There is no need to insist on the close connection of Livish, Votish, Vepsish, and Esthonian with Finnish. The grammatical structure and vocabulary of these languages is so alike that the fact is obvious not only to a philologist, but to the most casual learner. Esthonian is now far the most important of these languages, and has a certain amount of literary culture. It has two chief dialects, that of Revel and that of Dorpat[3].
In a few cases Esthonian shows older forms than Finnish,but on the whole it is less primitive. Besides the Finnish consonants it possessesb,g,z, andṅ. The accent is on the first syllable, and has led to weakening or loss of final syllables. The vowel harmony is known only in the Dorpat dialect, and there not perfectly. Consonants are weakened in much the same way as in Finnish,pp,tt,kkare reduced to single consonants;p,t,k,sbecomeb,d,g,z;bbecomeswor disappears, andd,g,zdisappear. These changes, however, do not in the present state of the language take place only when syllables are closed, although the original form generally ended with a consonant. Thustīb,urk,rind,toit,ridform the genitivestīwa,urga,rinna,toidu,riu; and the verbspühkima,uskuma,prūkima,hoidmaformpühin,uzun,prūgin,hoian. The noun has only eleven cases, the six local (exterior and interior) the genitive, partitive, abessive, and translative, all almost identical in form with Finnish, except that the genitive has lost thenof the termination, and the other cases the final vowel. The plural takesdin the nominative andiin the other cases. The pronouns resemble Finnish, but the 3rd person singular and plural is the demonstrativetemaornemain Esthonian, Livonian, and Votish, but Vepsish hashän,hö. Esthonian has almost lost the pronominal affixes, which are used only in adverbial forms, and replaced in most cases by the genitive of the personal pronoun.
The affirmative verb closely resembles Finnish, except that the concessive formed withnehas, except in the Dorpat dialect, been almost entirely lost. The 3rd person singular present ends regularly inb, and the 3rd plural inwad. The preterite is sometimes formed with simplei, but generally withsi, and the conditional withksi. The imperative 2nd singular has notermination, but as in Finnish the root is weakened. The other persons are characterised byguorge. The passive is formed by affixingta + k + sein the present, andta + i(ti) in the preterite. The negative verb for the imperative isärä,ärgu,ärge, but in the other forms Esthonian does not affix personal endings to the negative, but useseiwith all persons. Similarly Livish hasäborabfor all persons except the second, whereadis sometimes used. Votish and Vepsish follow Finnish. It will thus be seen that Esthonian, closely allied as it is to Finnish, has lost many peculiarities which it once no doubt possessed, but occasionally (e.g. the passive present intakseand the conditional inkse) preserves forms which in Finnish have been weakened or disguised.
It is easier to discuss the relations of the Finno-Ugric languages to one another than to decide what are their affinities with other groups. They are generally considered to be connected with the Samoyede, Turkish, Mandchu, and Mongolian languages, that is to say, the ancestor of each of these groups was related to the ancestor of the Finno-Ugrian languages. When, however, identity of vocabulary cannot be proved, it is dangerous to make comparisons on the ground of general grammatical resemblances, because the grammar of agglutinative languages offers few striking peculiarities, and represents a stage of development through which may other languages, certainly the Aryan, have passed. The only general description which can be given of the Finno-Ugric group is that they are languages without gender, whose grammatical structure consists entirely in appending suffixes. To these characteristics is generally added another, the vowel harmony, but this exists very partially in the Finnish group. Now without denying the possible relationshipof Turkish, Mongol, and Mandchu to Finnish, it must be admitted that they have only a very general resemblance, and very many and precise differences. Mandchu and Mongol, with their uninflected verbs, would have been put into quite another class were they not undoubtedly akin to languages with a more developed system. And why should Japanese be excluded? It presents no phenomena incongruous with the grammar of the languages above cited, and the want of vowel harmony cannot be alleged as a difficulty.
If, however, we turn to the Samoyede languages the case is very different. They are usually mentioned as if they stood no nearer to the Finno-Ugric group than Turkish or Mandchu, and yet the resemblances in detail are numerous and striking.
They possess the vowel harmony, and apparently a law for the weakening of consonants analogous to that of Finnish and Esthonian, e.g.kinta,kindan;mat,maden;sok,sogon. The noun is strikingly like Finnish. We find a genitive inn, an accusative inmorp(cf. Lappish), a dative inniorn, a locative innan(cf. Finnishna), and an instrumental inse. There are three numbers, the dual is characterised bygorhā(cf. gen. in Ostiak,agin Vogul), and the plural is formed withlaort(d). The pronouns show a good deal of variety, and it is evident that some forms (e.g.pudar,thou;puda,he) are not real pronouns but substantives used as pronouns. Still we find a general consensus formanas the 1st person singular, and some form of the same word for the plural;tanfor the second singular, andte,ten, oršifor the plural (cf. Lappish, Cheremissian, Syrjenian, and Mordvinian). The 3rd person exists in several forms,tep,sete,di, etc., which may perhaps be compared with the Ostiakten, Cheremissiantidä, and Syrjeniansi̱a. The pronominalaffixes are also extraordinarily numerous and varied, but they seem to includemfor the 1st singular,tordfor the 2nd,jea(cf. Magyarja) for the 3rd;muormetfor the 1st plural, andtaortetfor the 2nd. The interrogative pronouns arekutö,hübea,hoke, etc.,who, andma,mi,what. The verb and noun are not sharply distinguished. The verb takes two sets of pronominal suffixes, the predicative, with which an intransitive verb is always conjugated, and the possessive, which are used with both transitive and intransitive verbs. The preterite is formed by addings, which occurs as a preterite suffix in Cheremissian, Mordvinian, Vogul, and Ostiak. The conjunctive is formed withnji,ne,na(cf. the Finnishne). The imperative is formed with the syllablekar,gar,har(cf. Finnishka). There is also an optative with the suffixrava, so perhapskariska-ra.
