Northern Sámi

Most widely spoken of all Sámi languages
(Learn how and when to remove this message)

Northern Sámi
davvisámegiella
Pronunciation[ˈtavːiːˌsaːmeˌkie̯lːa]
Native toNorway, Sweden, Finland
Native speakers
(c. 25,000 cited 1992–2013)[1]
Language family
Uralic
Writing system
Latin (Northern Sámi alphabet)
Northern Sámi Braille
Official status
Official language in
 Norway[2][3]
Recognised minority
language in
 Finland
 Sweden[4]
Language codes
ISO 639-1se
ISO 639-2sme
ISO 639-3sme
Glottolognort2671
ELPNorth Saami
Northern Sámi is 5 on this map.
North Saami is classified as Definitely Endangered by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger.
Speakers of Northern Sámi

Northern or North Sámi (English: /ˈsɑːmi/ SAH-mee;[5] Northern Sami: Davvisámegiella [ˈtavːiːˌsaːmeˌkie̯lːa]; Finnish: Pohjoissaame [ˈpohjoi̯ˌsːɑːme]; Norwegian: Nordsamisk; Swedish: Nordsamiska; disapproved exonym Lappish or Lapp) is the most widely spoken of all Sámi languages. The area where Northern Sámi is spoken covers the northern parts of Norway, Sweden and Finland. The number of Northern Sámi speakers is estimated to be somewhere between 15,000 and 25,000. About 2,000 of these live in Finland[6] and between 5,000 and 6,000 in Sweden,[7] with the remaining portions being in Norway.

History

A page from the 1638 edition of Swenske och Lappeske ABC Book with the Lord's Prayer in what is believed to be Northern Sámi

Among the first printed Sámi texts is Swenske och Lappeske ABC Book ("Swedish and Lappish ABC book"), written in Swedish and what is likely a form of Northern Sámi. It was published in two editions in 1638 and 1640 and includes 30 pages of prayers and confessions of Protestant faith. It has been described as the first book "with a regular Sámi language form".[8]

Northern Sámi was first described by Knud Leem (En lappisk Grammatica efter den Dialect, som bruges af Field-Lapperne udi Porsanger-Fiorden) in 1748 and in dictionaries in 1752 and 1768. One of Leem's fellow grammaticians, who had also assisted him, was Anders Porsanger, himself Sámi and in fact the first Sámi to receive higher education, who studied at the Trondheim Cathedral School and other schools, but who was unable to publish his work on Sámi due to racist attitudes at the time. The majority of his work has disappeared.

In 1832, Rasmus Rask published the highly influential Ræsonneret lappisk Sproglære ('Reasoned Sámi Grammar'), Northern Sámi orthography being based on his notation (according to E. N. Setälä).

No major official nationwide surveys on the distribution of speakers by municipality or county in Norway have been done. A 2000 survey by the Sami Language Council showed Kautokeino and Karasjok as 96% and 94% Sami-speaking respectively;[9] should those percentages still be true as of the 2022 national population survey, this would result in 2,761 and 2,428 speakers respectively, virtually all of which being speakers of Northern Sámi. Tromsø has no speaker statistics despite having (as of June 2019) the largest voter roll in the 2021 Norwegian Sámi parliamentary election.[10] A common urban myth is that Oslo has the largest Sámi population despite being nowhere near the core Sápmi area, but it had only the 5th largest voter roll in 2019.

Assimilation

Trilingual international border sign (Finnish, Swedish and Northern Sámi) on the E8 road at the border between Norway and Finland, at Kilpisjärvi, Finland

The mass mobilization during the Alta controversy as well as a more tolerant political environment caused a change to the Norwegian policy of assimilation during the last decades of the twentieth century. In Norway, Northern Sámi is currently an official language in the counties Troms and Finnmark and eight municipalities (Guovdageaidnu, Kárášjohka, Unjárga, Deatnu, Porsáŋgu, Gáivuotna, Loabák and Dielddanuorri). Sámi born before 1977 have never learned to write Sámi according to the currently used orthography in school, so it is only in recent years that there have been Sámi capable of writing their own language for various administrative positions.

