Davvisámegiela adnominála dat – demonstratiivadeterminánttas maiddái definihtta artihkalin?
Outi Guttorm (Sámi allaskuvla)
Viečča artihkkala: Davvisámegiela adnominála dat – demonstratiivadeterminánttas maiddái definihtta artihkalin? (pdf).
Guorahalan dán artihkkalis leago vejolaš meroštallat davvisámegiela adnominála dat-pronomena definihtta artihkalin, daid konteavsttaid vuođul main demonstratiivadeterminánttat ja definihtta artihkkalat geavahuvvojit. Artihkkala ovdamearkkat bohtet nuoraid dálá hállangielas. Dán materiálas boahtá ovdan, ahte demonstratiivvaide dábálaš konteavsttaid lassin, dat-pronomen albmana maiddái nu gohčoduvvon assosiatiivaanaforalaš anus, mas dábálaččat dušše definihtta artihkkalat albmanit. Dan vuođul sáhttá árvvoštallat dat-pronomena doaibmat muhtumin maiddái definihtta artihkalin.
Fáddásánit: demonstratiivapronomen, definihtta artihkal, davvisámegiella, davvisámegiela nuoraidgiella
Adnominal dat in North Saami – from a demonstrative determiner to a definite article?
This article discusses the use of the demonstrative pronoun dat ‘it; that’ in adnominal position in spoken North Saami. More specifically, the contexts of use are analyzed in order to decide whether dat can be described as a definite article. The data is collected from NRK Sápmi youth radio programs.
Himmelmann (1998) suggests, based on Hawkins’ (1978; 1991) classification of the uses of the English definite article, contexts of use that can be utilized to distinguish between demonstrative pronouns and definite articles. Among these contexts, adnominal dat occurs in associative-anaphoric use that is usually permitted only for definite articles.
The data show that adnominal dat is expanding its use to a context that is typical of definite articles, and some changes characteristic of a grammaticalization process of demonstrative pronouns can be perceived. Even so, it is shown that adnominal dat cannot be considered to be a true definite article, but rather a demonstrative determiner that is mostly used to refer to aforementioned referents in discourse.
Keywords: demonstrative pronoun, definite article, North Saami, North Saami of young adults