- Akkala Sami language
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Akkala Sami Spoken in Southwest Kola Peninsula, Russia Extinct 2003 Language family Writing system Cyrillic Language codes ISO 639-3 sia Akkala Sami is a Sami language that was spoken in the Sami villages of A´kkel and Ču´kksuâl, in the inland parts of the Kola Peninsula in Russia. Formerly erroneously regarded as a dialect of Kildin Sami, it has recently become recognized as an independent Sami language that is most closely related to its western neighbor Skolt Sami.
Akkala Sami is the most endangered eastern Sami language. On December 29, 2003, Marja Sergina – one of the last fluent native speakers of Akkala Sami – died.[1][2] However, there are at least two people, both aged 70, with some knowledge of Akkala Sami.
Although there exist a description of Akkala Sami phonology and morphology, a few published texts and archived audio recordings[3] the Akkala Sami language remains among the most poorly documented Sami languages.
Contents
Phonology
Morphology
The following overview is based on P.M. Zajkov’s monograph.[4] Zajkov’s Uralic phonetic transcription is retained here. The middle dot ˑ denotes palatalization of the preceding consonant, analyzed by Zajkov as semisoft pronunciation.
Noun
Akkala Sami has 8 cases, singular and plural: nominative, genitive-accusative, partitive, dative-illative, locative, essive, comitative and abessive. Case and number are expressed by a combination of endings and consonant gradation:
- Nominative: no marker in the singular, weak grade in the plural.
- Genitive-accusative: weak grade in the singular, weak grade + -i in the plural.
- Partitive: this case exists only in the singular, and has the ending -tti͔.
- Dative-illative: strong grade + -a, -a͕ or -ɛ in the singular, weak grade + -i in the plural.
- Locative: weak grade + -st, -śtˑ in the singular, weak grade + -nˑ in the plural.
- Essive: this case exists only in the singular: strong grade + -nˑ.
- Comitative: weak grade + -nˑ in the singular, strong grade + -guim, -vuim or -vi̮i̭m in the plural.
- Abessive: weak grade + -ta in the singular.
Pronoun
The table below gives the declension of the personal pronouns monn ‘I’ and mij ‘we’. The pronouns tonn ‘you (sg.)’ and sonn ‘(s)he’ are declined like monn, the pronouns tij ‘you (pl.)’ and sij ‘they’ are declined like mij.
Singular Plural Nominative monn mij Genitive-Accusative mū mii̭ji Essive munˑ --- Dative-illative munˑnˑa͔ mii̭ji Locative muśtˑ miśtˑ Comitative muinˑ mii̭jivuim Abessive muta mii̭ta The interrogative pronouns mī ‘what?’ and tˑī, kī ‘who?’ are declined as follows:
mī ‘what?’ tˑī, kī ‘who?’ Nominative mī tˑī, kī Genitive-Accusative mi̮n t́an, ḱan Dative-illative mi̮z koz Locative mi̮st kośtˑ Comitative mi̮i̭nˑ ḱainˑ Abessive mi̮nta ḱanta The proximal demonstrative tˑa͕t ‘this’ and the medial demonstrative ti̮t ‘that’ are declined as follows:
Singular Plural Singular Plural Nominative tˑa͕t tˑa͕k ti̮t ti̮k Genitive-Accusative tˑa͕nˑ tˑa͕i ti̮n ti̮i̭ Essive tˑa͕inˑ --- ti̮i̭nˑ --- Dative-illative tˑa͕z tˑai(t) ti̮k, ti̮z ti̮i̭(t) Locative tˑa͕śtˑ tˑa͕in ti̮śtˑ ti̮i̼(n) Comitative tˑa͕inˑ tˑa͕ivuim ti̮i̭nˑ ti̮i̭vuim Abessive tˑa͕ta tˑa͕ita ti̮ta ti̮i̭ta Verb
Akkala Sami verbs have three persons and two numbers, singular and plural. There are three moods: indicative, imperative and conditional; the potential mood has disappeared. Below, the paradigm of the verbs va͕n̄ˑće ‘to walk’ and korrɛ ‘to knit’ is given in the present and imperfect tense:
Present Imperfect Present Imperfect 1sg. vā͕nʒam va͕n̄ˑcim kōram korri͔m 2sg. va͕nʒak vā͕nˑcik kōrak korri͔k 3sg. va͕n̄ˑc vānˑʒi korr kōri͔ 1pl. va͕n̄ˑćepˑ vānˑʒim korrɛpˑ kōri͔m 2pl. va͕nˑćepˑpˑe vānˑʒitˑ korrɛpˑpˑe kōri͔tˑ 3pl. vā͕nˑʒatˑ van̄ˑciš kōratˑ korri͔š The verb ĺiije ‘to be’ conjugates as follows:
Present Imperfect 1sg. ĺam ĺii̭jim 2sg. ĺak ĺiijik 3sg. ĺie ĺai 1pl. ĺepˑ ĺījim 2pl. ĺepˑpˑe ĺījitˑ 3pl. ĺetˑ ĺii̭jiš Compound tenses such as perfect and pluperfect are formed with the verb ĺii̭je in the present or imperfect as auxiliary, and the participle of the main verb. Examples are ĺam tĭĕhtmi̮nč ‘I have known’ from tĭĕhttɛ ‘to know’, and ĺai tui̭jāma ‘(s)he had made’ from tui̭je ‘to make’.
The conditional mood has the marker -č, which is added to the weak grade of the stem: kuarčim ‘I would sew’, vizzčik ‘you (sg.) would become tired’.
As in other Sami languages, Akkala Sami makes use of a negative verb that conjugates according to person and number, while the main verb remains unchanged. The conjugation of the negative verb is shown here together with the verb aĺ̄ḱe ‘to begin’:
1sg. jim aĺg 2sg. jik aĺg 3sg. ij aĺg 1pl. jepˑ aĺg 2pl. jepˑpˑe aĺg 3pl. jetˑ aĺg The 3rd person singular and plural of the verb ĺii̭je ‘to be’ have special contracted forms ɛĺĺa and jāĺa.
References
- ^ http://www.galdu.org/govat/doc/nordisk_samekonvensjon.pdf
- ^ Rantala, Leif, Aleftina Sergina 2009. Áhkkila sápmelaččat. Oanehis muitalus sámejoavkku birra, man maŋimuš sámegielalaš olmmoš jámii 29.12.2003. Roavvenjárga.
- ^ Scheller, Elisabeth 2011. The Sami Language Situation in Russia. In: "Ethnic and Linguistic Context of Identity: Finno-Ugric Minorities." Uralica Helsingiensia 5. Helsinki. 79-96.
- ^ Зайков, П.М. Бабинский диалект саамского языка (фонолого-морфологическое исследование). «Карелия», 1987.
Uralic languages Finnic Sami Miscellanea Permic Ugric Samoyedic Italics indicate extinct languagesCategories:- Sami languages
- Languages of Russia
- Extinct languages of Europe
- Language stubs
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