In the 1980s, a Northern Sámi Braille alphabet was developed, based on the Scandinavian Braille alphabet but with seven additional letters (á, č, đ, ŋ, š, ŧ, ž) required for writing in Northern Sámi.[11]

Phonology

Consonants

The consonant inventory of Northern Sámi is large, contrasting voicing for many consonants. Some analyses of Northern Sámi phonology may include preaspirated stops and affricates (/hp/, /ht/, /ht͡s/, /ht͡ʃ/, /hk/) and pre-stopped or pre-glottalised nasals (voiceless /pm/, /tn/, /tɲ/, /kŋ/ and voiced /bːm/, /dːn/, /dːɲ/, /ɡːŋ/). However, these can be treated as clusters for the purpose of phonology, since they are clearly composed of two segments and only the first of these lengthens in quantity 3. The terms "preaspirated" and "pre-stopped" will be used in this article to describe these combinations for convenience.

Northern Sámi consonants
Labial Dental Alveolar Postalveolar Palatal Velar
Nasal voiced m n ɲ ŋ
voiceless m̥ n̥ (ŋ̥)
Plosive /
Affricate 		voiceless p t t͡s t͡ʃ c k
voiced b d d͡z d͡ʒ ɟ ɡ
postaspirated pʰ tʰ kʰ
Fricative voiceless f θ s ʃ h
voiced v ð
Semivowel voiced j
voiceless j̥
Lateral voiced l ʎ
voiceless l̥
Trill voiced r
voiceless r̥

Notes:

Dialectal variation

Not all Northern Sámi dialects have identical consonant inventories. Some consonants are absent from some dialects, while others are distributed differently.

Consonant length and gradation

Consonants, including clusters, that occur after a stressed syllable can occur in multiple distinctive length types, or quantities. These are conventionally labelled quantity 1, 2 and 3 or Q1, Q2 and Q3 for short. The consonants of a word alternate in a process known as consonant gradation, where consonants appear in different quantities depending on the specific grammatical form. Normally, one of the possibilities is named the strong grade, while the other is named weak grade. The consonants of a weak grade are normally quantity 1 or 2, while the consonants of a strong grade are normally quantity 2 or 3.

Throughout this article and related articles, consonants that are part of different syllables are written with two consonant letters in IPA, while the lengthening of consonants in quantity 3 is indicated with an IPA length mark (ː).

Not all consonants can occur in every quantity type. The following limitations exist:

When a consonant can occur in all three quantities, quantity 3 is termed "overlong".

In quantity 3, if the syllable coda consists of only /ð/, /l/ or /r/, the additional length of this consonant is realised phonetically as an epenthetic vowel. This vowel assimilates to the quality of the surrounding vowels:

This does not occur if the second consonant is a dental/alveolar stop, e.g. gielda /ˈkie̯lː.ta/, phonetically [ˈkĭĕ̯lː.ta], or sálti /ˈsaːlː.htiː/, phonetically [ˈsaːlː.ʰtiː].

Vowels

Northern Sámi possesses the following vowels:

Short vowels Long vowels Diphthongs Half-long/
rising
Front Back Front Back Front Back Front Back
Close i u iː uː ie̯ uo̯ i̯e u̯o
Mid e o eː oː ea̯ oɑ̯ e̯a o̯ɑ
Open a aː aˑ

Closing diphthongs such as ⟨ái⟩ also exist, but these are phonologically composed of a vowel plus one of the semivowels /v/ or /j/. The semivowels still behave as consonants in clusters.

Not all of these vowel phonemes are equally prevalent; some occur generally while others occur only in specific contexts as the result of sound changes. The following rules apply for stressed syllables:

The distribution in post-stressed syllables (unstressed syllables following a stressed one) is more restricted:

In a second unstressed syllable (one that follows another unstressed syllable), no long vowels occur and /i/ and /u/ are the only vowels that occur frequently.

