut rather quickly |
| Tjööngkelh | dejtie | dov | tjåenide |
| Gather up quickly | those | yours | things |
The verbs themselves are very rich in information, and in other languages one often has to apply several words to descripe the action with the same accuracy:
| Heajadovvedh | to stray away from the mother (about a reindeer calf) |
| Restiedidh | to lead a reindeer herd across a river/mountain pass |
| Murkehtidh | to intentionally letting someting get destroyed |
The verbs agrees with person, numbers, and tense, for instance:
- 1st, 2nd and 3rd person
- singular, dual, and plural
- present and past tense
An example: inflecting the verb vaedtsedh (to go)
| Present tense | Past tense |
| Manne vaadtsam (I go) | veedtsim |
| Datne vaadtsah (you go) | veedtsih |
| Dïhte veedtsi (he/she goes) | veedtsi |
| Månnoeh vaedtsien (the two of us go) | veedtsimen |
| Dåtnoeh vaedtseden (the two of you go) | veedtsiden |
| Dah guaktah vaedtsiejægan (the two of them go) | veedtsigan |
| Mijjieh vaedtsebe (we go) | veedtsimh |
| Dijjieh vaedtsede (you all go) | veedtsidh |
| Dah vaedtsieh (they all go) | veedtsin |
Challenge: try to find the right verb form
