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| Proto-Finnic | |
|---|---|
| Proto-Balto-Finnic | |
| Reconstruction of | Finnic languages |
Reconstructed ancestor | |
Proto-Finnic orProto-Baltic-Finnic is the common ancestor of theFinnic languages, which include the national languagesFinnish andEstonian. Proto-Finnic is not attested in any texts, but has beenreconstructed by linguists. Proto-Finnic is itself descended ultimately fromProto-Uralic.
Three stages of Proto-Finnic are distinguished in literature.
Views on when and where Proto-Finnic was spoken have varied over the years. Many of the older sources do not recognize Middle Proto-Finnic, recognizing only Early and Late Proto-Finnic:
| Year | Author(s) | Early Proto-Finnic | Middle Proto-Finnic | Late Proto-Finnic | Notes | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1965 | Décsy[1] | c. 400 BC–1 AD | 1–1000 AD | |||||
| 1977 | Sammallahti[2] | c. ...–1000 BC | c. 1000–200 BC | [a] | ||||
| 1981 | Korhonen[3] | c. 1500–1000 BC | c. 1000 BC–1 AD | [b] | ||||
| 2012–2014 | Kallio | c. 1800–500 BC[4] | c. 500 BC–200 AD[4] | split by the end of first millennium AD[5] | ||||
| 2018 | Lang[6] | c. 1200–800..500 BC | c. 800..500 BC–1 AD | c. 1 AD–800 AD | [d] | |||
a. Sammallahti places the divergence of South Estonian from Late Proto-Finnic (myöhäiskantasuomi, which he uses to refer to the stage before that point) at around 600–500 BC.
b. Korhonen recognizes a distinction between Middle and Late Proto-Finnic but does not specify the date of transition.
c. Lang places the transition from Early to Middle Proto-Finnic somewhere between 800–500 BC.
Proto-Finnic is thought to have been spoken around theGulf of Finland, but theories on its earlier location have varied; traditionally it has been considered that Proto-Finnic arrived first on the eastern coast of the Gulf of Finland, but it has also been suggested that Middle Proto-Finnic was spoken in an area in modern-dayEstonia and northeastern parts ofLatvia.[7]
The sounds of Proto-Finnic can be reconstructed through thecomparative method.
Reconstructed Proto-Finnic is traditionally transcribed using theUralic Phonetic Alphabet. The following UPA and related conventions are adopted in this article for transcribing Proto-Finnic forms:
The Proto-Finnic consonant inventory had relatively few phonemic fricatives, much like that of the modern Finnic languages.Voicing was not phonemically contrastive, but the language did possess voiced allophones of certain voiceless consonants.
The table below lists the consonantal phonemes of Late Proto-Finnic.[17][18] Phones written in parentheses representallophones and are not independent phonemes.
| Labial | Dental/ Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasals | *m /m/ | *n /n/ | ([ŋ]) | ||
| Plosives | Voiceless | *p /p/ | *t /t/ | *k /k/ | |
| Voiced | ([b]) | ([d]) | ([ɡ]) | ||
| Affricate | *c/t͡s/ | ||||
| Fricatives | Voiceless | *s /s/ | *h/x/ | ||
| Voiced | ([β]) | ([ð]) | ([ɣ]) | ||
| Trill | *r /r/ | ||||
| Approximant | *v/w/ | *j /j/ | |||
| Lateral | *l /l/ | ||||
Proto-Finnic possessed twophonemic levels ofconsonant duration, short and long (geminate). The contrast itself had been inherited from Proto-Uralic, but was considerably expanded: all consonants except *r, *h, *j and *w could be short or long. The three plosives and the affricate*c/ts/ also possessed a half-long duration ([pˑ],[tˑ],[kˑ] and[tsˑ]), but these appear to have been in complementary (allophonic) distribution with fully long consonants, and therefore are not thought to have been phonemic. They appeared in predictable positions as a result of consonant gradation, like the voiced fricatives.
Consonant gradation was a process oflenition that affected the obstruents. Short plosives became voiced fricatives, while long plosives became half-long:
| Strong grade | Weak grade |
|---|---|
| p | b ([β],[b]) |
| t | d ([ð],[d]) |
| k | g ([ɣ],[ɡ]) |
| s | h[x] |
| pp | p'[pˑ] |
| tt | t'[tˑ] |
| kk | k'[kˑ] |
| cc[tt͡s] | c'[t͡sˑ] |
Voiced plosives occurred after nasals (mb nd ŋg), voiced fricatives in all other weak grade environments.
It is unclear if single*c gradated, and if so, into what. No Finnic language has consonant gradation for former*c, both grades result in the same outcome (mostlys).