The standard orthography of Northern Sámi distinguishes vowel length in the case of ⟨a⟩ /a/ versus ⟨á⟩ /aː/, although this is primarily on an etymological basis. Not all instances of ⟨á⟩ are phonemically long, due to both stressed and unstressed vowel shortening. Some dialects also have lengthening of ⟨a⟩ under certain circumstances. Nonetheless, a default length can be assumed for these two letters. For the remaining vowels, vowel length is not indicated in the standard orthography. In reference works, macrons can be placed above long vowels that occur in a position where they can be short. Length of ⟨i⟩ and ⟨u⟩ in a post-stressed syllable is assumed, and not indicated, except in the combinations ⟨ii⟩ and ⟨ui⟩, where these letters can also indicate short vowels.

Dialectal variation

The Eastern Finnmark dialects possess additional contrasts that other dialects of Northern Sámi do not:

Some Torne dialects have /ie̯/ and /uo̯/ instead of stressed /eː/ and /oː/ (from diphthong simplification) as well as unstressed /iː/ and /uː/.

Phonological processes

Diphthong simplification

Diphthongs can undergo simplification when the following syllable contains short e, short o, ii /ij/, or ui /uj/.[13]: 24  This means that only the first vowel of the diphthong remains, which also undergoes lengthening before grade 1 and 2 consonant clusters and geminates.[14]: 155  Note that some instances of e, o,[14]: 156  and ui (specifically /uːj/) do not cause simplification.[16]: 146–147  Below are some examples:

Unstressed vowel shortening

Shortening of long vowels in unstressed syllables occurs irregularly. It commonly occurs in the first element of a compound word, in a fourth syllable, and in various other unpredictable circumstances. When shortened, /iː/ and /uː/ are lowered to /e/ and /o/, except before /j/. Shortened vowels are denoted here, and in other reference works, with an underdot: ạ, ẹ, ọ, to distinguish them from originally-short vowels.

When a long vowel or diphthong occurs in the stressed syllable before the shortened vowel, it becomes half-long/rising.

When the consonant preceding the shortened vowel is quantity 3, any lengthened elements are shortened so that it becomes quantity 2. However, the resulting consonant is not necessarily the weak-grade equivalent of that consonant. If the consonant was previously affected by consonant lengthening (below), this process shortens it again.

Stressed vowel shortening

In the Eastern Finnmark dialects, long vowels as well as diphthongs are shortened before a quantity 3 consonant. This is phonemic due to the loss of length in quantity 3 in these dialects.

Outside Eastern Finnmark, long /aː/ is only shortened before a long preaspirate, not before any other consonants. The shortening of diphthongs remains allophonic due to the preservation of quantity 3 length, but the shortening of long vowels that result from diphthong simplification is phonemic.

Stressed vowel lengthening

In the Eastern Finnmark dialects, short vowels are lengthened when they occur before a quantity 1 or 2 consonant. Combined with the preceding change, vowel length in stressed syllables becomes conditioned entirely by the following consonant quantity. Moreover, because the coda lengthening in quantity 3 is lost in these dialects, vowel length becomes the only means for distinguishing quantities 3 and 2 in many cases.

Lengthening of unstressed short /a/

In the Western Finnmark dialects, a short /a/ in a post-stressed syllable is lengthened to /aː/ if the preceding consonants are quantity 1 or 2, and the preceding syllable contains a short vowel. Compare the Eastern Finnmark pronunciations of these words under "stressed vowel lengthening".

A long /aː/ that originates from this process does not trigger consonant lengthening.

Consonant lengthening

In dialects outside Eastern Finnmark, in quantity 2, the last coda consonant is lengthened if the following vowel is long, and the preceding vowel is a short monophthong. Since the coda now contains a long consonant, it is considered as quantity 3, but the lengthening is mostly allophonic and is not indicated orthographically. It is phonemic in the Western Finnmark dialects when the following vowel is /aː/, because lengthening is triggered by an original long /aː/ but not by an original short /a/ that was lengthened (as described above).

