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 possesses b, g, z, and ṅ. 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, kk are reduced to single consonants; p, t, k, s become b, d, g, z; b becomes w or disappears, and d, g, z disappear. 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. Thus tīb, urk, rind, toit, rid form the genitives tīwa, urga, rinna, toidu, riu; and the verbs pühkima, uskuma, prūkima, hoidma form pühin, 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 the n of the termination, and the other cases the final vowel. The plural takes d in the nominative and i in the other cases. The pronouns resemble Finnish, but the 3rd person singular and plural is the demonstrative tema or nema in Esthonian, Livonian, and Votish, but Vepsish has hän, 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 with ne has, except in the Dorpat dialect, been almost entirely lost. The 3rd person singular present ends regularly in b, and the 3rd plural in wad. The preterite is sometimes formed with simple i, but generally with si, and the conditional with ksi. The imperative 2nd singular has no termination, but as in Finnish the root is weakened. The other persons are characterised by gu or ge. The passive is formed by affixing ta + k + se in the present, and ta + i (ti) in the preterite. The negative verb for the imperative is ärä, ärgu, ärge, but in the other forms Esthonian does not affix personal endings to the negative, but uses ei with all persons. Similarly Livish has äb or ab for all persons except the second, where ad is 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 in takse and the conditional in kse) 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 relationship of 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 in n, an accusative in m or p (cf. Lappish), a dative in ni or n, a locative in nan (cf. Finnish na), and an instrumental in se. There are three numbers, the dual is characterised by g or hā (cf. gen. in Ostiak, ag in Vogul), and the plural is formed with la or t (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 for man as the 1st person singular, and some form of the same word for the plural; tan for the second singular, and te, ten, or ši for 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 Ostiak ten, Cheremissian tidä, and Syrjenian si̱a. The pronominal affixes are also extraordinarily numerous and varied, but they seem to include m for the 1st singular, t or d for the 2nd, jea (cf. Magyar ja) for the 3rd; mu or met for the 1st plural, and ta or tet for the 2nd. The interrogative pronouns are kutö, hübea, hoke, etc., who, and ma, 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 adding s, which occurs as a preterite suffix in Cheremissian, Mordvinian, Vogul, and Ostiak. The conjunctive is formed with nji, ne, na (cf. the Finnish ne). The imperative is formed with the syllable kar, gar, har (cf. Finnish ka). There is also an optative with the suffix rava, so perhaps kar is ka-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 Samoyede ōker, one, shows a faint resemblance to yhte, and sidea, or sede, two, has been compared with kahte, but such analogies are doubtful. Only the number seven, sin, sjelde, sjaibua shows 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, for nine, lutsa-ju, Russian big number for ten), and that in many cases Turkish numbers have been borrowed (cf. tjet, tet, four, with Yakut tüört and kamass, khera 40, iliχ 50, althon 60, with Turkish kirk, 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). Thus lūtsa means a 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.

A FINNISH GRAMMAR.

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 (or w), y, ä, ö.

German characters are sometimes used, in which case w always represents the v sound. In the Roman character v and w are used indifferently to express the sound of the English v.

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 softened t (vide changes 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 between r and l, and in the Eastern dialect entirely omitted. Educated people, however, pronounce it as in English. Thus the educated pronunciation of the genitive case of sota is sodan; but in dialects the forms soran, solan, or soan are found. The letter d is always omitted in the Kalevala, which is written in the Karelian dialect.

G, except in a few foreign words, is only found in the combination ng, representing an original nk, pronounced as in English. In the neighbourhood of St. Petersburg this letter is never used, k taking its place.

H is a stronger aspirate than in English, and is almost the Russian x or German ch. It is heard very distinctly at the end of syllables, e.g. in tehdä.

J is the English y in yes or yard.

The remaining letters of the Roman Alphabet b, c, f, q, x, z, and the Swedish å (pronounced o) are sometimes met with in foreign words, but an uneducated Finn will always pronounce b and f as p and v, and is also incapable of producing such sounds as the English ch and sh, which when occurring in Russian names are generally represented in a Finnish mouth by simple s.

There is also a slight aspiration found at the end of some words, as veneʻ, 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 these g and d are 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 words strand (shore), and spel (game), appear as ranta, 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.

A is the Italian a (English a in rather or father), but pronounced quicker. It is always short.

E is the English e in met.

I is the English i in bit.

O is the English o in hot.

U is the English u in bull.

