Friday, June 10, 2011

The Sami Language

"There is great variety not only in inflections but in other forms. For example, new words can be formed with the help of derivative suffixes. For example, starting with the verb borrat the verbs borastit ‘eat a little’, borralit ‘eat fast’, boradit ‘eat for a long time’, borahit ‘get a bite to eat’ can be formed. Passive verbs can also be formed by means of such suffixes, e.g. borrojuvvot ‘be eaten’. 

The language is well equipped to form new words with the help of endings. For example, a few years ago the word cálan ‘printer’ was formed from the verb cállit ‘write’. As times change, new Sami words are found for new phenomena, just as in other languages. Thousands of new Sami words have been invented in the last few decades with the help of derivative suffixes, neolo- gisms or loans, for example dihtor ‘comput- er’, dáidda ‘art’, girjerádju ‘library’ and interneahtta ‘Internet’."

This is from Mikael Svonni, Professor, Department of Sami Studies, Umeå Universityhttp://scandinavian.wisc.edu/dubois/Courses_folder/Sami_readings/Week3/LanguageToday.pdf

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