Besides this similarity of grammatical forms there is a large common vocabulary. The following examples are taken at haphazard out of Castren’s lexicon:—River,jaha,joha(Finn.joki);hill,pirda(Finn.vuori);dark,paebi,paevuda(pimeä);to blow,pu’u(puhua);half,pealea,fealla(puoli);good,sava,sova(hyvä);fire,tu(tuli);fish,kole,hale(kala);tree,po,pe,pea(puu);bear,korg,kuerg(karhu);earth,mon(maa);narrow,small,tîjea(tyhjä,empty);to place,puenan(panna);live,jileadm(eleä);come,tû’am,töak(tulla)[4].
On the other hand, the Samoyede languages differ in many ways from the Ugro-Altaic group. The numbers are entirely different. The Ostiak Samoyedeōker,one, shows a faintresemblance toyhte, andsidea, orsede,two, has been compared withkahte, but such analogies are doubtful. Only the numberseven,sin,sjelde,sjaibuashows a resemblance with the Finno-Ugric forms. But it is clear that the Samoyede numbers represent very primitive attempts at numeration (e.g. Jurak.hâsava-ju,Samoyede big number, fornine,lutsa-ju,Russian big numberforten), and that in many cases Turkish numbers have been borrowed (cf.tjet,tet,four, with Yakuttüörtandkamass,khera40,iliχ50,althon60, with Turkishkirk,elli,altmish). Samoyede is also more like the Turkish than the Finno-Ugric language in its power of adding predicative and temporal suffixes to nouns (which implies a want of distinction between the verb and noun). Thuslūtsameansa Russian;lūtsam,I am a Russian;lūtsamsʻ,I was a Russian.
The above sketch of Samoyede has no pretence to be exhaustive, and may be charged with inaccuracy, inasmuch as words and forms are cited indifferently from all the dialects. For a proper investigation of the question it is no doubt necessary to thoroughly study the relations of the Samoyede languages to one another, to establish the original forms, and in particular to determine the influence of foreign languages, whether Turkish or Finno-Ugric, on the Samoyede vocabulary. But unless there is something strangely misleading in the superficial character of these dialects, it appears to me that they undoubtedly stand far nearer to Finno-Ugric than do Turkish or Mongolian, and should indeed be classed as outlying members of the Finno-Ugric group. The want of similarity in the numbers is certainly very strange, but the other resemblances in vocabulary seem to me to be conclusive, unless all the words in question are borrowed.
The Finnish Alphabet consists of 21 letters, viz.:a,d,e,g,h,i,j,k,l,m,n,o,p,r,s,t,u,v(orw),y,ä,ö.
German characters are sometimes used, in which case w always represents thevsound. In the Roman charactervandware used indifferently to express the sound of the Englishv.
The pronunciation of the consonants offers little difficulty. Most of them have the same sounds as in English.
D. In true Finnish words this letter is never found at the beginning or end, and in the middle always represents a softenedt(videchanges of consonants p.13). Even in this position it is hardly ever heard in the language as spoken by peasants, but replaced in the West Finnish dialect by a sound betweenrandl, and in the Eastern dialect entirely omitted. Educated people, however, pronounce it as in English. Thus the educated pronunciation of the genitive case ofsotaissodan; but in dialects the formssoran,solan, orsoanare found. The letterdis always omitted in the Kalevala, which is written in the Karelian dialect.
G, except in a few foreign words, is only found in the combinationng, representing an originalnk, pronounced as in English. In the neighbourhood of St. Petersburg this letter is never used,ktaking its place.
His a stronger aspirate than in English, and is almost the Russianxor Germanch. It is heard very distinctly at the end of syllables, e.g. intehdä.
Jis the Englishyinyesoryard.
The remaining letters of the Roman Alphabetb,c,f,q,x,z, and the Swedishå(pronouncedo) are sometimes met with in foreign words, but an uneducated Finn will always pronouncebandfaspandv, and is also incapable of producing such sounds as the Englishchandsh, which when occurring in Russian names are generally represented in a Finnish mouth by simples.
There is also a slight aspiration found at the end of some words, asveneʻ,a boat,syödäʻ,to eat. It is not usually written, and hardly heard except in some dialects, though it has a grammatical importance, and in some educational works is marked, as above, by an inverted comma.
It will be seen that there is a great paucity of consonants in the Finnish language; the alphabet contains but 13, and of theseganddare never found at the beginning of native words. Further no word can begin with two consonants, and foreign words, commencing with such combinations, always lose one or more letters, for instance the Swedish wordsstrand(shore), andspel(game), appear asranta,peli.
On the other hand there is an extraordinary wealth of vowel sounds, and it is of capital importance to learn the exact pronunciation of them all.
The simple sounds are eight in number.
Ais the Italiana(Englishainratherorfather), but pronounced quicker. It is always short.
Eis the Englisheinmet.
Iis the Englishiinbit.
Ois the Englishoinhot.
Uis the Englishuinbull.
Yis the Germanüinüber.
Ä, which must be carefully distinguished fromA, is the short Englishaheard inhat, ortrap, and must not be pronounced as the Englishainlate. Thushän,he, is pronounced exactly likehandwithout the finald. At the end of words (e.g.työtä)äis more difficult for an Englishman to pronounce, as the sound is not found in English as a final.
Öis like the Frencheu.
It is very important to observe that the simple vowels are allshortsounds. The corresponding long sounds are written by doubling the vowel.
Aais a long Italiana, like theainrather, whereas the sound of simpleais shorter than that which we (generally) give to the vowel in this word.
Eeis like the Englishainpale,late.
Iiis the Englisheeinkeen,three.