Y is the German ü in über.

Ä, which must be carefully distinguished from A, is the short English a heard in hat, or trap, and must not be pronounced as the English a in late. Thus hän, he, is pronounced exactly like hand without the final d. At the end of words (e.g. työtä) ä is more difficult for an Englishman to pronounce, as the sound is not found in English as a final.

Ö is like the French eu.

It is very important to observe that the simple vowels are all short sounds. The corresponding long sounds are written by doubling the vowel.

Aa is a long Italian a, like the a in rather, whereas the sound of simple a is shorter than that which we (generally) give to the vowel in this word.

Ee is like the English a in pale, late.

Ii is the English ee in keen, three.

Oo is the English o in hope.

Uu is the English oo in boot.

Yy is the German ü, pronounced long.

Ää is the a in had, but long. It is a rather difficult sound, but can be obtained by lingering over the vowel of had or man, taking care not to change its quality.

Öö is the sound of the simple ö lengthened.

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 in u. au, ou, iu, eu. Kauppa, sale, koulu, school, hiukka, a grain, leuka, chin.

(b) Two ending in y: äy, öy. Väylä, river bed, höyhen, feather.

(c) Seven ending in i: 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 in i, are found only in the first syllable of words, otherwise the two vowels form two syllables: e.g. tapa-us, not tapa͡us, kope-us, not kope͡us, but talko͡issa, 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 that au, though very near the ow in the English how, is not quite like it. The pronunciation of äy and öy requires 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).

But ó-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 as howéver, 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 word menemme (we come), three things are to be observed. The accent is on the first syllable, the n is single and not double, and the m is doubled. An Englishman, who has not learned how to pronounce, will in all probability say not menemme, but menneme. This is because he finds it natural to double the n after the accented syllable and hard to double the m, without accenting the second syllable. It must be observed, that:—

(1) The simple consonants are pronounced very lightly; tuli, fire, nearly rhymes to the English fully, but the l is 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. Púhuu must not be pronounced as if it were Puhúu, or puúhu.

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, tuli is a 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. Kylä is a village, but kyllä, enough. Pitää, to hold, pyytää, to ask, peittää, to cover, peite, a covering, pöytä, a table.

Of the Formation of Syllables and Words.

A syllable ending in a simple vowel or diphthong is called open: 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, not pall-o.

1. (1) At the end of the first syllable of a word two consonants are tolerated, provided the first be l, r, n, or m, and the second k, t, p, or s. 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 consonants n, 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-tä becomes syöstä: avaim (for avaime) becomes avain.

One of the most characteristic features of the Finnish language is what is called the Harmony 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, ay or äu are 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 word vieras, the succeeding vowels must be either hard or neutral: vierahaksi (transitive case).

(b) If the vowel of the second syllable is either soft or 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 -lta or -ltä: maa, maalta, but työ, työltä.

The hard and soft vowels are never found coexisting in any simple Finnish word, but there is no objection to such a compound as kirkko-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 as voulu, or du tout has, if not accustomed to the language, a tendency to say voulou, du tut, making the two vowels the same, because the sudden change in the position of the pronouncing organs required to say u or ou, 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 say repinyt and not repinut. 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.

CHANGES OF SOUNDS.

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.

A. Changes of Vowels.

I. The Long Vowels and Diphthongs.

3. The long vowels are always shortened when followed by i, that is to say, the vowel is written once and not twice. Thus maa, earth, which takes an i in all the cases in the plural except the nominative, forms maita, maitten, maiksi, etc., not maaita; puu, tree, puita, puiden, puiksi.

4. The diphthongs with the accent on the second vowel, uo, yö, ie, when followed by i, reject the first vowel, and thus form a new diphthong—työ, work, becomes in the plural töistä, töissä, töiksi, etc.; vien, I lead, vein (vie-in), I led; luo, he creates, loisi (luo-isi), he would create.

5. Diphthongs ending in i reject this i if another i follows, uin, I swim, uin (for ui-in), I swam.

In the root käy, to go, y is changed into v before a vowel—e.g. käy-in becomes kävin.

II. Short Vowels.

The simple vowels o, ö, u, y are invariable, but a, ä, e, i are subject to certain changes in the last syllable of a root.

A. Ä.

When the vowels A and Ä at the end of a root are followed by the i characteristic of the imperfect tense, or plural, they undergo the following changes:—

6. (1) Ä is always rejected in disyllables—e.g. heitän, I throw, heitin, I threw.

