Register  Login  Active Topics  Maps  

Changes in Spoken Finnish

  Tags: Finnish | Speaking
 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages Post Reply
17 messages over 3 pages: 13  Next >>
Chung
Diglot
Senior Member
Joined 6944 days ago

4228 posts - 8259 votes 
20 sounds
Speaks: English*, French
Studies: Polish, Slovak, Uzbek, Turkish, Korean, Finnish

 
 Message 9 of 17
10 May 2012 at 3:48pm | IP Logged 
Pisces wrote:
I don't get the thing about final n's not being pronounced. I've never been conscious of such a phenomenon.


Really? About 2/3 of the time when I hear Finns, I hear nii and mäki instead of niin and mäkin respectively, as examples.

Ellsworth wrote:
Would I sound *odd* if I don't use the consonant sandhi when speaking? I find it rather confusing.


You'd probably sound foreign as I do depending on how little you apply sandhi as observed in native speakers' Finnish. I suspect that you would sound odd if the Finnish audience were assuming that you were a native speaker or had attained fluency.

There's some more information on line in English about colloquial Finnish but it's mainly on discussion forums rather than in fact sheets or essays.

Every Day Speech
Pronunciation in the spoken language
Puhekieli - are they lazy or does the kirjekieli not exist?
**speaking** literary Finnish
Sandhi in Finnish

On a related note, you may also find the below interesting:

Helsinki slang
3 persons have voted this message useful



Serpent
Octoglot
Senior Member
Russian Federation
serpent-849.livejour
Joined 6385 days ago

9753 posts - 15779 votes 
4 sounds
Speaks: Russian*, English, FinnishC1, Latin, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese
Studies: Danish, Romanian, Polish, Belarusian, Ukrainian, Croatian, Slovenian, Catalan, Czech, Galician, Dutch, Swedish

 
 Message 10 of 17
10 May 2012 at 5:33pm | IP Logged 
Ellsworth wrote:
Thanks for all the help!
Would I sound *odd* if I don't use the consonant sandhi when speaking? I find it rather confusing.
When you've heard it more it'll be natural to you:) I might have used it at my exam :D
also, I think it happens to various consonants clusters, not just with L. can't really think of an example though...

Lol at how native speakers fill in those gaps. Listen closely. Also, it often doubles the following consonant, just like there used to be a consonant in the -e words (hence tervehtiä and [tervettuloa]). I especially love those double v's that never happen in the standard language (meil ov varaus - meillä on varaus).
1 person has voted this message useful



Pisces
Bilingual Pentaglot
Senior Member
Finland
Joined 4410 days ago

143 posts - 284 votes 
Speaks: English*, Finnish*, French, SwedishC1, Esperanto
Studies: German, Spanish, Russian

 
 Message 11 of 17
10 May 2012 at 7:59pm | IP Logged 
Chung wrote:
Pisces wrote:
I don't get the thing about final n's not being pronounced. I've never been conscious of such a phenomenon.


Really? About 2/3 of the time when I hear Finns, I hear nii and mäki instead of niin and mäkin respectively, as examples.


Yes, you're right about these examples. I guess I just don't think about it. In the article it says 'This means that the genitive/accusative form -n, which is very common in any form of Finnish, is simply noted by a glottal stop.' I have difficulty thinking of an example where this sounds right.

About the sandhi, yes, it is important. Especially, I would say, the doubling of consonants between words, e.g. 'anna minulle'. And the Wikipedia article is confusing with regard to it. And it's not part of colloquial Finnish, really, since it applies also to the written language when spoken. It's really part of Finnish phonology.

http://www.finnlectura.fi/verkkosuomi/Fonologia/sivu191.htm
2 persons have voted this message useful



Chung
Diglot
Senior Member
Joined 6944 days ago

4228 posts - 8259 votes 
20 sounds
Speaks: English*, French
Studies: Polish, Slovak, Uzbek, Turkish, Korean, Finnish

 
 Message 12 of 17
10 May 2012 at 8:35pm | IP Logged 
Pisces wrote:
Yes, you're right about these examples. I guess I just don't think about it. In the article it says 'This means that the genitive/accusative form -n, which is very common in any form of Finnish, is simply noted by a glottal stop.' I have difficulty thinking of an example where this sounds right.


