There is a lot of information available about consonant gradation (Finnish: astevaihtelu) in the Finnish language, but it is mostly incomplete and even partly incorrect. One reason for this is that most presentations do not distinguish the assumed history of the phenomenon from its nature in modern Finnish. Moreover, orthographic conventions can be misleading; contrary to widespread claims, Finnish orthography is not purely phonemic, as described in Finnish my treatise Onko suomen kirjoitusjärjestelmä ihanteellinen?
This document focuses on the consonant gradation in modern Finnish, mostly in standard Finnish. Its history is interesting, but it is easy to get misled if you analyze the present through the historic background.
The basic definition
Consonant gradation is a specific kind of allomorphic variation between alternatives called strong grade and weak grade involving a stop (a k, p, or t sound, or rarely a g or b) at least in the strong grade. The weak grade mostly appears at the start of a closed syllable (i.e., a syllable ending with a consonant). Gradation only takes place inside a word after a voiced sound.
For example, the Finnish word kuppi (cup) ends with an open syllable, and the double consonant pp represents the strong grade. When the plural suffix t is appended, the double consonant pp is replaced by the simple consonant p, producing kupit.
Note that in Finnish, the difference between pp and p is not just orthographic. A double consonant is pronounced clearly longer than a single consonant. It is called a double consonant for reasons of convention. Conventionally, a syllable boundary is said to exist between the components of a double consonant, and the hyphenation rules reflect this: the allowed hyphenation is kup-pi.
There are exceptions to the rule that the weak grade appears at the start of a closed syllable. For example, the word form kuppiin ends with a closed syllable but has the strong grade. There are even apparent contradictions like tiede : tieteen, where the weak grade seems to appear before an open syllable (though in reality, tiede normally ends with an assimilated consonant in pronunciation) and the weak grade appears before a closed syllable. In this document, we will not discuss the detailed conditions for strong vs. weak grade. Instead, we consider the various types of gradation.
Quantitative and qualitative gradation
Many presentations, including Iso suomen kielioppi, an extensive but rather unsystematic descriptive grammar of Finnish, claim or imply that gradation is alteration of stops. This is not correct. Consonant gradation consists of two phenomena:
* quantitative gradation: the strong grade has a long stop (denoted in writing by duplicating the letter), and the weak grade has the corresponding short stop, e.g. soppa : sopat
* qualitative gradation: the strong grade has a short stop, and the weak grade has another consonant or no consonant in the same position, e.g. sopa : sovat
In qualitative gradation, the weak grade has a stop only in the t : d alteration. Besides, this alteration only occurs in standard Finnish, as a result of an artificial solution with a curious history. Practically no dialect has d (or any other stop) as the weak grade consonant. (Standard Finnish practice in this issue, though originally artificial and literary, has however become widespread in modern spoken language.)
Notes on quantitative gradation
Quantitative gradation is relatively simple. The conditions for the use of strong vs. weak grade aside, the deviations from the simple principle described above can be summarized as follows:
* Truly foreign names do not participate in the gradation, e.g. Giuseppe : Giuseppen. However, in such words, gradation may in fact appear in pronunciation. (Note that Finns generally pronounce a double consonant as long even in foreign names where the original language pronounces a short consonant.) Moreover, the “domestication” of a foreign name often starts with adaptation to gradation, e.g. Anette : Aneten (though Anetten is used, too).
* Some informal proper nouns are also exempted from the gradation, e.g. Botta : Bottan. In many Western dialects, this extends to Finnish first names, e.g. Reetta : Reettan.
* In words of foreign origin ending with a stop, the inflected forms often have a long consonant though often only a single letter is written, e.g. Internet : Internetiä [pronounced: Internettiä], pop : popia [poppia]. Such words are best described so that word actually ends with a long stop (subject to gradation) and i, e.g. Internetti or poppi (which forms also exist, though not as accepted in literary use), but in the nominative singular, the end of the word is shortened.
