Finnish phonology

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Template:Short description Template:WikiIPA Template:More citations needed Template:IPA notice Unless otherwise noted, statements in this article refer to Standard Finnish, which is based on the dialect spoken in the former Häme Province in central south Finland.<ref>Template:Harvcoltxt</ref> Standard Finnish is used by professional speakers, such as reporters and news presenters on television.

Vowels

Finnish vowel chart, from Template:Harvcoltxt
Finnish monophthong phonemes<ref name="Harnud2005">Template:Harvcoltxt</ref>
Front Back
unrounded rounded
Close Template:IPA link Template:IPA link Template:IPA link
Mid Template:IPA link Template:IPA link Template:IPA link
Open Template:IPA link Template:IPA link

Finnish has a phonological contrast between single (Template:IPA) and double (Template:IPA) vowels.<ref name="suomi19">Template:Harvcoltxt</ref> Phonetically long vowels are single continuous sounds (Template:IPA) where the extra duration of the hold phase of the vowel signals that they count as two successive vowel phonemes rather than one. Long mid vowels are more common in unstressed syllables.<ref>Template:Harvcoltxt</ref>

Diphthongs

The table below lists the conventionally postulated diphthongs in Finnish. In speech (i.e. phonetically speaking) a diphthong does not sound like a sequence of two different vowels; instead, the sound of the first vowel gradually glides into the sound of the second one with full vocalization lasting through the whole sound. That is to say, the two portions of the diphthong are not broken by a pause or stress pattern. In Finnish, diphthongs contrast with both long vowels and short vowels. Phonologically, however, Finnish diphthongs are usually analyzed as sequences of two vowels (this in contrast to languages like English, where the diphthongs are best analyzed as independent phonemes).

Diphthongs ending in Template:Lang can occur in any syllable, but those ending in rounded vowels usually occur only in initial syllables, and rising diphthongs are confined to that syllable. It is usually taught that diphthongization occurs only with the combinations listed. However, there are recognized situations in which other vowel pairs diphthongize. For example, in rapid speech the word Template:Lang ('upper part', from Template:Lang, 'upper' + Template:Lang, 'part') can be pronounced Template:IPA (with the diphthong Template:IPA). The usual pronunciation is Template:IPA (with those vowels belonging to separate syllables).

Diphthongs Ending with Template:IPA Ending with Template:IPA Ending with Template:IPA Opening diphthongs
Starting with Template:IPA Template:Angbr Template:IPA Template:Angbr Template:IPA
Starting with Template:IPA Template:Angbr Template:IPA Template:Angbr Template:IPA
Starting with Template:IPA Template:Angbr Template:IPA Template:Angbr Template:IPA
Starting with Template:IPA Template:Angbr Template:IPA Template:Angbr Template:IPA Template:Angbr Template:IPA
Starting with Template:IPA Template:Angbr Template:IPA Template:Angbr Template:IPA
Starting with Template:IPA Template:Angbr Template:IPA Template:Angbr Template:IPA
Starting with Template:IPA Template:Angbr Template:IPA Template:Angbr Template:IPA Template:Angbr Template:IPA
Starting with Template:IPA Template:Angbr Template:IPA Template:Angbr Template:IPA

The diphthongs Template:IPA and Template:IPA are quite rare and mostly found in derivative words, where a derivational affix starting with Template:IPA (or properly the vowel harmonic archiphoneme Template:IPA) fuses with the preceding vowel, e.g. Template:Lang 'darkness' from Template:Lang 'dark' + Template:IPA '-ness' and Template:Lang 'to tidy up oneself' from Template:Lang 'tidy' + Template:IPA (a kind of middle voice) + Template:IPA (infinitive suffix). Older Template:IPA and Template:IPA in initial syllables have been shifted to Template:IPA and Template:IPA.

Opening diphthongs are in standard Finnish only found in root-initial syllables like in words Template:Lang 'to know', Template:Lang 'rear wheel' (from Template:Lang 'back, rear' + Template:Lang 'wheel'; the latter part is secondarily stressed) or Template:Lang 'towards'. This might make them easier to pronounce as true opening diphthongs Template:IPA (in some accents even wider opening Template:IPATemplate:Efn) and not as centering diphthongs Template:IPA, which are more common in the world's languages. The opening diphthongs come from earlier doubled mid vowels: Template:IPA. Since that time new doubled mid vowels have come to the language from various sources.