7. (2) A at the end of disyllabic roots is rejected before i, if the vowel of the first syllable is o, u, uu, ou, uo, oi, or ui: but is changed into o if that vowel is a, e, i, aa, ii, ai, au, ei, eu, ie, or iu. Thus ottavat, they take, past ottivat (for ottaivat); 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 final a is preceded by t, can change it into o, but generally reject it, ahtoi or ahti: kaartoi or kaarti.

8. Derivatives of verbs in ma, ja, va, always reject the a: sanova, sanovia; ottaja, ottajia; puhuva, puhuvia.

9. (3) Polysyllabic verbs always reject a and ä in the imperfect. Odotan, I wait, odotin, I waited, etc. The rejection also takes place in polysyllabic substantives ending in -mpa, -mpä, and derivatives in va, vä, sa, sä, and those where h or any vowel but i precedes the final a, e.g. vanhempa, vanhemmille; sanova, sanovina; vieraha, vierahille; kapea, kapeita. But should the final a be preceded by two consonants, or the penultimate syllable contain the vowel i, a and ä become respectively o and ö; asia, a thing, asioissa; karitsa, a lamb, karitsoita; kynttilä, a candle, kynttilöitä, candles. But the words isäntä, emäntä always reject i, isännille, emännille.

10. (4) In cases which come under none of these heads, e.g. such a word as peruna, potatoe, a, ä can be either dropped or changed to o, ö, perunia or perunoita, partitive case plural.

11. (5) a and ä change to e before the comparative suffix -mpa in disyllabic words, and before the suffix ta, tta, of the passive. Vanha, old, comparative vanhempi; istutan, I plant, istutetaan, passive.

12. (6) The nominative sing. of superlatives (stem -impa), and of caritive adjectives (stem -toma), drops a: kovimpa becomes kovin (by rules 24, 46); and viattoma, innocent, viaton (46).

13. (7) a, ä become i in the nominative sing. of comparatives, stem kovempa, nominative kovempi.

E.

14. (1) E is always rejected before i. Kive-illä becomes kivillä, with stones; Mere-illä, Merillä.

15. (2) Dissyllables ending in e always change that vowel to i in the nominative singular. Stems, mere, sea, tuule, wind, nominatives, meri, tuuli.

The only important exceptions to this rule are the words itse, self, and kolme, three. Nukke, a doll, is also found, and sine, blue, is used as well as sini.

The stem miehe, man, makes mies in the nominative sing.

16. (3) Polysyllabic stems ending in e reject it in the nominative sing. Stem, sisare; nominative, sisar, a sister.

17. (4) The final e of a disyllabic stem disappears in nouns before terminations commencing with t, and in verbs before terminations beginning with k or n, provided that e is preceded by any simple consonant but k, p, v, m, or by a double consonant of which the last letter is t or s (except ht). Thus from the stem une (sleep), vuore (mountain), vete (water) (nominative, vesi), come the forms unta, vuorta, vettä, and from the verbal stems tule (come), mene (go), such forms as tulkaa, tullut (for tulnut), menkää. Lapse, a child, forms lasta, for lapsta; veitse, a knife, veistä for veitstä.

But e remains in the verbs potea, to fall ill, tuntea, to know, and in itse, self, suksi, snowshoe, sääksi, a gnat, ripsi, an eyelash, viiksi, a moustache, which form their partitives in itseä, suksea, etc.

18. But in disyllabic words e is not rejected if preceded by k, p, v, or m. Thus the stems joke, river, läpe, a hole, kive, stone, Suome, Finland, form their partitives jokea, läpeä, kiveä, Suomea.

19. Likewise e remains in disyllables where it is preceded by ht, or by any two consonants of which the last is not t or s: tähte, star, and lehte, leaf, form tähteä and lehteä. Onne, fortune, and hanhe, goose, onnea and hanhea.

But yksi, one, and kaksi, two (roots yhte and kahte), form yhtä and kahta for yhttä, kahtta. Lumi, snow, is also an exception and forms lunta. Also the verbal stems teke and näke: infinitive, tehdä, nähdä.

20. In polysyllabic words the e is always suppressed: root kysymykse, a question, partitive case, kysymystä for kysymykstä.

I.

21. (1) When i at the end of substantives meets the i of the plural, the first i changes into e, risti, cross, risteissä. This rule is however not always observed, and forms like ristissä are used for the plural. But in other cases, when two i’s meet, the first falls out, pres. etsivät, imp. etsivät, not etsiivät. In old Finnish, words like etseivät are found.

