Finnish phonology

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. Standard Finnish is used by professional speakers, such as reporters and news presenters on television.
Vowels.
Finnish has a phonological contrast between single () and doubled () vowels. Phonetically the doubled vowels are single continuous sounds () where the extra duration of the hold phase of the vowel signals that they count as two successive vowel phonemes rather than one. The doubled mid vowels are more common in unstressed syllables.
Diphthongs.
The table below lists the conventionally recognized 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 are considered phonemic units, contrasting with both doubled vowels and with single vowels. Phonologically, however, Finnish diphthongs usually "are" analyzed as sequences (this in contrast to languages like English, where the diphthongs are best analyzed as independent phonemes).
Diphthongs ending in "i" 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 "yläosa" ('upper part', from "ylä-", 'upper' + "osa", 'part') can be pronounced (with the diphthong ). The usual pronunciation is (with those vowels belonging to separate syllables).
The diphthongs and are quite rare and mostly found in derivative words, where a derivational affix starting with (or properly the vowel harmonic archiphoneme ) fuses with the preceding vowel, e.g. "pimeys" 'darkness' from "pimeä" 'dark' + '-ness' and "siistiytyä" 'to tidy up oneself' from "siisti" 'tidy' + (a kind of middle voice) + (infinitive suffix). Older and in initial syllables have been shifted to and .
Opening diphthongs are in standard Finnish only found in root-initial syllables like in words "tietää" 'to know', "takapyörä" 'rear wheel' (from "taka-" 'back, rear' + "pyörä" 'wheel'; the latter part is secondarily stressed) or "luo" 'towards'. This might make them easier to pronounce as true opening diphthongs (in some accents even wider opening ) and not as centering diphthongs , which are more common in the world's languages. The opening diphthongs come from earlier doubled mid vowels: . 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 vs. vs. instead of standard language contrast of vs. vs. .
Vowel harmony.
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. 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: "hallitus" 'government' (from "hallita", 'to reign') versus "terveys" 'health' (from "terve", healthy).
There are exceptions to the constraint of vowel harmony. For one, there are two front vowels that lack back counterparts: and . Therefore, words like "kello" 'clock' (with a front vowel in a nonfinal syllable) and "tuuli" 'wind' (with a front vowel in the final syllable), which contain or together with a back vowel, count as back vowel words; and are effectively neutral in regard to vowel harmony in such words. "Kello" and "tuuli" yield the inflectional forms "kellossa 'in a clock' and "tuulessa 'in a wind'. In words containing only neutral vowels, front vowel harmony is used, e.g. "tie" – "tiellä ('road' – 'on the road'). For another, compound words do not have vowel harmony across the compound boundary; e.g. "seinäkello" 'wall clock' (from "seinä", 'wall' and "kello", 'clock') has back cooccurring with front . 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 "seinäkellossa, not "seinäkellossä".
A particular exception appears in a standard Finnish word, "tällainen" ('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: (from , 'of this' and , 'kind') → → , and further to for some non-standard speech.
New loan words may exhibit vowel disharmony; for example, "olympialaiset" ('Olympic games') and "sekundäärinen" ('secondary') have both front and back vowels. In standard Finnish, these words are pronounced as they are spelled, but many speakers apply vowel harmony – "olumpialaiset", and "sekundaarinen" or "sekyndäärinen".
Consonants.
 appears in native words only in the Southwestern dialects, but is reliably distinguished by Finnish speakers. Other foreign fricatives are not. "š" or "sh" appears only in non-native words, sometimes pronounced , although most speakers make a distinction between e.g. "šakki" 'chess' and "sakki" 'a gang (of people)'. The orthography also includes the letters "z" and "ž", although their use is marginal, and they have no phonemic status. For example, "azeri" and "džonkki" may be pronounced and without fear of confusion. The letter "z", found mostly in foreign words and names such as Zulu, may also be pronounced as following the influence of German, thus "Zulu" .
Voiced plosives.
Traditionally, and 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, e.g. if a news reporter or a high official consistently and publicly realises "Belgia" ('Belgium') as "Pelkia". Even many educated speakers, however, still make no distinction between voiced and voiceless plosives in regular speech if there is no fear of confusion. Minimal pairs do exist: 'a bus' vs. 'a bag', 'a gorilla' vs. 'on a basket'.
The status of is somewhat different from and , since it also appears in native Finnish words, as a regular 'weak' correspondence of the voiceless (see Consonant gradation below). Historically, this sound was a fricative, ("th" as in English "the"), varyingly spelled as "d" or "dh" in Old Literary Finnish. Its realization as a plosive originated as a spelling pronunciation, in part because when mass elementary education was instituted in Finland, the spelling "d" in Finnish texts was mispronounced as a plosive, under the influence of how Swedish speakers would pronounce this letter. (In the close to seven centuries during which Finland was under first Swedish, then Russian rule, Swedish speakers dominated the government and economy.) Initially, few native speakers of Finnish acquired the foreign plosive realisation of the native phoneme. As for loanwords, was often assimilated to . Even well into the 20th century it was not entirely exceptional to hear loanwords like "deodorantti" ('a deodorant') pronounced as "teotorantti", while native Finnish words with a 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 can now be heard in all parts of the country, at least in loanwords and in formal speech.
Consonant gradation.
"Consonant gradation" is the term used for a set of alternations which pervade the language, between a "strong grade" and a "weak grade". These alternations are always conditioned by both phonology and morphosyntax. The phonological factor which triggers the weak grade is the syllable structure of closed syllable. However, there are contexts where weak grade fails to occur in a closed syllable, and there are contexts where the weak grade occurs in an open syllable. Morphosyntactically, the weak grade occurs in nominals (nouns, pronouns, adjectives) usually only before case suffixes, and in verbs usually only before person agreement suffixes.
