Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume VII.djvu/211

{|width="100%" It contains, however, but 19 genuine sounds, viz., 8 vowels and 11 consonants. The letters b, c, d, f, g occur only in a few foreign words and in some dialects. K, p, h are the most frequent initials, k, p, t the most frequent consonants, and sound a little softer than in other languages. The concurrence of consonants is avoided, so that the foreign words Francis, Stephen, school, stable become Rantsi, Tehvan, koulu, tallis. There are many diphthongs. Long vowels are written double. The hiatus is not avoided. A few themes end in consonants, but none in m. The rhythm of the language is trochaic, and the root bears the tone. Rask considers the Suomic to be the most harmonious of tongues. The radical, which precedes all other syllables, never undergoes any change in its beginning and middle. The theme is originally dissyllabic, and often corresponds to monosyllabic Magyar roots; thus: käsi, Magyar kéz, hand; sata, száz, 100; vesi, víz, water; veri, vér, blood; sana, szó, word; tyvi, tő, stem, &c. The various relations of nouns to one another, which in other languages are expressed both by cases and prepositions, are indicated by post-positions or suffixes, forming from the nominative, which is sometimes the theme with a changed final, 14 cases, of which 7 are simple, the others more full. There are two declensions. The object is indicated by the genitive, nominative, or partitive, according to the shade of meaning. Plurality is denoted for the nominative by suffixing t, and for the other cases by inserting i before their endings. In some instances a euphonic e is inserted before the endings. Vocal harmony is strictly observed between the vowels of the theme (in nouns as well as verbs), and for this purpose the vowels are distinguished into three groups, viz.: a, o, u; e, i; and ä, ö, y; those of the first and last never occurring in one word together, but being compatible with those of the middle one. Hence the vowels of the first and last group are converted reciprocally in the suffixes, in order to suit the vowels of the theme; for instance, maa-ta, land-part, but pää-tä, head-part. No language of this family has grammatic genders, but all indicate sexes either by distinct words or by epithets. The Magyar alone uses an article. The adjectives in Suomic are immutable, and are rendered comparative by suffixing mpa, mma, mlu, and superlative by inserting i before that termination. Nouns and adverbs receive an intenser meaning by inserting mpa and impa. The numerals are: 1, yksi; 2, kaksi; 3, kolme; 4, neljä; 5, viisi; 6, kuusi; 7, seit-semän; 8, kahdeksan; 9, yhdeksän; 10, kymmenen; 11, yksi-to ista-kymmentä; 20, kaksi-kymmentä; 30, kolmi-kymmentä; 100, sata; 1,000, tuhanen, tuhot. The personal pronouns are: minä, I; sinä, thou; hän, he, she; me, we; te, you; he, hevat, they. The possessive is formed by a suffix, as isä, a father; isäni, my father; isäs, thy father; isänsä, his father; isämme, our father; isänne, your father; isänänse, their father. The verbs have but two simple tenses, viz., the present and past, the others being periphrastic. Their conjugation is more complicated than in any other family of languages, expressing by certain syllables inserted between the theme and the personal suffixes all voices, modes, species, and other nice shades of meaning. The infinitive shares more than in any other language in the nature of a noun; it comprehends the Latin gerunds, supines, and other shades of sense, and is declinable. The Finnish language has no separable particles, and even affirmation is expressed by means of the auxiliary olen, I am, and negation by means of the verb e. By connecting several such significant syllables into one word, the most complicated ideas may be very precisely expressed, which often require many separate words in other languages. Derived words may be formed almost indefinitely. The construction is extremely free, as in Magyar, without endangering the clearness of the sense; as for instance:
 * align="center" width="95%"|FINLAND
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 * } the alphabet with a diacritic sign, viz., ä, ö.

The best grammars of the language are those of Juden (Viborg, 1818) and Koskinen (Abo, 1865), in Swedish. Finnish dictionaries have been published in Latin and Swedish by D. Justenius in 1745, Renvall in Latin, Swedish, and German (Abo, 1826), C. Helenius in Swedish (Abo, 1838), and E. Lönnrot (Helsingfors, 1853).—The national songs or runes of the Finns may be divided into mythological and lyrical songs. They are sung by Runolainen (song men), to the sound of the favorite national instrument, the kantele, a species of harp with five wire strings. They have also magic songs (Luvut), which are not sung but recited in a solemn measured tone. The songs, scattered among the people for generations past, and some of which had been published since the beginning of this century, were at length collected by Lönnrot and published at Helsingfors in 1835 under the title of Kalevala, which work is now regarded as the great national epic of Finland. So great was its success that the Finnish literary society took immediate measures for a more comprehensive collection, and the second edition, which appeared in 1849, contains 50 songs, with 22,790 verses, while the first edition contained only about half as many. A Swedish translation of the poem by Castrén (Helsingfors, 1844) was speedily followed by a French translation by Léouzon le Duc (2 vols. 8vo, Paris, 1845), and by a German translation by A. Schiefner (Helsingfors, 1852). Lönnrot has further collected about 600 ancient lyrical songs and 60 ballads (Kanteletar, Helsingfors,