22. (2) When i (generally owing to the dropping of a consonant) is found between two vowels it becomes j. Kaloia becomes kaloja.

23. All these four vowels, a, ä, e, and i, are rejected before the -i of the terminations of the superlative: vanha, old, selkeä, bright, suure, great, auli, liberal, make in the superlative vanhin, selkein, suurin, aulin.

B. Changes of Consonants.

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 rule 16, e is rejected in the nominative sing., and there remains lupauks, which becomes lupaus. But if the second consonant is not one of those allowed to end a word by rule 2, it is rejected and the first only kept. Suurimpi becomes suurimp, and as p is not a possible final letter, m is kept, and by rule 46 (below) becomes n, suurin.

The Softening of the Hard Consonants K, T, P.

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 say kukan than kukkan, if both k’s are carefully pronounced; but an English mouth does not find it easier to say revin than repin. 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 pronounced exceedingly lightly, so that their disappearance is easier than it would be, were they sounded as strongly as in our language.

K.

25. (1) kk becomes k. That is to say, when the final syllable of kukka, flower, becomes closed by the addition of n, one of the k’s is dropped, and we have kukan for kukkan. So kirkko, kirkossa.

26. (2) nk becomes ng. Aurinko, sun, forms the genitive auringon. Kaupunki, town, kaupungin.

27. (3) lk, rk become simply l, r, but if followed by e, lj, rj. For example, jalka, a foot, genitive jalan; märkä, wet, genitive märän; kulke, leave, kuljen, I leave; särke, break, särjen, I break.

hk generally becomes simply h, but may remain unchanged; tuhka, ash, genitive tuhan, but sometimes tuhkan; sähkö, electricity, genitive sähön. In old Finnish such forms as tuhvan are found.

28. (4) Between two vowels k generally is lost altogether when the syllable is closed; tako, forge, taon, I forge; vika, a fault, genitive vian.

If the k is preceded by a diphthong ending in i or by simple i, a j is developed when k falls out: thus aika, time, poika, boy, ikä, life, make ajan, pojan, ijän. Similarly when k falls out between two u’s or two y’s, a v is developed, at any rate in pronunciation. The orthography varies between uu and uvu, but the latter is generally adopted when there is any ambiguity, e.g. puvun, from puku, clothes, not puun, because this is liable to be confused with puun, the genitive of puu, a tree; suvun from suku, a family; but suun from sun, a month; luvun from luku, a number, but luun from luu, a bone.

29. (5) sk, tk remain unchanged, lasku, laskun, itku, itkun.

T.

30. (1) tt becomes t, opetta, teach, opetan, I teach.

31. (2) lt, rt, nt become ll, rr, nn. Pelto, field, pellon; parta, beard, parran; kanta, base, kannan.

32. (3) After a vowel or h, t becomes d. Pata, pot, padan; tahto, wish, tahdon[7].

P.

33. (1) pp becomes p. Pappi, priest, papin.

34. (2) mp becomes mm, stem kovempa, harder, kovemman.

35. (3) In other cases p becomes v. Lepo, rest, levon; repi, tear, revin; halpa, cheap, halvan.

36. N.B.—This softening of k, 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 the i of 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. Though tapa + n becomes tavan, tapa + nsa remains tapansa.

OTHER CHANGES OF CONSONANTS.

T, meeting with the vowel i, under certain circumstances becomes s.

37. T in the last syllable of a word, when preceded by a vowel or by l, n, r, becomes s when a final e is rejected or changed into i. E.g. in the nominative of the root vete, water, the final e becomes i by rule, and t changes to s, forming vesi. Similarly when the final e of hyvyyte, goodness, is rejected t becomes s, forming the nominative hyvyys; so also jälte becomes jälsi, and varte, varsi.

38. T also becomes s before i in the plural of ordinal numbers whose stem ends in -nte. E.g. the essive singular of stem neljänte, fourth, is neljäntenä; in the plural the corresponding case is neljänsinä, for neljäntinä.

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 stem suuruute (e.g. essive suuruutena), but forms in the plur. suuruuksina, etc. So also from hyvyyte, goodness, comes from the sing. hyvyytenä, and the plur. hyvyyksinä.