Among the phonological processes operating in Finnish dialects are diphthongization and diphthong reduction. For example, Savo Finnish has the phonemic contrast of Template:IPA vs. Template:IPA vs. Template:IPA instead of standard language contrast of Template:IPA vs. Template:IPA vs. Template:IPA.

Vowel harmony

A diagram illustrating the vowel groups in Finnish.

Finnish, like many other Uralic languages, has the phenomenon called vowel harmony, which restricts the cooccurrence in a word of vowels belonging to different articulatory subgroups. Vowels within a word "harmonize" to be either all front or all back.<ref>Template:Harvcoltxt</ref> In particular, no native noncompound word can contain vowels from the group {a, o, u} together with vowels from the group {ä, ö, y}. Vowel harmony affects inflectional suffixes and derivational suffixes, which have two forms, one for use with back vowels, and the other with front vowels. Compare, for example, the following pair of abstract nouns: Template:Lang 'government' (from Template:Lang, 'to reign') versus Template:Lang 'health' (from Template:Lang, healthy).

There are exceptions to the constraint of vowel harmony. For one, there are two front vowels that lack back counterparts: Template:IPA and Template:IPA. Therefore, words like Template:Lang 'clock' (with a front vowel in a non-final syllable) and Template:Lang 'wind' (with a front vowel in the final syllable), which contain Template:IPA or Template:IPA together with a back vowel, count as back vowel words; Template:IPA and Template:IPA are effectively neutral in regard to vowel harmony in such words.<ref>Template:Harvcoltxt</ref> Template:Lang and Template:Lang yield the inflectional forms Template:Lang 'in a clock' and Template:Lang 'in a wind'. In words containing only neutral vowels, front vowel harmony is used, e.g. Template:Lang – Template:Lang ('road' – 'on the road'). For another, compound words do not have vowel harmony across the compound boundary;<ref>Template:Harvcoltxt</ref> e.g. Template:Lang 'wall clock' (from Template:Lang, 'wall' and Template:Lang, 'clock') has back Template:IPA cooccurring with front Template:IPA. In the case of compound words, the choice between back and front suffix alternants is determined by the immediately-preceding element of the compound; e.g. 'in a wall clock' is Template:Lang, not Template:Lang.

A particular exception appears in a standard Finnish word, Template:Lang ('this kind of'). Although by definition a singular word, it was originally a compound word that transitioned over time to a more compact and easier form: Template:Lang (from Template:Lang, 'of this' and Template:Lang, 'kind') → Template:Lang → Template:Lang, and in colloquial speech sometimes further to Template:Lang.

New loan words may exhibit vowel disharmony; for example, Template:Lang ('Olympic games') and Template:Lang ('secondary') have both front and back vowels. In standard Finnish, these words are pronounced as they are spelled, but many speakers apply vowel harmony – Template:Lang, and Template:Lang or Template:Lang.

Consonants

Consonant phonemes of Finnish
Labial Dental,
Alveolar 		Palatal Velar Glottal
Nasal Template:IPA link Template:IPA link Template:IPA link
Plosive Template:IPA link Template:IPA link Template:IPA link Template:IPA link
Fricative Template:IPA link Template:IPA link
Approximant Template:IPA link Template:IPA link Template:IPA link
Trill Template:IPA link

Template:IPAblink does not appear in native phonology; however, it exists in the variation between foreign-origin geminate Template:IPA and native consonant cluster Template:IPA in many loanwords, retrogradely occurring also in the native word ahven 'perch' in some southwestern dialects (dialectal as ahvena Template:IPA ~ affena Template:IPA).<ref name="kettunen3a">Template:Cite book</ref> Generally, Template:IPA is reliably distinguished by Finnish speakers, but other foreign fricatives are not. Template:Lang or Template:Lang Template:IPAblink appears only in non-native words, sometimes pronounced Template:IPAblink, although most speakers make a distinction between e.g. Template:Lang 'chess' and Template:Lang 'a gang (of people)'.Template:Citation needed The orthography also includes the letters Template:Lang and Template:Lang, although their use is marginal, and they have no phonemic status. For example, Template:Lang and Template:Lang may be pronounced Template:IPA and Template:IPA without fear of confusion. The letter Template:Lang, found mostly in foreign words and names such as Zulu, may also be pronounced as Template:IPAblink following the influence of German, thus Template:Lang Template:IPA.

