.
Pite Saami under Swedish Rule(s)
.
Bilingualism and contact-induced change
in an endangered minority language
Joshua Wilbur
Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel
Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
Universitetet i Tromsø
11th International Conference of Nordic and General Linguistics
19th April 2012
Freiburg University
. outline
☀
☀ ☀ ☀ ☀ ☀ ☀ ☀
introduction
contact-induced change in:
☀
lexicon
☀
phonology
☀
morphosyntax
☀
syntax
☀
calques
☀
conclusions
Pite Saami under Swedish Rule(s)
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☀ ☀ ☀ ☀ ☀ ☀ ☀
. introduction: the Pite Saami language
.
Pite Saami (ISO code: sje)
.
• aka: Arjeplog Saami, Bidumsámegiella
.
• Uralic>Saamic>Western Saami>Northern group
Pite Saami under Swedish Rule(s)
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. introduction: the Pite Saami language
.
Pite Saami (ISO code: sje)
.
• aka: Arjeplog Saami, Bidumsámegiella
.
• Uralic>Saamic>Western Saami>Northern group
.
Pite Saami and its speakers
.
• spoken by around 30 people from Arjeplog municipality in
Swedish Lapland
.
Pite Saami under Swedish Rule(s)
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. introduction: the Pite Saami language
Pite Saami under Swedish Rule(s)
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☀ ☀ ☀ ☀ ☀ ☀ ☀
. introduction: the Pite Saami language
.
Pite Saami (ISO code: sje)
.
• aka: Arjeplog Saami, Bidumsámegiella
.
• Uralic>Saamic>Western Saami>Northern group
.
Pite Saami and its speakers
.
• spoken by around 30 people from Arjeplog municipality in
Swedish Lapland
• most are at least 50 years old
• all are bilingual in Pite Saami and Swedish (Arjeplogsmål)
• no official orthography (but a working version in progress)
• no radio, tv, newspapers, etc.
.
• for most, Swedish dominates everyday life!
Pite Saami under Swedish Rule(s)
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. lexicon 1 (new loans)
.
modern or foreign items/concepts
.
Pite Saami
< Sv.
gloss
(1)
bijjla
bil
‘car’
(2)
motorra ~ motovvra
motor
‘motor’
(3)
dátor
dator
‘computer’
(4)
misommar
midsommar
‘midsummer’
(5)
elefánnta
elefant
‘elephant’
(6)
Frankrijjka
Frankrike
‘France’
(7)
gruodna
grön
‘green’
(8)
tälltit
...
tälta
‘to tent’
.
(nothing particularly surprising)
Pite Saami under Swedish Rule(s)
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. lexicon 2 (old loans)
.
older loans, even for ‘basic’ and traditional items/concepts
.
Pite Saami
< NGerm.
gloss
(9)
nijjbe
kniv
‘knife’
(10)
káffa
kaffe
‘coffee’
(11)
kujdna
kvinna
‘woman’
(12)
stuores
stor
‘big’
(13)
smáva
små
‘small’
. (14)
oŋŋga
unge
‘youth’
➜ contact between Saamic and North-Germanic languages has been happening
for centuries!
Pite Saami under Swedish Rule(s)
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. lexicon 3 (grammatical loans)
.
grammatical items
.
Pite Saami
< NGerm.
gloss
(15)
men
men
‘but’
(16)
kan
kanske
‘maybe’
(17)
nagan
någon/-t
‘someone/thing’
(18)
ahte ~ att
att
‘in order to’
Pite Saami
< Sv.
gloss
(19)
jå
jå
‘yes’
. (20)
näj
nej
‘no’
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. phonology 1 (segmental)
.
loan phonemes (in recent loans)
.
• voiced bilabial plosive in word-onset: /b/
(21)
/bijːla/
bijjla
‘car’
• what about /d g/?
• (post-)aspirated plosives in word-onset: /pʰ tʰ kʰ/
(22)
/pʰerun/
perun
‘potato’
(23)
/tʰɪlːʰtɪt/
tilltit
‘to tent’
(24)
/kʰaːfːa/
káffa
‘coffee’
.
Pite Saami under Swedish Rule(s)
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. phonology 2 (word-level prosody)
ˈσσ
ˈσσσ
Pite Saami prosodic template:
ˈσσˌσσ
ˈσσˌσσσ
Pite Saami under Swedish Rule(s)
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. phonology 2 (word-level prosody)
ˈσσ
ˈσσσ
Pite Saami prosodic template:
ˈσσˌσσ
ˈσσˌσσσ
.
loan prosody (only in recent loans)
.
• words without initial stress:
(25)
/deˈpʰarteˌmɛnːta/
σˈσσˌσσ
(26)
/mɔˈtʊʋːra/
σˈσσ
departemännta ‘department’
motuvvra
‘motor’
.
