Finnish language

“ The Finnish language is still in so unsettled and fluid a condition, as regards both forms and style, that it is often hard to say what is correct and what not. A foreigner naturally cannot venture to decide what ought or ought not to be, and I have merely endeavoured to give an account of the forms and constructions found in existence. The examples are taken chiefly from the Kalevala and Bible (which are generally cited by references) , from the Suomen Kansan [vi] Sananlaskuja of Ahlqwist, from various modern works, and some from the dictionaries of Lönnrot and Geitlin. ”

“ Finland is wonderfully rich in periodicals of all kinds, the publications of the Finnish Societies of Literature and of Sciences and other learned bodies being specially valuable. A great work in the revival of an interest in the Finnish language was done by the Suomalaisen Kirjallisuuden Seura (the Finnish Literary Society) , which from the year 1841 has published a valuable annual, Suomi. The Finnish Literary Society has also published a new edition of the works of the father of Finnish history, Henry Gabriel Porthan (died 1804) . ”

“ Two of the professors deliver lectures in Finnish. Schiller and Shakespeare have been done into the native tongue of the Finns. And the imperial decree has gone forth that after 1883 the Finnish language shall be the official tongue of the country. If Russia would be as kind and considerate of the feelings of Poland, she would conciliate her southern subjects as readily as she has her northern.
We were now led to the Senate-house. The Diet, or Congress of Finland, consists of four chambers, the nobles, the clergy, the citizens, the peasants. Each of them has a hall of its own for meeting ”

“ The next to study the Finnish poetry and language was Daniel Juslenius, a celebrated bishop, and a highly-gifted scholar. In a dissertation, published as early as 1700, entitled, Aboa vetus et nova, he discussed the origin and nature of the Finnish language; and in another work of his, printed in 1745, he treated of Finnish incantations, displaying withal a thorough understanding of the Finnish folk-lore, and of the importance of the Finnish language and national poetry. With great care he began to collect the songs of Suomi, but this precious collection was unfortunately burned. ”

“ With the exception of these two characteristics of the Ugrian languages, the chief beauties of the Finnish verse admit of an apt rendering into English. The structure of the sentences is very simple indeed, and adverbs and adjectives are used sparingly.
Finnish is the language of a people who live pre-eminently close to nature, and are at home amongst the animals of the wilderness, beasts and birds, winds, and woods, and waters, falling snows, and flying sands, and rolling rocks, and these are carefully distinguished by corresponding verbs of ever-changing acoustic import. ”

“ It is a libel, a hideous libel; but one which is, unfortunately, believed all over the Continent by foreigners not thoroughly acquainted with English folk in their own homes.
English, being the language of commerce, is fast becoming the language of the world, in spite of its imperfections; but to enjoy a country one must be able to converse in its own tongue.
The Finnish summer is not long, but it is both light and warm, the average temperature being as much higher than our own as it is lower in winter, and the people certainly enjoy both seasons to the full. ”

“ At present, Finnish and Swedish form the two official languages in Finland, with a natural preponderance of Finnish, as the language of the majority. Every one aspiring to an official position in Finland must possess a sufficient knowledge of both languages. In some posts, Russian is also required, and the plan is now contemplated in St. Petersburg to supersede both Swedish and Finnish with Russian in all the more important Departments, though the Russian-speaking population in Finland only amounts to a few thousand people. ”

“ These traits can scarcely be rendered in English; for, as Robert Ferguson remarks: “The English language is not strong in diminutives, and therefore it lacks some of the most effective means for the expression of affectionate, tender, and familiar relations.” In this respect all translations from the Finnish into English necessarily must fall short of the original. The same might be said of the many emotional interjections in which the Finnish, in common with all Ugrian dialects, abounds. ”

“ The Finnish race reached a high degree of civilization at a very early period. They have always been distinguished by a love of poetry, especially for the elegy, and they abound in tales, legends and proverbs. Until the middle of the twelfth century they had their own independent kings, since then they have been alternately conquered by the Russians and Swedes; but like the Poles, they have preserved a strong national feeling, and have kept their native language. Their greatest literary monument is the Kalevala, an epic poem. ”

