Nyelvtudományi Közlemények 103. kötet (2006)

Tanulmányok - Tamás Ildikó: The Lule Saami vocalism 7

first syllable is called initial, whereas a coda consonant in the last syllable is referred to as final (Magga 1984: 14, Sammallahti 1998: 39). The terms 'central' and 'marginal' are potentially confusing since Lappology does not use these terms in their general sense (Magga 1984: 14, Sammallahti 1998: 39). Still, I retain these technical terms not just because of their conventional nature but because of the absence of a strictly equivalent term, since the terms 'stressed' vs. 'unstressed' or 'first-' vs. 'second-syllable' would only partly cover the indended meaning. Therefore, the words ähpav (VxSgl) T study' and bednaga (CxSgG) 'dog' can be segmented in the following way: a (central vowel) - hp (central consonant cluster) - a (marginal vowel) - v (final) and b (initial) - e (central vowel) - dn (central consonant cluster) - a (latus) - g (marginal consonant) - a (marginal vowel). In Saami words, bisyllabic rhythmic units (- u) are considered by researchers to be more important than single syllables (Magga 1984). There exists a particular harmony within the rhythmic units in Lule Saami, which is preserved in the course of gradation and vowel alternations. Allophonic alternations - as I will prove later on - in most cases preserve the original (height, length) relations between marginal and central vowels as well as between central vowels and consonants. A stressed syllable and the following unstressed syllable(s) are together called a 'foot', which has two different types (Nystö - Johnsen 2001: 163-4). The formula of the binuclear (short) foot is - и (e.g., ähpav), that of the trinuclear (long) foot is-uu (e.g., bednaga). If the Lule Saami word contains more than three (i.e., four or five) syllables, it can be divided into two feet. In case of an even number of syllables, the word consists of two short feet, while if the number of syllables is odd then it is made up by a short and a long foot. Obviously, in this case the word will contain not just one but two stressed syllables (generally a main and a secondary one), e.g., guokta[l\ahke 'twelve' (u - u), where [ ] indicates the consonant initiating a new foot. The domain of vowel and grade alternations always coincides with the short foot (in cases of words with four syllables with the second foot13),

and so it covers only two syllables even in the case of a long foot. We have to put an imaginary boundary after the first unstressed syllable of a long foot (/): - u / therefore the processes which link the central and latus vowels do not involve the (last) 13 In the second

foot, however, vowel alternations are more restricted because of the bound position.