Order in Finnish

As Finnish employs case system for nouns and subject-verb agreement system, the word order for subject, object, and verb is flexible, especially when subject is indefinite.

auto-t o-vat kadu-lla.

car.nom.-pl. be.pres.-3pl. street.sg.-ade. (Karlsson 63)

kadu-lla o-vat auto-t.

street.sg.-ade be.pres.-3pl. car.nom.-pl. (Karlsson 63)

In these cases above, subject can be identified easily although there is a slight difference in interpretations between them. As the verb form is 3^rd person plural in both cases above, the subject of the sentence is, ëauto-t (the cars).í

If a sentence has an object, however, the word order is the determining factor.

tytO-t nAk-i-vAt poja-t.

girl-pl. see.-imp.-3pl. boy-pl.

In Finnish, when object is plural and when object is definite (ëthe +nouní in English), there is no marker attached to object. Then, object takes the same form as subject, which is the nominative case, and there is no telling object from subject by looking at the forms. In such cases, nouns at the beginning of the sentence are interpreted as subject, and those after the verb are as direct object. Although Finnish has a rich morphological system in nouns, Finnish also has a rigid word order for subject and object, that is, SVO. Then, the translation of the sentence above is, ëThe girls saw the boys.í

Finnish does allow subjects to be placed at the end of the sentence, that is after verbs, but such V+S patterns are either (1) used in some restricted situations, and (2) marked through morphology (either on subjects or on verbs).

In existential sentences (English, ëthere is / are sentences), for example, subjects need to be placed after verbs. The sentence, ëkadu-lla o-vat auto-tí is an example and the translation is, ëThere are the cars in the street.í

Here is another example.

kato-lla on lintu-j-a.

roof.sg.-ade. be.pres.3sg. bird-pl.-par. ëThere are birds on the roof (Sulkala 70).í

English ëto haveí is also expressed this way in Finnish, ëpossessor (in the adessive case) + verb ëto beí + possessum (in the nominative or the partitive case).í

meihe-lla on koira.

man.sg.-ade be.pres.3sg dog.sg.nom. ëThe man has a dog (Sulkala 70).í

isA-llA on kaksi auto-a.

father.sg.-ade. be.pres.3sg. two car.sg.-par. ëFather has two cars (Karlsson 66).í

(verbs always needs to be in the 3^rd person singular form in the expression of ëto haveí in Finnish.)

Technical translations for the sentences above are, ëA dog is at the maní and ëTow cars are at Father,í because in Finnish, the nominative and the partitive cases can be subject while the adessive cannot. Then, the expression of ëto haveí in Finnish is expressed in the same way as existential.

In these cases above, subjects are placed after verbs. Looking at these sentences, however, we can find,

1. some subjects in the sentences above are in the partitive caes, which requires additional case marking morpheme, and
2. as noted above, verbs are always in the 3^rd person singular form regardless of the number of the subject.

According to Whaley, two of the determining factors for basic word order are frequency (Whaley 100-102) and markedness (Whaley 102-104). Examining the sentences, we can see,

1. V+S patterns are only allowed in existential sentences, that is, the use of them is restricted,
2. These sentences are marked by (1) the irregularity of subject-verb agreement and (2) additional case marking morpheme in subjects,
3. When a sentence has an object, subject cannot be placed after verbs.

From (a) and (b), we can say that V+S is less frequent and more marked than ëS+V,í and form (c), that Finnish requires a rigid word order when sentence has an object. Then, we can conclude that the basic word order for Finnish sentences is S+V+O.

As we have seen, Finnish employs the rigid word order, SVO when a sentence has an object. However, Finnish has many properties that OV languages have. For example, postpositions, one of the properties of OV languages, are more frequently used than prepositions in Finnish.

Besides postpositions, Finnish has many OV language properties. According to Lehmannís constituent order correlation, in VO languages, genitives and adjectives are placed after the nouns (Whaley 86). In Finnish, however, these two things are placed before the nouns.

uusi tyto-n hame.

new girl-gen. skirt ëgirlís new skirt (Sulkala 95)í

The basic order for genitive and adjective is ëadjective + genitiveí and genitive is usually places immediately before the nouns.