Gradation occurred in two different environments, and can therefore be split into two types:
It is unclear whether consonant gradation was a Finnic innovation, or a retention of an old Uralic feature that was lost in most other Uralic branches. It is likely that it was inherited from an earlier stage that was also the ancestor of theSami languages, which have gradation that is very similar to that found in the Finnic languages. However, it was still productive after certain sound changes specific to Finnic, such as the apocope of final*-i, so it was probably present as a phonetic "post-processing" rule (asurface filter) over a long period of time. It is no longer fully productive in any Finnic language, but most languages still retain large amounts of words preserving the earlier alternations.
The Proto-Finnic vowel inventory is reconstructed to a great similarity to that of modern Finnish, although the distribution of the sounds was different. The following table lists themonophthong vowels reconstructable for Proto-Finnic.[17][19]
| Front neutral | Front | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | i, ii /i/,/iː/ | ü, üü /y/,/yː/ | u, uu /u/,/uː/ |
| Mid | e, ee /e/,/eː/ | (ö), öö (/ø/),/øː/ | o, oo, (ë) /o/,/oː/, ([ɤ]) |
| Open | ä, ää /æ/,/æː/ | a, aa /ɑ/,/ɑː/ |
All vowels could occur both short andlong. In Proto-Uralic, rounded vowels/uyo/ (*u,*ü,*o) did not occur in non-initial syllables, but because of sound changes, they emerged in Proto-Finnic.
The short unrounded mid back vowel*ë was not an independent vowel, but appeared as the counterpart of the front vowel*e in the system of harmony. It merged with*e in Northern Finnic. See below under vowel harmony for more details.
The status of short*ö is unclear. It was not present in ancestral Proto-Uralic, and many instances ofö found in modern Finnic languages have only developed after Proto-Finnic, due to various sound changes. For example, Finnish hasöy from*eü:löytä- 'to find',köysi 'rope' < Proto-Finnic*leütä-,*keüci, while Estonian has unrounded the diphthong instead, givingleida- andköis. Shortö was also generally added to the system by researchers for reasons of symmetry, to complete the system of vowel harmony (see below). This happened in Finnishnäkö 'sight' < Proto-Finnic*näko, but not in Voticnäko.
The existence oföö is clear, as this sound had regularly evolved from other combinations of sounds, in words of Uralic origin (e.g.*söö- 'to eat' ← Proto-Uralic*sewi-).
Proto-Finnic also possesseddiphthongs, which were formed by combinations of a short vowel with the vowels/i/,/y/ and/u/, or equivalently with the semivowels/j/ and/w/.
| Front + *i | Front + *ü | Front + *u | Back + *i | Back + *u | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Close | *üi /yi/ | *iü /iy/ | *iu /iu/ | *ui /ui/ | |
| Mid to close | *ei, *öi /ei/,/øi/ | *eü /ey/ | *eu (*ëu) /eu~ɤu/ | *oi /oi/ | *ou /ou/ |
| Open to close | *äi /æi/ | *äü /æy/ | *ai /ɑi/ | *au /ɑu/ |
No length contrast occurred in diphthongs. A long vowel followed by a close vowel as a suffix was shortened: e.g. the imperfect forms of*saa- "to receive",*söö- "to eat" were*sai,*söi. This process is the only reconstructible source of*öi,*üi.
Proto-Finnic is reconstructed with a system ofvowel harmony that is very similar to the one found in modern Finnish. Vowels in non-initial syllables had either a front or a back vowel, depending on the quality of the vowel of the first syllable. If the first syllable contained a front vowel, non-initial syllables would contain front vowels as well, while back vowels in the first syllable would be matched with back vowels in the other syllables. Thus, all inflectional and derivational suffixes came in two forms, a front-harmonic and a back-harmonic form.
Stress was not contrastive. Words were stressed in atrochaic pattern, with primary stress on the first syllable of a word, and secondary stress on every following odd-numbered syllable.
The occurrence of two-vowel sequences was much more restricted in non-initial syllables than in initial syllables. Long vowels were absent, and some diphthongs only occurred as a result of the late contraction of disyllabic*Vji to diphthongal*Vi but were otherwise absent. Some modern Finnic languages have redeveloped long vowels and additional diphthongs in non-initial syllables as a result of the loss of certain consonants (generallyd,g andh).