The new consonant may coincide with its Q3 consonant gradation counterpart, effectively making a weak grade strong, or it may still differ in other ways. In particular, no change is made to syllable division, so that in case of Q2 consonants with a doubled final consonant, it is actually the first of this pair that lengthens, making it overlong.

Lengthening also occurs if the preceding vowel is a close diphthong /ie̯/ or /uo̯/. In this case, the diphthong also shortens before the new quantity 3 consonant.

Prosody

Stress is generally not phonemic in Northern Sámi; the first syllable of a word always carries primary stress. Like most Sámi languages, Northern Sámi follows a pattern of alternating (trochaic) stress, in which each odd-numbered syllable after the first is secondarily stressed and even-numbered syllables are unstressed. The last syllable of a word is never stressed, unless the word has only one syllable.

Consequently, words can follow three possible patterns:

This gives the following pattern, which can be extended indefinitely in theory. S indicates stress, _ indicates no stress:

The number of syllables, and the resulting stress pattern, is important for grammatical reasons. Words with stems having an even number of syllables from the last[clarification needed] inflect differently from words with stems having an odd number of syllables. This is detailed further in the grammar section.

In compound words, which consist of several distinct word roots, each word retains its own stress pattern, potentially breaking from the normal trochaic pattern. If the first element of a compound has an odd number of syllables, then there will be a sequence of two unstressed syllables followed by a stressed one, which does not occur in non-compound words. In some cases, the first element of a compound has only one syllable, resulting in two adjacent stressed syllables. Hence, stress is lexically significant in that it can distinguish compounds from non-compounds.

Recent loanwords generally keep the stress of the language they were borrowed from, assigning secondary stress to the syllable that was stressed in the original word. The normal trochaic pattern can also be broken in this case, but words will still be made to fit into the even or odd inflection patterns. Words with penultimate stress ending in a consonant will follow the odd inflection:

Words with antepenultimate or earlier stress will have the stress modified, as this is not allowed in Northern Sámi:

Final stress is not allowed, so if the original word has final stress, an extra dummy syllable (generally a) is added in Northern Sámi to avoid this.

As a result of retaining the original stress pattern, some loanwords have sequences of three unstressed syllables, which do not occur in any other environment:

Conjunctions, postpositions, particles, and monosyllabic pronouns tend to be unstressed altogether, and therefore fall outside the above rules.

Dialects

Sammallahti[17] divides Northern Sámi dialects as follows:

The written language is primarily based on the western Finnmark dialects, with some elements from the eastern Finnmark dialects.

Western Finnmark dialects

Features of the western Finnmark dialects are:

Eastern Finnmark dialects

The eastern Finnmark dialects have the following characteristics:

Torne dialects

Sea Sámi dialects

Orthography

Northern Sámi has a long orthographic history, which includes no fewer than 9 Latin alphabets.

History

The roots of the current orthography for Northern Sámi were laid by Rasmus Rask who, after discussions with Nils Vibe Stockfleth, published Ræsonneret lappisk sproglære efter den sprogart, som bruges af fjældlapperne i Porsangerfjorden i Finmarken. En omarbejdelse af Prof. Knud Leems Lappiske grammatica in 1832. Rask opted for a phonemic orthographic system. All of the orthographies that have been used for Northern Sámi trace their roots back to Rask's system, unlike the orthographies used for Lule and Southern Sámi, which are mainly based on the orthographical conventions of Swedish and Norwegian. Following in the tradition of Rask meant that diacritics were used with some consonants (⟨č⟩, ⟨đ⟩, ⟨ŋ⟩, ⟨š⟩, ⟨ŧ⟩ and ⟨ž⟩), which caused data-processing problems before Unicode was introduced. Both Stockfleth and J. A. Friis went on to publish grammar books and dictionaries for Sámi. It can be said that Northern Sámi was better described than Norwegian was before Ivar Aasen published his Grammar of the Norwegian Dialects.