“ Nearly all modern languages have the same origin. Out of a mass of dialects one is selected by circumstances as representative, and becomes a language while the others remain dialects. A number of such dialects are spoken in Finland, and no doubt if any of them had received an independent literary development, it might have produced a language almost as different from written Finnish as is Esthonian. Neither can one be surprised at the number of newly invented words in Finnish. ”

“ The Fennomans take interest in, and work for the Finnish language, literature, and culture; while the Svecomans, who are principally composed of the old Swedish families, try to maintain the old Swedish culture in Finland.
Since 1899 Finland's relations with Russia and the defence of the Finnish Constitution is the principal question in politics.
Party strife is terrible. ”

“ But it must be remembered that the Finnish language is extraordinarily susceptible in regard to consonants. Mouths which are incapable of pronouncing two consonants at the beginning of a word must have to struggle with difficulties in pronunciation which we are quite incapable of understanding. ”

“ Nevertheless danger is lurking within and without, for the Finlanders speak three languages; the Finlanders themselves only speak Finnish, the more educated people speak Swedish, and in official circles they must know Russian, a language which has been forced upon [171] them; while the great Russian people are ready to overwhelm and absorb, and march over them to new fields. Still, as a Finlander truly said to the writer, "The destiny of a people is in the hands of the Lord, and Finland has courage in God;" ”

“ There are Swedish peasants as well as Finnish; and while the Finn speaks only Finnish, the Finlander only knew Swedish until quite lately, except what he was pleased to call "Kitchen Finnish," for use amongst his servants; but every year the Finlander is learning more and more of his native language, and Swedish bids fair to be relegated to the classics as far as Finland is concerned. ”

“ It was won by the Finns, and Swedish and Finnish gained equal rights in public life. The Finnish movement rapidly developed and during the last thirty years its progress has been most extraordinary, and so the Swedes, who were once predominant, find themselves being elbowed out of the land in which they were masters. The new Finnish literary language is in spirit, though not in structure or vocabulary, Scandinavian. ”

“ The Finns call their country Suomi or Marshland; and it is [Pg. viii] often spoken of as the Land of Ten Thousand Lakes. The language they speak belongs to a group called Finnish-Ugrian, or Altaic, and is allied to Lappish and Esthonian, and more distantly to Turkish and Hungarian, There are only twenty-one letters in the alphabet; the letter J is pronounced like Y (as a consonant) , and Y almost as a short I. The first syllable of every word is accented. This renders it difficult to accommodate such words as Kālĕvăiā to the metre; but I have tried to do my best. ”

“ Sweden formally renounced its rights over Finland and the duchy became part of Russia.
Today Finland is a country with three languages. Russian is the channel of official activity. Finnish, through a literary revival, has won its right to be the language of the land and this is a symbol of the Finns’ desire for independent national existence. Swedish remains as the age-old medium through which Christianity and western culture were conveyed. It is also to a large extent the business language of the province, especially for communication with western Europe. ”

“ The musical element of a language, the vowels, are well developed in Finnish, and their due sequence is subject to strict rules of euphony. The dotted o; (equivalent to the French eu) of the first syllable must be followed by an e or an i. The Finnish, like all Ugrian tongues, admits rhyme, but with reluctance, and prefers alliteration. ”

“ If the Finns in heathen were convinced of the soul’s eternal life, of punishment and prosperity in another world, no real conclusions can be drawn from it today. What one can find out indirectly through their philosophy, language, and old literature may be obtained in the writings of old Finnish philosophy. ”

“ In their system of conjugation, the Turkic dialects can hardly be surpassed. Their verbs are like branches which break down under the heavy burden of fruits and blossoms. The excellence of the Finnic languages consists rather in a diminution than increase of verbal forms; but in declension Finnish is even richer than Turkish. ”