Root words included at least twomoras, and generally followed the structure CVCV, CVCCV, CVVCV. Rarer root types included monosyllabic roots, CVV, with either a long vowel (e.g.*maa "land, earth";*puu "tree, wood") or a diphthong (e.g.*täi "louse",*käü-däk "to walk"); roots with three syllables: CVCVCV (e.g.*petägä "pine";*vasara "hammer") or CVCCVCV (e.g.*kattila "kettle"); and roots with a long vowel in a closed syllable: CVVCCV (e.g.*mëëkka "sword"). A syllable could begin and end with at most one consonant. Any consonant phoneme could begin or end a syllable, but word-finally only the alveolar consonants (*l,*n,*t,*r,*s and perhaps*c) and the velars*k and*h occurred. Final*-k and*-h were often lost in the later Finnic languages, but occasionally left traces of their former presence.
Word-internal consonant clusters were limited to two elements originally. However, the widespread syncope of-e- (detailed above) could cause a cluster to come into contact with a third consonant. When such innovative large clusters appeared, the result was the deletion of one or more elements in the cluster, usually the first. Likewise, the apocope of-i after two or more syllables could create word-final clusters, which were also simplified. This led to alternations that are still seen, though unproductive, in e.g. Finnish:
Note in the examples of *tuhatta and *kolmatta that Proto-Finnic did not initially tolerate clusters of a sonorant plus a geminate consonant (i.e. clusters like *-ntt-). Through loanwords, analogy and further syncope, these have only later become permissible in the Finnic languages.
Traditionally a single three-consonant cluster*-str- has been reconstructed for a small group of words showing*-tr- in Southern Finnic and in Eastern Finnish,*-sr- in Karelian and Veps, and/-hr-/ in Western Finnish. This has recently been suggested to be reinterpreted as a two-consonant cluster*-cr- with an affricate as the initial member.[20]
All inflectional and derivational endings containing *a or *u also had front-vowel variants withä andü, which matched the vowels in the word stem following the rules of vowel harmony. *o did not follow this rule, as noted above.
Endings which closed the final syllable of a word triggered radical gradation on that syllable. An ending could also open a previously closed syllable, which would undo the gradation. Suffixal gradation affected the endings themselves. For example, partitive *-ta would appear as *-da when added to a two-syllable word ending in a vowel (e.g. *kala, *kalada "fish"), but as *-ta after a third syllable or a consonant (*veci, *vettä "water").
Proto-Finnic nouns declined in at least 13 cases. Adjectives did not originally decline, but adjective-noun agreement was innovated in Proto-Finnic. The plural of the nominative and accusative was marked with the ending *-t, while the plural of the other cases used *-i-. The genitive and accusative singular were originally distinct (genitive*-n, accusative*-m), but had fallen together when final*-m became*-n through regular sound change. Some pronouns had a different accusative ending, which distinguished them.
The following cases were present:[17][21]
| Case | Singular ending | Plural ending | Meaning/use |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nominative | ∅ | *-t | Subject, object of imperative |
| Accusative | *-n (also -t) | *-t | Complete (telic) object |
| Genitive | *-n | *-ten (-den) *-iden | Possession, relation |
| Partitive | *-ta (-da) | *-ita (-ida) | Partial object, indefinite amount |
| Locative cases | |||
| Inessive | *-ssa | *-issa | Being inside |
| Elative | *-sta | *-ista | Motion out of |
| Illative | *-sen (-hen) | *-ihen | Motion into |
| Adessive | *-lla | *-illa | Being on/at |
| Ablative | *-lta | *-ilta | Motion off/from |
| Allative | *-len / *-lek | *-ilen / *-ilek | Motion onto/towards |
| Other cases | |||
| Essive | *-na | *-ina | Being, acting as |
| Translative | *-ksi | *-iksi | Becoming, turning into |
| Abessive | *-tta(k) | *-itta(k) | Without, lacking |
| Comitative | *-nek | *-inek | With, in company of |
| Instructive | *-n | *-in | With, by means of |
The genitive plural was formed in two different ways:
Both types are still found in Finnish, although unevenly distributed. In the western type, the regular loss of-d- after an unstressed (even-numbered) syllable has created forms such as-ain (<*-a-den), which are now archaic, or dialectal.
The reconstructedlocative cases of Proto-Finnic can be classified according to a three-way contrast (to,in andfrom a state) in each of the two series of locative cases:inner–s- ("inside") andouter–l- ("outside", "upon", and other grammaticalized functions to denote "possessor", "instrument", etc.), to give the following system of six locative cases.
| System | Entering | Residing | Exiting |
|---|---|---|---|
| Inner | sVn "into" (illative) | ssA (<*s+nA) "in" (inessive) | stA "from (in)" (elative) |
| Outer | *len, *lek? "onto" (allative) | llA (<*l+nA) "on" (adessive) | ltA "from on" (ablative) |
In the above,A stands for eithera orä depending onvowel harmony, andV for anepenthetic vowel. Note that-nA is reconstructible as theProto-Finno-Ugric locative marker (the ancestor of the Finnicessive case),-tA theseparative ("from") (ancestor of thepartitive case), and–n,–s or–k thelative ("to").
