Later developments Proto-Finnic language

1 later developments

1.1 development of consonant clusters
1.2 developments affricates *c , *cc
1.3 vowel õ
1.4 vowel reduction , loss
1.5 palatalization
1.6 loss of final consonants
1.7 loss of voiced obstruents
1.8 lenition
1.9 raising or diphthongization of long vowels
1.10 diphthong assimilation
1.11 coda vocalization

later developments

the following overview of more important changes happened after proto-finnic period.

development of consonant clusters

these changes happened late in proto-finnic period, south estonian developed differently, shows dialectal diversification beginning occur around time.

in south estonian, *p , *k assimilate following dental obstruent, while *t assimilates *k, , *čk remains distinct *tk.

in finnic dialects, original *pt , *kt have same reflex. therefore impossible distinguish them in reconstruction, unless there additional internal evidence (in form of grammatical alternations) or external evidence (from non-finnic languages).

developments affricates *c , *cc

the non-geminated *c becomes *s generally: proto-finnic *veci water , *cika pig , *-inen : *-ice- (adjective suffix) > finnish vesi, sika, -(i)nen : -(i)se-. however, ts or ds remains in south estonian: võro tsiga, -ne : -dse- or -se- (but vesi). merging of *c , *s makes impossible distinguish 2 sounds using finnic evidence alone, if internal reconstruction not viable (e. g., t ~ s alternations assibilation).

the geminate affricate *cc remains, spelled ⟨ts⟩. in karelian, ingrian, votic , finnish dialects, 2 grades remain distinguished (in karelian ⟨čč⟩ : ⟨č⟩, in ingrian , votic ⟨tts⟩ ~ ⟨ts⟩). in other finnic languages 2 grades fall (written in veps ⟨c⟩, ⟨ts⟩ in others).

in finnish, both grades fronted interdental θθ : θ, in dialects later changed variety of other dialect-specific sounds. examples found gradation patterns tt : t, ht : h, ht : t, ss : s or non-gradating tt or ht. in written finnish, interdental fricatives written ⟨tz⟩ (for both grades) in earliest records, in standard finnish has led spelling pronunciation /ts/ (treated consonant cluster , hence no longer subject consonant gradation).

the vowel õ

in southern finnic languages, new unrounded mid vowel [ɤ] develops *e in words vowel harmony. example proto-finnic *velka debt > estonian võlg, võro võlg, > finnish velka. south estonian , votic show development in syllables, e , õ become front , vowel harmony pair. may have occurred in earlier history of north (standard) estonian, vowel harmony later abandoned, undoing change if did occur.

in south estonian, õ in front of nasal raised central unrounded vowel [ɨ] (represented orthographically ⟨y⟩), parallel development of other mid vowels. e.g. võro ynn , estonian õnn luck ; võro ryngas, estonian rõngas ring .

in estonian , votic, more livonian, instances of õ develop unrounding of earlier short *o. detailed history of change unclear , shows variation between individual dialects of (north) estonian. development of *o õ general in votic (if recent loanwords ingrian, finnish , russian discounted) , in kodavere dialect of estonian. 3 main groups can distinguished:

a particularly interesting example take , suggests @ least instances of change preceded general finnic loss of word-initial *v- before rounded vowels, affected finnish , rest of northern finnic (which kept rounded vowel) not estonian , rest of southern finnic (which unrounded vowel). therefore must have occurred early, in dialectal proto-finnic times.

in small number of words, estonian , votic õ can additionally found in correspondence north finnic or u. livonian , south estonian might align either side, depending on word. e.g.

: estonian kõik, votic kõittši, võro kyik — finnish , karelian kaikki, veps kaik
thread : estonian lõng, votic lõnka — finnish , karelian lanka, veps , south estonian lang, livonian lānga
or : estonian , livonian või — finnish, karelian, veps , võro vai (votic vai, possibly ingrian)
word : estonian , votic sõna, livonian sõnā, võro syna — finnish, karelian , veps sana
estonian , võro mõistma, votic mõissaa understand — finnish , karelian muistaa, veps muštta remember
heath : estonian nõmm, votic nõmmi — finnish nummi

vowel reduction , loss

short final vowels lost after long syllables (two consonants or syllable long vowel or diphthong) in veps, partly ludian, both north , south estonian, , southwestern dialects of finnish. example, proto-finnic *kakci 2 , *neljä 4 , *viici 5 > estonian kaks, neli, viis, veps kaks , nel l , viž, võro katś, nelli, viiś, > standard finnish kaksi, neljä, viisi. change occurred before loss of final consonants (if any), vowels followed consonant not lost. loss of final *-i leaves phonemic palatalization of preceding consonant in many languages, on see below.