Voiced plosives

Template:Further Traditionally, Template:IPAslink and Template:IPAslink were not counted as Finnish phonemes, since they appear only in loanwords. However, these borrowings being relatively common, they are nowadays considered part of the educated norm. The failure to use them correctly is often ridiculed in the media,Template:Citation needed e.g. if a news reporter or a high official consistently and publicly realises Template:Lang ('Belgium') as Template:Lang. Even many educated speakers, however, still make no distinction between voiced and voiceless plosives in regular speech if there is no fear of confusion.Template:Citation needed Minimal pairs do exist: Template:IPA 'a bus' vs. Template:IPA 'a bag', Template:IPA 'a gorilla' vs. Template:IPA 'on a basket'.

The status of Template:IPAslink is somewhat different from Template:IPAslink and Template:IPA, since it also appears in native Finnish words, as a regular 'weak' correspondence of the voiceless Template:IPAslink (see Consonant gradation below). Historically, this sound was a fricative, Template:IPAblink, varyingly spelled as Template:Lang or Template:Lang in Old Literary Finnish (which is based on southwestern dialects), and realised in native dialects with significantly large allophony of frontal consonants or even completely degraded depending on the dialectal gradation features.<ref name="kettunen3a"/> Its realization as a plosive originated as a spelling pronunciation, in part because when mass elementary education was instituted in Finland, the spelling Template:Lang in Finnish texts was mispronounced as a plosive, under the influence of how Swedish speakers would pronounce this letter.<ref>Template:Harvcoltxt</ref>Template:Efn Initially, few native speakers of Finnish acquired the foreign plosive realisation of the native phoneme. As for loanwords, Template:IPA was often assimilated to Template:IPA as a strong grade consonant. Even well into the 20th century it was not entirely exceptional to hear loanwords like Template:Lang ('a deodorant') pronounced as Template:Lang, while native Finnish words with a Template:IPA were pronounced in the usual dialectal way. Due to diffusion of the standard language through mass media and basic education, and due to the dialectal prestige of the capital area, the plosive Template:IPA can now be heard in all parts of the country, at least in loanwords and in formal speech.

Consonant gradation

Template:Main Consonant gradation in Finnish involves alternations between a "strong grade" and a "weak grade" of consonants, influenced by both phonological and grammatical factors. Historically, a consonant would shift to its weak grade if it was part of a closed syllable. However, due to language evolution, there are now instances where the weak grade may or may not appear regardless of the syllable being open or closed, such as in "Turkuun" where the strong grade appears in a closed syllable. Grammatically, the weak grade typically shows up in nouns, pronouns, and adjectives before case suffixes, and in verbs before person agreement suffixes.

The following is a general list of strong–weak correspondences.

Strong Weak
Template:IPA Template:IPA
Template:IPA Template:IPA
/k/ /∅~j~ʋ/
Template:IPA Template:IPA
Template:IPA Template:IPA

Other consonant alternations

Many of the remaining "irregular" patterns of Finnish noun and verb inflection are explained by a change of a historical Template:IPA to Template:IPA. The change from Template:IPA to Template:IPA, a type of assibilation, is unconnected to consonant gradation, and dates back as early as Proto-Finnic. In modern Finnish the alternation is not productive, due to new cases of the sequence Template:IPA having been introduced by later sound changes and loanwords, and assibilation therefore occurs only in certain morphologically defined positions.Template:Citation needed

