Specific Languages Codexery

Finnish language

A Finnic language of the Uralic family, spoken by millions in Finland and diaspora communities.

It is one of Finland's two official languages alongside Swedish, and is an official minority language in Sweden.[1] The Uralic language family includes the Finnic branch, and Finnish is a member of that branch; it is the primary language of most people in Finland and is also used by ethnic Finns living abroad.[1]

Quick Facts

Ethnicity
Finns
States
  • Finland
  • Sweden
  • Russia
  • Norway
Speakers
  • 5, 2 million
  • Finland: 4.75, 3 million (2023)
  • Sweden: 200000–250000 (2022)
  • Russia (Karelia): 8500, 2
  • US: 26000, 2
Date
2020
Script
Latin (Finnish alphabet); Finnish Braille
Nation
  • Finland
  • European Union
  • Nordic Council
Minority
Karelia (Russia); Sweden

Facts from the source article.

Key facts and history

Finnic languages form a dialect continuum where no single isogloss separates Finnish from Estonian, though the standard languages are not mutually intelligible.[2] There are two main registers: standard language (yleiskieli) used in formal settings, and spoken language (puhekieli) used in casual contexts.[3] Depending on the classification used, Finnish's nearest relative is either Ingrian or Karelian.[2] In 2004 an electronic version of the updated dictionary Kielitoimiston sanakirja appeared, followed by a print edition in 2006.[4]

The descriptive grammar Iso suomen kielioppi, which runs to 1,600 pages, was released in 2004.[4] Primary stress invariably falls on the first syllable, and in typical speech the stressed vowel is lengthened by about 100 ms, with no change in vowel quality.[5] A partly nonproductive lenition process called consonant gradation affects the consonants P, T, and K in inherited vocabulary.[6]

What the cited sources add

The graphemes sh and zh are often used in less careful writing instead of š and ž, a deviation from the phonetic principle.[7] The morphosyntactic contrast between accusative and partitive object cases marks telicity, with accusative denoting completed actions and partitive incomplete ones.[8] Finite verbs agree with subject nouns in person and number through suffixes, and there is a so-called "passive voice" that differs from a true passive.[9] The Finnish Standards Association SFS is named in a source about orthographic recommendations for the letters š and ž.[10]

Because Finnish lacks voiced sibilants, many speakers either pronounce all those sounds as sh or differentiate only between š and ž.[7] Derivational morphology marks transitivity distinctions, for instance ratkaista 'to solve something' versus ratketa 'to solve by itself'.[9]

References

  1. Wikipedia, "Finnish language" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Öst, "Recent Legal Developments in Sweden: What Effect for Finnish and Meänkieli Speakers?", European Yearbook of Minority Issues Online, 2013, p. 563–582 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  2. Wikipedia, "Finnish language" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Viitso, Tiit-Rein, "Finnic Affinity", 2000 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  3. Wikipedia, "Finnish language" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Yleiskieli", Kotimaisten kielten keskus (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  4. Wikipedia, "Finnish language" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Hakulinen, Auli et al. (2004): Iso suomen kielioppi. SKS:n toimituksia 950. Helsinki: Suomalaisen Kirjallisuuden Seura. . 1,600 pages (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  5. Wikipedia, "Finnish language" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Kirmse, "Modulation of the mismatch negativity (MMN) to vowel duration changes in native speakers of Finnish and German as a result of language experience.", International Journal of Psychophysiology, 2008, p. 131–143 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  6. Wikipedia, "Finnish language" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Yli-Vakkuri, "Onko suomen kielen astevaihtelu epäproduktiivinen jäänne?", Sananjalka, 1976 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  7. Wikipedia, "Finnish language" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Saukkonen, "Kirjaimet š ja ž suomen kielenoikeinkirjoituksessa", KOTUS, 30 January 1998 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  8. Wikipedia, "Finnish language" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Kratzer, "The Syntax of Time", The MIT Press, 2004, p. 389–424 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  9. Wikipedia, "Finnish language" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Kiparsky, "Generative Approaches to Finnicand Saami Linguistics", CSLI Publications, 2003, p. 109–161; Shore, "On the so-called Finnish passive", Word, December 1988, p. 151–176 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  10. Saukkonen, "Kirjaimet š ja ž suomen kielenoikeinkirjoituksessa", KOTUS, 30 January 1998. facts only, no text reused. mlang.name

Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Finnish language (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.

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