Finnish Consonant Gradation

The term consonant gradation refers to a set of alternations that involve intervocalic voiceless stops, k, p, and t, and the corresponding geminate consonants kk, pp, and tt. Historically, the alternation was a simple phonetic alternation between "strong" and "weak" forms. In a closed syllable, voiceless geminate stops were replaced by single stops, and single voiceless stops were replaced by the corresponding voiced fricatives. The following examples illustrate this phenomenon, as it existed in Finnish five hundred years ago, with the partitive singular and genitive singular forms of several nouns. Note that the forms in the first column end with an open syllable (no coda consonant) with -a as the partitive ending, whereas the forms in the second column terminate in a closed syllable with -n as the genitive suffix.

Old Finnish

Partitive (strong form)	Genitive (weak form)	Gloss
tukkaa kakkua tikkaa harakkaa	tukan kakun tikan harakan	hair cake dart magpie
pappia tippaa huppua anoppia	papin tipan hupun anopin	priest drop hood mother-in-law
kattoa juttua rottaa ammattia	katon jutun rotan ammatin	roof story rat profession
likaa	liγan	dirt
ripaa	riβan	handle
sotaa	soδan	war

In Modern Finnish, the phenomenon is more complicated. What originally was a simple phonologically controlled alternation has become opaque. Because of sound changes that have taken place over the last centuries, strong forms now show up systematically in some closed syllables and weak forms appear in open syllables in certain morphological categories. For the purpose of this exercise, we ignore this complication and consider only the nominative and genitive forms of singular nouns where the original, purely phonological, distinction between open and closed syllables controls the alternation between strong and weak forms.

Another complication, that we will pay close attention to, is that the voiced fricatives, γ, β, and δ, no longer exist in Modern Finnish. The weak grade of single stops now depends on the phonetic environment. For each of the three single voiceless stops, there is a general rule and exceptions for specific environments.

Gradation of single k

Strong	Weak	Gloss	Rule for the weak grade
likaa makua rakoa tukea halkoa jalkaa virkaa nahkaa niska matka	lian maun raon tuen halon jalan viran nahan~nahkan niskan matkan	dirt taste hole support log leg job skin neck trip	In general, a single k is deleted. Exception: deletion of k is optional after an h. Exception: k remains unchanged after an s. Exeption: k remains unchanged after a t.
lankaa linkoa	langan lingon	thread sling	After n, a single k becomes g (Phonetically: ηk → ηη).
pukua sukua	puvun suvun	dress relative	Between two short u vowels a single k becomes v.
tiukua raakaa	tiu'un raa'an	chime raw	After a long vowel or diphton and followed by an identical vowel, a single k becomes ' (glottal stop).
kurkea solkea	kurjen soljen	crane buckle	Between a liquid (r or l) and e, a single k becomes j.

Gradation of single p

Strong	Weak	Gloss	Rule for the weak grade
ripaa sopua tapaa kalpa varpu piispa	rivan sovun tavan kalvan varvun piispan	handle harmony manner sword twig bishop	In general, a single p is replaced by v. Exeption: p remains unchanged after s.
kampaa rumpua sampea	kamman rummun sammen	comb drum sturgeon	A single p assimilates to the preceding m forming a geminate mm.

Gradation of single t

Strong	Weak	Gloss	Rule for the weak grade
sotaa pataa kitaa vahtia kostoa	sodan padan kidan vahdin koston	war pot maw guard revenge	In general, a single t is replaced by d. Exception: t remains unchanged after an s.
rintaa kantoa rantaa	rinnan kannon rannan	breast stump shore	A single t assimilates to the preceding n forming a geminate nn.
iltaa kultaa	illan kullan	evening gold	A single t assimilates to the preceding l forming a geminate ll.
partaa kertaa	parran kerran	beard time	A single t assimilates to the preceding r forming a geminate rr.

The old gradation rule for geminate consonants remains unchanged in Modern Finnish. In the weak grade, geminate kk, pp, and tt are replaced by k, p, and t, respectively. Note the exeptional behavior of a single k, p, and t after s.

The Task

The script below defines small lexicon for Finnish in which all the intervocalic voiceless stops occur in their strong form. Your task is to write replace rules for producing the corresponding weak forms in closed syllables. Compose the rules with the lexicon in the proper order and end the script with the line

print lower-words

to verify that the output matches the examples above.

# finnish.script

define Stems [ {tukka}| {kakku} | {pappi} | {tippa} | {katto} | {juttu} |
               {tikka} | {huppu} | {rotta} | {harakka} | {anoppi} | {ammatti} |
               {lika} | {maku} | {rako} | {tuke} | {halko} | {jalka} | {virka}|
               {nahka} | {niska} | {matka} | {lanka} | {linko} | {puku} |
               {suku} | {tiuku} | {raaka} | {piispa} | {kalpa} | {varpu} |
               {ripa} | {sopu} | {tapa} | {kampa} | {rumpu} | {sampe} |
               {sota} | {pata} | {kita} | {rinta} | {kanto} | {ranta} |
               {ilta} | {kulta} | {parta} | {kerta} | {vahti} | {kosto} ];

define Case [ "+Part":a | "+Gen":n ];

define Finnish [Stems Case];