“ Except Finnish, which is music itself, it is the most melodious of northern languages, and the mellow flow of its poetry is often scarcely surpassed by the Italian. The infinitive verb always ends in a, and the language is full of soft, gliding iambics, which give a peculiar grace to its poetry. ”

“ The national languages of Finland are Finnish and Swedish. (2) The right of everyone to use his or her own language, either Finnish or Swedish, before courts of law and other authorities, and to receive official documents in that language, shall be guaranteed by an Act. The public authorities shall provide for the cultural and societal needs of the Finnish-speaking and Swedish-speaking populations of the country on an equal basis. (3) The Sami, as an indigenous people, as well as the Roma and other groups, have the right to maintain and develop their own language and culture. ”

“ African: Haussa name for Fula.
Finnic, Finnish, or Finlandish.
Agglutinative; the typical language of the Chudic, or Tschoudic family of Turanian; it is the native dialect of Finland, a grand duchy of European Russia, N. of the Baltic; it is, like Turkish, Tatar, and Moghol, classed as Alatyan, but largely influenced by Swedish and Russian. See Kellgren: “Die Grundzüge der Finnischen Sprache,” Berlin, 1847.
⁂ Dialects are (1) Province of Abo, (2) Tavastrian, (3) Karelian, (4) Olonetsian, (5) Vadialaiset. See Suomelaiset. ”

“ The struggle is an outward manifestation of the fight for independence waged by the natives of Finland in the presence of Swedish and Russian efforts to dominate the country. The common danger from Russia has lately drawn the Swedish and Finnish groups together, although the Finns were previously strongly anti-Swedish. The old antagonism still lingers in society life. The Swedish-speaking element rarely mixes with the Finnish-speaking. This is particularly noticeable at Helsingfors, where each language represents a distinct stratum of social life. ”

“ Now, in spite of the fact that most Swedish-speaking people have probably spoken Finnish as children and have had Finnish servants and playfellows to teach them the language, none of these peculiarities have influenced their Swedish: what makes them recognizable as hailing from Finland (‘finska brytningen’) is not simplification of consonant groups or substitution of p for b, etc., but such small things as the omission of the ‘compound tone,’ the tendency to lengthen the second consonant in groups like ns, and European (‘back’) u instead of the Swedish mixed vowel. ”

“ The diet, which had not met for 56 years, was convoked by Alexander II. at Helsingfors in 1863, and has met every five years since. Since 1860 Finland has been allowed the use of a coinage peculiar to itself. Under Alexander II. Finland has been on the whole prosperous and progressive. The use of the Finnish tongue is everywhere encouraged, though the upper classes mostly use Swedish, and the study of the Russian language was made compulsory in all the state schools in 1872. ”

“ Even during last, but especially during the present century, there has been considerable literary activity in Finland, so that now books in almost every branch of research are found in the language, mainly translations or adaptations. We meet with, during the present century, a considerable number of names of poets and dramatists, no doubt very minor, as also painters, sculptors, and musical composers. At the Paris International Exhibition of 1878 several native Finnish painters and sculptors exhibited works which would do credit to any country ”

“ Medial Finnish nk = Lapp gg; (11) Finnish nt = Lapp dd; (12) gy, ny = y, v; (13) t = s (Finnish t = s, ṣ, sy, ts, z, ẓ, &c.) ; (14) Finnish s, h = Ostiak and Vogul t; (15) Finnish p = Votiak b = Magyar b, f; (16) Finnish t = Magyar s, z, ts; (17) Finnish m = Lapp bm; (18) Lapp dn = Finnish nn or n; (19) Finnish mb = Lapp bb; (20) Finnish kk, tt, pp = Vêpse and Livonian k, t, p; (21) Finnish k, t, p = Vêpse and Livonian g, d, b. This list of phonetic equivalents will make it clear that the original phonology of the Ugro-Finnic group is generally best represented by Suomi or Finnish ”