This system is probably a Finnic innovation, although the–s and–l cases have corresponding forms in some other Uralic languages (Sami and Volgaic; and Permian, respectively).[17]
Adjectives formed comparatives using the suffix*-mpa.[17] This suffix survives in all Finnic languages, although in several the nominative has been replaced with-mpi for unclear reasons.
Only the northernmost Finnic languages have a distinct superlative suffix, like Finnish-in ~-impa-. The suffix was possibly originally a consonantal stem*-im(e)-, which was modified to resemble the comparative more closely in Finnish. Its consonantal nature is apparent in an older, now-obsolete essive case form of the superlative in Finnish, which ended in-inna (<*-im-na <*-ime-na with syncope).
Proto-Finnic had a series ofpossessive suffixes for nominals, which acted partly as genitives. These have been lost from productive use in all southern languages (traces remain in e.g. folk poetry). The system given below may therefore represent Proto-Northern Finnic rather than Proto-Finnic proper.
| Possessor | Single possessed | Plural possessed |
|---|---|---|
| First person singular | *-mi | *-nni |
| Second person singular | *-ci ~ *-ti | *-nci |
| Third person singular | *-hA ~ *-sA *-hVn, *-sVn | *-nsA *-nsVn |
| First person plural | *-mVn *-mVk | *-nnVn (*-mmVn?) *-nnVk |
| Second person plural | *-tVn *-tVk | *-ndVn *-ndVk |
| Third person plural | *-hVk ~ *-sVk | *-nsVk |
The original vowels in the plural possessor endings are not settled: evidence exists for both*A (that is,*a ~*ä) and*e.Laakso (2001) recognizes variation only for 1PP and 2PP (giving*A for 3PP).Hakulinen (1979), giving an Early Proto-Finnic paradigm, does not include vowel-final variants for 3PS.
Possessive suffixes were ordered after case endings, and typically attach to the oblique vowel stem: e.g.*sormi:*sorme-mi 'my finger'.
The number-of-possessed contrast is by the 20th century lost everywhere except in the Southeastern Tavastian dialect of Finnish, around the municipalities ofIitti andOrimattila, and even there only in the nominative in the first and second person singular.[22] The original 3PS / 3PP contrast is lost everywhere except Ingrian. In most cases, both ending variants however still remain in use, with different endings generalized in different varieties. Standard Finnish adopts 1PP-mme (derived from the singular possessed series, with analogicalmm based on the verbal inflection), but 1PS-ni, 2PP-nne (derived from the plural possessed series, with regular*nd >nn); and adopts 3PS-nsA in the nominative, illative and instructive (nominativekäte-nsä 'her/his hand'), but-Vn (<*-hen) in all other cases (e.g. inessivekädessä-än 'in her/his hand'). New plurality-of-possessed marking has emerged in the Soikkola dialect of Ingrian, suffixing the usual nominative plural marker-t, e.g.venehe-mme-t 'our boats'.[23]
Old Finnish shows two archaic features in the possessive paradigm: the number-of-possessed contrast (singularpoikaise-mi 'my son', versus pluralluu-ni 'my bones'), and the 2nd person singular ending may attach also to the consonant stem of a nominal, with a non-assibilated ending-ti (the expected regular development before old*s,*t and*h <*š): e.g.rakkaus:rakkaut-ti 'your love',tutkain:tutkain-ti 'your prod' (modern Finnishrakkaute-si,tutkaime-si).[24]
A series of dual possessors has been proposed to account for the two different variants of 3PS, 1PP and 2PP endings; the variants ending in*-n would match with the dual possessor endings inProto-Samic.[25] This hypothesis has not been generally accepted.
Proto-Finnic inherited at least the followinggrammatical moods:[17]
The indicative mood distinguished between present (which also functioned as future) and past tense, while the other moods had no tense distinctions. New "perfect" and "pluperfect" tenses had also been formed. These were created using a form of thecopula *oldak "to be" and a participle.
There were six forms for each mood, for three persons and two numbers. In addition, there were two more forms. One was a form that is often called "passive" or "fourth person", and indicated an unspecified person. The second was the "connegative" form, which was used together with the negative verb to form negated sentences.