Words having this particular alternation are still subject to consonant gradation in forms that lack assibilation. Thus Finnish nouns of this type could be seen as having up to five distinct stems:<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> a word such as Template:Lang 'water (sg. nom.)' has the forms Template:Lang (sg. gen.), Template:Lang (sg. part.), Template:Lang (sg. ill.) Template:Lang (pl. part.); as can be seen from the examples the change from Template:Lang to Template:Lang has only occurred in front of Template:Lang. When a vowel other than Template:Lang occurs, words like Template:Lang inflect just like other nouns with a single Template:Lang alternating with the consonant gradated Template:Lang. Alternatively, Kiparsky proposes that all Finnish stems must end in a vowel, which in the case of polysyllabic stems may then be deleted when adding certain affixes and certain other conditions are fulfilled. For Template:Lang he proposes the stem /vete/ (with stem final -e), which when combined with the partitive singular affix -tä/-ta drops the -e to become Template:Lang (sg. part.).<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

This pattern has, however, been reverted in some cases. Variation appears in particular in past tense verb forms, e.g. Template:Lang, Template:Lang ('to deny', 'denied') but Template:Lang, Template:Lang ('to adjust', 'adjusted'). Both alternate forms (Template:Lang and Template:Lang) can also be found in dialects. Apparently this was caused by word pairs such as Template:Lang, Template:Lang ('bring') and Template:Lang, Template:Lang ('rise'), which were felt important enough to keep them contrastive.

Assibilation occurred prior to the change of the original consonants cluster Template:IPA to Template:IPA, which can be seen in the inflection of the numerals Template:Lang, Template:Lang and Template:Lang, Template:Lang.

In many recent loanwords, there is vacillation between representing an original voiceless consonant as single or geminate: this is the case for example Template:Lang (~ Template:Lang) and Template:Lang (~ Template:Lang). The orthography generally favors the single form, if it exists. (More completely assimilated loans such as Template:Lang, Template:Lang, Template:Lang generally have settled on geminates.)

Length

All phonemes except Template:IPA and Template:IPA can occur doubled phonemically as a phonetic increase in length. Consonant doubling always occurs at the boundary of a syllable in accordance with the rules of Finnish syllable structure.

Some example sets of words:

Template:Lang 'fire'/'s/he came', Template:Lang 'wind', Template:Lang 'customs'
Template:Lang 'mud', Template:Lang 'other' (partitive sg.), Template:Lang 'but', Template:Lang 'to change' or 'to move'

A double Template:IPA is rare in standard Finnish, but possible, e.g. Template:Lang, a derogatory term for a religious fanatic. In some dialects, e.g. Savo, it is common: Template:Lang, or standard Finnish Template:Lang 'money' (in the partitive case). The distinction between Template:IPA and Template:IPA is found only in foreign words; natively 'd' occurs only in the short form. While Template:IPA and Template:IPA may appear as geminates when spoken (e.g. Template:Lang Template:IPA, Template:Lang Template:IPA), this distinction is not phonemic, and is not indicated in spelling.

Phonotactics

The phonemic template of a syllable in Finnish is (C)V(C)(C), in which C can be an obstruent or a liquid consonant. V can be realized as a doubled vowel or a diphthong. A final consonant of a Finnish word, though not a syllable, must be a coronal one; Standard Finnish does not allow final clusters of two consonants.

Originally Finnish syllables could not start with two consonants but many loans containing these have added this to the inventory. This is observable in older loans such as Template:Lang < Swedish Template:Lang ('French') contrasting newer loans Template:Lang < Swedish Template:Lang ('president'). In past decades, it was common to hear these clusters simplified in speech (Template:Lang), particularly, though not exclusively, by either rural Finns or Finns who knew little or no Swedish or English. Even then, the Southwestern dialects formed an exception: consonant clusters, especially those with plosives, trills or nasals, are common: examples include place names Template:Lang and Template:Lang near the town Pori, or town Template:Lang ('Kristinestad'). Nowadays the overwhelming majority of Finns have adopted initial consonant clusters in their speech.

Consonant phonotactics

Consonant phonotactics are as follows.<ref>Template:Harvcoltxt</ref>

Word-final consonants

Word-initial consonants

Word-initial consonant clusters

Word-final consonant clusters

  • None, except in dialects via vowel dropping.