Oois the Englishoinhope.
Uuis the Englishooinboot.
Yyis the Germanü, pronounced long.
Ääis theainhad, but long. It is a rather difficult sound, but can be obtained by lingering over the vowel ofhadorman, taking care not to change its quality.
Ööis the sound of the simpleölengthened.
Besides these simple and double vowels there are also 16 diphthongs, in which both vowels should be sounded but so rapidly and continuously as to form one syllable. They may be divided into two classes.
(1) Those in which the stress is on the second vowel.uo,yö,ie, e.g.tuo,this,tie,a way,yö,night.
(2) Those in which the stress is on the first vowel. Of these there are—
(a) Four ending inu.au,ou,iu,eu.Kauppa,sale,koulu,school,hiukka,a grain,leuka,chin.
(b) Two ending iny:äy,öy.Väylä,river bed,höyhen,feather.
(c) Seven ending ini:ai,oi,ui,ei,äi,öi,yi. E.g.nai,he married,koi,a moth,pui,he threshed,vei,he led,päivä,day,löi,he struck,myi,he sold.
These diphthongs, with the exception of those ending ini, are found only in the first syllable of words, otherwise the two vowels form two syllables: e.g.tapa-us, nottapa͡us,kope-us, notkope͡us, buttalko͡issa,pape͡illa.
The pronunciation of these diphthongs offers no difficulties when that of the simple vowels has been mastered. It must be remembered that they are real diphthongs where both vowels sounds are heard, but pronounced rapidly, so thatau, though very near theowin the Englishhow, is not quite like it. The pronunciation ofäyandöyrequires attention, but is, like that of all the diphthongs, merely the result of pronouncing the simple vowels rapidly.
The chief accent in Finnish is always on the first syllable of every word.Tálo,mínä,párempi,kívettä.
There is a secondary accent, generally on the third, fifth, ... syllables, but occasionally on the fourth, sixth, ... e.g.op-pi-mát-to-múu-des-sán-sa(in his ability to learn).
Butó-pet-ta-mát-to-múu-des-sán-sa(in his ignorance).
But in no case is the second or last syllable accented, so that such sounds ashowéver,deláy, are impossible.
The pronunciation of Finnish is generally described as easy, but this is by no means the case. It is true that the language contains no sound which is really difficult for an Englishman,but on the other hand extreme care is necessary to pronounce even the simplest words correctly. For instance, in the wordmenemme(we come), three things are to be observed. The accent is on the first syllable, thenis single and not double, and themis doubled. An Englishman, who has not learned how to pronounce, will in all probability say notmenemme, butmenneme. This is because he finds it natural to double thenafter the accented syllable and hard to double them, without accenting the second syllable. It must be observed, that:—
(1) The simple consonants are pronounced very lightly;tuli,fire, nearly rhymes to the Englishfully, but thelis lighter.
(2) The double consonants must be pronounced distinctly twice, as in Italian.Kuk-ka,flower,kyl-lä,enough,pap-pi,priest.
(3) The simple vowels are very short, the long vowels are to be dwelt on, but the length of a vowel has nothing to do with the accent.Púhuumust not be pronounced as if it werePuhúu, orpuúhu.
The observance of these rules is necessary, not only to insure a correct pronunciation, but to prevent absolute confusion, for the paucity of consonants in Finnish results in the existence of a mass of words, which though very distinct to a native, are liable to be confounded by a stranger, and the natural tendency of an Englishman or Russian to slur over unaccented syllables results in complete unintelligibility. For instance,tuliisa fire, or,he came,tulli,a tax,tulla,to come(infinitive),tule,come(imperative and root),tulee,he comes:tullee, the concessive of the same verb,tuuli,a wind,tuulla,to blow.Kyläisa village, butkyllä,enough.Pitää,to hold,pyytää,to ask,peittää,to cover,peite,a covering,pöytä,a table.
A syllable ending in a simple vowel or diphthong is calledopen: one ending in a consonant or the aspiration is called closed. E.g.I-sä,father,tuo-da,to bring, consist of open syllables:kis-sat,cats,kir-jat,books, of closed.
As already stated, a word cannot begin or end with more than one consonant.
If a double consonant occurs in the middle of a word the first letter must be pronounced with the preceding vowel and the second with the succeeding, e.g.pal-lo, notpall-o.
1.(1) At the end of the first syllable of a word two consonants are tolerated, provided the first bel,r,n, orm, and the secondk,t,p, ors.Pilk-ku,a spot,kent-tä,a field,simp-sukka,pearl: otherwise one of the consonants must be rejected.
2.(2) At the end of the second or succeeding syllables may stand only one consonant, and every word must end with a vowel or one of the consonantsn,r,s,t,l(rare), or the aspiration.
If the grammatical changes cause an agglomeration of consonants which does not come under these rules, the consonants must be simplified or changed;syöks-täbecomessyöstä:avaim(foravaime) becomesavain.
One of the most characteristic features of the Finnish language is what is called theHarmony of the vowels. Besides the division of the vowels according to length, there is another by which they are classified according to their quality as follows:—
Long vowels and diphthongs belong to the same class as their component elements, which can never be discordant, that is to say,ayoräuare impossible combinations.
The first syllable of a word may contain any of these vowels. The formation of the remaining syllables is determined by the following rules:—
(1) If the first syllable contains a hard vowel, the vowels in the other syllables must be either hard or neutral, but not soft,Kala,a fish: ablative,kalalta.Ansaita,to deserve,ansaitsevat,they deserve.
(2) If the vowel in the first syllable is soft, then the vowels of all the other syllables must be soft or neutral, but not hard.Tölli,a cottage,töllissä,in the cottage;kätkein,käkeittäköön.
(3) If the vowel in the first syllable is neutral, two cases occur.