* A long voiced consonant (occurring only in relatively new loanwords and slang words) is sometimes subject to gradation, especially in verbs, e.g. lobbaan : lobata, loggaan : logata and (debatably) biddaan : bidata. However, forms that appear to result from such phenomena may actually be just from two different paradigms, such as doggi : doggin and dogi : dogin, which are two alternative forms of a loanword.
Forms of qualitative gradation
In the following summary table, the following notations are used in the second column that indicates the weak grade:
* the colon (:) indicates that the preceding consonant is pronounced long and doubled in writing
* the dash (–) indicates lack of any sound, although a syllable border may (variably and arguably) appear; in writing, an apostrophe (’) is used in some situations.
Forms of qualitative gradation Strong Weak Condition Example Note
t d Usually katu : kadun In standard Finnish
: After l, n, r pelto : pellon
p v Usually lupa : luvan Finnish “v” is an approximant
: After m sampo : sammon
k – Usually haku : haun
v Between u’s or y’s puku : puvun
j Between h/l/r and e/i kulkea : kuljen – (kulen) in many dialects
g After n lanka : langan ng pronounced as [ŋŋ]
Special phenomena in qualitative gradation
* For t, the weak grade is d (except after l, n, r) in standard Finnish, but practically all dialects have something else, such as r, l, v, –, ð. This is often reflected in speech that is otherwise phonetically standard Finnish. Urban speech often follows standard Finnish in this respect but may omit the d from some common words like yhen, lähet (standard: yhden, lähdet).
* For k, when the weak grade has omission of consonant letter, there is no consonant sound in most situations, except possibly after i or u, but there can be a syllable boundary. Examples:
o haku : haun, usually no syllable boundary, i.e. au is a diphthong
o häkä : hään, usually no syllable boundary, i.e. ää is a long vowel, but older language may use the spelling hä’än, implying a syllable boundary
o hakea : haen, officially with a syllable boundary, since ae is not counted as a diphthong in Finnish, but in practice the boundary is weak, if present at all
o vaaka : vaa’an, definitely with a syllable boundary and without any consonant at the boundary; the apostrophe is just orthographic
o kaiku : kaiun, definitely with a syllable boundary but often also with a j sound (kaijun, possibly even long: kaijjun), though the orthography does not show this; this is common when k is preceded by a diphthong ending with i
o kaukana : kauas, definitely with a syllable boundary but usually with some kind of a (Finnish) v sound (kauvas or even (kauvvan); this is common when k is preceded by a diphthong ending with u
Thus, in pronunciation, the weak grade of k can be v or j even when no consonant is written
* In the combination vowel + i + k, the ik part varies with j in some words: poika : pojan, aika : ajan. Technically, as well as historically, this can be described as consonant gradation k : – accompanied with the change i > j before it, but perhaps it is more descriptive to say that there is gradation ik : j when the i is the second component of a diphthong.
* The gradation that appears as nk : ng in writing is ŋk : ŋŋ in spoken language. Thus, phonetically it really falls under the class described using the “:” symbol, i.e. in the weak grade, the k is omitted and the preceding consonant is prolonged.
Exceptions
A short stop does not have gradation in words of the following classes:
* most words with the hk combination, e.g. lahko : lahkon, though some words have gradation always (uhkaan : uhata) or in some language forms (vihko : vihon or vihkon); note that this is actually not an exception to the general rule, since Finnish h is unvoiced before k; rather, it is an exception that k has gradation in some words after h
* foreign names, e.g. Cato : Caton (excluding some names adapted into Finnish, e.g. Riika : Riian, the Finnish name for Riga)
* most of the relatively new loanwords, e.g. auto : auton
* many Finnish first names, e.g. Mika : Mikan
* most acronyms (words created by abbrevating an expression), e.g. supo : supon (short name for suojelupoliisi
* many words that are more or less artificial creations rather than systematic derivations, especially slang words, children’s words, and descriptive words, e.g. pupu : pupun
* in modern language, some less commonly used old words such as helpi : helpin (though old helven can still be regarded as more correct), as well as some other words, like äiti : äitin (though äidin is still the standard Finnish form).
