Davvisámi mánáid giellaovdáneapmi [North Sami child language acquisition]

The DASAGO project investigates how children acquire North Sámi as their first language. It consists of three parts; I. The development of research material on Sámi child language, II. The study of structural properties of Sámi child language, and III. Knowledge exchange with relevant professionals working with Sámi-speaking children. I. The development of research material DASAGO has developed a corpus of North Sámi child language which consists of recorded spontaneous speech from 4 children, aged 0;10-5;2, one of them bilingual North Sámi-Norwegian. Most of the data has been transcribed for two of these children, and the rest is currently being transcribed. These data will be invaluable for research on (early) phonology, morphology, vocabulary, and syntax. The project has also adapted the MacArthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventory into North Sámi (MCDI). The MCDI consists of two parental report forms that assess the development of vocabulary, gestures, sentences and grammar in children. The current North Sámi adaptations of CDI I, Words and Gestures, and CDI II, Words and Sentences were completed in 2015. From 2015 the project has collected parent-reports on development of vocabulary and early grammar for nine selected age points; every third month from 12 to 36 months. We aim to get 40 filled-in forms for each of the nine age points, and we are still working towards this goal. II. The study of structural properties of Sámi child language The project has focussed on certain properties of North Sámi child language. Bentzen has worked on syntactic aspects, such as the OV-VO alternation, using corpus data and experiments. OV-VO alternations is also the topic of Bentzen's PhD student Inga Lill Mikkelsen who works on Lule Sámi child language. Together they have designed and conducted an experiment with native speakers of North and Lule Sámi. Mikkelsen is working on the Lule Sámi material for her dissertation. Bentzen is also working with her PhD student, Ritva Nystad, on the acquisition of negation in North Sámi. Nystad is making use of the DASAGO corpora. We have investigated the use of negation and perfective and modal auxiliaries in child and adult speech in our corpora, and we are now in the process of planning experiments. In addition, we plan to make use of the preliminary results from the CDI-project. Bals Baal has focussed on word structure in North Sámi, especially stress patterns in words with more than two syllables and words with irregular stress. Words with irregular stress patterns are often borrowed from Norwegian, and these are more frequent in everyday spoken North Sámi in Norway. There are two types of loan words: words with stress on the second syllable (banan) and words with two stressed syllables following one another (ketchup). Words with irregular stress are more susceptible to shortening, stress shift and syllable simplification than regular nouns. Bals Baal has also looked at loan word adaptation in adult speech, especially spontaneous loans known as nonce borrowings. In addition to being interesting from a phonological point of view, these nonce borrowings in adult language had an impact on the adaptation of the vocabulary lists for the CDI forms. III. Knowledge exchange Throughout the project period, DASAGO has collaborated with different authorities, institutions and various professionals working with Sámi-speaking children. This includes kindergarten and school teachers and speech pathologists, as well as parents of Sámi-speaking children. We have given several invited guest lectures on Sámi child language and on language acquisition as well as bilingualism in general. DASAGO was also involved in the campaign "Sámás mánáin"/"Snakk samisk med barnet"/"Speak Sámi to your child". The Norwegian Sámi Parliament launched the campaign in 2016, and it is aimed towards parents of Sámi-speaking children, and the goal is to get more parents to choose Sámi as one of their children's home language. DASAGO has contributed to an information pamphlet that the Sámi Parliament has developed in connection with the campaign. Moreover, Bals Baal and Bentzen have also given talks about bilingualism and Sámi language acquisition at the launch of the campaign. They have also given invited talks about bilingualism and language choice at seminars in connection with the NOU 2016:18 Hjertespråket. In April 2014, Bals Baal and Bentzen together with Johanna Ijäs at Sámi University College established a network for researchers working on Sámi child language (SAMAGI). The network has 11 members, from Tromsø, Alta, Kautokeino and Umeå. We are now close to publishing the special issue about Sámi language acquisition of the journal Sámi diedalas áigecála. Bals Baal has a paper in this issue, as do Bentzen's two PhD students Nystad and Mikkelsen. The papers are currently under evaluation at the journal.

Språktilegnelse hos samiske barn er et nokså uutforsket område innen både språkvitenskapen og pedagogikken. Dette står i sterk kontrast til behovet for kunnskap om dette temaet for å kunne tilrettelegge for samisk språkutvikling på best mulig måte i barne hager og i skoleverket. Dette prosjektet imøtekommer dette behovet. Prosjektet har tre deler, som alle er innovative på flere plan. Del 1 fokuserer på dokumentasjon av samisk barnespråk. Vi skal utvikle nytt barnespråksmateriale: kartleggingstesten CDI (C ommunicative Development Inventory) samt korpus med spontantale fra 3 samisktalende barn, hvorav et samisk/norsk tospråklige. Dette blir den første omfattende kartleggingen og dokumentasjonen av samisk barnespråksutvikling. Verken ressurser som CDI eller barnespråkskorpus er tilgjengelig pr idag, og utviklingen av dette vil være til stor nytte for forskere, pedagoger og helsepersonell. CDI-testen vil kunne brukes av andre institusjoner som har behov for å undersøke eller følge opp barns språkutvikling. Ko rpuset vil utgjøre et unikt bidrag innen barnespråksforskning. I del 2 skal vi studere grammatiske aspekter ved samisk barnespråk (syntaktiske og fonologiske) gjennom korpusstudier og via eksperimenter. Disse undersøkelsene vil også bli de første i sitt s lag, og resultatene av våre studier i denne delen vil tilføre nye perspektiver til språkteori generelt, og barnespråksforskning spesielt. Del 3 er rettet mot oppveksts- og pedagogiske vilkår for barn med samisk språkbakgrunn. Det er i dag stor vilje til å gi samiske barn muligheten til skolegang med samisk som formidlingsspråk. Det er da viktig å være oppmerksom på hvilken språklig kompetanse barn har idet skolegangen starter. Man får ikke automatisk samisk som morsmål ved å gå i samisk barnehage. Mer kun nskap om hva som skal til for å bli tospråklig samt en mer systematisk vurdering av barns språklige kompetanse før skolestart er særdeles viktig for å forebygge problemer i skolen knyttet til språklige utfordringer.