In some cases, genitive is placed before adjective,

koulu-n mone-t oppilaa-t.

school-gen. many-pl. pupil-pl. ëthe schoolís many pupils (Sulakala 96)í

and in the case above, if genitive is placed after adjective, the phrase is translated differently.

mone-t koulu-n oppilaa-t.

many-pl. school-gen. pupil-pl. ëmany of the schoolís pupils (Sulkala 96)í

Although different orders of genitive and adjective give different interpretations, they are not placed after the nouns.

In Finnish, however, we can find also find some properties that VO languages have. Relative clause is an example. Relative clauses in Finnish are placed after the nouns they modify.

vanha talo janka ost-i- n.

old house which(rel) buy-imp.-1sg. ëthe old house that I bought (Sualkala 102)í

Finnish relative clauses can sometimes be placed at the initial position of the sentence, but in such cases, there is no actual antecedent word.

jo-t-ka nAk-i-vAt sen usko-i-vat.

which-pl.-rel. see-imp.3pl. it-acc(0) believe-imp.-3pl.

ëThose who saw it believed (Sulkala 43).í

Although relative clauses can be placed at the beginning of the sentence, this use of relative clause is limited in the situations where they are used. Then, the basic order for nouns and relative clause is, ënoun + relative clauseí in Finnish.

Clauses, other than relatives, that modify the nouns are also placed after nouns (constructions such as English ëthe fact thatí).

se ettA hAn tulee ei muut-a asia-a.

it that 3sg.nom. come.pres.3sg. negation.3sg. change-negation form matter.sg.-par

ëThe fact that s/he is coming does not change the matter (Sulkala 30).í

As Finnish has a rich morphology system in nouns, what is expressed by PPs in English is expressed by cases in Finnish. English ëabout + NP,í for example, is expressed by the ellative case (Karlsson 101), ëinto or for (direction)í is by the illative case (Karlsson 103), and ëwith + NPí is by the comitative case (Karlsson 114). These adverbial nouns are free in their positions within the sentence, but when they modify the nouns, they are placed after the nouns they modify.

kAsitys unde-sta vero-lai-sta

opinion new-ela. taxation-law-ela. ëthe opinion about the new taxation law (Sulkala 92)í

juna kemi-in lAhtee pian.

train.sg.nom. Kemi-ill. Leave-3sg. soon ëThe train for Kemi leaves soon (Sulkala 92).í

joki kanave-ine-en ja sulku-ine-en

river canal-com.-3pos. and lock-com.-3pos. ëthe river with canal and lock (Sulakala 92)í

According to Lehmann, "when languages show patterns other than those expected we may assume that they are undergoing change (Whaley 88)." As we have seen, Finnish shows some inconsistencies, and this language may now be undergoing the language change. Unless we examine the history of the Finnish language, there is no way to tell for sure which way Finnish is taking, from SOV to SVO or from SVO to SOV. It seems, however, Finnish may be taking the way from SOV to SVO. The reasons are,

1. Finnish has more postpositions than prepositions. This fact as well as the placement of adjective and genitive in Finnish leads us to think Finnish might have been originally SOV language.
2. As we have seen above, heavy constituents, including relative clauses and adverbial nouns, are placed after the nouns they modify. According to ëheavy constituent principle,í "heavy constituents tend to be placed after the head they modify (Whaley 90)." Heavy constituents of noun modifiers might have got to be placed after the nouns through this principle, but this is not an absolute rule for heavy constituent placement in Finnish. For example,

 

kaupungi-sta palaaminen oli raskast-a.

town-ela return.nom.sg. be.imp.3sg. hard-par. ëThe return from town was hard (Sulakala 92).í

 

Such a construction is rare in Finnish. It seems, however, that this construction might have been the original one, and then, through heavy constituent principle, ëN + heavy constituentí construction might have become more common.

3. since heavy constituent principle applied for NPs in Finnish, this principle also might have applied for VPs through ëcross-category harmony (Whaley 89).í Direct objects of verbs might have got to be placed after verbs according to heavy constituent principle.

Again, in order to reach the correct conclusion, we should examine not only the history of the Finnish language but also the influence of other languages which Finnish used to have contact with. We also need to examine other languages of Finno-Uralic family, which Finnish belongs to.

Works Cited

Karlsson, Fred. Finnish Grammar. Werner Soderstorm Osakeyhtio. Helsinki, 1982.

Sulakala, Helena. Finnish, Descriptive Grammars. Routledge. London, New York, 1992.

Whaley, Lindsay. Introduction to Typology. SAGE Publications, INC. Thousand Oaks, London, New Delhi.