Finnic Languages - List of Finnic Innovations

List of Finnic Innovations

These features distinguish Finnic languages from other Uralic families:

• Development of long vowels and various diphthongs from loss of word-medial consonants such as *x, *j, *w, *ŋ
  • Before a consonant, the Uralic "laryngeal" *x yielded long vowels at an early stage (e.g. *tuxli "wind" → tuuli), but only the Finnic branch clearly preserves these as such. Later, the same process occurred also between vowels (e.g. *mëxi "land" → maa).
  • Semivowels *j, *w were usually lost when a root ended in *i and contained a preceding front (in the case of *j, e.g. *täji "tick" → täi) or rounded vowel (in the case of *w, e.g. *suwi "mouth" → suu).
  • The velar nasal *ŋ was vocalized to a semivowel in various positions (e.g. *joŋsi "bow" → jousi, *suŋi "summer" → suvi). In some cases further loss occurred (e.g. *müŋä "backside" → Estonian möö-, Finnish myö-).
• A development *š → h.
• Consonant gradation, most often for stops, but also found for some other consonants.
• Agreement of the attributes with the noun, e.g. in Finnish vanho·i·lle mieh·i·lle "to old men" the plural -i- and the case -lle is added also to the adjective.
• Use of a copula verb like on, e.g. mies on vanha "the man is old".
• Grammatical tenses analogous to Germanic tenses, i.e. the system with present, past, perfect and pluperfect tenses.
• The telic contrast of the object, which must be in the accusative case or partitive case.