Northern Sámi was and is used in three countries, each of which used its own orthography for years. Friis' orthography was used when work on translating the Bible into Northern Sámi commenced, in the first Sámi newspaper called Saǥai Muittalægje, and in the Finnemisjonen's own newspaper Nuorttanaste. The groundwork for Northern Sámi lexicography was laid by Konrad Nielsen who used an orthography of his own creation in his dictionary Lappisk ordbok. Starting in 1948, the orthographies used in Norway and Sweden were combined into a single Bergsland-Ruong orthography. It was not greatly used in Norway. In 1979, an official orthography for Northern Sámi was adopted for use in Norway, Sweden and Finland.

Thus, until the official orthography currently in use was adopted in 1979, each country had its own, slightly different standard, so it is quite possible to come across older books that are difficult to understand for people unacquainted with the orthography:

  1. Maanat leät poahtan skuvllai.
  2. Mánát leat boahtán skuvlii.

(The children have come to school.)

The first sentence is from Antti Outakoski's Samekiela kiellaoahpa from 1950; the second one is how it would be written according to the current orthography.

Alphabet

The most recent alphabet was approved in 1979 and last modified in 1985:

Letter Name Phoneme(s) English
approximation 		Notes
A a a /a/ spa Also /aː/ in Western Finnmark. In Eastern Finnmark, /ɑ/ or /ɑː/ in stressed syllables, /a/ or /aː/ in unstressed syllables.
Á á á /aː/, /a/ chai In Eastern Finnmark, also /æ/ or /æː/.
B b be /p/, /b/ bat /b/ in the combinations ⟨bb⟩ and ⟨bm⟩.
C c ce /ts/, /hts/ lets /hts/ after a voiced consonant.
Č č če /tʃ/, /htʃ/ chew /htʃ/ after a voiced consonant.
D d de /t/, /d/, /ð/ do /d/ in the combinations ⟨dd⟩, ⟨dn⟩ and ⟨dnj⟩. /ð/ between two unstressed vowels.
Đ đ đe /ð/ this
E e e /e/, /eː/ sleigh
F f áf /f/ fun
G g ge /k/, /ɡ/ go /ɡ/ in the combinations ⟨gg⟩ and ⟨gŋ⟩. In Western Finnmark, /d/ in ⟨gŋ⟩ instead.
H h ho /h/ help
I i i /i/, /iː/, /j/ me /j/ after a vowel.
J j je /j/ yes
K k ko /k/, /hk/, /kʰ/ cat /hk/ after a voiced consonant. /kʰ/ at the beginning of a stressed syllable.
L l ál /l/ lip
M m ám /m/ myth
N n án /n/ no
Ŋ ŋ áŋ /ŋ/ sing /ɲ/ in Western Finnmark, except before a velar stop.
O o o /o/, /oː/ go
P p pe /p/, /hp/, /pʰ/ park /hp/ after a voiced consonant. /pʰ/ at the beginning of a stressed syllable.
R r ár /r/ (trilled) rat
S s ás /s/ sip
Š š áš /ʃ/ shed
T t te /t/, /ht/, /tʰ/, /h(t)/, /θ/ told /ht/ after a voiced consonant. /tʰ/ at the beginning of a stressed syllable. /h(t)/ word-finally. /θ/ in the combination tk.
Ŧ ŧ ŧe /θ/ thick
U u u /u/, /uː/ do
V v ve /v/ vex
Z z ez /t͡s/, /d͡z/ rods /d͡z/ in the combination ⟨zz⟩.
Ž ž ež /t͡ʃ/, /d͡ʒ/ hedge /d͡ʒ/ in the combination ⟨žž⟩.

When typing, if there is no way of entering the letters particular to Northern Sámi (⟨Čč Đđ Ŋŋ Šš Ŧŧ Žž⟩) correctly, an acute accent is sometimes placed over the corresponding Latin letter as a substitute.[18] These substitutions are still found in books printed after the common orthography was adopted due to system limitations when typing.