Direct vs. inverse gradation
Some presentations, including Iso suomen kielioppi, distinguish between direct (suora) and inverted (käänteinen) astevaihtelu. Gradation is called direct, if the base form of the word has strong grade, otherwise it is called inverted. For example, hyppiä : hypin has direct gradation, hypätä : hyppään has inverted gradation.
These concepts are mostly just confusing. They depend on what form is called the base form, which is more or less arbitrary and a matter of grammar rather than language. For nouns, it is natural to treat the nominative singular as the base form, since it has no case suffix in Finnish. Yet it can be exceptional rather than typical as regards to allomorphic variation inside a paradigm. For verbs, the infinitive commonly regarded as the base form is not really basic: it always has a suffix, and it does not even exist for some words. Some old dictionaries use the 1st person singular of the infinitive as the base form; from a logical point of view, 3rd person singular would be more appropriate, since it exists for all verbs and it is usually the most common form.
Anyway, the base form, however we define it, is in no particular role in gradation. It has strong or weak grade according to same principles as other forms. The distinction between direct and inverse gradation is probably useful only in the practical use of dictionaries, and even this is debatable.
Finnish dictionaries typically indicate the presence of gradation with an asterisk the word e.g. as follows:
aikoa1*
Here the superscript number (1) refers to a inflection class, as numbered in the dictionary, and the asterisk (*) indicates that there is consonant gradation in the word. So how can you know whether the base form has weak or strong grade, i.e. whether the k varies with kk or with absence of consonant? You might think that you need to know whether the gradation is direct or inverted. But dictionaries don’t tell that to you! For example, Nykysuomen sanakirja does not indicate the specific type of gradation at all, and Suomen kielen perussanakirja indicates it simply by a letter that identifies the type.
In practice, you can usually know the gradation type from the word itself. The word form aikoa has the k at the start of an open syllable, so it is in the strong grade; consequently, the k is lost in writing in the weak grade, e.g. aion (though the pronunciation may have a j sound, as mentioned above).
The only major problem is with words ending with e. However, for them, the inflection class information resolves the issue. You just need to know that for words with inflection like hame : hameen (as opposite to the less common type nalle : nallen), the base form is treated as ending with a consonant, so it has the weak grade; hence e.g. tiede : tieteen.
This document focuses on the consonant gradation in modern Finnish, mostly in standard Finnish. Its history is interesting, but it is easy to get misled if you analyze the present through the historic background.
The basic definition
Consonant gradation is a specific kind of allomorphic variation between alternatives called strong grade and weak grade involving a stop (a k, p, or t sound, or rarely a g or b) at least in the strong grade. The weak grade mostly appears at the start of a closed syllable (i.e., a syllable ending with a consonant). Gradation only takes place inside a word after a voiced sound.
For example, the Finnish word kuppi (cup) ends with an open syllable, and the double consonant pp represents the strong grade. When the plural suffix t is appended, the double consonant pp is replaced by the simple consonant p, producing kupit.
Note that in Finnish, the difference between pp and p is not just orthographic. A double consonant is pronounced clearly longer than a single consonant. It is called a double consonant for reasons of convention. Conventionally, a syllable boundary is said to exist between the components of a double consonant, and the hyphenation rules reflect this: the allowed hyphenation is kup-pi.
There are exceptions to the rule that the weak grade appears at the start of a closed syllable. For example, the word form kuppiin ends with a closed syllable but has the strong grade. There are even apparent contradictions like tiede : tieteen, where the weak grade seems to appear before an open syllable (though in reality, tiede normally ends with an assimilated consonant in pronunciation) and the weak grade appears before a closed syllable. In this document, we will not discuss the detailed conditions for strong vs. weak grade. Instead, we consider the various types of gradation.