40. T in the last syllable of a verb, preceded by a double vowel or l, n, r, changes to s before the i of the imperf., the vowels a, ä being suppressed. Thus from pyytää, to ask, comes pyysi (for pyytäi); from taitaa, can, taisi. But pitää, to hold, makes piti, because this vowel is simple.

Nousee, he arises, forms the imperfect nousi, but noutaa, he brings, makes nouti, to distinguish it from the other. Similarly kyntää, to plough, generally forms its imperfect kynti, to distinguish it from the same tense of kynsiä, to scratch.

In poetry forms like kielti, for kielsi, are found, and in the ordinary language a number of verbs which should by the above rule form the imperfect in si, either keep ti, as hoiti (hoitaa, to look after), jouti (joutaa, to have time), or have alternative forms, hääti or hääsi (häätää, to keep off), sääti or sääsi (säätää, to place), kiiti or kiisi (from kiitää, to hasten), hyyti or hyysi (hyytää, to freeze), syyti or syysi (syytää, throw out), sieti or siesi (sietää, to bear), jäyti or jäysi (jäytää, to gnaw).

T always becomes s in the imperfect of contracted verbs, lupata, to promise, pres. lupaan, impf. lupasin.

The combination ts is pronounced in dialects as tt or ht; e.g. metsä, a forest, appears as mettä or mehtä.

41. K before t, d, n becomes h. E.g. from the root teke, whose final vowel is liable to be rejected, come tehtiin, tehdään, tehnen, and also tehkää.

42. But h before s becomes k. Thus the stems yhte, one, kahte, two, haahte, a ship, form the nominatives yksi, kaksi, haaksi, te becoming si by the rules previously given, and h changing to k.

43. In contracted words (v. page 18) h, when left as a final letter, becomes s, t, or the aspiration. Stem vieraha, nominative vieras, for vierah; stem kevähä, nominative kevät, for kevähä; stem venehe, nominative veneʻ, for venehe.

Though the above rules are given as being convenient for grammatical purposes, there is no doubt that in all these cases h is a weakening of some other letter; indeed, there is reason to think it is never original in Finnish. Vieras represents an original vierasa, and the genitive vierasan is weakened into vierahan and vieraan. Similarly in yksi, yhden, the k is more primitive.

44. N, after l, n, s, is frequently, though not always, assimilated, especially in verbs. Thus tul-nut, pur-nut, pes-nyt, become tullut, purrut, pessyt.

45. In polysyllabic verbs n becomes t before k and t. Thus root pakene makes in the imperative paetkaa (for pakenkaa, which becomes first paketkaa) and infinitive paeta. (The steps are pakenetaʻ, pakentaʻ, pakettaʻ, paettaʻ, paeta.)

46. M, at the end of a word, always becomes n. Stem avaime, a key, nominative avain, for avaim. Similar is the formation of the nominatives of superlatives: kovimpi becomes kovimp by rejection of the final vowel, and then kovim (rule 24), which changes to kovin.

47. M also becomes n before terminations beginning with t or n. Thus the stem rahattoma, moneyless, shortened to rahatom, makes rahatonta and rahatonna in the partitive and essive cases.

Contraction.

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 (h in nouns or t in verbs) falls out. Thus, vierahan becomes viera͡an (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 being a or ä. 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 is o, e, or ö. Thus lankean (I fall), kokoan (I collect), become lankeen, kokoon. But the contraction of ia or ua to ii, uu is rare.

Forms like silee, ainoo for sileä, ainoa are 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) The a or ä of the partitive sing. with the final vowel of roots ending in a or ä forms a long vowel, e.g. jalka-a, leipä-ä become jalka͡a, leipä͡ä.

(2) When the e of a termination becomes i after the final vowel of a root, this i forms a diphthong with that vowel, e.g. korvaen becomes korva͡in; and when the i of 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 of k are often contracted in pronunciation: te͡en, nä͡in from teken, näkin, are pronounced as one syllable.

NOUNS.

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: thus taloiltansa, meaning from his farms, is made up from the root talo, and the suffixes i (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. Root vete, water, closed form veden.

(2) The shortened form, paimen for paimene.

(3) A form both closed and shortened. tantere, nominative tanner.

Declension.

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 word maalta corresponds to the English from land, only the from is put after land, and the two are written as one word. maalta is 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 find maa-ssa, but työ-ssä.

These fifteen cases are as follow:—

(1) The nominative has no suffix, though it does not always represent the pure root. In maa, land, the two are identical, but the roots käte, vete, vieraha produce the nominatives käsi, vesi, vieras.