Pite Saami under Swedish Rule(s)
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. phonology 3 (utterance-level prosody)
.
utterance-final devoicing
.
an utterance’s final 1-2 syllables are completely devoiced
(27)
.
dä dieda nubbe sábme diehta guk botsoj vuojdnuj
[...vʊ͡ɔjj̥t̚n̥ɔ̥j̥]
‘then, you know, the other Saami knows what the reindeer
looks like’
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. phonology 3 (utterance-level prosody)
.
utterance-final devoicing in Arjeplogsmål
.
an utterance’s final 1-2 syllables are completely devoiced
(28)
.
om jag ko..., fråg han om jag kommer från Arjeplog
[...arj̥e̥pl̥ ukʰ]
‘if I co..., he asks if I come from Arjeplog’
*example and sound excerpt from SweDia 2000
Pite Saami under Swedish Rule(s)
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. phonology 3 (utterance-level prosody)
.
utterance-final devoicing in Pite Saami and Arjeplogsmål
.
an utterance’s final 1-2 syllables are completely devoiced
➜ Some questions:
• what is the source language?
• is it optional?
.
• perhaps an indication of turn-taking?
Pite Saami under Swedish Rule(s)
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. note
in the following:
• Saami: Proto-Saami, neighboring Saami language(s), older
descriptions of Pite Saami, and/or current Pite Saami
• Swedish: Standard Swedish (rikssvenska) and/or the local
Arjeplog dialect (Arjeplogsmål)
Pite Saami under Swedish Rule(s)
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. morphosyntax 1 (possession)
Possession
Saami
possessive suffixes
Swedish
possessive pronouns
(29)
hielsat
del mammaset
hielsat
del mamma-s-et
greet\2sg.imp then mother-ill.sg-2sg.poss
‘say hello to your mother’
(30)
hälsa
din
mamma
greet.imp 2sg.poss mother
‘say hello to your mother’
Pite Saami under Swedish Rule(s)
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. morphosyntax 1 (possession)
Possession
Saami
possessive suffixes
Swedish
possessive pronouns
.
is Pite Saami losing its possessive suffixes?
.
(31) muv
áhtje
hållo-j...
1sg.gen father\nom.sg say-3sg.pst...
.
‘my father said...’
➜ almost exclusively genitive constructions in my corpus!
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. morphosyntax 2 (number)
Number distinctions
in personal pronouns and verbal agreement
Saami
singular/dual/plural
Swedish
singular/plural
Pite Saami under Swedish Rule(s)
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. morphosyntax 2 (number)
Number distinctions
in personal pronouns and verbal agreement
Saami
singular/dual/plural
Swedish
singular/plural
.
is Pite Saami losing the dual/plural distinction?
.
(32) ja måj
dä ber ságastime
sáme
ja måj
dä ber ságast-ime
sábme
and 1du.nom then only speak-1pl.pst Saami
gielav
denne
giella-v
denne
language-acc.sg there
.
‘and we only spoke Saami there’
(referring to himself and his aunt)
➜ frequent enough to not just be a mistake!
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. syntax 1 (argument structure)
argument structure for gatjádit ‘ask’
Saami
goal in elative
Swedish
goal in accusative
(33)
jå Eddest
galgav
gatjádit
jå Edde-st
galga-v
gatjádi-t
yes Edgar-elat.sg shall-1sg.prs ask-inf
‘yes, I’ll ask Edgar’
(34)
få-r
jag
fråg-a dig
en sak
may-prs 1sg.nom ask-inf 2sg.acc det thing
‘may I ask you something?’
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. syntax 1 (argument structure)
argument structure for gatjádit ‘ask’
Saami
goal in elative
Swedish
goal in accusative
.
is the argument structure changing to accusative?
.
(35) mån
lev
gajgav
duv
gatjádam
1sg.nom be-1sg.prs all-acc.sg 2sg.acc ask-prf
.
‘I have asked you everything’
➜ not enough data yet to tell...
Pite Saami under Swedish Rule(s)
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. syntax 2 (polar interrogatives)
Saami
Swedish
Pite Saami under Swedish Rule(s)
Yes/No questions
marked by a question particle (gu)
marked by subject-verb inversion
18/31
☀ ☀ ☀ ☀ ☀ ☀ ☀
. syntax 2 (polar interrogatives)
Saami
Swedish
Yes/No questions
marked by a question particle (gu)
marked by subject-verb inversion
.
has Pite Saami essentially lost its question particle?
.
➜ ONE token of a question particle in my corpus!
lä-gu
nällgo-min
be\2sg.prs-Qpart be_hungry-prog
‘are you hungry?’
.
