A grammar of Pite Saami, 2014

3.2 Vowels
Due to the verbal suffixes -jmä ‘1pl.pst’ and -jdä ‘2pl.pst’, verbs with a bisyllabic
stem in these forms thus feature /ɛ/ in the third and final syllable, as in (148)
and (149). Note also that the current working orthography inconsistently spells
/ɛ/ as or in these suffixes.
(148) /juga-jmɛ/ jugajmä
[jʊkajmɛ] ‘drink-1pl.pst’
(149) /åro-jtɛ/ årojdä
[ɔrojtɛʰ]
‘reside-2pl.pst’
[pit100323a.138]
[pit100323a.223]
Otherwise, /ɛ/ is unattested in V3 position.
3.2.1.4 Short open front vowel
The segment /a/ is an open front vowel of short duration. It can occur in V1, V2
and V3 positions. When preceding /v/, such as before the suffix -v acc.sg or -v
1sg.prs, /a/ is usually pronounced more to the back towards [ɑ]. 21 Examples can
be found in (150) through (153).
(150) /sita-v/ sidav
[sitɑʋ]
‘want-1sg.prs’
(151) /pala/ bala
[pala]
‘become.scared\2sg.prs’
(152) /kola-ʧ/ guolatj
[kʊ͡olaʧ]
‘testicle-dim\nom.sg’
(153) /saːkasta/ ságasta
[saːkasta]
‘say\2sg.prs’
[pit080926.03m14s]
[6332]
[pit110413a.150]
[pit101208.228]
3.2.1.5 Long open front vowel
The segment /aː/ is an open front vowel of long quantity. It can occur in V1 and
V2 positions. When preceding a /v/, such as before the suffix -v acc.sg or -v
1sg.prs, /a/ is usually pronounced more to the back towards [ɑ]. 22 Examples can
be found in (154) through (158).
21 Simultaneously, /v/ is optionally but frequently pronounced as [ʋ] when following /a/ or /aː/;
cf. §3.1.1.5.1.
22 See previous footnote.
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