Marks used in reference works

Some additional marks are used in dictionaries, grammars and other reference works, including in this article. They are not used in normal writing. The following are used in Pekka Sammallahti's Sámi-suoma sátnegirji:

Multigraphs

Northern Sámi orthography includes many combinations of multiple letters. In most cases, a double consonant letter corresponds to a doubled consonant phoneme, e.g. mm stands for /mm/. Overlong (quantity 3) consonants are not distinguished from regular double consonants, but are commonly denoted with a vertical mark between the two consonant letters (⟨fˈf⟩, ⟨mˈm⟩, ⟨sˈs⟩ etc.) in reference works.

Combinations of different consonant letters stand for their equivalent individual phonemes, as described by the pronunciations of the individual letters, above. The last consonant in a sequence may be doubled. This indicates that the consonant cluster is quantity 2, while a cluster with an undoubled last consonant is generally quantity 3. It often also indicates a doubling of the corresponding consonant phoneme, but not if the preceding consonant is voiceless.

The following details combinations of multiple letters which are exceptions to the general pronunciation rules of each letter.

Diphthongs

The diphthongs, as may be expected, are written using a combination of two letters. Length is not indicated, nor is the distinction between normal and rising diphthongs. This distinction can be inferred by the presence of ⟨e⟩ and ⟨o⟩ in the next syllable (which must always be shortened vowels when following a diphthong), and in reference works by the presence of vowels with an underdot in the next syllable.

Letters Phonemes
ea /ea̯/, /e̯a/
ie /ie̯/, /i̯e/
oa /oɑ̯/, /o̯ɑ/
uo /uo̯/, /u̯o/

Ending in ⟨j⟩

The combinations ⟨dj⟩, ⟨lj⟩ and ⟨nj⟩ indicate /cc/, /ʎʎ/ and /ɲ/ respectively. The first letter is doubled to indicate longer versions, and a vertical line[clarification needed] is then used for overlong /ɲːɲ/.

Letters Phonemes Letters Phonemes Letters Phonemes
ddj /ɟːɟ/ dj /cc/ —
llj /ʎːʎ/ lj /ʎʎ/ —
nˈnj /ɲːɲ/ nnj /ɲɲ/ nj /ɲ/

In the case of ⟨lj⟩, there are two possible interpretations: as a single quantity 2 consonant /ʎʎ/, or as a quantity 3 consonant cluster /lːj/ (e.g. olju), although the latter is rare. These two cases are distinguished by their behaviour in consonant gradation. In the first case, ⟨llj⟩ appears in the strong grade while ⟨lj⟩ appears in the weak grade, and these represent overlong /ʎːʎ/ and long /ʎʎ/ respectively. In the second case, ⟨lj⟩, alternatively written ⟨lˈj⟩, appears in the strong grade while ⟨ljj⟩ appears in the weak grade, representing the clusters /lːj/ and /ljj/ respectively.

Beginning with ⟨h⟩

Preaspiration is indicated with a preceding ⟨h⟩. Long preaspiration is indicated by doubling the second letter. This is exactly the opposite of how normal clusters are written.

Letters Phonemes Letters Phonemes
hcc /hːt͡s/ hc /ht͡s/
hčč /hːt͡ʃ/ hč /ht͡ʃ/
hkk /hːk/ hk /hk/
hpp /hːp/ hp /hp/
htt /hːt/ ht /ht/

Voiceless sonorants are also indicated by a preceding ⟨h⟩, but they have three lengths. Overlong length is indicated by a vertical line in reference works, as with other sonorants.

Letters Phonemes Letters Phonemes Letters Phonemes
hjˈj /j̥ːj̥/ hjj /j̥j̥/ hj /j̥/
hlˈl /l̥ːl̥/ hll /l̥l̥/ hl /l̥/
hmˈm /m̥ːm̥/ hmm /m̥m̥/ hm /m̥/
hnˈn /n̥ːn̥/ hnn /n̥n̥/ hn /n̥/
hrˈr /r̥ːr̥/ hrr /r̥r̥/ hr /r̥/

Stop-nasal combinations

Pre-stopped nasal consonants (Q2) are indicated by a preceding letter for a voiceless stop. Voiced pre-stopped nasals (Q3) are written with a voiced stop in place of the voiceless one.

