Syllables

The most common syllable structure

Syllable

A syllable is a unit of organization for a sequence of speech sounds. For example, the word water is composed of two syllables: wa and ter. A syllable is typically made up of a syllable nucleus with optional initial and final margins .Syllables are often considered the phonological "building...

 in Finnish

Finnish language

Finnish is the language spoken by the majority of the population in Finland Primarily for use by restaurant menus and by ethnic Finns outside Finland. It is one of the two official languages of Finland and an official minority language in Sweden. In Sweden, both standard Finnish and Meänkieli, a...

 is C

Consonant

In articulatory phonetics, a consonant is a speech sound that is articulated with complete or partial closure of the vocal tract. Examples are , pronounced with the lips; , pronounced with the front of the tongue; , pronounced with the back of the tongue; , pronounced in the throat; and ,...

V

Vowel

In phonetics, a vowel is a sound in spoken language, such as English ah! or oh! , pronounced with an open vocal tract so that there is no build-up of air pressure at any point above the glottis. This contrasts with consonants, such as English sh! , where there is a constriction or closure at some...

, followed by CVC, CVV, CVVC, VC, V, VV, CVCC, VVC and VCC. These are all found in native vocabulary. In loanword

Loanword

A loanword is a word borrowed from a donor language and incorporated into a recipient language. By contrast, a calque or loan translation is a related concept where the meaning or idiom is borrowed rather than the lexical item itself. The word loanword is itself a calque of the German Lehnwort,...

s and proper names the following syllables structures are also found: CVVCC, CCV, CCVC, CCVCC, CCVV, CCVVC, CCCV, CCCVC and CCCVCC. A syllable nucleus is the first mora

Mora (linguistics)

Mora is a unit in phonology that determines syllable weight, which in some languages determines stress or timing. As with many technical linguistic terms, the definition of a mora varies. Perhaps the most succinct working definition was provided by the American linguist James D...

 of a syllable, and every following phoneme segment

Phoneme

In a language or dialect, a phoneme is the smallest segmental unit of sound employed to form meaningful contrasts between utterances....

 is another mora.

Sequences

All eight of the vowel

Vowel

In phonetics, a vowel is a sound in spoken language, such as English ah! or oh! , pronounced with an open vocal tract so that there is no build-up of air pressure at any point above the glottis. This contrasts with consonants, such as English sh! , where there is a constriction or closure at some...

s in the Finnish language

Finnish language

Finnish is the language spoken by the majority of the population in Finland Primarily for use by restaurant menus and by ethnic Finns outside Finland. It is one of the two official languages of Finland and an official minority language in Sweden. In Sweden, both standard Finnish and Meänkieli, a...

 may be long. The three vowels /eː/, /øː/ and /oː/ are however less frequent than the other vowels, as they were diphthongized in an early sound change

Sound change

Sound change includes any processes of language change that affect pronunciation or sound system structures...

, leading to the diphthong

Diphthong

A diphthong , also known as a gliding vowel, refers to two adjacent vowel sounds occurring within the same syllable. Technically, a diphthong is a vowel with two different targets: That is, the tongue moves during the pronunciation of the vowel...

s /i͡e/, /y͡ø/ and /u͡o/. They have however entered the language again through loanword

Loanword

A loanword is a word borrowed from a donor language and incorporated into a recipient language. By contrast, a calque or loan translation is a related concept where the meaning or idiom is borrowed rather than the lexical item itself. The word loanword is itself a calque of the German Lehnwort,...

s, meaning you are also able to find /eː/, /øː/ and /oː/ in modern Finnish, e.g. "moottori", English

English language

English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

 "motor". The mentioned diphthongs are also the only diphthongs in the Finnish language not to end in a high vowel, but instead in a mid vowel

Mid vowel

A mid vowel is a vowel sound used in some spoken languages. The defining characteristic of a mid vowel is that the tongue is positioned mid-way between an open vowel and a close vowel...

. The 15 other diphthongs are /e͡i/, /y͡i/, /ø͡i/, /æ͡i/, /ɑ͡i/, /o͡i/, /u͡i/, /u͡i/; /i͡u/, /e͡u/, /e͡u/, /ɑ͡u/, /o͡u/; /e͡y/, /i͡y/, /ø͡y/ and /æ͡y/.

Another 20 vowel combinations may be found in Finnish, but these are neither long vowels

Vowel length

In linguistics, vowel length is the perceived duration of a vowel sound. Often the chroneme, or the "longness", acts like a consonant, and may etymologically be one, such as in Australian English. While not distinctive in most dialects of English, vowel length is an important phonemic factor in...

 nor diphthongs, but instead two vowels with a syllable boundary

Syllable

A syllable is a unit of organization for a sequence of speech sounds. For example, the word water is composed of two syllables: wa and ter. A syllable is typically made up of a syllable nucleus with optional initial and final margins .Syllables are often considered the phonological "building...