(a) If the vowel of the second syllable is hard, as in the wordvieras, the succeeding vowels must be either hard or neutral:vierahaksi(transitive case).
(b) If the vowel of the second syllable is either softor neutral, all the other vowels must be soft or neutral, but not hard.Retki,a journey, partitive case,retki-ä;sirppi,sickle,sirppiä.
It will thus be seen that there are two forms of every termination in Finnish, one containing hard and the other a soft vowel. Thus the ablative ends in-ltaor-ltä:maa,maalta, buttyö,työltä.
The hard and soft vowels are never found coexisting in any simple Finnish word, but there is no objection to such a compound askirkko-väki,kirkko-isä.
This principle of vowel harmony is really extremely natural, and facilitates pronunciation, as will be seen by the example of French. An Englishman pronouncing such combinations asvoulu, ordu touthas, if not accustomed to the language, atendency to sayvoulou,du tut, making the two vowels the same, because the sudden change in the position of the pronouncing organs required to sayuorou, or vice versa, is a matter of some difficulty. It is the consciousness of this difficulty which has led Finnish and other languages to adopt the rule that the vowels of a word must be of the same character, so that no rude change may be necessary for their pronunciation.
This vowel harmony is not found in all the Finno-Ugric languages. In its fully developed form it exists (v.Dr. Donner, die gegenseitige Verwandschaft der Finnish-ugrischen Sprachen, p. 9) only in Finnish, the Dorpat dialect of Esthonian, Hungarian, one dialect of Tcheremissian and one of Vogulian. In many others of these languages it is found in an incomplete form, whence some think that it is an original characteristic of the Finno-Ugric group, which has been lost by some tribes whose phonetic sense was not keen. Some authorities hold that in the Finno-Ugric language there are two kinds of vowel harmony: firstly, that prevailing between the different syllables of a stem, which is characteristic of all the tongues included in this group, and secondly that which assimilates the vowels of suffixes to those of the stem—i.e. that which obliges us to sayrepinytand notrepinut. This latter species of vowel harmony is not primitive, but has been gradually developed, perfectly in Finnish and Hungarian, and imperfectly in the other languages. This view seems very reasonable.
All Finnish words consist of a root to which certain suffixes have been attached, but the addition of these latter often causes certain changes in the final vowel and consonants of the original root. In order to inflect words correctly it is necessary to know these changes.
3.The long vowels are always shortened when followed byi, that is to say, the vowel is written once and not twice. Thusmaa,earth, which takes aniin all the cases in the plural except the nominative, formsmaita,maitten,maiksi, etc., notmaaita;puu,tree,puita,puiden,puiksi.
4.The diphthongs with the accent on the second vowel,uo,yö,ie, when followed byi, reject the first vowel, and thus form a new diphthong—työ,work, becomes in the pluraltöistä,töissä,töiksi, etc.;vien,I lead,vein(vie-in),I led;luo,he creates,loisi(luo-isi),he would create.
5.Diphthongs ending inireject thisiif anotherifollows,uin,I swim,uin(forui-in),I swam.
In the rootkäy,to go,yis changed intovbefore a vowel—e.g.käy-inbecomeskävin.
The simple vowelso,ö,u,yare invariable, buta,ä,e,iare subject to certain changes in the last syllable of a root.
When the vowelsAandÄat the end of a root are followed by theicharacteristic of the imperfect tense, or plural, they undergo the following changes:—
6.(1)Äis always rejected in disyllables—e.g.heitän,I throw,heitin,I threw.
7.(2)Aat the end of disyllabic roots is rejected beforei, if the vowel of the first syllable iso,u,uu,ou,uo,oi, orui: but is changed intooif that vowel isa,e,i,aa,ii,ai,au,ei,eu,ie, oriu. Thusottavat,they take, pastottivat(forottaivat);nuora,a cord,nuorilla,with cords;tupa,a hut,tuvissa,in huts. But on the other hand,kala,a fish,kaloiksi;annan,I give,annoin,I gave;kannan,I carry,kannoin,I carried.[5]
Disyllabic verbs, where the finalais preceded byt, can change it intoo, but generally reject it,ahtoiorahti:kaartoiorkaarti.
8.Derivatives of verbs inma,ja,va, always reject thea:sanova,sanovia;ottaja,ottajia;puhuva,puhuvia.
9.(3) Polysyllabic verbs always rejectaandäin the imperfect.Odotan,I wait,odotin,I waited, etc. The rejection also takes place in polysyllabic substantives ending in-mpa,-mpä, and derivatives inva,vä,sa,sä, and those wherehor any vowel butiprecedes the finala, e.g.vanhempa,vanhemmille;sanova,sanovina;vieraha,vierahille;kapea,kapeita. But should the finalabe preceded by two consonants, or the penultimate syllable contain the voweli,aandäbecome respectivelyoandö;asia,a thing,asioissa;karitsa,a lamb,karitsoita;kynttilä,a candle,kynttilöitä,candles. But the wordsisäntä,emäntäalways rejecti,isännille,emännille.
10.(4) In cases which come under none of these heads, e.g. such a word asperuna,potatoe,a,äcan be either dropped or changed too,ö,peruniaorperunoita, partitive case plural.
11.(5)aandächange toebefore the comparative suffix-mpain disyllabic words, and before the suffixta,tta, of the passive.Vanha,old, comparativevanhempi;istutan,I plant,istutetaan, passive.
12.(6) The nominative sing. of superlatives (stem-impa), and of caritive adjectives (stem-toma), dropsa:kovimpabecomeskovin(by rules24,46); andviattoma,innocent,viaton(46).
13.(7)a,äbecomeiin the nominative sing. of comparatives, stemkovempa, nominativekovempi.