Pite Saami under Swedish Rule(s)
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. syntax 2 (polar interrogatives)
Saami
Swedish
Yes/No questions
marked by a question particle (gu)
marked by subject-verb inversion
.
has Pite Saami essentially lost its question particle?
.
➜ ONE token of a question particle in my corpus!
lä-gu
nällgo-min
be\2sg.prs-Qpart be_hungry-prog
‘are you hungry?’
a variety of strategies for marking questions:
• context
• subject-verb inversion
. • intonation?
Pite Saami under Swedish Rule(s)
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. calques 1 (possessive predicates)
Saami
Swedish
(36)
Possessive predicates
locative + copula construction
ha ‘have’
muvne
lä
bijjla
1sg.iness be\3sg.prs car\nom.sg
‘I have a car’ (lit.: ‘at me is a car’)
(37)
jag har en bil
jag har en bil
‘I have a car’
Pite Saami under Swedish Rule(s)
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. calques 1 (possessive predicates)
Saami
Swedish
Possessive predicates
locative + copula construction
ha ‘have’
.
Pite Saami nearly always uses ádnet † ‘have, possess’
.
(38) iv
del
mån
áne
nåv
i-v
ptcl mån
ádne(+wk) nå-v
neg-1sg.prs really 1sg.nom have\conneg so-acc.sg
iednagav
iednaga-v
much-acc.sg
‘I really don’t have that much’ (referring to work)
†
.ádnet < PS *e̮nē ‘hold, use’
Pite Saami under Swedish Rule(s)
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. calques 1 (possessive predicates)
Saami
Swedish
Possessive predicates
locative + copula construction
ha ‘have’
.
Pite Saami nearly always uses ádnet † ‘have, possess’
.
(38) iv
del
mån
áne
nåv
i-v
ptcl mån
ádne(+wk) nå-v
neg-1sg.prs really 1sg.nom have\conneg so-acc.sg
iednagav
iednaga-v
much-acc.sg
‘I really don’t have that much’ (referring to work)
†
.ádnet < PS *e̮nē ‘hold, use’
➜ locative + copula construction is possible, but rare
Pite Saami under Swedish Rule(s)
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. calques 2 (indefinite person)
indefinite ‘4th ’ person
Saami
zero-subject + 3sg
Swedish man ‘one’ / du ‘you’
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. calques 2 (indefinite person)
indefinite ‘4th ’ person
Saami
zero-subject + 3sg
Swedish man ‘one’ / du ‘you’
.
Pite Saami uses a cognate with the word for ‘person’ as a
non-referential subject pronoun...
.
(39) ij
almatj
åbå
neg-3sg.prs person\nom.sg really
åtjo
ságastit
be_allowed\conneg say-inf
.
‘one really isn’t allowed to say (that)’
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. calques 2 (indefinite person)
indefinite ‘4th ’ person
Saami
zero-subject + 3sg
Swedish man ‘one’ / du ‘you’
.
...OR
2sg with a non-referential meaning
.
(40) gisstá
majt
dálven
glove\nom.pl rel.acc.pl winter-iness.sg
áná
have\2sg.prs
.
‘gloves which you have in winter’
Pite Saami under Swedish Rule(s)
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. calques 2 (indefinite person)
indefinite ‘4th ’ person
Saami
zero-subject + 3sg
Swedish man ‘one’ / du ‘you’
.
...OR
2sg with a non-referential meaning
.
(40) gisstá
majt
dálven
glove\nom.pl rel.acc.pl winter-iness.sg
áná
have\2sg.prs
.
‘gloves which you have in winter’
➜ but always lacking an overt 2sg pronoun?
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. calques 3 (‘small’ paradigms)
.
inflectional categories for adjectives
.
Saami
Swedish
def
attr
indef
pred
sg
sg
attr
bivalis
.
pred
bivval
bivvala
‘warm’
Pite Saami under Swedish Rule(s)
pl
sg
pl
def
varma
pl
utrum
neutrum
utrum
varm
indef
neutrum
varmt
varma
sg
pl
‘warm’
24/31
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. calques 3 (‘small’ paradigms)
.
suppletive adjectives for ‘small’ indicating number
.
Swedish: liten/litet/lilla vs. små
indef
indef
def utrum neutrum
def
utrum
neutrum
varm
varmt
sg
lilla
liten
litet
sg
varma
varma
pl
små
små
pl
.
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. calques 3 (‘small’ paradigms)
.
suppletive adjectives for ‘small’ indicating number
.
Swedish: liten/litet/lilla vs. små
indef
indef
def utrum neutrum
def
utrum
neutrum
varm
varmt
sg
lilla
liten
litet
sg
varma
varma
pl
små
små
pl
attr
bivalis
pred
bivval
bivvala
sg
pl
Pite Saami: unne/unna vs. smáva
attr pred
unna
unne sg
smáva smáve pl
.