. These are /i.ø/, /i.æ/, /i.ɑ/, /i.o/; /e.ø/, /e.æ/, /e.ɑ/, /e.o/; /y.e/, /y.æ/; /ø.e/, /ø.æ/; /æ.e/, /æ.ø/; /ɑ.e/, /ɑ.o/; /o.e/, /o.ɑ/; /u.e/ and /u.ɑ/.

Besides the vowel combinations consisting of monophthong

Monophthong

A monophthong is a pure vowel sound, one whose articulation at both beginning and end is relatively fixed, and which does not glide up or down towards a new position of articulation....

s, diphthongs may also be combined with monophthongs, and diphthongs with diphthongs, making the possibilities of vowel sequences very big. For instance, consider words such as "aiemmin" /ɑ͡i.emːin/ and "vaaoissa" /vɑː.o͡isːɑ/, English

English language

English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

 "earlier" and "in a pair of scales", respectively.

Harmony

Vowel harmony

Vowel harmony

Vowel harmony is a type of long-distance assimilatory phonological process involving vowels that occurs in some languages. In languages with vowel harmony, there are constraints on which vowels may be found near each other....

 is present in Finnish

Finnish language

Finnish is the language spoken by the majority of the population in Finland Primarily for use by restaurant menus and by ethnic Finns outside Finland. It is one of the two official languages of Finland and an official minority language in Sweden. In Sweden, both standard Finnish and Meänkieli, a...

 meaning that only certain vowel

Vowel

In phonetics, a vowel is a sound in spoken language, such as English ah! or oh! , pronounced with an open vocal tract so that there is no build-up of air pressure at any point above the glottis. This contrasts with consonants, such as English sh! , where there is a constriction or closure at some...

s may be found together within a word. Two of the Finnish vowels, /i/ and /e/, are neutral and can occur with any other vowel. The front

Front vowel

A front vowel is a type of vowel sound used in some spoken languages. The defining characteristic of a front vowel is that the tongue is positioned as far in front as possible in the mouth without creating a constriction that would be classified as a consonant. Front vowels are sometimes also...

 harmonic vowels /y/ /ø/ and /æ/ can only occur together or with the neutral vowels, and likewise with their counterparts, the back

Back vowel

A back vowel is a type of vowel sound used in spoken languages. The defining characteristic of a back vowel is that the tongue is positioned as far back as possible in the mouth without creating a constriction that would be classified as a consonant. Back vowels are sometimes also called dark...

 harmonic vowels /u/, /o/ and /ɑ/. Thus, if you have a noun

Noun

In linguistics, a noun is a member of a large, open lexical category whose members can occur as the main word in the subject of a clause, the object of a verb, or the object of a preposition .Lexical categories are defined in terms of how their members combine with other kinds of...

 and an inessive case ending

Inessive case

Inessive case is a locative grammatical case. This case carries the basic meaning of "in": for example, "in the house" is "talo·ssa" in Finnish, "maja·s" in Estonian, "etxea·n" in Basque, "nam·e" in Lithuanian and "ház·ban" in Hungarian.In Finnish the inessive case is typically formed by adding...

, the ending will be -ssä when used on a word such as "kylä", English

English language

English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

 "village", the result will be "kylässä", and not -ssa, so that it becomes "kylässa", English

English language

English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

 "in the village", as the front vowels of "kylä", /y/ and /æ/, can not occur within the same word as the back vowel of the ending, /ɑ/.

The vowel harmony is not found across the different parts making up a compound noun, so you find both front- and back vowels in a word such as "isoisä", English

English language

English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

 "grandfather", consisting of the word "iso", English

English language

English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

 "big", and "isä", English

English language

English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

 father. Also, in more recent loanword

Loanword

A loanword is a word borrowed from a donor language and incorporated into a recipient language. By contrast, a calque or loan translation is a related concept where the meaning or idiom is borrowed rather than the lexical item itself. The word loanword is itself a calque of the German Lehnwort,...

s the vowel harmony is lost, such as in the word "olympialaiset", English

English language

English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

 "Olympic Games" – some speakers, however, apply vowel harmony themselves, pronouncing it "olumpialaiset".

Word-initial

The consonant

Consonant

In articulatory phonetics, a consonant is a speech sound that is articulated with complete or partial closure of the vocal tract. Examples are , pronounced with the lips; , pronounced with the front of the tongue; , pronounced with the back of the tongue; , pronounced in the throat; and ,...

s /p/, /t/, /s/, /h/, /l/, /r/, /m/, /n/, /j/ and /ʋ/ may all be found word-initially in words of the native vocabulary of Finnish

Finnish language

Finnish is the language spoken by the majority of the population in Finland Primarily for use by restaurant menus and by ethnic Finns outside Finland. It is one of the two official languages of Finland and an official minority language in Sweden. In Sweden, both standard Finnish and Meänkieli, a...