14.(1)Eis always rejected beforei.Kive-illäbecomeskivillä,with stones;Mere-illä,Merillä.
15.(2) Dissyllables ending inealways change that vowel toiin the nominative singular. Stems,mere,sea,tuule,wind, nominatives,meri,tuuli.
The only important exceptions to this rule are the wordsitse,self, andkolme,three.Nukke,a doll, is also found, andsine,blue, is used as well assini.
The stemmiehe,man, makesmiesin the nominative sing.
16.(3) Polysyllabic stems ending inereject it in the nominative sing. Stem,sisare; nominative,sisar,a sister.
17.(4) The finaleof a disyllabic stem disappears in nouns before terminations commencing witht, and in verbs before terminations beginning withkorn, provided thateis preceded by any simple consonant butk,p,v,m, or by a double consonant of which the last letter istors(exceptht). Thus from the stemune(sleep),vuore(mountain),vete(water) (nominative,vesi), come the formsunta,vuorta,vettä, and from the verbal stemstule(come),mene(go), such forms astulkaa,tullut(fortulnut),menkää.Lapse,a child, formslasta, forlapsta;veitse,a knife,veistäforveitstä.
Buteremains in the verbspotea,to fall ill,tuntea,to know, and initse,self,suksi,snowshoe,sääksi,a gnat,ripsi,an eyelash,viiksi,a moustache, which form their partitives initseä,suksea, etc.
18.But in disyllabic wordseis not rejected if preceded byk,p,v, orm. Thus the stemsjoke,river,läpe,a hole,kive,stone,Suome,Finland, form their partitivesjokea,läpeä,kiveä,Suomea.
19.Likewiseeremains in disyllables where it is preceded byht, or by any two consonants of which the last is nottors:tähte,star, andlehte,leaf, formtähteäandlehteä.Onne,fortune, andhanhe,goose,onneaandhanhea.
Butyksi,one, andkaksi,two(rootsyhteandkahte), formyhtäandkahtaforyhttä,kahtta.Lumi,snow, is also an exception and formslunta. Also the verbal stemstekeandnäke: infinitive,tehdä,nähdä.
20.In polysyllabic words theeis always suppressed: rootkysymykse,a question, partitive case,kysymystäforkysymykstä.
21.(1) Wheniat the end of substantives meets theiof the plural, the firstichanges intoe,risti,cross,risteissä. This rule is however not always observed, and forms likeristissäare used for the plural. But in other cases, when twoi’s meet, the first falls out, pres.etsivät, imp.etsivät, notetsiivät. In old Finnish, words likeetseivätare found.
22.(2) Wheni(generally owing to the dropping of a consonant) is found between two vowels it becomesj.Kaloiabecomeskaloja.
23.All these four vowels,a,ä,e, andi, are rejected before the-iof the terminations of the superlative:vanha,old,selkeä,bright,suure,great,auli,liberal, make in the superlativevanhin,selkein,suurin,aulin.
24.A word cannot end with more than one consonant. If the rejection of a final vowel leaves two consonants at the end of a word, one is rejected, usually the first, e.g.Lupaukse,a promise. By rule16,eis rejected in the nominative sing., and there remainslupauks, which becomeslupaus. But if the second consonant is not one of those allowed to end a word byrule2, it is rejected and the first only kept.Suurimpibecomessuurimp, and aspis not a possible final letter,mis kept, and by rule46(below) becomesn,suurin.
General rule: Whenever one of the three hard consonants,k,t,p, is found at the beginning of a naturally short and open syllable (that is, one ending in a simple vowel) which becomes closed (that is, ends in a consonant) owing to the addition of a suffix, then the hard consonant is softened or rejected[6].
It must be observed that some syllables which are apparently open are treated in grammar as being closed, because they end with the aspiration. This aspiration, though hardly heard except in dialects, generally represents an original consonant (v.the rules respecting the formation of the Imperative, Infinitives I and II, and passive).
This curious rule of the softening of consonants pervades the whole Finnish language and is one of its distinguishing features. The addition of a final letter to a syllable necessitates a certain effort in order to sound it accurately, and in order to compensate for the difficulty thus added at the end the pronunciation of the first letter is made easier. It is indeed clear that it is easier to saykukanthankukkan, if bothk’s are carefully pronounced; but an English mouth does not find it easier to sayrevinthanrepin. But it must be remembered that the Finnish language is extraordinarily susceptible in regard to consonants. Mouths which are incapable of pronouncing two consonants at the beginning of a word must have to struggle with difficulties in pronunciation which we are quite incapable of understanding. It must also be remembered that simple consonants are pronouncedexceedingly lightly, so that their disappearance is easier than it would be, were they sounded as strongly as in our language.
25.(1)kkbecomesk. That is to say, when the final syllable ofkukka,flower, becomes closed by the addition ofn, one of thek’s is dropped, and we havekukanforkukkan. Sokirkko,kirkossa.
26.(2)nkbecomesng.Aurinko,sun, forms the genitiveauringon.Kaupunki,town,kaupungin.
27.(3)lk,rkbecome simplyl,r, but if followed bye,lj,rj. For example,jalka,a foot, genitivejalan;märkä,wet, genitivemärän;kulke,leave,kuljen,I leave;särke,break,särjen,I break.
hkgenerally becomes simplyh, but may remain unchanged;tuhka,ash, genitivetuhan, but sometimestuhkan;sähkö,electricity, genitivesähön. In old Finnish such forms astuhvanare found.
28.(4) Between two vowelskgenerally is lost altogether when the syllable is closed;tako,forge,taon,I forge;vika,a fault, genitivevian.