Word-medial consonant clusters

  • The following clusters are not possible:
    • any exceeding 3 consonants (except in loan words)
    • stop + nasal
    • labial stop + non-labial stop
    • non-dental stop + semivowel
    • nasal + non-homorganic obstruent (except Template:IPA)
    • nasal + sonorant
    • liquid + liquid
    • semivowel + consonant

Vowel phonotactics

Vowel phonotactics are as follows.<ref>Template:Harvcoltxt</ref>

Word-final and word-initial vowels

  • Any of the vowels can be found in this position.

Vowel sequences

  • Doubled vowels
    • Usually only the vowels Template:IPA are doubled.
    • Sometimes the mid vowels Template:IPA can be doubled in cases of contraction.
  • Diphthongs
    • Of the 18 diphthongs, 15 are formed from any vowel followed by a close vowel. The 3 exceptions are Template:IPA.
  • Vowel combinations
    • Approximately 20 combinations, always at syllable boundaries.
    • Unlike diphthongs, the second vowel is longer, as is expected, and it can be open Template:IPA or Template:IPA.
    • Sometimes 3–4 vowels can occur in a sequence if a medial consonant has disappeared.

Template:IPA, Template:IPA and Template:IPA are allowed by phonotactics, but they are rare because they underwent a sound change in Proto-Finnic to Template:IPA, Template:IPA and Template:IPA. They have been reintroduced in loanwords (e.g. peesata, hoonata, amatööri).

Prosody

Stress

Stress in Finnish is non-phonemic. Like Hungarian and Icelandic, Finnish primary stress always occurs on the first syllable of a word.<ref>Template:Harvcoltxt</ref> Secondary stress normally falls on odd-numbered syllables. Contrary to primary stress, Finnish secondary stress is quantity sensitive.Template:Citation needed Thus, if secondary stress would normally fall on a light (CV.) syllable but this is followed by a heavy syllable (CVV. or CVC.), the secondary stress moves one syllable further ("to the right") and the preceding foot (syllable group) therefore contains three syllables. Thus, Template:Lang ("as my apple") contains light syllables only and has primary stress on the first syllable and secondary on the third, as expected: ómenànani. On the other hand, Template:Lang ('as our apple') has a light third syllable (Template:Lang) and a heavy fourth syllable (Template:Lang), so secondary stress falls on the fourth syllable: ómenanàmme.

Certain Finnish dialects also have quantity-sensitive main stress pattern, but instead of moving the initial stress, they geminate the consonant, so that e.g. light-heavy CV.CVV becomes heavy-heavy CVCCVV, e.g. the partitive form of "fish" is pronounced Template:Lang in the quantity-insensitive dialects but Template:Lang in the quantity-sensitive ones (cf. also the examples under the "Length" section).

Secondary stress falls on the first syllable of non-initial parts of compounds, for example the compound Template:Lang, meaning "wooden face" (from Template:Lang, 'tree' and Template:Lang, 'face'), is pronounced Template:IPA but Template:Lang, meaning "which was cleaned" (preceded by an agent in the genitive, "by someone"), is pronounced Template:IPA.

Timing

Finnish is not really isochronic at any level. For example, Template:Lang ('shouting') and Template:Lang ('flushing') are distinct words, where the initial syllables Template:Lang and Template:Lang are of different length. Additionally, acoustic measurements show that the first syllable of a word is longer in duration than other syllables, in addition to its phonological doubling, unless it is an open syllable containing a short vowel in which case the second syllable has a longer duration.

Sandhi

Finnish sandhi is extremely frequent, appearing between many words and morphemes, in formal standard language and in everyday spoken language. In most registers, it is never written down; only dialectal transcriptions preserve it, the rest settling for a morphemic notation. There are two processes. The first is simple assimilation with respect to place of articulation (e.g. Template:Lang > Template:Lang). The second is predictive gemination of initial consonants on morpheme boundaries.