All moods except the imperative shared more or less the same endings:[26][17][27]
| Singular | Plural | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Present | Imperfect | ||
| First person | *-n | *-mmek / *-mmak | *-j-mek / *-j-mak |
| Second person | *-t | *-ttek / *-ttak | *-j-dek / *-j-dak |
| Third person | *-pi (-βi), ∅ | *-βat | *-j-∅ |
| Passive | *-tta- + (tense/mood suffix) + *-sen (-hen) | ||
| Connegative | *-k | ||
The first and second person plural endings show evidence (reflected in Savo and Southern Ostrobothnian Finnish and in Karelian) for an earlier present tense marker, assimilated with the following consonant. This is normally reconstructed as *-k- (*-km- > *-mm-, *-kt- > *-tt-), on the assumption of this ending being originally identical with *-k found in the connegative and in the imperative mood.
The variation between forms with *-ek and forms with *-a in the 1st and 2nd person plural reflects a former distinction between the dual and the plural (respectively), although this has not been attested from any Finnic variety. Estonian and Western Finnish continue *-ek, Votic and Eastern Finnic *-a(k).
The third person forms only had an ending in the present indicative. In all other tenses and moods, there was no ending and the singular and plural were identical. The 3rd person singular was entirely unmarked in South Estonian: the Late Proto-Finnic ending had evolved from the participle *-pa during the Middle Proto-Finnic stage, and this innovation had not reached South Estonian, which was already separated.
The imperative had its own set of endings:[17]
| Singular | Plural | |
|---|---|---|
| First person | -ka-da/e-mme/a | |
| Second person | -k | -ka-da/e |
| Third person | -ka-hen | -ka-hen |
| Passive | -tta-ka-hen | |
| Connegative | -ga-k | |
There is also some evidence of a distinctoptative mood, which is preserved in Finnish as-os (second-person singular). It is reconstructed as*-go-s, consisting of the mood suffix*-ko- and the second-person singular ending*-s. This mood suffix gave rise to alternative imperative forms in some languages, such as Finnish third-person singular-koon <*-ko-hen (the plural-koot has-t by analogy) and passive-ttakoon <*-tta-ko-hen.
In addition, there were also several non-finite forms.[28]
| Infinitive I | *-tak (-dak) : *-ta- (-da-) |
|---|---|
| Infinitive II | *-te- (-de-) |
| Gerund ("Infinitive III") | *-ma |
| Action noun ("Infinitive IV") | *-minen : *-mice- |
| Present active participle | *-pa (-ba) |
| Present passive participle | *-ttapa (-ttaba) |
| Past active participle | *-nut |
| Past passive participle | *-ttu |
Proto-Finnic, like its descendants, expressed negation using a special negative verb, functionally highly reminiscent of Indo-European modal auxiliaries. This verb was defective and inflected only in the indicative ("does not", "did not") and the imperative ("do not") moods. The main verb was placed in its special connegative form, and expressed the main mood. The negative verb was alsosuppletive, having the stem*e- in the indicative and variously*äl-,*al-,*är- in the imperative. This has been partially levelled in Votic and most of Eastern Finnic, which show an imperative stem*el-.
| 2nd person singular | 3rd person singular | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| (North) Estonian | ära | ärgu | |
| Finnish | Western | älä,äläˣ | älköön,älköhön |
| Eastern | elä | elköön | |
| Karelian | Northern | elä | elkäh |
| Tver | elä | elgäh | |
| Livvi | älä | älgäh | |
| Ingrian | Hevaha | eläɢ | elkkään |
| Soikkola | elä | (elkää) | |
| Lower Luga | elä | (elkö) | |
| Votic | Lower Luga | elä | (elko) |
| Central | elä,älä | elkoo,älkoo | |
| Eastern | eläɢ | elkoon | |
| Veps | ala | algaha,augaha,ougaha | |
| Livonian | alā | algõ | |
Past tense inflection was based on the stem *es-. This is retained as a separate category only in South Estonian and Livonian, but lost in all other Finnic languages. replaced by a construction of present tense of the negative verb, plus past active participle. The distinctiveKodavere dialect of Estonian, however, adopts this and not the present stem as the basic negative verb stem:esin "I didn't",esid "you (sg.) didn't",es "s/he didn't" etc.[29]
Originally, the negative verb may have had participles and other moods as well. However, no clear traces of moods other than the indicative are found in any Finnic language. A remnant of what may be either a present active participle or an archaic third-person singular present form survives in the prefix*epä- "un-, not" (Finnishepä-, Estonianeba-), while a remnant of a 2nd infinitive instructive may survive in dialectal Finnisheten- "without doing".[36]
Negation of non-finite constructions was expressed using the abessive case of the infinitives or participles.