Letters Phoneme Letters Phoneme
bm /bːm/ pm /pm/
dn /dːn/ tn /tn/
dnj /dːɲ/ tnj /tɲ/
gŋ /ɡːŋ/ kŋ /kŋ/

Hyphenation

With just a single consonant between syllables, the hyphen goes before that consonant.

If a word contains a double consonant letter, the hyphen is always placed between those two letters. The combination ⟨ij⟩, when preceded by a vowel, counts as a double consonant and thus gets a hyphen in between.

With other combinations of two consonants, the hyphen goes between those. Again, if ⟨i⟩ counts as a consonant, it goes between that and the next one.

There are a few exceptions where the hyphen goes before all consonants.

In compound words, a hyphen always goes between two parts of a compound.

Grammar

Northern Sámi is an agglutinative, highly inflected language that shares many grammatical features with the other Uralic languages. Sámi has also developed considerably into the direction of fusional and inflected morphology, much like Estonian to which it is distantly related. Therefore, morphemes are marked not only by suffixes but also by morphophonological modifications to the root. Of the various morphophonological alterations, the most important and complex is the system of consonant gradation.

Consonant gradation

Consonant gradation is a pattern of alternations between pairs of consonants that appears in the inflection of words. The system of consonant gradation in Northern Sámi is complex, especially compared to that found in the Finnic languages. A word stem can appear in two grades: the strong grade and the weak grade. A given word can alternate either between quantity 3 in the strong grade and quantity 2 in the weak grade, or between quantity 2 in the strong grade and quantity 1 in the weak grade. Historically, the weak grade appeared when the syllable following the consonant was closed (ended in a consonant), but the loss of certain vowels or consonants have obscured this in Northern Sámi and it is now a more-or-less opaque process.

In verbs, some nouns, and in some processes of word derivation, a Q2 strong grade can become "extra strong" Q3, alternating in all three quantities. This is caused by the historical loss of a consonant (often /j/ or /s/) between the second and third syllable, which triggered compensatory lengthening on the gradating consonant.

Quantity 3 ~ 2 alternations

Alternations between quantities 3 and 2 are either consonant clusters or sequences of two identical consonants. In the strong grade, the first consonant forms the coda of the preceding syllable, and the remaining consonants form the onset of the following syllable. In the weak grade, only the last consonant belongs to the onset of the next syllable, and the remaining consonants belong to the coda of the preceding syllable. Thus, when there are three or more consonants, the syllable division changes between the grades. In addition, the strong grade by default has a lengthened consonant in the coda, while this lengthening is generally absent in the weak grade. However, this lengthening is subject to the modifying effects of consonant lengthening and unstressed vowel shortening, which can in some occasions level the length distinctions, so that length not an absolute indicator of grade (though it is of quantity). In Eastern Finnmark, no lengthening is found at all, instead of length the preceding vowel is short, while the vowel becomes long when the length would be absent.

Doubling of the last consonant is another distinguishing feature of the weak grade, although it only occurs if the preceding consonant is voiced. The additional consonant is always assigned to the coda (the double consonant is split between syllables), so that it obligatorily shifts the syllable boundary relative to the strong grade:

Consonant lengthening can then, in turn, lengthen the first of this pair again (the one in the coda). In writing, the last consonant is doubled in the weak grade, even if the preceding consonant is voiceless, simply to distinguish the two grades visually:

Sequences of two identical consonants gradate in the same way, with lengthening of the first consonant in the strong grade (again, subject to modification, and not in Eastern Finnmark), but without any doubling of the last consonant in the weak grade. For most pairs of consonants, no difference is made between the grades orthographically, both are written with a double consonant. In reference works, the special mark ˈ is placed between the consonants to indicate the strong grade.

Some cases are indicated specially in the orthography, but behave as expected from a phonological point of view:

In some clusters, there is an alternation in the quality of the first consonant between the two grades.

