Finnish consonant gradation
Consonant gradation is the term used for a systematic set of alternations which are widespread in Finnish grammar. These alternations are a form of synchronic lenition. They occur also in other Finnic and Uralic languages; see consonant gradation for a more general overview.
Overview and gradation types
Consonant gradation involves an alternation in consonants between a strong grade in some forms of a word and a weak grade in others. The strong grade usually appears in the nominative singular of nominals and the first infinitive of verbs. However, there are phonologically predictable sets of nominals and verbs where nominatives and infinitives feature the weak grade, while other forms have the strong grade. The consonants subject to this change are plosives when preceded by a vowel, a sonorant, or an. Plosives that are preceded by any other obstruent, or followed by any consonant, do not display gradation. There are two types of gradation present in Finnish; these are detailed below.Quantitative gradation
The first type of gradation affects geminate plosives, these are lenited to non-geminate versions in the weak grade. This type of gradation is called quantitative gradation due to the fact that the duration of a given plosive alternates between grades.| Strong | Weak | Example |
| pp | p | pappi : papit, lamppu : lamput |
| tt | t | katto : katot, kortti : kortit |
| kk | k | pukki : pukit, pankki : pankit |
For quantitative gradation, whether the strong or the weak grade appears is determined phonologically, for the most part. Generally speaking, if there are two syllables in a row, both of which would be closed if gradation did not apply, the consonant that constitutes the onset of the second syllable will be in the weak grade.
As an example, consider the alternation pappi : papit. The nominative singular pappi is syllabified into two syllables, but only the first is closed, thus gradation does not apply. By contrast, the stem pappi- and nominative plural suffix -t would form a word with two adjacent closed syllables, so the strong grade geminate pp appears instead in the weak grade: papit. This alternation has been hypothesized to be a result of a pressure for syllable dissimilation.
Quantitative gradation is still productive, as can be seen from the gradation behavior of loanwords, and may even include new quantitative gradation patterns that are not native to Finnish:
| Strong | Weak | Example |
| bb | b | lobbaan : lobata |
| gg | g | bloggaan : blogata |
Qualitative gradation
The second type of gradation, termed qualitative gradation, involves an alternation between single plosives in the strong grade and various voiced segments in the weak grade. In general, this type of gradation is not predictable phonologically, and is no longer productive. Originally, each voiceless stop altered to its voiced fricative equivalent but in contemporary Finnish, /ð/ is usually now pronounced as /d/, and /ɣ/ disappeared or changed.| Strong | Weak | Example | Notes |
| p | v | läpi : lävet | |
| t | d | katu : kadut | |
| k | ∅ | pako : paot | |
| k | v | puku : puvut, kyky : kyvyt | In the combinations -uku- and -yky-. |
| k | j | jälki : jäljet, kurki : kurjet | When followed by e and preceded by h, l or r. |
Qualitative gradation can feed gliding, making the link between strong and weak forms more opaque. For example, the weak grades of poika 'boy, son' and aika 'time' are pojat and ajat. These are derived first by k > ∅ qualitative gradation, with subsequent i > j gliding and resyllabification.
Some words, however, have truly exceptional qualitative gradation patterns that don't precisely fit into the general scheme explained above. In some words where k might be expected to become j in the weak form, it isn't present altogether, such as in pyyhe : pyyhkeet 'towel'. Alternatively it may remain unchanged, such as in pihka : pihkat 'resin'. These cases contrast with the typical pattern whereby k lenites to j when followed by e and preceded by h, as in pohje : pohkeet 'calf : calves'.
In a subtype of qualitative gradation, the weak grade of a single plosive after a nasal or liquid becomes a copy of the preceding consonant. This is termed assimilative gradation, and can be understood as typical qualitative gradation followed by progressive assimilation.
| Strong | Weak | Example |
| mp | mm | kampi : kammet |
| nt | nn | lento : lennot |
| lt | ll | kielto : kiellot |
| rt | rr | parta : parrat |
| nk | ng | kenkä : kengät |
Scope of gradation
Quantitative and qualitative gradation behave somewhat differently with regard to which words they can apply to. Quantitative gradation is still productive in Finnish, i.e. it is applied to loanwords that enter the language. Personal names and neologisms are likewise affected by quantitative gradation; the personal name Pekka has the genitive form Pekan, and the neologic nickname has the genitive singular form.By contrast, qualitative gradation applies only to words that were inherited from Proto-Finnic or the period shortly after it. It is no longer productive, in that it does not generally apply to loanwords, neologisms, or personal names. However, personal names may in fact be affected by qualitative gradation if derived from a known common noun. Likewise, surnames often feature qualitative gradation, because many Finnish surnames are derived from common nouns, e.g. Mäki : Mäen from mäki : mäen 'hill'.