colloquial finnish loses word-final under more limited conditions, in particular after s (e.g. kaks 2 , viis 5 ; inflectional endings such aamuks for/to morning (translative), talos house (2nd person singular possessive), tulis come (3rd person singular conditional)) word-final a/ä several inflectional endings (e.g. inessive -s(s), elative -st, adessive -l(l), ablative -lt).

in livonian, short final vowels except *a , *ä lost, giving *kakci > kakš in estonian, *veci water > ve ž, while no vowel lost in *neljä > nēļa, *kala fish > kalā.

unstressed *o merges *u in northern estonian.

vowel harmony lost in estonian, livonian , partly veps, not south estonian or votic. example, proto-finnic *külä village > estonian küla, > finnish kylä, veps külä, votic tšülä, võro külä. in finnish , karelian, vowel harmony retained , extended *o well, creating new vowel *ö in words front vowel harmony.

many languages in southern finnic group, again veps , southwestern finnish, show loss of unstressed vowels in medial syllables. in these languages, vowel length lost before h on, while diphthongs simplified short vowels.

palatalization

palatalized consonants reintroduced varieties other western finnish. widespread source regressive palatalization due lost word-final or word-medial *-i (a form of cheshirization), , consonant clusters *j second member. in several varieties, there progressive palatalization, diphthong ending in *-i , long vowel *ii causes palatalization of following consonant.

in livonian, palatalized *ś , *ź arose loss of *-i shift postalveolar š , ž.
in votic, *k , *g palatalized tš , j before front vowels.
veps undergoes both regressive , progressive palatalization, different outcomes:


in northern karelian, general shift *s > š occurs, except blocked in progressive palatalization contexts.

estonian, votic , finnish not have general palatalization, , š occurs solely in loanwords, commonly of russian or german origin.

loss of final consonants

final *-k lost. preserved in dialects:

in eastern votic -g
in võro -q (a glottal stop /ʔ/)

final *-h lost well. preserved:

in karelian , veps -h.
in southern estonian either -h or glottal stop -q.

traces of both *-k , *-h remain in finnish, consonants became sandhi effect, assimilating initial consonant of following word , lengthening it. effect not occur in dialects , not represented orthographically, noted superscript ˣ in reference works. in western dialects there metathesis of *h, preserved original *h along sandhi lengthening, e.g. proto-finnic *mureh sorrow > western finnish murheˣ (karelian mureh, võro murõh/murõq) , proto-finnic *veneh boat > western finnish venheˣ (karelian/veps veneh, võro vineh/vineq). standard finnish inconsistently adopts words in western finnish shape (e.g. murhe; perhe family , valheellinen untrue ), in eastern finnish shape (e.g. vene; vale lie ).

final *-n lost in of south finnic area (as in modern-day colloquial finnish). in votic triggers compensatory lengthening of preceding vowel. 1st person verbal ending resists change, , remains -n.

loss of final consonants followed loss of final vowels. thus, vowels followed lost consonant preserved.

loss of voiced obstruents

the voiced obstruents *b/β, *d/δ , *g/γ occurred weak grades of single plosives lost or modified in various ways. simplest outcomes in marginal languages livonian , veps, 3 reflected plain voiced stops b, d , g respectively regardless of environment. remaining languages show more complex developments.

*b/β develops relatively uniformly:

the fricative *β merges *v.
the nasal-plosive cluster *mb assimilates mm, except in olonets karelian (livvi) , ludic.

the development of *d/δ more diverse:

the clusters *lδ , *rδ assimilated geminated *ll , *rr, creating characteristic gradation patterns lt ~ ll , rt ~ rr.
in other positions, *δ lost on in other languages of eastern finnic group (eastern finnish, karelian, ludic , ingrian) in estonian.
in western finnish, *δ lost after unstressed syllable, remains after stressed syllable. remained /ð/, shifted /ɾ/ or /r/ in ostrobothnian , /l/ in tavastian. in standard finnish, sound written ⟨d⟩ or ⟨dh⟩ on, , pronunciation has become /d/ through spelling pronunciation. individual words may follow particular dialects instead, e.g. 0 in *naudetta > navetta cowshed , l in *tadikkoi > talikko manure fork .
the nasal-plosive cluster *nd assimilates nn, except in olonets karelian , ludic.