The following is an overview of the more important changes that happened after the Proto-Finnic period.
These changes happened very late in the Proto-Finnic period, but as South Estonian developed somewhat differently, it shows that dialectal diversification was beginning to occur around this time.
In South Estonian,*p and*k assimilate to a following dental obstruent, while*t assimilates to*k, and*čk remains distinct from*tk.
| (Pre)-Finnic | South Estonian (Võro) | Other Finnic (North Estonian, Finnish) |
|---|---|---|
| *čk (*kačku "plague") | *tsk (katsk) | *tk (katk,katku) |
| *tk (*itku "cry") | *kk (ikk) | *tk (itk,itku) |
| *kt (*koktu "womb") | *tt (kõtt) | stressed*ht (kõht,kohtu) unstressed*tt |
| *pt | *tt | stressed*ht unstressed*tt |
| *kc (*ükci "one") | *ts (üts') | *ks (üks,yksi) |
| *pc (*lapci "child") | *ts (lats') | *ps (laps,lapsi) |
| *ks (maksa "liver") | *ss (mass) | *ks (maks,maksa) |
| *ps | *ss | *ps |
In all Finnic dialects, original*pt and*kt have the same reflex. It is therefore impossible to distinguish them in reconstruction, unless there is additional internal evidence (in the form of grammatical alternations) or external evidence (from non-Finnic languages).
The non-geminated*c becomes*s generally: Proto-Finnic*veci "water",*cika "pig",*-inen:*-ice- (adjective suffix) > Finnishvesi,sika,-(i)nen:-(i)se-. However, occasionallyts ords remains in South Estonian: Võrotsiga,-ne:-dse- or-se- (butvesi). The merging of*c and*s often makes it impossible to distinguish the two sounds using Finnic evidence alone, ifinternal reconstruction is not viable (e. g., fromt ~s alternations from assibilation).
The geminate affricate*cc generally remains, often spelled⟨ts⟩. In Karelian, Votic and some Finnish dialects, the two grades remain distinguished (in Karelian as⟨čč⟩:⟨č⟩, in Votic as⟨tts⟩ ~⟨ts⟩). In all other Finnic languages the two grades fall together (written in Veps as⟨c⟩, as⟨ts⟩ in the others).
In early Finnish, both grades were fronted to interdentalθθ:θ, which in most dialects later changed into a variety of other dialect-specific sounds. Examples found are gradation patternstt:t,ht:h,ht:t,ss:s or non-gradatingtt orht. In early written Finnish, the interdental fricatives are written as⟨tz⟩ (for both grades) in the earliest records, which in Standard Finnish has led to thespelling pronunciation /ts/ (treated as a consonant cluster and hence no longer subject to consonant gradation).
In the southern Finnic languages, a new back unrounded mid vowel [ɤ] develops from*e in words with back vowel harmony. For example Proto-Finnic*velka "debt" > Estonianvõlg, Võrovõlg, but > Finnishvelka. South Estonian and Votic show this development in all syllables, so thate andõ become a front and back vowel harmony pair. This may have also occurred in the earlier history of north (Standard) Estonian, but vowel harmony was later abandoned, undoing the change if it did occur.
In South Estonian,õ in front of a nasal is raised to a central unrounded vowel [ɨ] (represented orthographically as⟨y⟩), parallel to the development of the other mid vowels. E.g. Võroynn', Estonianõnn "luck"; Võroryngas, Estonianrõngas "ring".
In Estonian and Votic, more rarely Livonian, instances ofõ also develop by unrounding of earlier short*o. The detailed history of this change is unclear and shows much variation even between individual dialects of (North) Estonian.[37] The development of*o toõ is the most general in Votic (if recent loanwords from Ingrian, Finnish and Russian are discounted)[38] and in the Kodavere dialect of Estonian.[39] Three main groups can thus be distinguished:[40]
| Proto-Finnic | Votic | Estonian | Võro | Livonian | Finnish | Meaning | Unrounding in |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| *hopëda | õpõa | hõbe | hõpõ | õ'bdõ | hopea | "silver" | All Southern Finnic varieties |
| *kova | kõva | kõva | kõva | kõvā | kova | "hard" | |
| *souta- | sõutaa | sõudma | sõudma | sõidõ | soutaa | "to row" | |
| *votta- | võttaa | võtma | võtma | võttõ | ottaa | "to take" | |
| *korva | kõrva | kõrv | kõrv | kūora | korva | "ear" | South Estonian, North Estonian and Votic |
| *olki | õltši | õlg | olg' | vȯļg | olki | "hay" | |
| *pohja | põhja | põhi | põhi,põha | pū'oj | pohja | "bottom" | |
| *sormi | sõrmi | sõrm | sõrm' | suoŗm | sormi | "finger" | |
| *kota | kõta | koda | koda | kuodā | kota | "house" | Only in Votic and Kodavere Estonian |
| *oja | õja | oja | oja,uja | vȯja | oja | "ditch" | |
| *oksa | õhsa | oks | oss | oksā | oksa | "branch" | |
| *tohti- | tõhtia | tohtima | toht'ma | tū'odõ | tohtia | "to dare" |
A particularly interesting[editorializing] example is "to take", which suggests that at least some instances of this change preceded the general Finnic loss of word-initial*v- before rounded vowels, which affected Finnish and the rest of Northern Finnic (which kept a rounded vowel) but not Estonian and the rest of Southern Finnic (which unrounded the vowel). It therefore must have occurred very early, in dialectal Proto-Finnic times.
