AGREEMENT IN FINNISH
In Finnish, three kinds of agreement system can be observed, indexation, concord, and anaphoric agreement although concord for expression possession is limited to the personal pronouns.
A) Indexation
As Finnish employs subject-verb agreement system, the person and the number of the subject are indexed on the verb. As there is no gender distinction in Finnish, no gender is indexed.
(minA) sano - n.
1sg.nom. say-1sg. 'I say (Karlsson 60).'
(me) sano - mme.
1pl.nom. say-1pl. 'We say (Karlsson 60).'
pekka sano - o.
Pekka say-3sg. 'Pekka says (Karlsson 60).'
The personal pronouns 'minA (I)' and 'me (we)' are usually omitted.
Although there is no gender distinction in Finnish, the indexation system of verbs is similar to those of other European languages; verb forms change according to the person and the number. In Finnish, however, another thing should be taken into consideration, that is the definiteness of the subject.
In Finnish, the indefinite entity is expressed by the partitive case, and if a subject is in the partitive case, then, the verb should be the 3rd person singular form.
vain poik - i - a ol - i talo - ssa.
only boy-pl.-par. be-impf.3sg. house-ine.
'There were only boys in the house (Sulkala 332).'
Numerals in Finnish should be followed by the nouns in the partitive case, and the verb also should take its 3rd person singular form if such forms are the subject of the sentence.
seitsemAn poika - a kAvele - e tie - llA.
seven boy-par. walk-3sg. road-ade.
'Seven boys are walking on the road (Sulkala 332).'
kadu - lla seiso - o kolme mies - tA.
street-ade. stand-3sg. three man-par.
'There are three men standing in the street (Karlsson 117).'
When such numeral subjects become definite by the demonstrative pronoun 'nAmA (these)' or 'nuo (those),' however, then, they trigger the subject-verb agreement.
nAmA kolme mies - tA seiso - vat kadu - lla.
these three man-par stand-3pl. street-ade.
'These three men are standing in the street (Karlsson 118).'
As for the indexation of verbs, three things, person, number, and definiteness of the subject should be taken into account. If the subject is indefinite, 3rd person singular is indexed on the verb. If the subject is definite, then, verb agrees with the subject in person and number.
B) Anaphoric Agreement
Pronouns in Finnish agree with the antecedent NPs in number. Third person pronouns should also agree with the noun class, human vs. non-human, in addition to the number. As Finnish does not have the gender distinction, the third person singular, human pronoun, 'hAn' refers to both English 'he' and 'she.'
tuns - i - n vieraa - t kun he lAhesty - i - vAt.
know-impf.-1sg. visitor-pl.(acc.) when 3pl. approach-impf.-3pl.
'I knew the visitors when they approached (Karlsson 120).'
In the example above, the pronoun 'he' has to agree with the antecedent in person, number, and noun class. In this case, the antecedent 'vieraa-t (visitors)' is 3rd person, plural, and human, and then, the pronoun 'he,' which is for human 3rd person plural, is used here.
In Finnish, genitive forms and possessive suffix are also anaphoric.
tyttO ja hAn - en vietaa - nsa istu - vat penki - llA.
girl and 3sg.-gen. guest-poss.3sg. sit-3pl. bench-ade.
'A girl and her guests are sitting on a bench (Sulkala 121).'
The 3rd person singular pronoun in genitive form, 'hAn-en' and the 3rd person possessive suffix '-nsa' refer back to 'tyttO (girl)' in the sentence above.
C) Concord
Adjectives in Finnish agree with nouns in case and number. As Finnish has no gender distinction in nouns, adjectives do not distinguish genders.
koulu - ssa ol - i hyvA oppettaja ja hyv - i -A oppila - i - ta.
school-ine. be-impf3sg. good teacher and good-pl.-par. pupil-pl.-par.
'There was a good teacher and good students in school (Sulkala 338).'
pien - i - ssA talo - i - ssA asu - u paljon laps - i - a.
little-pl.-ine. house-pl.-ine live-3sg. much child-pl.-par.
'There are lots of children in tiny places (Sulkala 338).'
('paljon (much)' is considered to be a sort of numeral, which does not decline in Finnish.)