If thekis preceded by a diphthong ending inior by simplei, ajis developed whenkfalls out: thusaika,time,poika,boy,ikä,life, makeajan,pojan,ijän. Similarly whenkfalls out between twou’s or twoy’s, avis developed, at any rate in pronunciation. The orthography varies betweenuuanduvu, but the latter is generally adopted when there is any ambiguity, e.g.puvun, frompuku,clothes, notpuun, because this is liable to be confused withpuun, the genitive ofpuu,a tree;suvunfromsuku,a family; butsuunfromsun,a month;luvunfromluku,a number, butluunfromluu,a bone.
29.(5)sk,tkremain unchanged,lasku,laskun,itku,itkun.
30.(1)ttbecomest,opetta,teach,opetan,I teach.
31.(2)lt,rt,ntbecomell,rr,nn.Pelto,field,pellon;parta,beard,parran;kanta,base,kannan.
32.(3) After a vowel orh,tbecomesd.Pata,pot,padan;tahto,wish,tahdon[7].
33.(1)ppbecomesp.Pappi,priest,papin.
34.(2)mpbecomesmm, stemkovempa,harder,kovemman.
35.(3) In other casespbecomesv.Lepo,rest,levon;repi,tear,revin;halpa,cheap,halvan.
36.N.B.—This softening ofk,t,p, takes place if in a polysyllabic radical one of them is the first letter of a syllable whose vowel forms a diphthong with theiof the plural.Harakka,magpie,harakoita;aurinko,auringoita,sun;palkinto,palkinnoita,reward.
These rules for the weakening of consonants are rigorously observed throughout the language, with the one exception that the addition of the pronominal suffixes produces no change in a word. Thoughtapa + nbecomestavan,tapa + nsaremainstapansa.
T, meeting with the voweli, under certain circumstances becomess.
37.Tin the last syllable of a word, when preceded by a vowel orbyl,n,r, becomesswhen a finaleis rejected or changed intoi. E.g. in the nominative of the rootvete,water, the finalebecomesiby rule, andtchanges tos, formingvesi. Similarly when the finaleofhyvyyte,goodness, is rejectedtbecomess, forming the nominativehyvyys; so alsojältebecomesjälsi, andvarte,varsi.
38.Talso becomessbeforeiin the plural of ordinal numbers whose stem ends in-nte. E.g. the essive singular of stemneljänte,fourth, isneljäntenä; in the plural the corresponding case isneljänsinä, forneljäntinä.
39.The plural of stems ending in-ute,-yte, forms the essive and other analogous cases from a stem ending in-ksi.Suuruus,greatness, has for the sing. the stemsuuruute(e.g. essivesuuruutena), but forms in the plur.suuruuksina, etc. So also fromhyvyyte,goodness, comes from the sing.hyvyytenä, and the plur.hyvyyksinä.
40.Tin the last syllable of a verb, preceded by a double vowel orl,n,r, changes tosbefore theiof the imperf., the vowelsa,äbeing suppressed. Thus frompyytää,to ask, comespyysi(forpyytäi); fromtaitaa,can,taisi. Butpitää,to hold, makespiti, because this vowel is simple.
Nousee,he arises, forms the imperfectnousi, butnoutaa,he brings, makesnouti, to distinguish it from the other. Similarlykyntää,to plough, generally forms its imperfectkynti, to distinguish it from the same tense ofkynsiä,to scratch.
In poetry forms likekielti, forkielsi, are found, and in the ordinary language a number of verbs which should by the above rule form the imperfect insi, either keepti, ashoiti(hoitaa,to look after),jouti(joutaa,to have time), or have alternative forms,häätiorhääsi(häätää,to keep off),säätiorsääsi(säätää,to place),kiitiorkiisi(fromkiitää,to hasten),hyytiorhyysi(hyytää,to freeze),syytiorsyysi(syytää,throw out),sietiorsiesi(sietää,to bear),jäytiorjäysi(jäytää,to gnaw).
Talways becomessin the imperfect of contracted verbs,lupata,to promise, pres.lupaan, impf.lupasin.
The combinationtsis pronounced in dialects asttorht; e.g.metsä,a forest, appears asmettäormehtä.
41.Kbeforet,d,nbecomesh. E.g. from the rootteke, whose final vowel is liable to be rejected, cometehtiin,tehdään,tehnen, and alsotehkää.
42.Buthbeforesbecomesk. Thus the stemsyhte,one,kahte,two,haahte,a ship, form the nominativesyksi,kaksi,haaksi,tebecomingsiby the rules previously given, andhchanging tok.
43.In contracted words (v.page18)h, when left as a final letter, becomess,t, or the aspiration. Stemvieraha, nominativevieras, forvierah; stemkevähä, nominativekevät, forkevähä; stemvenehe, nominativeveneʻ, forvenehe.
Though the above rules are given as being convenient for grammatical purposes, there is no doubt that in all these caseshis a weakening of some other letter; indeed, there is reason to think it is never original in Finnish.Vierasrepresents an originalvierasa, and the genitivevierasanis weakened intovierahanandvieraan. Similarly inyksi,yhden, thekis more primitive.
44.N, afterl,n,s, is frequently, though not always, assimilated, especially in verbs. Thustul-nut,pur-nut,pes-nyt, becometullut,purrut,pessyt.
45.In polysyllabic verbsnbecomestbeforekandt. Thus rootpakenemakes in the imperativepaetkaa(forpakenkaa, which becomes firstpaketkaa) and infinitivepaeta. (The steps arepakenetaʻ,pakentaʻ,pakettaʻ,paettaʻ,paeta.)
46.M, at the end of a word, always becomesn. Stemavaime,a key, nominativeavain, foravaim. Similar is the formation of the nominatives of superlatives:kovimpibecomeskovimpby rejection of the final vowel, and thenkovim(rule24), which changes tokovin.
47.Malso becomesnbefore terminations beginning withtorn. Thus the stemrahattoma,moneyless, shortened torahatom, makesrahatontaandrahatonnain the partitive and essive cases.