Quantitative and qualitative gradation
Many presentations, including Iso suomen kielioppi, an extensive but rather unsystematic descriptive grammar of Finnish, claim or imply that gradation is alteration of stops. This is not correct. Consonant gradation consists of two phenomena:
* quantitative gradation: the strong grade has a long stop (denoted in writing by duplicating the letter), and the weak grade has the corresponding short stop, e.g. soppa : sopat
* qualitative gradation: the strong grade has a short stop, and the weak grade has another consonant or no consonant in the same position, e.g. sopa : sovat
In qualitative gradation, the weak grade has a stop only in the t : d alteration. Besides, this alteration only occurs in standard Finnish, as a result of an artificial solution with a curious history. Practically no dialect has d (or any other stop) as the weak grade consonant. (Standard Finnish practice in this issue, though originally artificial and literary, has however become widespread in modern spoken language.)
Notes on quantitative gradation
Quantitative gradation is relatively simple. The conditions for the use of strong vs. weak grade aside, the deviations from the simple principle described above can be summarized as follows:
* Truly foreign names do not participate in the gradation, e.g. Giuseppe : Giuseppen. However, in such words, gradation may in fact appear in pronunciation. (Note that Finns generally pronounce a double consonant as long even in foreign names where the original language pronounces a short consonant.) Moreover, the “domestication” of a foreign name often starts with adaptation to gradation, e.g. Anette : Aneten (though Anetten is used, too).
* Some informal proper nouns are also exempted from the gradation, e.g. Botta : Bottan. In many Western dialects, this extends to Finnish first names, e.g. Reetta : Reettan.
* In words of foreign origin ending with a stop, the inflected forms often have a long consonant though often only a single letter is written, e.g. Internet : Internetiä [pronounced: Internettiä], pop : popia [poppia]. Such words are best described so that word actually ends with a long stop (subject to gradation) and i, e.g. Internetti or poppi (which forms also exist, though not as accepted in literary use), but in the nominative singular, the end of the word is shortened.
* A long voiced consonant (occurring only in relatively new loanwords and slang words) is sometimes subject to gradation, especially in verbs, e.g. lobbaan : lobata, loggaan : logata and (debatably) biddaan : bidata. However, forms that appear to result from such phenomena may actually be just from two different paradigms, such as doggi : doggin and dogi : dogin, which are two alternative forms of a loanword.
Forms of qualitative gradation
In the following summary table, the following notations are used in the second column that indicates the weak grade:
* the colon (:) indicates that the preceding consonant is pronounced long and doubled in writing
* the dash (–) indicates lack of any sound, although a syllable border may (variably and arguably) appear; in writing, an apostrophe (’) is used in some situations.
Forms of qualitative gradation Strong Weak Condition Example Note
t d Usually katu : kadun In standard Finnish
: After l, n, r pelto : pellon
p v Usually lupa : luvan Finnish “v” is an approximant
: After m sampo : sammon
k – Usually haku : haun
v Between u’s or y’s puku : puvun
j Between h/l/r and e/i kulkea : kuljen – (kulen) in many dialects
g After n lanka : langan ng pronounced as [ŋŋ]
Special phenomena in qualitative gradation
* For t, the weak grade is d (except after l, n, r) in standard Finnish, but practically all dialects have something else, such as r, l, v, –, ð. This is often reflected in speech that is otherwise phonetically standard Finnish. Urban speech often follows standard Finnish in this respect but may omit the d from some common words like yhen, lähet (standard: yhden, lähdet).
* For k, when the weak grade has omission of consonant letter, there is no consonant sound in most situations, except possibly after i or u, but there can be a syllable boundary. Examples:
o haku : haun, usually no syllable boundary, i.e. au is a diphthong
o häkä : hään, usually no syllable boundary, i.e. ää is a long vowel, but older language may use the spelling hä’än, implying a syllable boundary
o hakea : haen, officially with a syllable boundary, since ae is not counted as a diphthong in Finnish, but in practice the boundary is weak, if present at all
o vaaka : vaa’an, definitely with a syllable boundary and without any consonant at the boundary; the apostrophe is just orthographic
o kaiku : kaiun, definitely with a syllable boundary but often also with a j sound (kaijun, possibly even long: kaijjun), though the orthography does not show this; this is common when k is preceded by a diphthong ending with i
o kaukana : kauas, definitely with a syllable boundary but usually with some kind of a (Finnish) v sound (kauvas or even (kauvvan); this is common when k is preceded by a diphthong ending with u
Thus, in pronunciation, the weak grade of k can be v or j even when no consonant is written
* In the combination vowel + i + k, the ik part varies with j in some words: poika : pojan, aika : ajan. Technically, as well as historically, this can be described as consonant gradation k : – accompanied with the change i > j before it, but perhaps it is more descriptive to say that there is gradation ik : j when the i is the second component of a diphthong.