*g/γ develops similar *d/δ, several conditional outcomes:

in votic, *γ fortified /ɡ/ when not palatalized (see above).
in karelian, clusters *lγ , *rγ become geminated *ll , *rr, clusters *lδ , *rδ.
in western finnish, *lγ , *rγ become *lj , *rj when followed unrounded front vowel (*i, *e, , *ä), although there wide variation , there exceptions each vowel. there many words in cluster *hk develops *hγ analogically, likewise develops *hj, although again numerous exceptions.
between 2 labial vowels, *γ becomes *v in western finnish.
in remaining languages , positions, *γ lost.
the nasal-plosive cluster *ŋg assimilated corresponding geminate ng /ŋː/ in several of finnish dialects. however, given lack of pre-existing *ŋ, cluster un-gradates *ŋk.

the loss of consonants created new long vowels , diphthongs, particularly in non-initial syllables. compare example:

finnish auttaa < proto-finnic *abuttadak unmodified strong grade in apu help, assistance .
north , south estonian susi wolf , genitive soe < proto-finnic *suci, *suδen.

lenition

in finnic languages except finnish, northern karelian , votic, voiceless (strong grade) obstruent consonants *p, *t, *k , *s, lenited voiced or lax voiceless obstruents b, d, g, z when occurring between voiced sounds. in veps , livonian, these new voiced plosives merge weak grade counterparts. in estonian s remains voiceless , b, d, g not voiced, instead remaining lax voiceless consonants [b̥], [d̥], [ɡ̊].

raising or diphthongization of long vowels

in many finnic languages, long vowels develop opening diphthongs raising onset, or show general raising instead.

the long mid vowels *oo, *öö , *ee become opening diphthongs /uo̯/, /yø̯/, /ie̯/ in finnish, karelian, , several marginal dialects of northern estonian. in western finnish dialects second component becomes more open, producing /uɔ̯/, /yœ̯/, /iɛ̯/ or /uɑ̯/, /yæ̯/ , either /iæ̯/ or /iɑ̯/ depending on vowel harmony. diphthongization occurs in livonian, under conditions, , mid unrounded long vowel õõ not affected. in livonian, short vowels *o , *e may diphthongize, leading contrast of short uo, ie /wo/, /je/ long ūo, īe /uːo̯/, /iːe̯/.

in south estonian, raising occurs in overlong syllables, , results in long close vowels uu, üü , ii.

in eastern finnish , karelian, low vowels *aa , *ää diphthongize, becoming karelian oa, eä, savonian ua, iä. in standard livonian, long *aa of origin @ late date raised ǭ /ɔː/.

diphthong assimilation

diphthong *eü labialized öü in northern finnic , south estonian. in northern dialects of veps, new long close vowels created raising of several diphthongs:

*ei, *öi > ii.
*iu, *iü, *eu, *öü > üü ~ üu.
*au, *ou > uu.

north estonian instead unrounds diphthongs ending in -ü -i:

*eü > ei
*äü > äi

in savonian finnish, 2nd element of diphthongs lowered:

*au, *äü > ao, äö or further > aa, ää
*ai, *äi > ae, äe
*oi, *öi > oe, öe

in livonian, *au labialized ou, , *äi palatalized ei. following this, mid diphthongs smoothed long vowels under conditions:

ou > oo
õi, õu > õõ
ei > ee

coda vocalization

a variety of languages shows change of syllable-final consonant vowel. not 1 single change, several independent developments.

in southern finnic group, *n lost before *s (< proto-finnic *s or *c), compensatory lengthening of perceding vowel. example proto-finnic *kanci lid , *pensas bush > estonian kaas, põõsas, > finnish kansi, pensas.

in western finnish, stop consonants before sonorant vocalized u. e.g. *kapris goat , *atra plough , *kakra oats > finnish kauris, aura, kaura, > estonian kaber, ader, kaer, karelian kapris, atra, kakra. standard finnish follows western finnish model. notable exceptions include kekri saints eve feast , kupla bubble .

syllable-final *l vocalized in veps @ late date, creating u-final diphthongs in northern , central dialects, long vowels in southern.