In a small number of words, Estonian and Voticõ can be additionally found in correspondence to North Finnica oru. Livonian and South Estonian might align with either side, depending on the word. E.g.[41]
Short final vowels are lost after long syllables (two consonants or a syllable with a long vowel or diphthong) in Veps, partly Ludian, both North and South Estonian, and most Southwestern dialects of Finnish. For example, Proto-Finnic*kakci "two",*neljä "four",*viici "five" > Estoniankaks,neli,viis, Vepskaks',nel'l',viž, Võrokatś,nelli,viiś, but > standard Finnishkaksi,neljä,viisi. This change occurred before the loss of final consonants (if any), as vowels that were originally followed by a consonant were not lost. The loss of final*-i leaves phonemic palatalization of the preceding consonant in many languages, on which see below.
Colloquial Finnish loses word-finali under more limited conditions, in particular afters (e.g.kaks "two",viis "5"; inflectional endings such asaamuks "for/to the morning" (translative),talos "your house" (2nd person singular possessive),tulis "would come" (3rd person singular conditional)) as well as word-finala/ä from several inflectional endings (e.g. inessive-s(s), elative-st, adessive-l(l), ablative-lt).
Ingrian also has word-finali-reduction, sometimes obligatory, but more often optional. Thus,*kakci >kaks,*viici >viis, but*suuri >suur,suuri,*peeni >peeni,peen,*keeli >keeli,keel. In the Soikkola, Hevaha and Ylä-Laukaa dialects of Ingrian, the word-finala/ä in inflectional endings often reduce as well (e.g. inessive-s, elative-st, adessive-l, ablative-lt), and a short vowel preceding these endings, unless directly following a short stressed syllable, is elongated. Moreover, the Ala-Laukaa dialect of Ingrian developed a more complex system of vowel reduction in any unstressed syllable unless immediately following a short stressed syllable.
In Livonian, all short final vowels except*a and*ä are lost, thus giving*kakci >kakš as in Estonian, but also*veci "water" >ve'ž, while no vowel was lost in*neljä >nēļa,*kala "fish" >kalā.
Unstressed*o merges into*u in Northern Estonian.
Vowel harmony is lost in Estonian, Livonian and partly Veps, but not South Estonian or Votic. For example, Proto-Finnic*külä "village" > Estonianküla and Livoniankilā, but > Finnishkylä, Vepskülä, Votictšülä, Võrokülä. In Finnish and Karelian, vowel harmony was retained and extended to*o as well, creating a new vowel*ö in words with front vowel harmony.
Many languages in the Southern Finnic group, as well as again Veps and Southwestern Finnish, show loss of unstressed vowels in medial syllables. In these languages, vowel length is lost beforeh early on, while diphthongs are simplified into short vowels.
Palatalized consonants are reintroduced into most varieties other than Western Finnish. The most widespread source is regressive palatalization due to a lost word-final or word-medial*-i (a form ofcheshirization), and consonant clusters with*j as a second member. In several varieties, there is also progressive palatalization, where a diphthong ending in*-i and the long vowel*ii causes palatalization of a following consonant.
Estonian, Votic and Finnish do not have general palatalization, andš occurs almost solely in loanwords, most commonly of Russian or German origin. Estonian has positional and phonemic palatalization of medial and final alveolars (except /r/), realized usually as pre-palatalized.