In those cases above, the adjectives 'hyvA' and 'pien' agree with the nouns that they modify in case and number.
Concord is also used for expressing possessions in Finnish, but it is limited to the situations in which possessor is denoted by the personal pronouns.
hAn on minu - n Aiti - ni.
3sg. be.3sg. 1sg.gen. mother-poss1sg. 'She is my mother (Sulkala 228).'
In such expressions, however, the genitive forms of the personal pronouns ('minu-n' in the case above) are usually omitted, and only possessive suffixes are used for indicating possessor.
ota - n kirja - ni.
take-1sg. book-poss.1sg. 'I (will) take my book (Karlsson 91).'
Also, different interpretations are possible for the two sentences below respectively.
hAn aja - a auto - nsa kotiin.
3sg. drive-3sg.pres. car-poss.3sg. home
'He drives his (own) car home (Karlsson 92).'
kalle aja - a hAne - n auto - nsa kotiin.
Kalle drive-3sg.pres. 3sg.-gen. car-poss.3sg. home
'Kalle drives his (=somebody else's) car home (Karlsson 92).'
Concord between nouns and adjectives is a common phenomenon in Finnish; adjectives agree with nouns in case and number. However, concord between possessor and possessum is limited in the situation, and the presence or the absence of the genitive can give different interpretations. Then, concord between possessor and possessum is not as common as the concord between nouns and adjectives in Finnish.
Considering the examples above, indexation, anaphoric, and concord, it seems that nouns trigger the agreement in Finnish, rather than verb or adjective is triggering the agreement. As in many other languages, which employ the subject-verb agreement system, subject of the sentence is sometimes omitted. However, the first step that should be taken to determine the verb forms in Finnish is whether the subject is definite or indefinite. Then, between nouns and verbs, nouns are more likely to be the controller of the agreement that verbs.
There seems to be no 'portmanteau morpheme' in Finnish, but sometimes fusion occurs, and the distinction between singular and plural disappears. The passive suffix, for example, is '-sa (or 'nsA' depends on the vowel harmony)' regardless of the number of the possessor (Karlsson 91).
Another example of fusion is past participle (pp), which is used for forming perfect and pluperfect in Finnish. Perfect and pluperfect in Finnish can be formed by the verb 'ole (be)' + pp, and present form of 'ole' + pp is perfect (English 'have + pp), and past form of 'ole' + pp is pluperfect (English 'had + pp').
As the verb 'ole' changes according to person and number, verbs still agree with subject even in perfect or pluperfect forms. In the forms of pp, however, the distinction among persons disappear.
ole - n sano - nut.
be.pres.-1sg. say-pp.sg. 'I have said (Karlsson 134).'
ole - t sano - nut.
be.pres.-2sg. say-pp.sg. 'You have said (Karlsson 134).'
ole - mme sano - neet.
be.pres.-1pl. say-pp.pl. 'We have said (Karlsson 134).'
The verb 'sano (say)' changes its form according to person and number of the subject in its finite form. In the pp form, however, it does not distinguish persons while it still makes a distinction between singular and plural. The pp forms of the Finnish verbs are not the example of portmanteau morpheme, but in the pp forms, three persons are fused in to one category in singular and plural respectively.
CASE SYSTEM IN FINNISH
Finnish is well known for its case marking system. It is estimated that Finnish has 14 cases (Holmberg 7), but this figure varies form scholar to scholar. Whaley gives the 'case hierarchy, '
other > indirect object > direct object > subject
(Whaley 154)
and in 'others' of Whaley's hierarchy, there are two categories, locative and meaningless cases in Finnish. Also, in these categories, there are several sub divisions.
A) Locative
(1) General Locative
(a) translative; meaning 'change of state'
(b) essive; 'as-'
(2) Internal Locative
(a) inessive; 'in-'
(b) elative; 'from-'
(c) illative; 'to-'
(2) External Locative
(a) adessive; 'at / on -' or 'instrument'
(b) ablative; 'from-'
(c) allative; '(on)to-'
There are 8 locatives in Finnish (Holmberg 7).
