Juha Janhunen Helsinki On the “zero consonant” phoneme in modern standard Finnish – towards a coherent paradigmatic interpretation Introduction There is a general consensus that the consonant paradigm of modern stand- ard Finnish comprises the following 13 members: the three basic unvoiced (and unaspirated) stops p t k; the corresponding (voiced) nasals m n ng; the inher- ently unvoiced continuants s h, of which h can also have voiced realisations; the voiced dental stop d; the two (voiced) liquids l r; and the two glides v j (all quoted here in their orthographical representations). In terms of places of articulation there are the three labials m p v, of which the glide v is normally pronounced as a dentilabial (labiodental); the six dentals n t s d r l, among which n d r are pro- nounced as postalveolars; the single palatal (glide) j; and the three palato-velars ng k h, of which the continuant h has mainly laryngeal, but also velar and palatal, realizations. Of the two continuants, s may also be specifi ed as a sibilant frica- tive, while h may be described as a spirant with relatively little fricative noise. The consonant system may, consequently, be presented in a matrix with four places (labial, dental, palatal, velar) and seven manners of articula- tion (nasal, voiceless stop, continuant, voiced stop, vibrant/trill, lateral, glide) (Table 1).1 The paradigmatic relationships of the continuants s h with regard to the glides v j, and of all these with regard to the segments d r l, are an issue open to several alternative interpretations (Janhunen 2007, 204–205), but there is no question as to the number of contrasts involved. 1. Note that voicing is here, for the sake of clarity and simplicity, classifi ed as a “manner feature”, as would secondary articulations such as aspiration, glottalization or palatalization were they present in the language. In reality, voicing is only marginally distinctive in Finnish, and only in the pair t vs. d, which, nevertheless, involves also a slight difference with regard to the place of articulation (dental vs. postalveolar). In principle, the obstruents p t k s h are always inherently unvoiced in Finnish, while the sonorants m n ng r l, including the glides v j, are inherently voiced. Juuret marin murteissa, latvus yltää Uraliin. Suomalais-Ugrilaisen Seuran Toimituksia = Mémoires de la Société Finno-Ougrienne 270. Helsinki 2014. 129–140. SSUST270Saarinen.inddUST270Saarinen.indd 112929 11.12.2014.12.2014 116:24:256:24:25 130 Juha Janhunen m n ng m n ng p tk p tk sh f sshh d b dg r r l l vj vj Table 1. The basic consonant Table 2. The expanded consonant paradigm of standard Finnish. paradigm of standard Finnish. Most original regional dialects of the language lack the voiced dental stop d (in the dialects normally represented as r, l or zero), and many also lack the velar nasal ng as a separate phoneme (for more information on the dialects, cf. e. g. Kettunen 1940; Rapola 1947). The segment d is attested in native words only as a morphophonological alternant (weak grade) of t, and in a process- oriented description it would not count as a separate deep-level phoneme. The velar nasal ng [ŋ], on the other hand, has a distinctive status only as a medial geminate [ŋŋ], which represents a morphophonological alternant (weak grade) of the homorganic cluster <nk> = ngk [ŋk]. There are also several other restric- tions governing the phonotactics of the individual consonants, which means that the subparadigms of consonants used in the different positions within a word may vary. For instance, the segments attested in word-initial position include m n p t k s h r l v j, while those attested in word-fi nal position include only the dentals n t s r l. Some dialects, including the modern standard speech of educated indi- viduals, incorporate several new marginal phonemes, which are mainly used in recent loanwords, but which also occur in innovative native items especially in the urban slang. These varieties of the language also exhibit deviations from the standard phonotactic patterns. For instance, the segment d, but not ng, has extended its phonotactic occurrences to initial position, while all consonants, with the possible exception of the glides v j, can be used in fi nal position. The principal marginal phonemes are the voiced labial and velar stops b g, as well as the unvoiced labial (dentilabial) continuant f, all of which have obvious niches in the system. For some speakers, the system also contains a new alveopalatal sibilant sh (š) [ʃ], which has a niche in the palatal column (Table 2). However, many speakers ignore the distinction between s and sh, possibly because the system lacks other palatal obstruents, and also because the basic dental s often has realizations coming close to the palatal range.2 2. The realizations of sh (š) in Finnish vary, but they normally come