. In recent loanword

Loanword

A loanword is a word borrowed from a donor language and incorporated into a recipient language. By contrast, a calque or loan translation is a related concept where the meaning or idiom is borrowed rather than the lexical item itself. The word loanword is itself a calque of the German Lehnwort,...

s /d/ is also common, and so are /f/, /b/ and /ɡ/ to a lesser extent.

Contrary to modern belief, modern Finnish does also have word-initial consonant cluster

Consonant cluster

In linguistics, a consonant cluster is a group of consonants which have no intervening vowel. In English, for example, the groups and are consonant clusters in the word splits....

s, of two or three consonants. The former are far more common, with the latter only being found in a few words. In older Finnish words never began with a consonant cluster, and loanwords were adapted to this pattern, e.g. "ranta" ('shore') < Swedish

Swedish language

Swedish is a North Germanic language, spoken by approximately 10 million people, predominantly in Sweden and parts of Finland, especially along its coast and on the Åland islands. It is largely mutually intelligible with Norwegian and Danish...

 "strand". This has however changed over the years, and today consonant clusters are found word-initially in modern Finnish, e.g. "traktori" ('tractor'). In modern Finnish there are three groups of initial two-consonant clusters: the first group consists of the plosive consonants /p t k/ followed by a liquid consonant

Liquid consonant

In phonetics, liquids or liquid consonants are a class of consonants consisting of lateral consonants together with rhotics.-Description:...

, making the consonant clusters /pl/, /pr/, /tr/, /kl/ and /kr/ (/tl/ however does not occur); the second group consists of one of the aforementioned plosive consonants preceded by /s/, making the consonant clusters /sp/, /st/ and /sk/; and the third group consists of all the consonant clusters not found in the two other groups, all found in specific loanwords, such as /ps/, /dr/ and /fl/ in the respective words, "psykologi" ('psychologist'), "draama" ('drama') and "flunssa" ('flu'). In modern Finnish three-consonant clusters are also present, but these are very rare. The two most common consonant clusters of this kind are /spr/ and /str/, appearing in words such as "sprintteri" ('sprinter') and "stressi" ('stress').

Common for both kinds of consonant clusters is that they both may be adapted to the old pattern saying no word-initial consonant cluster is possible by some speakers, especially older speakers. If this is done, only the last consonant of the consonant cluster is pronounced. So a word such as "stressi" may be pronounced as [resːi].

Word-internal

All consonants but /ŋ/ may stand alone word-internally. Consonant clusters are CC, CCC and less frequently CCCC.

Two-consonant clusters can be divided into two groups: geminated consonants

Gemination

In phonetics, gemination happens when a spoken consonant is pronounced for an audibly longer period of time than a short consonant. Gemination is distinct from stress and may appear independently of it....

 and two dissimilar consonants. Geminated */jː/ and */ʋː/ do not exist phonemically, while geminated /dː/, /bː/, /ɡː/, /fː/ and /ʃː/ are rare and occur only in very recent loanwords. Geminated /hː/ is very rare, only found in one word, "hihhuli" (a colloquial term for a religious person). When it comes to dissimilar consonants, in native vocabulary /d/ is only found in the consonant cluster /hd/, and /ŋ/ in /ŋk/, but in loanwords these may also appear together with other consonants, such as /nd/ in "kandidaatti" ('candidate') and /ŋn/ in "magneetti" ('magnet'). In the same way, a nasal consonant

Nasal consonant

A nasal consonant is a type of consonant produced with a lowered velum in the mouth, allowing air to escape freely through the nose. Examples of nasal consonants in English are and , in words such as nose and mouth.- Definition :...

 cannot follow a plosive consonant or be followed by a liquid consonant

Liquid consonant

In phonetics, liquids or liquid consonants are a class of consonants consisting of lateral consonants together with rhotics.-Description:...

 traditionally, but in loanwords it can, e.g. "hypnoosi" ('hypnosis') and "vänrikki" ('ensign'). In general, loanwords have created the way to many new consonant clusters which were not found in older Finnish.

Medial clusters of plosive + liquid can occur in native vocabulary, examples including "kupla" ('bubble') and "huotra" ('scabbard'), but they are rather rare due to historical vocalization of the plosive in many cases: for example *eklen > "eilen" ('yesterday'), *atra > "aura" ('plough').

All medial three-consonant clusters have a liquid or nasal as their first consonant, and one of /p/, /t/, /k/ and /s/ as the two other consonants, although there are many exceptions to this rule due to loanwords. The only native word to Finnish which strays from this is "horsma" ('willowherb'). Some loanwords which have completely different CCC clusters are "teksti" ('text') and "spektri" ('spectrum'). Four-consonant clusters are only found in loanwords, e.g. "instrumentti" ('instrument') and "abstrakti" ('abstract').

Word-final

Only the consonants /t/, /s/, /n/, /l/ and /r/ may be found word-finally in native words in Finnish, of which the two lastmentioned are only found rarely. Word-final two-consonant clusters are very rare, and are only found in a couple of onomatopoetic interjections and loanwords, such as "rits" (onomatopoetic) and "preesens" ('present tense').

General

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