Rasmus Kristian Rask ( Danish: [ˈʁɑsmus ˈkʰʁestjæn ˈʁɑsk] ; born Rasmus Christian Nielsen Rasch ; 22 November 1787 – 14 November 1832) was a Danish linguist and philologist . He wrote several grammars and worked on comparative phonology and morphology . Rask traveled extensively to study languages, first to Iceland , where he wrote the first grammar of Icelandic , and later to Russia , Persia , India , and Ceylon (now Sri Lanka). Shortly before his death, he was hired as professor of Eastern languages at the University of Copenhagen . Rask is especially known for his contributions to comparative linguistics , including an early formulation of what would later be known as Grimm's Law . He was elected as a member to the American Philosophical Society in 1829.
50-558: Altaelva (English: Alta River ; Northern Sami : Álttáeatnu ; Kven : Alattionjoki ) is the third-longest river in Finnmark county, Norway . The river begins in the mountains and lakes in Kautokeino Municipality , near the border with Finnmark county and Finland , just south of Reisa National Park . The 240-kilometre (150 mi) long river then runs northward into Alta Municipality where it flows out into
100-533: 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] . Northern Sámi possesses
150-723: A copy of Snorri Sturluson 's Heimskringla in Icelandic, and the rector, Ludvig Heiberg, gave him a new translation of the same work as a prize for his diligence. By comparing the original work and the translation, he was able to make an Icelandic vocabulary, cross-referencing the Icelandic words with cognates in Danish , Swedish , German , Dutch and English . In addition to Danish and Latin , Rask studied Greek , Hebrew , French and German at Odense. An interest in orthography also led Rask to develop his own spelling system for Danish that more closely resembled its pronunciation, and it
200-797: 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. 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/ . Diphthongs can undergo simplification when
250-405: 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. In
300-627: A stressed one) is more restricted: In a second unstressed syllable (one that follows another unstressed syllable), no long vowels occur and /a/ , /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,
350-405: 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
400-406: 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
450-634: A sub-librarian at the University of Copenhagen library. In October 1816, Rask left Denmark on a literary expedition funded by the monarchy to investigate Asian languages and collect manuscripts for the University of Copenhagen library. He traveled first to Sweden, where he stayed for two years. During his time in Sweden, he took a short trip to Finland to study Finnish and published his Anglo-Saxon Grammar (1817) in Swedish. That same year, he published
500-403: 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
550-491: 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". 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,
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#1732773215901600-533: 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 and between 5,000 and 6,000 in Sweden, with the remaining portions being in Norway. Among the first printed Sámi texts is Swenske och Lappeske ABC Book ("Swedish and Lappish ABC book"), written in Swedish and what
650-615: The Altafjorden in the town of Alta . The river has carved out Sautso , one of the largest canyons in Europe on its way from the high Finnmarksvidda plateau down to the sea. The villages of Kautokeino and Masi are located along the river, in addition to the town of Alta. During the 1970s and 1980s, the river was the site of the Alta controversy regarding the construction of a dam and hydroelectric power plant. The Alta power station
700-584: The "Alta River" in English. The Northern Sami language version of the name is Álttáeatnu and the Kven language version of the name is Alattionjoki . The part of the river that is upstream (south) of the Alta dam is also called Kautokeinoelva , meaning the "Kautokeino River", since that part of the river lies in Kautokeino. That part of the river is also known as Guovdageaineatnu or Eatnu in
750-739: 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. 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
800-671: The Danish island of Funen . His father, a smallholder and tailor, was well-read and had a decently-sized book collection. As a child, Rask's scholastic abilities became apparent, and, in 1801, at the age of thirteen, he was sent to the Latin school in Odense, now known as the Odense Katedralskole. One of his friends from Latin school, Niels Matthias Petersen (1791–1862), who went on to be the first professor of Nordic languages at
850-488: 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. In