* The gradation that appears as nk : ng in writing is ŋk : ŋŋ in spoken language. Thus, phonetically it really falls under the class described using the “:” symbol, i.e. in the weak grade, the k is omitted and the preceding consonant is prolonged.
Exceptions
A short stop does not have gradation in words of the following classes:
* most words with the hk combination, e.g. lahko : lahkon, though some words have gradation always (uhkaan : uhata) or in some language forms (vihko : vihon or vihkon); note that this is actually not an exception to the general rule, since Finnish h is unvoiced before k; rather, it is an exception that k has gradation in some words after h
* foreign names, e.g. Cato : Caton (excluding some names adapted into Finnish, e.g. Riika : Riian, the Finnish name for Riga)
* most of the relatively new loanwords, e.g. auto : auton
* many Finnish first names, e.g. Mika : Mikan
* most acronyms (words created by abbrevating an expression), e.g. supo : supon (short name for suojelupoliisi
* many words that are more or less artificial creations rather than systematic derivations, especially slang words, children’s words, and descriptive words, e.g. pupu : pupun
* in modern language, some less commonly used old words such as helpi : helpin (though old helven can still be regarded as more correct), as well as some other words, like äiti : äitin (though äidin is still the standard Finnish form).
Direct vs. inverse gradation
Some presentations, including Iso suomen kielioppi, distinguish between direct (suora) and inverted (käänteinen) astevaihtelu. Gradation is called direct, if the base form of the word has strong grade, otherwise it is called inverted. For example, hyppiä : hypin has direct gradation, hypätä : hyppään has inverted gradation.
These concepts are mostly just confusing. They depend on what form is called the base form, which is more or less arbitrary and a matter of grammar rather than language. For nouns, it is natural to treat the nominative singular as the base form, since it has no case suffix in Finnish. Yet it can be exceptional rather than typical as regards to allomorphic variation inside a paradigm. For verbs, the infinitive commonly regarded as the base form is not really basic: it always has a suffix, and it does not even exist for some words. Some old dictionaries use the 1st person singular of the infinitive as the base form; from a logical point of view, 3rd person singular would be more appropriate, since it exists for all verbs and it is usually the most common form.
Anyway, the base form, however we define it, is in no particular role in gradation. It has strong or weak grade according to same principles as other forms. The distinction between direct and inverse gradation is probably useful only in the practical use of dictionaries, and even this is debatable.
Finnish dictionaries typically indicate the presence of gradation with an asterisk the word e.g. as follows:
aikoa1*
Here the superscript number (1) refers to a inflection class, as numbered in the dictionary, and the asterisk (*) indicates that there is consonant gradation in the word. So how can you know whether the base form has weak or strong grade, i.e. whether the k varies with kk or with absence of consonant? You might think that you need to know whether the gradation is direct or inverted. But dictionaries don’t tell that to you! For example, Nykysuomen sanakirja does not indicate the specific type of gradation at all, and Suomen kielen perussanakirja indicates it simply by a letter that identifies the type.
In practice, you can usually know the gradation type from the word itself. The word form aikoa has the k at the start of an open syllable, so it is in the strong grade; consequently, the k is lost in writing in the weak grade, e.g. aion (though the pronunciation may have a j sound, as mentioned above).
The only major problem is with words ending with e. However, for them, the inflection class information resolves the issue. You just need to know that for words with inflection like hame : hameen (as opposite to the less common type nalle : nallen), the base form is treated as ending with a consonant, so it has the weak grade; hence e.g. tiede : tieteen.
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