Speakers may attempt to inflect native words without gradation or other associated morphophonological alternations, if they are previously unfamiliar with the gradational inflection: e.g. paasi 'monolith' will often have the unalternating genitive singular paasin rather than alternating paaden.
The discussion below focuses on gradation as it appears in native vocabulary.
Inverse gradation
Grammars of Finnish may identify words that display "inverse gradation". To understand what this means, it is useful to note that a typical gradation pattern is one where the word stem ends in a vowel, and verbal infinitives and the nominative singular of nominals displays the strong grade, while the first person singular, present tense form of verbs and the genitive singular form of nominals displays the weak grade. An example of standard gradation in the nominal domain is pappi : papit, where the nominative singular pappi shows the strong grade. The nominative plural suffix -t closes the final syllable, causing the weak grade to appear.The inverse pattern arises when the stem ends in a consonant. With consonant-final words, it is the weak grade that appears in the infinitive and nominative singular, while the strong grade is found elsewhere. Consonant stems are thus said to have "inverse gradation" because the dictionary forms of the words exhibit a weak grade and gradate "backwards".
| Type | Stem ends in | Infinitive | present |
| Standard gradation | Vowel | Strong grade | Weak grade |
| Inverse gradation | Consonant | Weak grade | Strong grade |
This state of affairs has a phonological explanation put forward by Paul Kiparsky. As mentioned above, gradation is tied to syllable structure: the strong grade appears when the consonant stands at the beginning of an open syllable, while the weak grade appears when the syllable is closed. In consonant stem nominals, the final consonant itself closes the preceding syllable, while in verbs, the combination of stem-final consonant plus the infinitive ending closes the preceding syllable; thus the weak grade appears for these forms. In the present and genitive singular, an extra e is inserted after the stem, which opens the syllable, hence creating a strong grade.
An example from the nominal domain is the inverse pattern pohjex : pohkeet, where superscript "x" represents the ghost consonant. This consonant closes the second syllable, causing a weak grade. However, when this stem is inflected, an epenthetic e is added. Since the ghost consonant is now syllabified as the onset of the third syllable, the second syllable is no longer closed, and the strong grade k appears. Ghost consonants are not pronounced between vowels, however, so resyllabification applies, yielding as the final version of the stem to which affixes are added.
Multiple instances of gradation in a word
The weak grade of long consonants still triggers the weak grade on a preceding syllable, even though the consonant itself is not pronounced as long. The word tiedoton, for example, features a weak grade d in the root, despite the fact that it is present in an open syllable. The reason for this state of affairs has to do with the privative suffix -ton that is present. The underlying representation of this suffix is -ttom. Importantly, this underlying representation contains a long consonant tt, which closes the preceding syllable. This is what yields the weak grade tiedo- from strong grade tieto. The final a of -ttom doesn't manifest when this affix occurs word-finally, triggering word-final m > n. This n now closes the final syllable of the word, triggering quantitative gradation on the affix itself. So though it appears that the t : d gradation in tiedoton is unmotivated, it was in fact motivated at the point when it applied. Subsequently, the conditions that motivated t : d gradation were made opaque by a subsequent application of consonant gradation.Historical sound changes affecting gradation
The loss of certain sounds from Proto-Finnic has made the workings of consonant gradation less transparent. The result is that in modern Finnish, there may be phonetically open syllables preceded by weak grades, and closed syllables preceded by strong grades.Two sounds that were lost were word-final *-k and *-h. Since *-k and *-h formerly closed the final syllable of a word, they triggered the weak grade. In modern Finnish, such words now appear as a weak grade consonant followed by a word-final vowel, but the word will have a special assimilative final consonant that causes gemination to the initial consonant of the next syllable. This assimilative final consonant, termed a ghost consonant is a remnant of the former final *-k and *-h. Forms where this applies include:
- First infinitive, -a, -da, -ta. The second infinitive is equivalent, but with e. The t in the ending -ta is thus a weak grade, reflecting a former long consonant, which was formed by combining the verb's stem-final -t- with the normal infinitive -t-. Verbs with this infinitive ending are thus actually consonant stems.
- Connegative forms of verbs.
- The second-person singular imperative.
- Most nominals ending in -e, for example ranne : ranteen. These nominals look superficially like vowel stems, but the ghost consonant makes them consonant stems and they still inflect as such.
- Illative case, for example kukka → kukkaan.
- Present tense of verbs with infinitive ending in -ta, for example tavata : tapaan. Verbs of this type are consonant stems; the lost *-d- is the weak grade of the former stem-final consonant *-t-.
- The imperative endings -kaa- and -koo-.
- Most case forms of nominals ending in -s, for example kuningas : kuninkaat.
- Most case forms of nominals ending in -e, for example hylje : hylkeet. As mentioned above, these are consonant stems and formerly had a final consonant *-k or *-h in the nominative.