Pite Sámi is a part of the Western Sámi group, together withSouthern Sámi andUme Sámi to the south,Lule Sámi andNorthern 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.
/v/ is realised as a labiodental fricative[v] in the syllable onset (before a vowel), and as bilabial[w] in the syllable coda (in a consonant cluster).
/ð/ is present only in the language of some elderly speakers. It is otherwise replaced by/r/ or/t/, depending on dialect.
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.
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 dictionaryPitesamisk 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 neighbouringLule Sámi.
Pite Sámi, like Finnish, the other Sámi languages and Estonian, has anegative verb. In Pite Sámi, the negative verb conjugates according tomood (indicative,imperative andoptative),person (1st, 2nd and 3rd) andnumber (singular, dual and plural). This differs from some of the other Sámi languages, e.g. fromNorthern Sámi, which do not conjugate according totense 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.
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:
Ignácz Halász published a collection of Pite Sámi lexical items in 1896 with Hungarian and German translations in the bookPite lappmarki szótár és nyelvtan.[9] Pite Sámi words are written in using aUPA-type standard.
Eliel Lagercrantz published a two-volume collection of Sámi lexical items in 1939 titledLappischer Wortschatz with German translations.[10] Many of the entries include Pite Sámi forms, which are marked with the abbreviationArj (forArjeplog, as Pite Sámi is often referred to as "Arjeplog Sámi" as well[11]). Pite Sámi words are written in using aUPA-type standard.
Just Knud Qvigstad created a wordlist of Pite Sámi words in hisLappisk ordliste : Arjeplog-dialekt (Beiarn–Saltdal–Rana). This handwritten manuscript is from around 1928 and can be found on theNorwegian National Library website[12]
Although not intended primarily as a lexicographic collection, Israel Ruong's 1943 dissertationLappische Verbalableitung dargestellt auf Grundlage des Pitelappischen[13] is in fact a rich source of derived verbs. These are presented in a somewhat simplifiedUPA-type transcription with explanations and translations in German.
Arjeplogs sameförening (theArjeplog Sámi association) carried out a project calledInsamling av pitesamiska ord (Collection of Pite Sámi words) between 2008 and 2012, written in a preliminary version of the current standard orthography. This wordlist includes translations into Swedish and Norwegian.[14][15]
A Pite Sámi dictionary and set of orthographic rules was published in 2016 asPitesamisk ordbok samst stavningsregler in the book seriesSamica.[16] This collection is based on the wordlist created byArjeplogs sameförening (cf. previous item), but with significant editing and additions covering grammatical and phonological information by the editor (J. Wilbur). It includes translations into Swedish and English, and uses a preliminary version of the current standard orthography. A website with these orthographic rules can be found atPitesamiska stavningsregler.
A searchable lexical database is accessible online atBidumsáme Báhkogirrje. It is maintained bylinguist J. Wilbur (in collaboration with O. Utne and P. Steggo), and is regularly being updated, corrected and edited, especially checking for consistency and adherence to the standard orthography;[8] missing lexemes are also added on a regular basis.[17]
A searchable lexical database including automatically generated inflectional paradigms for a large subset of the lexical items in theBidumsáme Báhkogirrje (cf. previous item) can be found in theNähttadigibáhko, hosted byGiellatekno at theUniversity of Tromsø, with collaborative development of the language technology tools for Pite Sámi by J. Wilbur. This uses the standard orthography.[8]
^abAt least 25 speakers in 2010 according to researcher Joshua Wilbur. At least 30 active, native speakers in 2010; at least an additional 20 native speakers who do not use the language actively according to the Pite Sámi dictionary project leader Nils Henrik Bengtsson.
^Sunna, Anna; Päiviö, Anne Marit; Niia, Anna-Karin (19 August 2019)."Nu har pitesamiskan eget skriftspråk" [Now Pite Sámi has its own written language].Sveriges radio (in Swedish). Sameradion & SVT Sápmi. Retrieved19 August 2019.
Halász, Ignácz (1896).Pite lappmarki szótár és nyelvtan. Svéd-Lapp Nyelv. Vol. 6. Budapest: Magyar tudományos akadémia.
Lagercrantz, Eliel (1926).Sprachlehre des Westlappischen nach der Mundart von Arjeplog. Suomalais-Ugrilaisen Seuran Toimituksia. Vol. 25. Helsinki:Suomalais-Ugrilainen Seura.
Lehtiranta, Juhani (1992).Arjeploginsaamen äänne- ja taivutusopin pääpiirteet. Suomalais-Ugrilaisen Seuran Toimituksia. Vol. 212. Helsinki:Suomalais-Ugrilainen Seura.ISBN951-9403-55-8.
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