Quantity 2 ~ 1 alternations

Alternations between 2 and 1 are less predictable than alternations between quantities 3 and 2. The weak grade is always represented by a single consonant, which forms the onset of the next syllable, and the preceding syllable has no coda. The corresponding strong grade additionally has a single consonant in the coda, which may the same as the following onset consonant or different. The coda consonant in the strong grade may undergo consonant lengthening to receive additional length.

A double consonant in the strong grade always alternates with a single consonant in the weak grade. This occurs with all nasals, sonorants and fricatives (except /ʎ/ and /j/). Orthographically, this is represented as a double versus a single consonant letter.

A cluster of short /h/ and a voiceless consonant (preaspirated) in the strong grade alternates with a single voiced consonant in the weak grade.

A cluster of a voiceless pre-stopped nasal in the strong grade drops the stop in the weak grade. In Sea Sámi, the strong grade has a double nasal, without the stop.

Double /cc/ alternates with /j/.

Changes to word-final consonants

Only a limited number of consonants are allowed at the end of a word, those being l, n, r, s, š, t, and i (pronounced /j/). The consonant clusters it /jt/ and in /jn/ are also allowed.[13]: 31  Therefore, consonants will be modified or deleted when they come to stand word-finally:

Post-stressed vowel alternations

Certain inflectional endings and derivational suffixes trigger changes in the first unstressed (post-stressed) vowel of the stem. These changes are generally the result of umlaut effects in Proto-Samic. The following changes may be noted. An empty table cell means there is no change, S indicates diphthong simplification.

a /a/ i /iː/ u /uː/ Cause/trigger Occurrences
ẹ /e/ ọ /o/ Unstressed vowel shortening. Nominal "allegro" forms, verb present connegative, imperative.
á /aː/ o /o/ S Proto-Samic *ë in the next syllable. Odd nominals with gradation, verb past participle, conditional.
i /i/ S Following /j/. Nominal plural, verb past tense.
i /i/ S á /aː/ u /u/ S Contraction of /s/ plus Proto-Samic *ë in the next syllable. Nominal illative singular.
e /e/ S e /e/ S o /o/ S Contraction of /j/ plus Proto-Samic *ë in the next syllable. Some verb present and past forms.
e /e/ S o /o/ S Contraction, exact mechanism unclear. Verb potential mood.

There are some vowel alternations that do not have a clear rule or cause. For example, the change of a to á in the present tense third-person singular of verbs is unexpected and must simply be taken as-is. Likewise, the appearance of u or o in some verb imperative forms is not based on any rule, but is an inherent part of the ending.

Inflection types

All inflected words, whether nouns, adjectives or verbs, can be divided into three main inflectional classes. The division is based on whether there is an even or odd number of syllables from the last stressed syllable to the end of the word.

For nouns and adjectives, the stem is taken from the accusative/genitive singular rather than the nominative, as the latter often drops the final vowel and sometimes also the preceding consonant. For verbs, the infinitive is used to determine the stem, by removing the infinitive ending -t.

Words with even and contracted inflection can be divided further, based on the final vowel of the stem. For even-inflected words, this vowel is most commonly a, i or u, while for contracted words it is mostly á, e or o. Words with odd inflection are not differentiated by stem-final vowel.

Nouns

Nouns inflect in singular (ovttaidlohku) and plural (máŋggaidlohku), and also in 7 cases. The following table shows the general endings; the actual forms can differ based on consonant gradation and the inflection type of the word.

Case Singular
ending 		Plural
ending 		Meaning/use
Nominative (nominatiiva) -∅ -t Subject
Accusative (akkusatiiva) -∅ -id Object
Genitive (genitiiva) -∅ -id Possession, relation
Illative (illatiiva) -i -ide, -idda Motion towards/onto/into
Locative (lokatiiva) -s -in Being at/on/in, motion from/off/out of
Comitative (komitatiiva) -in -iguin With, in company of, by means of
Essive (essiiva) -n, -in As, in the role of, under condition of (when)

The accusative and genitive are usually identical. There is no singular-plural distinction in the essive, so for example mánnán is interpreted as either "as a child" or "as children".

Even nouns

Wiktionary has a category on Northern Sámi even nouns.