Simple phonetic incomplete assimilations include:

Gemination of a morpheme-initial consonant occurs when the morpheme preceding it ends in a vowel and belongs to one of certain morphological classes. Gemination or a tendency of a morpheme to cause gemination is sometimes indicated with an apostrophe or a superscripted "x", e.g. Template:Lang Template:IPA. Examples of gemination:

e.g. Template:Lang Template:IPA ('open-box bed for wood chips')
  • imperatives and connegative imperatives of the second-person singular, as well as the connegative form of the present indicative (these three are always similar to each other)
e.g. Template:Lang Template:IPA ('buy a boat')<ref name="Karlsson_aeaenne_muoto349">Template:Cite book</ref>
  • connegative imperatives of the third-person singular, first-person plural, second-person plural, third-person plural<ref name="Karlsson_aeaenne_muoto349" /> and passive<ref name="VISK34">Template:Cite web</ref>
Template:Lang Template:IPA ('actually, don't do it')
  • connegative forms of present passive indicative verbs<ref name="VISK34" />
Template:Lang Template:IPA ('it will not be taken after all', colloquially 'we won't take it after all')
  • connegative forms of present potential verbs (including passive)<ref name="VISK34" />
Template:Lang Template:IPA ('I probably will not do it (after all)', formal or poetic speech)
  • first infinitives (the dictionary form)
e.g. Template:Lang Template:IPA<ref name="Karlsson_aeaenne_muoto349" />

The gemination can occur between morphemes of a single word as in Template:IPA + Template:IPA → Template:IPA ('to me too'; orthographically Template:Lang), between parts of a compound word as in Template:IPA + Template:IPA → Template:IPA ('family meeting'; orthographically Template:Lang), or between separate words as in Template:IPA + Template:IPA → Template:IPA ('come here!'). In elaborate standard language, the gemination affects even morphemes with a vowel beginning: Template:IPA + Template:IPA → Template:IPA or Template:IPA ('take an apple!'). In casual speech, this is however often rendered as Template:IPA without a glottal stop.

These rules are generally valid for the standard language, although many Southwestern dialects, for instance, do not recognise the phenomenon at all. Even in the standard language there is idiolectal variation (disagreement between different speakers); e.g. whether Template:Lang ('three') should cause a gemination of the following initial consonant or not: Template:IPA or Template:IPA ('three crows'). Both forms occur and neither one of them is standardised, since in any case it does not affect writing. In some dictionaries compiled for foreigners or linguists, however, the tendency of geminating the following consonant is marked by a superscript Template:Lang as in Template:Lang.

Historically, morpheme-boundary gemination is the result of regressive assimilation. The preceding word originally ended in Template:IPA or Template:IPA. For instance, the modern Finnish word for 'boat' Template:Lang used to be Template:Lang (a form still existing in the closely related Karelian language). At some point in time, these Template:IPA and Template:IPAs were assimilated by the initial consonant of a following word, e.g. Template:Lang' ('the boat is moving'). Here we get the modern Finnish form Template:IPA (orthographically Template:Lang), even though the independent form Template:IPA has no sign of the old final consonant Template:IPA.

In many Finnish dialects, including that of Helsinki, the gemination at morpheme boundaries has become more widespread due to the loss of additional final consonants, which appear only as gemination of the following consonant, cf. French liaison. For example, the standard word for 'now' Template:Lang has lost its Template:Lang and become Template:Lang in Helsinki speech. However, Template:IPA + Template:IPA ('now it [does something]') is pronounced Template:IPA and not Template:IPA (although the latter would be permissible in the dialect of Turku).

Similar remnants of a lost word-final Template:IPA can be seen in dialects, where e.g. the genitive form of the first singular pronoun is regularly Template:IPA (standard language Template:Lang): Template:IPA + Template:IPA + Template:IPA → Template:IPA ('it is mine'). Preceding an approximant, the Template:IPA is completely assimilated: Template:IPA ('my wife'). Preceding a vowel, however, the Template:IPA however appears in a different form: Template:IPA + Template:IPA → Template:IPA or even Template:IPA ('my own').

See also

Notes

Template:Notelist

References

Template:Reflist

Works cited

Template:Refbegin

Template:Refend

Template:Language phonologies

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