When two vowels are found together from the loss of a consonant or other causes, they frequently become a long vowel or a diphthong. This phenomenon is called Contraction, and occurs frequently in Finnish. It can, like the loss of final vowels, be easily accounted for on phonetic grounds, if it be remembered that the tonic accent of a word is always on the first syllable, so that there is a natural tendency to drop or pronounce quickly syllables at the end of words.
This contraction is of two kinds:—
48.I. The first kind takes place when the vowels of the two final syllables of a word are the same, and the consonant between them (hin nouns ortin verbs) falls out. Thus,vierahanbecomesviera͡an(two syllables);lupatan,lupa͡an;tervehen,terve͡en.
This form of contraction is universally employed in certain classes of nouns and verbs, the uncontracted forms being only found in poetry and the Karelian dialect.
49.II. The second kind is when the vowels of the last and penultimate syllables of a word meet, the last vowel beingaorä. Under these circumstances the assimilation of the second vowel to the first, and contraction of the two into one long vowel is admissible, but not obligatory, though it usually takes place if the first vowel iso,e, orö. Thuslankean(I fall),kokoan(I collect), becomelankeen,kokoon. But the contraction ofiaoruatoii,uuis rare.
Forms likesilee,ainooforsileä,ainoaare found in poetry. In prose this form of contraction is confined to verbs.
The contraction of two vowels into one long vowel or diphthong also occurs in adding the case suffixes:—
(1) Theaoräof the partitive sing. with the final vowel of roots ending inaoräforms a long vowel, e.g.jalka-a,leipä-äbecomejalka͡a,leipä͡ä.
(2) When theeof a termination becomesiafter the final vowel of a root, thisiforms a diphthong with that vowel, e.g.korvaenbecomeskorva͡in; and when theiof the plural meets with the final vowel of a root it forms a diphthong with it.
The point in all these cases is that, though no change takes place in writing, the two vowels form one syllable instead of two.
Vowels which meet from the disappearance ofkare often contracted in pronunciation:te͡en,nä͡infromteken,näkin, are pronounced as one syllable.
Finnish is called an agglutinative language; that is to say, the words, as they appear used in a sentence, are formed of roots, to which have been added certain terminations: thustaloiltansa, meaningfrom his farms, is made up from the roottalo, and the suffixesi(a sign of the plural),-lta(giving the idea of from), and-nsa(his).
Every root in Finnish ends in a vowel or a diphthong.
In adding suffixes to a root the rules for the changes of letters must be carefully observed. The result of applying them is that from the original full root there may be produced three modifications:—
(1) The closed form. Rootvete,water, closed formveden.
(2) The shortened form,paimenforpaimene.
(3) A form both closed and shortened.tantere, nominativetanner.
The Finnish noun is declined by adding suffixes to the root, which undergoes any modifications required by the rules of Euphony.
There are fifteen cases, which, with the exception of the nominative, may be regarded as the noun followed by a preposition, or rather postposition. The Finnish wordmaaltacorresponds to the Englishfrom land, only thefromis put afterland, and the two are written as one word.maaltais analogous to such an expression as the Greek γῆς ἀπό, only that in this case we have both a case-form and a postposition. Most of the terminations have two forms, one with a hard, one with a soft vowel. Roots with hard vowels take the hard termination, those with soft, the soft ones. Thus we findmaa-ssa, buttyö-ssä.
These fifteen cases are as follow:—
(1) Thenominativehas no suffix, though it does not always represent the pure root. Inmaa,land, the two are identical, but the rootskäte,vete,vierahaproduce the nominativeskäsi,vesi,vieras.
(2) Thepartitiveis formed by the suffixta,täora,ä. It may be roughly described as answering to a noun preceded in English by the wordsome, or in French by the partitive article.Leipää,some bread,du pain;vettä,some water,de l’eau.
(3) Thegenitiveis formed by the suffixn.Puun,of the tree.
The Finnish genitive really represents two cases, the genitive and accusative, which have become confused in one form.
(4) Theinessiveexpresses the place, in which anything takes place, and is formed with the suffix-ssa,-ssä.Missä,where(in what);kirkossa,in the church.
(5) Theelativeexpresses the place from which motion takes place, and is formed with the suffix-sta,-stä.Mistä,whence(from what);kirkosta,from the church;talosta,from the farm.
(6) Theillativeis formed by adding to the root the consonantsh—n, between which is inserted the last vowel of the root, or, if it ends in a diphthong, the second vowel in that diphthong.Talo,talohon;metsä,metsähän;työ,työhön. Generally the termination is shortened by the omission ofh, and we have forms liketaloon,metsään. It expresses the place into which motion takes place.
(7) Theadessiveis formed with the suffix-lla,-llä, and signifies the place on which, or the object with which, anything is done.Lattialla,on the floor;kädellä,with the hand.
(8) Theablativeis formed with the suffix-lta,-ltä, and expresses motion from.Maalta,from the land;pöydältä,from the table.
(9) Theallativeexpresses motion towards, and is formed with the suffix-lle.Pellolle,to the field;rannalle,to the shore.
(10) Theabessiveis formed with the suffix-tta. It expresses the absence of something;rahatta,without money.
(11) Theprolativeis formed by adding the syllable-tse, and expresses motion along;talotse,along the farm. In modern Finnish it is rarely used in the singular.Maitse,meritse,by land,by sea.
(12) Thetranslativeis formed with the suffix-ksi. It generally is used to express some change in the form of existence.Hän tuli sotamieheksi,he became a soldier.
(13) Whereas theessive, formed by adding-naor-näto the root, expresses a state of being regarded as continuous.Lapsena,as a child.
(14) Thecomitativeis formed with the syllable-ne, and is generally used in the plural, and with a possessive affix.Lapsine(or oftenerlapsinensa),with his children.