Final*-k was generally lost. It is preserved in some dialects:
Final*-h is widely lost as well. It is preserved:
Traces of both*-k and*-h remain in Finnish, where the consonants became asandhi effect, assimilating to the initial consonant of the following word and lengthening it. This effect does not occur in all dialects and is not represented orthographically, but is often noted with a superscript "ˣ" in reference works. In Western dialects there was also metathesis of*h, which preserved the original*h along with sandhi lengthening, e.g. Proto-Finnic*mureh "sorrow" > Western Finnishmurheˣ (Karelianmureh, Võromurõh/murõq) and Proto-Finnic*veneh "boat" > Western Finnishvenheˣ (Karelian/Vepsveneh, Võrovineh/vineq).Standard Finnish inconsistently adopts some words in their Western Finnish shape (e.g.murhe;perhe "family",valhe "lie"), some in their Eastern Finnish shape (e.g.vene;huone "room").
Final*-n is lost in most of the South Finnic area (as well as widely in modern-day colloquial Finnish). In Votic this triggerscompensatory lengthening of the preceding vowel. The 1st person verbal ending resists the change, and generally remains as-n.
Loss of final consonants followed the loss of final vowels. Thus, vowels followed by a lost consonant were preserved.
The voiced obstruents*b/β,*d/δ and*g/γ that occurred as the weak grades of single plosives were often lost or modified in various ways. The simplest outcomes are in the marginal languages Livonian, Ludic and Veps, where all three are reflected as plain voiced stopsb,d andg respectively regardless of environment. The remaining languages show more complex developments.
*b/β develops relatively uniformly:
The development of*d/δ is more diverse:
*g/γ develops somewhat similar to*d/δ, but with several conditional outcomes:
The loss of consonants often created new long vowels and diphthongs, particularly in non-initial syllables. Compare for example:
In all Finnic languages except Finnish, Northern Karelian, the Ala-Laukaa dialect of Ingrian and Votic (partially), the voiceless (strong grade) obstruent consonants*p,*t,*k and*s, are lenited to voiced or lax voiceless obstruentsb,d,g,z when occurring between voiced sounds. In Veps and Livonian, these new voiced plosives merge with their weak grade counterparts. In Estonians remains voiceless andb,d,g are not fully voiced, instead remaining as lax voiceless consonants[b̥],[d̥],[ɡ̊].
In many Finnic languages, long vowels develop into opening diphthongs by raising the onset, or show general raising instead.[42]
The long mid vowels*oo,*öö and*ee become opening diphthongs/uo̯/,/yø̯/,/ie̯/ in Finnish, Karelian, Lower Luga Ingrian and several marginal dialects of Northern Estonian. In Western Finnish dialects their second component widely becomes more open, producing/uɔ̯/,/yœ̯/,/iɛ̯/ or even/uɑ̯/,/yæ̯/ and either/iæ̯/ or/iɑ̯/ depending on vowel harmony. Diphthongization also occurs in Livonian, but only under certain conditions, and the mid back unrounded long vowelõõ is not affected. In Livonian, the short vowels*o and*e may also diphthongize, leading to a contrast of shortuo,ie/wo/,/je/ with longūo,īe/uːo̯/,/iːe̯/.
In many Ingrian dialects,ee,oo andöö merge withii/iː/,uu/uː/ andyy/yː/.
In South Estonian, raising only occurs in overlong syllables, and results in long close vowelsuu,üü andii.
In Eastern Finnish and Karelian, the low vowels*aa and*ää also diphthongize, becoming Karelianua,yä/iä (in some dialects,oa,öä/eä),Savonianua,iä. In standard Livonian, long*aa of any origin is at a late date generally raised toǭ/ɔː/.
The diphthong*eü is fully labialized toöü in Northern Finnic and South Estonian. In northern dialects of Veps, new long close vowels are created by the raising of several diphthongs:
North Estonian instead unrounds all diphthongs ending in-ü to-i:
In Savonian Finnish, the second element of all diphthongs is lowered:
In Livonian,*au is labialized toou, and*äi is palatalized toei. Following this, the mid diphthongs are smoothed to long vowels under certain conditions:
A variety of languages shows a change of a syllable-final consonant into a vowel. This is not one single change, but several independent developments.
In the Southern Finnic group,*n is lost before*s (< Proto-Finnic*s or*c), with compensatory lengthening of the preceding vowel. For example Proto-Finnic*kanci "lid",*pensas "bush" > Estoniankaas,põõsas, but > Finnishkansi,pensas.
In Western Finnish, stop consonants before a sonorant are vocalized tou. E.g.*kapris "goat",*atra "plough",*kakra "oats" > Finnishkauris,aura,kaura, but > Estoniankaber,ader,kaer, Kareliankapris,atra,kakra. Standard Finnish mostly follows the Western Finnish model. Some notable exceptions includekekri "All Saints' Eve feast",kupla "bubble".
Syllable-final*l is vocalized in Veps at a late date, creatingu-final diphthongs in the northern and central dialects, long vowels in the southern.
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