Pite Saami under Swedish Rule(s)
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. calques 3 (‘small’ paradigms)
.
suppletive adjectives for ‘small’ indicating number
.
Swedish: liten/litet/lilla vs. små
indef
indef
def utrum neutrum
def
utrum
neutrum
varm
varmt
sg
lilla
liten
litet
sg
varma
varma
pl
små
små
pl
attr
bivalis
pred
bivval
bivvala
sg
pl
Pite Saami: unne/unna vs. smáva
attr pred
unna
unne sg
smáva smáve pl
.
➜ recent borrowing of the distributional restrictions of ‘små’
Pite Saami under Swedish Rule(s)
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. conclusions
☀ ☀ ☀ ☀ ☀ ☀ ☀
• clear case of language change due to contact via bilingualism
in many realms:
• lexicon, phonology, morphology, syntax (and combinations of
these)
• likely in other areas, too!
• difficult to distinguish between consistent contact-induced
language change and nonce-borrowing/code-switching in
conditions of wide-spread bilingualism in an exceptionally
small language community
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. conclusions
☀ ☀ ☀ ☀ ☀ ☀ ☀
ideas for future research:
• more thorough study of the corpus
• compare with other Saami languages (particularly
smaller/endangered ones)
• potential influence of North Saami on Pite Saami
• more thorough study of utterance-final devoicing (as an areal
phenomenon?)
• the influence of Pite Saami on Arjeplogsmål
Pite Saami under Swedish Rule(s)
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. thank you!
☀ ☀ ☀ ☀ ☀ ☀ ☀
gijtov ádnet!
gijtov
ádnet
gijto-v
ádne-t
thank-acc.sg have-2pl.imp (calque < Sv. tack ska du ha! lit.: ‘have thanks’)
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. abbreviations
☀ ☀ ☀ ☀ ☀ ☀ ☀
abbrev.
1
2
3
acc
attr
conneg
def
det
du
elat
gen
ill
imp
indef
iness
inf
neg
nom
pl
poss
pred
prf
prs
ptcl
pst
rel
sg
Pite Saami under Swedish Rule(s)
explanation
first person
second person
third person
accusative
attributive
connegative
definite
determiner
dual
elative
genitive
illative
imperative
indefinite
inessive
infinitive
negation
nominative
plural
possessive
predicative
perfective
present
particle
past
relative pronoun
singular
29/31
. bibliography
☀ ☀ ☀ ☀ ☀ ☀ ☀
Álgu: Etymological database of the Saami languages. http://kaino.kotus.fi/algu
Blokland, R. and Rießler, M. (2011). ‘Komi-Saami-Russian Contacts on the Kola Peninsula’. In Language Contact
in Times of Globalization, vol. 38 of Studies in Slavic and General Linguistics. Rudopi, Amsterdam, 5-26.
Feist, T. (2010). A Grammar of Skolt Saami. PhD thesis, University of Manchester, Manchester.
Janhunen, J. (1981). ‘On the structure of Proto-Uralic’. In Finnisch-Ugrische Forschungen 44. Helsinki: Société
finno-ougrienne. 23–42.
Lagercrantz, E. (1926). Sprachlehre des Westlappischen nach der Mundart von Arjeplog. Suomalais-Ugrilainen
Seura, Helsinki.
Lagercrantz, E. (1939). Lappischer Wortschatz. 1-2. Suomalais-Ugrilainen Seura.
Lehtiranta, J. (1989). Yhteissaamelainen sanasto. Suomalais-Ugrilainen Seura, Helsinki.
Lehtiranta, J. (1992).Arjeploginsaamen äänne- ja taivutusopin pääpiirteet. Suomalais-Ugrilainen Seura, Helsinki.
Rießler, M. (2007). ‘Grammatical borrowing in Kildin Saami’. In Matras, Y. and Sakel, J., eds., Grammatical
Borrowing in Cross-Linguistic Perspective. Mouton de Gruyter, Berlin, 229-244.
Sammallahti, P. (1998). The Saami Languages: an Introduction. Kárášjohka: Davvi Girji.
Spiik, N. E. (1989). Lulesamisk grammatik. Sameskolstyrelsen, Jokkmokk.
Svonni, M. (2009). Samisk grammatik: kompendium. Universitetet i Tromsø, Tromsø.
Valijärvi, R. and Wilbur, J. (2011). ‘The current state of the Pite Saami language: sociological and linguistic
factors’. In Nordic Journal of Linguistics. 34(3):295–329.
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Joshua Wilbur
Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel • Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin • Universitetet i Tromsø
Pite Saami Documentation Project • www2.hu-berlin.de/psdp
[email protected]
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