Clause structure in Skolt Saami

This article gives an overview of the Syntax of simple and complex clauses in the Skolt Saami language.

=Constituent Order=

Predominant Word Order
The predominant word order in Skolt Saami is not clear-cut. According to Miestamo (2011), the word order is SVO. Moshnikoff (2009) is cited as the source for this claim in „Skolt saami: a typological profile“. There are many example sentences in Moshnikoff's school grammar (2009) where the verb comes in the second position. However, if only pragmatically neutral texts are analysed and subordinate, interrogative and negative sentences are not taken into consideration, Feist believes that an SOV order is predominantly used.

Feist cites two sentences which show this order; here is one of them:

the women sewed protective skirts

Even considering sentences without subjects or objects, the verb mainly comes at the end.

Example without a subject:

by fishing with seine net one caught fresh fish

Example without an object:

the lakes freeze

Subordinate Claues
This is also the case for subordinate clauses, both finite and infinite.

Here is an example for an infinite subordinate clause:

one just had to eat fish

According to Feist the examples above support the claim that the predominant word order is SOV. He does achknowledge, however, that other word orders do appear in Skolt Saami.

In this example the verb is right at the begiinning of the sentence as well as at the end.

they sold the fish and then divided all the money in half

Topicalisation
There are also sentences, where the object comes in first place. This is known as topicalisation and is used to emphasise the object.

Finnish, I don't understand at all

Auxiliary Verbs and the V2 principle
The majority of the verbs above, which come at the end are lexical verbs (or main verbs). According to the examples which are available, it seems as though auxiliary verbs, unlike lexical verbs, do not come at the end of a sentence.

the northern lights had eaten the female reindeer

This reminds us of the V2 Prinzip, whereby the verb appears in second position; this principle is particularly common in Germanic languages. If there are two verbs in a sentence, the auxiliary verb occupies the second positions whilst the lexical verb comes at the end. Despite similarities in Skolt Saami, most lexical verbs tend to come at the end and in subordinate clauses auxiliary verbs come in third place.

they left to see that good land, which Spider had told them about

Conclusion
Word order in Skolt Saami is not conclusive as grammatical relations are expressed through case. Therefore word order is rather unimportant.

According to Sammallahti (1998) Skolt Saami is: „Largly free from formal restrictions and guided by pragmatic principles“.

Feist claims that the predominant word order is SOV whilst Sammallahti and Miestamo assume an SVO order. Feist (2010) and Wilbur (2012) both mention the possible influence of scandinavian languages, used as meta langauges for research, as they are SVO. Therefore it is possible that scandinavian languages have an influence on the word order in Skolt Saami.

Skolt Saami displays some aspects of the V2 Principle, but not as many as in most Germanic languages.

=Bibliography=

Feist, T. 2010. A Grammar of Skolt Saami. Ph.D. thesis, University of Manchester.

Miestamo, M. 2011. Skolt Saami: a typological profile. In: Journal de la Société Finno-Ougrienne 93. 111–145.

Moshnikoff, S., Moshnikoff, J. & Koponen, E. 2009. ''Koltansaamen koulukielioppi. Sää´mkv iõl kiõllvuä´ppes vskoou´li vääras.'' Inari/Aanar: Saamelaiskäräjät/Sää´mte´ǧǧ.

Sammallahti, P. 1998. The Saami languages. Kárášjohka: Davvi Girji.

Wilbur, J. 2012. A Grammar of Pite Saami. Unveröffentlichtes Manuskript.

=Quotes=

=See also=
 * Skoltsaamisch
 * Skoltsaamische Phonologie

=Other languages=
 * Deutsch Satzstruktur im Skoltsaamischen