The following is a general list of strong–weak correspondences.
Other consonant alternations.
Many of the remaining "irregular" patterns of Finnish noun and verb inflection are explained by a change of a historical to . The change from to , 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 having been introduced by later sound changes and loanwords, and assibilation therefore occurs only in certain morphologically defined positions.
Words having this particular alternation are still subject to consonant gradation in forms that lack assibilation. Finnish words may thus have two, and sometimes three stems: a word such as "vesi" 'water (sg. nom.)' may produce "veden" (sg. gen.), "vetenä" (sg. ess.), "vesissä" (pl. iness.); because the change from "t" to "s" has only occurred in front of "i". When a vowel other than "i" occurs, words like "vesi" inflect just like other nouns with a single "t" alternating with the consonant gradated "d".
This pattern has, however, been reverted in some cases. Variation appears in particular in past tense verb forms, e.g. "kieltää", "kielsi" ('to deny', 'denied') but "säätää", "sääti" ('to adjust', 'adjusted'). Both alternate forms ( and ) can also be found in dialects. Apparently this was caused by word pairs such as , ('bring') and "nousta", "nousi" ('rise'), which were felt important enough to keep them contrastive.
Assibilation occurred prior to the change of the original consonants cluster to , which can be seen in the inflection of the numerals "yksi", "kaksi" and "yhden", "kahden".
In many recent loanwords, there is vacillation between representing an original voiceless consonant as single or geminate: this is the case for example "kalsium" (~ "kalssium") and "kantarelli" (~ "kanttarelli"). The orthography generally favors the single form, if it exists. (More completely assimilated loans such as "farssi", "minuutti", "ooppera" generally have settled on geminates.)
Length.
All phonemes (including and , see below) 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:
A double is rare in standard Finnish, but possible, e.g. "hihhuli", a derogatory term for a religious fanatic. In some dialects, e.g. Savo, it is common: , or standard Finnish 'money' (in the partitive case). The distinction between and is found only in foreign words; natively 'd' occurs only in the short form. While and may appear as geminates when spoken (e.g. "vauva" , "raijata" ), this distinction is not phonemic, and is not indicated in spelling.
In dialects or in colloquial Finnish, , , and can have distinctive length, especially due to sandhi or compensatory lengthening, e.g. "sevverran" ("sen verran"), "kuvvoo" ("kuvaa"), "teijjän" ("teidän"), "Kajjaani" ("Kajaani").
Phonotactics.
The phonemic template of a syllable in Finnish is CVC, 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.
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 "ranska" < Swedish "franska" ('French') contrasting newer loans "presidentti" < Swedish "president" ('president'). In past decades, it was common to hear these clusters simplified in speech (), 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 "Friitala" and "Preiviiki" near the town Pori, or town "Kristiinankaupunki" ('Kristinestad'). Nowadays the overwhelming majority of Finns have adopted initial consonant clusters in their speech.
Consonant phonotactics.
Consonant phonotactics are as follows.
Word-final consonants
Word-initial consonants
Word-initial consonant clusters
Word-final consonant clusters
Word-medial consonant clusters
Vowel phonotactics.
Vowel phonotactics are as follows.
Word-final and word-initial vowels
Vowel sequences
Prosody.
Stress.
Stress in Finnish is non-phonemic. Like Hungarian and Icelandic, Finnish always places the primary stress on the first syllable of a word. Secondary stress normally falls on odd-numbered syllables. Contrary to primary stress, Finnish secondary stress is quantity sensitive. 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, "omenanani" ("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, "omenanamme" ('as our apple') has a light third syllable ("na") and a heavy fourth syllable ("nam"), 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 "kalaa" in the quantity-insensitive dialects but "kallaa" 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 "puunaama", meaning "wooden face" (from "puu", 'tree' and "naama", 'face'), is pronounced but "puunaama", meaning "which was cleaned" (preceded by an agent in the genitive, "by someone"), is pronounced .
Timing.
Finnish is not really isochronic at any level. For example, "huutelu" ('shouting') and "huuhtelu" ('flushing') are distinct words, where the initial syllables "huu-" and "huuh-" 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. Thus, there are four distinct phonetic lengths.
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. "np" > "mp"). 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. "vene" . Examples of gemination:
The gemination can occur between morphemes of a single word as in + → ('to me too'; orthographically "minullekin"), between parts of a compound word as in + → ('family meeting'; orthographically "perhepalaveri"), or between separate words as in + → ('come here!'). In elaborate standard language, the gemination affects even morphemes with a vowel beginning: + → or ('take an apple!'). In casual speech, this is however often rendered as 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 "kolme" ('three') should cause a gemination of the following initial consonant or not: or ('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 "x" as in "perhex".
Historically, morpheme-boundary gemination is the result of regressive assimilation. The preceding word originally ended in or . For instance, the modern Finnish word for 'boat' "vene" used to be "veneh" (a form still existing in the closely related Karelian language). At some point in time, these and s were assimilated by the initial consonant of a following word, e.g. ' ('the boat is moving'). Here we get the modern Finnish form (orthographically ), even though the independent form has no sign of the old final consonant .
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' "nyt" has lost its "t" and become "ny" in Helsinki speech. However, + ('now it [does something]') is pronounced and not (although the latter would be permissible in the dialect of Turku).
Similar remnants of a lost word-final can be seen in dialects, where e.g. the genitive form of the first singular pronoun is regularly (standard language "minun"): + + → ('it is mine'). Preceding an approximant, the is completely assimilated: ('my wife'). Preceding a vowel, however, the however appears in a different form: + → or even ('my own').