Northren Sami leid

Trilingual border sign (Finnish, Swadish an Northren Sami) on the E8 road at the border atween Norawa an Finland, at Kilpisjärvi, Finland

Northern or North Sami (Davvisámegiella, umwhilie Davvisámi or Davvisaami; disapproved exonym Lappish or Lapp) is the maist widely spaken o aw Sami leids. The speakin aurie o Northren Sami covers the northren pairts o Norawa, Swaden an Finland. The number o Northern Sami speakers is estimatit tae be somewhaur atween 15,000 an 25,000. Aboot 2000 o these live in Finland an atween 5000 an 6000 in Swaden.

Orthography

Main airticle: Northren Sami orthography

Northren Sami haes a lang orthographic history, which haes witnessed no less than 9 different extendit versions o the Latin alphabet. The maist recent version wis approved in 1979 an last modified in 1985:

A a	Á á	B b	C c	Č č	D d	Đ đ	E e	F f	G g
a	á	be	ce	če	de	đe	e	eff	ge
/ɑ/	/a/	/b/	/ts/	/tʃ/	/d/	/ð/	/e/	/f/	/ɡ/
H h	I i	J j	K k	L l	M m	N n	Ŋ ŋ	O o	P p
ho	i	je	ko	ell	emm	enn	eŋŋ	o	pe
/h/	/i/	/j/	/k/	/l/	/m/	/n/	/ŋ/	/o/	/p/
R r	S s	Š š	T t	Ŧ ŧ	U u	V v	Z z	Ž ž
err	ess	eš	te	ŧe	u	ve	ez	ež
/r/	/s/	/ʃ/	/t/	/θ/	/u/	/v/	/dz/	/dʒ/

An acute accent wis placed ower the correspondin Latin letter tae represent the letters particular tae Northren Sami (Áá Čč Đđ Ŋŋ Šš Ŧŧ Žž) when typin when there wis nae way o enterin these letters correctly itherwise. These substitutions are still foond in buiks printit efter the common orthography wis adoptit due tae seestem limitations when typin.

Till the offeecial orthography currently in uise wis adoptit in 1979, each kintra haed its awn, slichtly different staundart, so it is quate possible tae come athort aulder beuks that are difficult tae unnerstand for vowk unacquaintit wi the orthography:

1. Maanat leät poahtan skuvllai.
2. Mánát leat boahtán skuvlii.

(The children hae come tae schuil.)

The first sentence is frae Antti Outakoski's Samekiela kielloahpa frae 1950; the seicont ane is hou it woud be written accordin tae the current orthography.