Nyelvtudományi Közlemények 103. kötet (2006)

Tanulmányok - Tamás Ildikó: The Lule Saami vocalism 7

the quality of the consonant (cluster) between the first and second syllables (Sammallahti 1971: 11; M. Korhonen 1971: 48, 72). When a long vowel is followed by a consonant cluster in a "too strong" or super-long grade (grade III), the vowel is pronounced shorter. Some vowels have a restricted distribution: diphthongs can occur only in the first syllable while diphthongoids only in an even syllable. The distribution of long and short vowels is as follows: Long vowels in first syllable ie

ieddne, giella

'mother', 'tongue' ae [E:], [eä] hcessta, cello 'horse','wild reindeer' á [A:] áhttje, mánná 'father', 'child' uo

guolle, vuollget 'fish', 'depart' oa goahte, oases

'tent', 'boutique' á [o:],[oa] ähpav (VxSgl) (-^oahpat) 'I study', gädijt (CxPlAcc) (<—goa/zte), 'the tents' e [e:], [ee

]

merra 'sea' Short vowels in first syllable i idet 'morning' e de 'yes, of course' (particula) u gursa, gullat 'course', 'to hear' á jähkä 'river' a

sarves, adám 'horn', 'marrow' Long vowels in second syllable e ['e] boahtet, tjalmme 'to come', 'eye' á muoddá, áddjá 'aunt', 'grandfather' о [

uo]

biello 'alarm-clock' a bar'rat 'to eat' as well (McRobbie-Utasi 1999). I deal with the topic more in detail under the subheadings Vowel alternations related to gradation and Quantitative vowel alternations below. 8 See footnote 15. 9 ä in a first syllable only becomes long as an allophone of oa.