(15) Theinstructiveis formed by simply adding the letternto a root, and expresses the means by which anything is done.Käsin,with the hands. The singular of the instructive is only used in poetry.
There are two numbers in Finnish, the singular and plural. For the singular, the suffixes are added directly to the root: to form the plural other letters are also added.
A. The nominative plural is formed by addingtto the root, e.g. root and nominative sing.maa, nominative plur.maat; root and nominative sing.pata, nominative plur. (by rule31)padat; rootvieraha, nominative sing.vieras, nominative plur.vierahat; rootvete, nominative sing.vesi, nominative plur.vedet.
B. The other cases, with the exceptions below mentioned, simply addito the root, which suffers the necessary phonetic changes, and then take the same suffixes as the sing.Maa, inessive sing.maassa, inessive plur.maissa(3);pata, illative sing.patahanorpataan, illative plur.patoihin(7);vieraha, translative sing.vierahaksiorvieraaksi, translative plur.vierahiksiorvieraiksi(11).
C. But the genitive plural is formed with the suffix-ite(apparently a combination of the two suffixesiandt(e)above mentioned), placed before the case suffix-n.
This suffix is found in three forms:—
(1)ite + nbecomes regularly-iden,maiden.
(2) Monosyllabic roots and polysyllabic roots ending witha long vowel have a strengthened form,-itte-n, often found alternating with-ide-n, e.g.maitten,vierahitten.
(3) Thetdrops out and the suffix becomes simply-ie-n, e.g.jalka-itenbecomes (rule7)jalko-iten, thenjalko-ien, then (rule21)jalkojen;äiti-itenbecomesäititen, and thenäitien. Sometimes theiorjdrops out between two vowels; e.g.kirkkoen.
Most of the cases above enumerated are common to nearly all the Finno-Ugric languages, though the same suffixes are used with rather different meanings.
The suffix-na, called here essive, is used in most other languages of the family as a locative, and a few traces of this use are preserved in Finnish, e.g.kotona,at home,ulkona,out of doors, (olla)läsnä,to be present,takana,behind,tänä pänä,tänään,to-day.
No accusative is usually given in Finnish grammars, because this case coincides with the genitive in the sing., and with the nominative in the plural. The accusative sing. is, however, etymologically a distinct formation, with the terminationmorma, as is proved by a comparison of the other languages of the family (Ostiak and Vogulianma,me, orm; Tcheremissian and Syrjenianm). Asmcannot be a final in Finnish, it becomesn, and the case is indistinguishable from the genitive.
There is also an accusative in-t, found in the pronominal declensions of Finnish, Ostiak, Syrjenian, and Mordvinian. It is supposed to represent the demonstrative pronountasuffixed to a word, and perhaps stands for-nt.
Another case which occurs sporadically, though not usually given in grammars, is the Excessive, ending in-nta. This termination is much used in the dialect spoken about St. Petersburg, and is even employed by some writers. It expresses departure either from a place or a state; e.g.kotonta,from home;hän jäi palvelijanta,he gave up being a servant.Hän muutti paimenenta rengiksi,he became a farm-labourer instead of a shepherd. It is also found in some adverbial forms, e.g.siintä,luonta,takanta.
Another sporadic case is an allative or dative ending in-nne,-ne, or-n. Its original form seems to have been-nek, for in the Savo-dialect we findtuonnek,tännekinstead of the ordinarytuonne,tänne,thither, hither. In written Finnish this termination is only used in a few adverbs, assinne,thither,muuanne,to another place.Alle,päälle, andylleare also apparently foral-ne,pääl-ne,yl-ne. In the expressionJumalan kiitos,thanks be to God,Jumalanappears to be really this case, and similar strange uses of an apparent genitive in old writings are no doubt to be explained the same way.
It will be observed that the local cases are arranged in two sets of three, one characterised by the presence ofs, the other by that ofl.
We have:—
The Essive innaand Excessive inn-taare parts of a similar set.
The case called adessive (-lla) is also used as an instrumental, and probably represents two original cases.
The primitive form of the abessive appears to have beentakaortaha, which is considered by some as identical with the wordtaka,back. Besides the regular termination in-tta, the forms-taand-tare found in dialects, and-tiin some adverbs;ääneti,silently;huoleti,carelessly. Closely connected with the abessive are the caritive adjectives ending in-ttoma.
The prolative, though generally counted as one of theregular cases, is really very seldom employed, and cannot be formed from the majority of nouns.
The plur. inflection of the Finno-Ugric languages, gives three suffixes,t,k, andi, of whichtandiare found in Finnish. It has been suggested that thetandkare really identical,knot being allowable as a final letter. It is not improbable thatimay be the remains of akweakened toj(cf.26,27).
There are no genders in Finnish.
The simplest way of dividing the declensions is by the form of the Partitive case.
Thefirstdeclension has the partitive ending intaortä, after a long vowel or diphthong.
Thesecondhas the partitive ending inaorä, after a short vowel.
Thethirdhas the partitive intaortä, after a consonant.
This declension includes all words ending in a long vowel or a diphthong.
It has the following characteristics:—
(1) The partitive sing. has the suffixtaortä, after a long vowel or diphthong.
(2) The nominative sing. is the same as the root.
(3) No change of consonants takes place in the root.
(4) The genitive plur. is found ending in-idenor-itten, before which the last vowel of the root is rejected by rule3or4.
(5) Monosyllabic roots form the illative inh—n, the last vowel of the root being between the two consonants:täi,täihin;jää,jäähän. But dissyllables ending in a long vowel, e.g.harmaa,ehtoo, have the illative sing. in-senand the illativeplur. in-sinor-hin. Sing.harmaasen, plur.harmaisinorharmaihin.