B) Meaningless Case
(a) abessive; 'without -'
(b) comitative; 'along with -'
(c) instructive; 'instrument'
(d) prolative; 'via -'
There is no special case for indirect object (such as dative) in Finnish. One of the locatives above is used for indirect object, and the choice depends on the verb. The verb, 'my (sell)' for example, uses the allative case as an indirect object.
my - i - n kirja - n sinu - lle.
sell-impf.-1sg. book-acc. 2sg.-all. 'I sold a book for you (Sulkala 68).'
Finnish employs nominative-accusative system; S and A are classified as subject and P as direct object, and Finnish does have the accusative case. However, the accusative can be used in the limited situations, and otherwise, the partitive object is used.
In determining whether object takes the accusative case or the partitive case, these criteria below are examined;
(1) if the sentence is negative,
(2) if the action of the verb does not lead to any important final result (irresultative),
(3) if the verb expresses emotion, and
(4) if the object expresses an indefinite, non-limited quality.
When the sentence or the object matches one of these criteria above, then, the object should be in the partitive (Karlsson 79-81). The accusative can be used only when the sentence or the object fails to match all of the criteria above (Karlsson 94). Then, the accusative is the special form for the definite object.
Then, the accusative object can be used in the limited situations where,
(1) the verb expresses the resultive action, and
(2) the object expresses a whole or a definite quantity.
(a) ost - i - n leivA - n
buy-impf.-1sg. bread-acc. 'I bought the (a loaf of) bread (Karlsson 95).
(b) ost - i -n lepA - A.
buy-impf.-1sg. bread-par. 'I bought (some) bread (Karlsson 95).'
In the example (a), the object 'leivA-n' expresses the definite quantity, and then, the accusative object is used. In the example (b), on the other hand, the object 'lepA-A' refers to the indefinite quantity, thus, the partitive object is used.
(c) suurens - i - n valokuva - n.
enlarge-impf.-1sg. photo-acc. 'I enlarged the photo (Karlsson 95).'
(d) suurens - i - n valokuva - a.
enlarge-impf.-1sg. photo-par. 'I was enlarging a photo (Karlsson 95).'
In the example (c), the accusative object is used, and the sentence implies that 'I enlarged the photo to a given size (Karlsson 95)' as the accusative object expresses the resultative action. In the example (d), in which the partitive object is used, the implication is 'I enlarged a photo but I could have made it a little bigger still (Karlsson 95),' for the partitive object expresses the object which was partially affected or the indefinite quantity of the object.
The partitive case can be also used for the subject in Finnish, and expresses the indefinite quantity of the subject, as it does for the object. Although Finnish has a rich case marking system, it may sound strange that Finnish also employs the rather fixed word order, SVO. Finnish does allow some flexible word orders, but normally, the word order is fixed.
This phenomenon is also related to the definiteness. In Finnish, the NP with the highest definiteness is placed at the beginning of the sentence, and that with the lowest is placed at the send of the sentence. As stated above, the partitive subject expresses the indefinite entity, thus cannot be placed at the beginning of the sentence, the normal subject position. Only the nominative subject, which expresses the definite quantity can be placed in the normal subject position. Also as seen before, the nominative subject can trigger subject-verb agreement.
Then, Whaley's case hierarchy presented before can be revised in Finnish as below.
nominative subject < partitive subject < accusative object < partitive object < genitive
< locative < meaningless cases
Keys
A; low . front, unrounded, lax vowel
O; low, fornt, rounded vowel
sg.; singular / pl.; plural
nom.; nominative case
par.; partitive case
ine.; inessive case
ade; adessive case
gen.; genitive case
poss; possessive suffix
pp; past participle
acc.; accusative case
all.; allative case
pres.; present tense
impf.; imperfect tense
Works Cited
Holmberg, Anders. Case and Other Functional Categories in Finnish Syntax. Mouton de
Gruyter. Berlin, New York. 1993.
Karlsson, Fred. Finnish Grammar. Werner Soderstorm Osakeyhtio. Helsinki, 1982.
Sulkala, Helena. Finnish, Descriptive Grammars. Routledge. London and New York.
1992.
Whaley, Lindsay, J. Introduction to Typology. SAGE Publications. Thousand Oaks,
London, New Delhi. 1997.
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Revised May 4, 1999