close to the Central and Western European pronunciation of the corresponding sounds, like French <ch> and English <sh>. Although typi- cally pronounced as an alveopalatal, in the phonological system this sound can in many languages be clas- sifi ed together with actual palatals, a situation connected also with historical factors. For Finnish, however, the issue has only marginal relevance. SSUST270Saarinen.inddUST270Saarinen.indd 113030 11.12.2014.12.2014 116:24:256:24:25 On the “zero consonant” phoneme in modern standard Finnish 131 – towards a coherent paradigmatic interpretation There is, however, at least potentially, one additional consonant pho- neme in Finnish. This consonant is more elusive than the others and is therefore traditionally not recognized as a member of the consonant paradigm, though it has a conventional symbol, the apostrophe (’), as used in certain positions even in the standard orthography. To give it more graphic prominence, the present paper will use the letter x, a symbol that has actually also been used (in the raised shape x) for some of its occurrences. Due to its elusive nature, this x may be termed “zero consonant”, but it should be understood that this label does not necessarily make it any less relevant for the consonant paradigm. Moreover, it has also clearly segmentable phonetic realizations depending on its position. To see how this segment functions, it is convenient to distinguish between four positions: initial, medial, fi nal, and geminate. Each of these will be examined separately below. Initial position It is a widely accepted conception that consonants (C) and vowels (V) are uni- versally arranged in sequences of the type CV, rather than VC. Although this has occasionally been disputed for some languages, there is no reason to doubt that in Finnish, at least, syllables begin prototypically with a consonant (consonan- tal anlaut). There are, however, apparent exceptions to this regularity, the most obvious counterexamples being offered by lexical items that seem to begin with a vowel (vocalic anlaut or “null onset”). All vowels in Finnish can begin a word without the physical presence of a preceding consonant. This is a word type at- tested in many languages, including many Uralic languages, and in Uralic it can be dated back to the earliest reconstructable protolanguage. There are, however, good arguments to treat the lack of an initial con- sonant in Finnish as an “empty” consonant, that is, as a consonant that has no positive marked properties, but that nevertheless may be thought to fi ll the slot that would otherwise remain empty. In fact, depending on the dialect, especially in eastern Finland, initial vowels can be preceded by a clearcut segmental glottal stop, the so-called “hard anlaut” (“luja aluke”). Let us therefore tentatively iden- tify the “empty” slot at the beginning of words as a manifestation of the “zero consonant”. We may extend this principle to the protolanguage, e. g. Finnish orthographical <ala> ‘lower part’, <elä-> ‘to live’, phonemic xala ‘lower part’, xelä- ‘to live’ < Proto-Uralic *xïla, *xela-. We see that the “zero consonant” behaves phonotactically like any other initial consonant: it occupies a slot in the string of sounds, and it can be followed by all vowel qualities, just like any other initial consonant. That the initial “zero consonant” is not marked orthographically in Finn- ish is, in fact, simply due to the orthographical system used for Finnish. For this detail, Finnish follows the European heritage of the Latin script. In many other orthographical systems, as, for instance, in the Semitic and Indian traditions, as well as in the Korean Hangeul, the initial “zero consonant” is written with SSUST270Saarinen.inddUST270Saarinen.indd 113131 11.12.2014.12.2014 116:24:266:24:26 132 Juha Janhunen a consonant letter (“alif”), signalling its status as an additional member of the paradigm. (It may be recalled that the “vowel letters” of the Graeco-Roman script tradition are also originally consonant letters.) As far as the Uralic languages are concerned, it may be noted that the initial “zero consonant” has actually developed into a velar nasal in several forms of “Northern Samoyedic”, as in Tundra Nenets ngil° ‘lower part’ < *ngïlə < Proto-Samoyedic *xïlə. The velar nasal itself can have undergone further de- velopments, including palatalization before original front vowels, as in Ngana- san *nyilï- ‘to live’ < *ngilä- < Proto-Samoyedic *xilä-. The appearance of the “prothetic” nasal in Northern Samoyedic is easier to understand if we think of the “zero consonant” as some kind of glottal sound: we are here dealing with a manifestation of the phenomenon known as “rhinoglottophilia” (Matisoff 1975). This means that the “prothetic” nasal did not develop out of “nothing”, but rather, out of the “zero consonant” that was already there.