(2) The partitive is formed by the suffix ta, tä or a, ä. It may be roughly described as answering to a noun preceded in English by the word some, or in French by the partitive article. Leipää, some bread, du pain; vettä, some water, de l’eau.

(3) The genitive is formed by the suffix n. Puun, of the tree.

The Finnish genitive really represents two cases, the genitive and accusative, which have become confused in one form.

(4) The inessive expresses the place, in which anything takes place, and is formed with the suffix -ssa, -ssä. Missä, where (in what); kirkossa, in the church.

(5) The elative expresses 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) The illative is formed by adding to the root the consonants h—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 of h, and we have forms like taloon, metsään. It expresses the place into which motion takes place.

(7) The adessive is 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) The ablative is formed with the suffix -lta, -ltä, and expresses motion from. Maalta, from the land; pöydältä, from the table.

(9) The allative expresses motion towards, and is formed with the suffix -lle. Pellolle, to the field; rannalle, to the shore.

(10) The abessive is formed with the suffix -tta. It expresses the absence of something; rahatta, without money.

(11) The prolative is 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) The translative is 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 the essive, formed by adding -na or -nä to the root, expresses a state of being regarded as continuous. Lapsena, as a child.

(14) The comitative is formed with the syllable -ne, and is generally used in the plural, and with a possessive affix. Lapsine (or oftener lapsinensa), with his children.

(15) The instructive is formed by simply adding the letter n to 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 adding t to the root, e.g. root and nominative sing. maa, nominative plur. maat; root and nominative sing. pata, nominative plur. (by rule 31) padat; root vieraha, nominative sing. vieras, nominative plur. vierahat; root vete, nominative sing. vesi, nominative plur. vedet.

B. The other cases, with the exceptions below mentioned, simply add i to 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. patahan or pataan, illative plur. patoihin (7); vieraha, translative sing. vierahaksi or vieraaksi, translative plur. vierahiksi or vieraiksi (11).

C. But the genitive plural is formed with the suffix -ite (apparently a combination of the two suffixes i and t(e) above mentioned), placed before the case suffix -n.

This suffix is found in three forms:—

(1) ite + n becomes regularly -iden, maiden.

(2) Monosyllabic roots and polysyllabic roots ending with a long vowel have a strengthened form, -itte-n, often found alternating with -ide-n, e.g. maitten, vierahitten.

(3) The t drops out and the suffix becomes simply -ie-n, e.g. jalka-iten becomes (rule 7) jalko-iten, then jalko-ien, then (rule 21) jalkojen; äiti-iten becomes äititen, and then äitien. Sometimes the i or j drops 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 termination m or ma, as is proved by a comparison of the other languages of the family (Ostiak and Vogulian ma, me, or m; Tcheremissian and Syrjenian m). As m cannot be a final in Finnish, it becomes n, 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 pronoun ta suffixed 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 find tuonnek, tännek instead of the ordinary tuonne, tänne, thither, hither. In written Finnish this termination is only used in a few adverbs, as sinne, thither, muuanne, to another place. Alle, päälle, and ylle are also apparently for al-ne, pääl-ne, yl-ne. In the expression Jumalan kiitos, thanks be to God, Jumalan appears 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 of s, the other by that of l.

We have:—

The Essive in na and Excessive in n-ta are 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 been taka or taha, which is considered by some as identical with the word taka, back. Besides the regular termination in -tta, the forms -ta and -t are found in dialects, and -ti in 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 the regular 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, and i, of which t and i are found in Finnish. It has been suggested that the t and k are really identical, k not being allowable as a final letter. It is not improbable that i may be the remains of a k weakened to j (cf. 26, 27).

There are no genders in Finnish.

The simplest way of dividing the declensions is by the form of the Partitive case.

The first declension has the partitive ending in ta or tä, after a long vowel or diphthong.

The second has the partitive ending in a or ä, after a short vowel.

The third has the partitive in ta or tä, after a consonant.

The First Declension.

This declension includes all words ending in a long vowel or a diphthong.

It has the following characteristics:—

(1) The partitive sing. has the suffix ta or tä, 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 -iden or -itten, before which the last vowel of the root is rejected by rule 3 or 4.

(5) Monosyllabic roots form the illative in h—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 -sen and the illative plur. in -sin or -hin. Sing. harmaasen, plur. harmaisin or harmaihin.