900-566: The Icelandic or Old Norse Language , which he published in Danish in 1811. It was a didactic grammar based on printed and manuscript materials accumulated by his predecessors in the same field of research. According to Hans Frede Nielsen, it exceeded anything previously published on the topic. In 1811, the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters put out a call for a prize essay on the topic of language history that would "use historical critique and fitting examples to illuminate
950-523: The Northern Sami language. Northern Sami language Northern Sámi or North Sámi ( English: / ˈ s ɑː m i / SAH -mee ; 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
1000-755: The Origin of the Old Norse or Icelandic Language" (1818), in which he argued that Old Norse was related to the Germanic languages , including Gothic, to the Baltic and Slavic languages , and even to Classical Latin and Greek, which he grouped together under the label Thracian. He also argued that the Germanic languages were not related to Basque , Greenlandic , Finnish or the Celtic languages (on this last instance he
1050-640: The Scandinavian languages. When he returned to Denmark, he was recommended to the Arnamagnæan Institute , which hired him to edit Björn Halldórsson 's Icelandic Lexicon (1814), which had long remained in manuscript. From 1813 to 1815, Rask visited Iceland , where he became fluent in Icelandic and familiarized himself with Icelandic literature and customs. In 1814, while still living in Iceland, he finished his prize essay, "Investigation of
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#17327732159011100-515: The University of Copenhagen, later remarked that "His short stature, his lively eyes, the ease with which he moved and jumped over tables and benches, his unusual knowledge, and even his quaint peasant dress, attracted the attention of his fellow students". At the Latin school, Rask's interest in Old Norse and Icelandic language and literature was awakened. His teacher, Jochum E. Suhr, loaned him
1150-505: 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. In dialects outside Eastern Finnmark, in quantity 2,
1200-466: The above rules. Sammallahti divides Northern Sámi dialects into certain regions as follows: The written language is primarily based on the western Finnmark dialects, with some elements from the eastern Finnmark dialects. Features of the western Finnmark dialects are: Rasmus Rask Rask was born to Niels Hansen Rasch and Birthe Rasmusdatter in the village of Brændekilde near Odense on
1250-704: The best Method of expressing the Sounds of the Indian Languages in European Characters". Rask returned to Copenhagen in May 1823, bringing a considerable number of manuscripts in Persian, Zend, Pali and Sinhala for Copenhagen libraries. In 1825, he was appointed a professor of literary history, and in 1829, and as a librarian at the University of Copenhagen. In 1831, just a year before his death, he
1300-580: The distribution of speakers by municipality or county in Norway have been done. A 2000 survey by the Sami Language Council showed Kautokeino Municipality and Karasjok Municipality as 96% and 94% Sami-speaking respectively; 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 Municipality has no speaker statistics despite having (as of June 2019)
1350-802: The first complete editions of Snorri Sturluson's Prose Edda and the Poetic Edda . The editions were bilingual, with the original Icelandic accompanied by his Swedish translations. In 1819, he left Stockholm for St. Petersburg , Russia , where he wrote the paper "The Languages and Literature of Norway, Iceland, Sweden and Finland," which published in German in the sixth volume of the Vienna Jahrbücher . Leaving Russia, he traveled through Central Asia to Persia , where he stayed in Tabriz , Tehran , Persepolis , and Shiraz . In about six weeks, he
1400-416: 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
1450-455: The following syllable contains short e , short o , ii /ij/ , or ui /uj/ . This means that only the first vowel of the diphthong remains, which also undergoes lengthening before grade 1 and 2 consonant clusters and geminates. Note that some instances of e , o , and ui (specifically /uːj/) do not cause simplification. Below are some examples: Shortening of long vowels in unstressed syllables occurs irregularly. It commonly occurs in
1500-513: The following vowels: 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
1550-468: The largest voter roll in the 2021 Norwegian Sámi parliamentary election . 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. 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
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1600-436: The last 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
1650-459: 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
1700-575: The last decades of the twentieth century. In Norway, Northern Sámi is currently an official language in Troms and Finnmark counties along with 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