That seems contradictory to me since it begins by stating -n as very common but ends by stating that it's marked by a glottal stop. If it's common everywhere, then why plant the idea that it's indicated by something else?

I can't think of this either in genitive. Syön omena or Menen Elina kanssa seem strikingly wrong/ungrammatical comapred to Syön omenan and Menen Elinan kanssa respectively.

The only time I can think of this affecting a case ending is in illative. My ears don't pick up the final -n (i.e. makuuhuoneesee rather than makuuhuoneeseen) when the trailer's voice says within a few seconds that Pöysti is crawling to the bedroom.
1 person has voted this message useful



Pisces
Bilingual Pentaglot
Senior Member
Finland
Joined 4410 days ago

143 posts - 284 votes 
Speaks: English*, Finnish*, French, SwedishC1, Esperanto
Studies: German, Spanish, Russian

 
 Message 13 of 17
10 May 2012 at 10:30pm | IP Logged 
Yes, and in the sentence "Otan itse', if you replace 'n' with a glottal stop, you get something that is pronounced like the sentence 'Ota itse', which has a glottal stop (or even two, I'm not sure) after 'ota'. (The first sentence means "I['ll] take [it] myself" and the second "take [it] yourself".)
1 person has voted this message useful



Chung
Diglot
Senior Member
Joined 6944 days ago

4228 posts - 8259 votes 
20 sounds
Speaks: English*, French
Studies: Polish, Slovak, Uzbek, Turkish, Korean, Finnish

 
 Message 14 of 17
10 May 2012 at 10:41pm | IP Logged 
Pisces wrote:
Yes, and in the sentence "Otan itse', if you replace 'n' with a glottal stop, you get something that is pronounced like the sentence 'Ota itse', which has a glottal stop (or even two, I'm not sure) after 'ota'. (The first sentence means "I['ll] take [it] myself" and the second "take [it] yourself".)


But wouldn't that make the sentences ambiguous (at least in isolation)?

Colloquially I'd use (mä(ä)) otan ite (instead of (mä(ä)) ota' ite) and ota' ite! That is, I'd find it very weird to omit the -n ending for the verb when trying to convey the 1st person present tense in speech, even if there's a tendency for final -n to be absent.
1 person has voted this message useful



Pisces
Bilingual Pentaglot
Senior Member
Finland
Joined 4410 days ago

143 posts - 284 votes 
Speaks: English*, Finnish*, French, SwedishC1, Esperanto
Studies: German, Spanish, Russian

 
 Message 15 of 17
10 May 2012 at 11:19pm | IP Logged 
Yes, you're right. That was my point, but I wasn't clear enough. It would become ambiguous, so I don't see how the final -n can be omitted. I don't think it can be.
1 person has voted this message useful



Ellsworth
Senior Member
United States
Joined 4745 days ago

345 posts - 528 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: German, Swedish, Finnish, Icelandic, Irish

 
 Message 16 of 17
11 May 2012 at 12:36am | IP Logged 
Pisces, it really sounds like it is. I just was watching the movie Elokuu(great movie btw) and I heard it repeatedly. Could it be that it is only a dialect?


1 person has voted this message useful



This discussion contains 17 messages over 3 pages: << Prev 13  Next >>


Post ReplyPost New Topic Printable version Printable version

You cannot post new topics in this forum - You cannot reply to topics in this forum - You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum - You cannot create polls in this forum - You cannot vote in polls in this forum


This page was generated in 4.8438 seconds.


DHTML Menu By Milonic JavaScript
Copyright 2024 FX Micheloud - All rights reserved
No part of this website may be copied by any means without my written authorization.