1750-413: 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
1800-543: 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
1850-487: The preceding vowel is a close diphthong /ie̯/ or /uo̯/ . In this case, the diphthong also shortens before the new quantity 3 consonant. 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
1900-468: 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. Notes: Not all Northern Sámi dialects have identical consonant inventories. Some consonants are absent from some dialects, while others are distributed differently. Consonants, including clusters , that occur after
1950-479: 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. In the Eastern Finnmark dialects, long vowels as well as diphthongs are shortened before
2000-604: The source whence the old Scandinavian tongue can be most probably derived, to explain the character of the language and the relations that it has had through the middle ages to the Nordic as well as Germanic dialects, and to accurately ascertain the basic tenets upon which all derivation and comparison of these tongues should be constructed." In order to conduct research for the prize essay, Rask traveled to Sweden in 1812 with his friend Rasmus Nyerup. There, he studied Sami and Finnish in order to determine whether they were related to
2050-862: The use of Englishmen (1830) and oversaw Benjamin Thorpe 's English translation of his A Grammar of the Anglo-Saxon Tongue (1830). He died of tuberculosis in Copenhagen in 1832, at Badstuestræde 17, where a plaque commemorating him is found. He is buried in Assistens Cemetery in Copenhagen. He bequeathed his manuscripts to his brother, who sold the Old Norse-Icelandic materials to the Arnamagnæan Commission in Copenhagen, which still holds them. Rask
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2100-609: 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
2150-563: Was appointed professor of Eastern languages at the University of Copenhagen. After his return to Denmark, Rask published Spanish Grammar (1824), Frisian Grammar (1825), Essay on Danish Orthography (1826), Treatise respecting the Ancient Egyptian Chronology (1827), Italian Grammar (1827), and Ancient Jewish Chronology previous to Moses (1828). He also published A Grammar of the Danish Language for
2200-908: Was at this time that he changed the spelling of his last name from "Rasch" to "Rask". In 1808, Rask traveled to Copenhagen to continue his studies at the University of Copenhagen , where he stayed in the Regensen dormitory. Although he was not particularly religious and even had expressed serious doubts, he signed up as a student of theology , although in practice he simply studied the grammar of various languages of his own choosing. By 1812, he had systematically studied Sami , Swedish, Faroese , English, Dutch, Gothic , Old English and Portuguese , and had started studies of German, French, Spanish , Italian , Greek, Latin, Russian , Polish and Czech , although Icelandic continued to be his main interest. In 1809, he finished his first book, Introduction to
2250-414: Was eventually built in 1987, creating the lake Virdnejávri on the river. The river is one of the best salmon rivers in Norway, known for its large-sized salmon. In older days, salmon up to 33 kilograms (73 lb) were recorded, and still fish up to 24 kilograms (53 lb) are caught. In 2011, 1,082 salmon (7 kilograms (15 lb) or heavier) were caught on the river. The Altaelva literally means
2300-415: 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
2350-619: Was said to have mastered enough Persian to be able to converse freely. In 1820, he traveled from Bushehr , Persia to Mumbai , India (then called Bombay), and during his residence there, he wrote (in English) "A Dissertation on the Authenticity of the Zend Language " (1821). From Bombay, he traveled through India to Sri Lanka (then called Ceylon), arriving in 1822. Soon afterwards, he wrote (in English) "A Dissertation respecting
2400-485: 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
2450-585: Was the first to show the relationship between the ancient Northern and the Western and Eastern Germanic languages , as well as to show their relationship with the Lithuanian , Slavonic , Greek and Latin languages. He formulated the first working version of what would later be known as " Grimm's Law " for the transmutation of consonants in the transition from the old Indo-European languages to Germanic, although he only compared Germanic and Greek, as Sanskrit
2500-493: Was wrong, and he later acknowledged this). The academy accepted the essay but suggested that he could have spent more time comparing Icelandic with Persian and other Asian languages. Because of this, Rask envisioned a trip to India to study Asian languages such as Sanskrit , which was already being taught by philologists such as Franz Bopp and Friedrich Schlegel in Germany. In 1814, after returning from Iceland, Rask worked as
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