Meänkieli grammar

Meänkieli is a Finnic variant spoken in northern Sweden by around 70,000 people.^[1] Although its status as an independent language is disputed by some linguists due to its mutual intelligibility with Finnish, the Swedish state has granted Meänkieli with the status of an official minority language in Sweden and is thus treated as a separate language from standard Finnish by the Swedish authorities. A standardized literary language for Meänkieli has been created that is based around the dialects around Pajala, Övertorneå and Haparanda, which has been used in Meänkieli literature. This article primarily focuses on the grammar of the written language of Meänkieli.^[2][3][4][5]

Personal pronouns in Meänkieli.^[6][7]: 84

In colloquial Meänkieli, the personal pronouns are sometimes combined with the word olla 'to be', such as in the word 'soli' which means "it was", however these combined words are not used in written Meänkieli.^[7]: 216

Examples:^[8]

Just like other Finnic languages, Meänkieli contains consonant gradiation. However, the consonant gradiation of Meänkieli contains some differences from that of standard Finnish:^[7]

A notable difference from standard Finnish is the absence of d in consonant gradiation, for example the Meänkieli alternation of t - ∅ is instead t - d in standard Finnish, so the Meänkieli example of 'katu - kaula' becomes 'katu - kadulla' in standard Finnish.^[7]

Nominative case

The nominative is the base form of a word and does not have a suffix, however the plural is made by the ending -t. For example, talo 'house' becomes talot 'houses'.^[6][7]: 60

Genitive case

The genitive case is used to express ownership and it is made with the ending -n in the singular. However, the plural genitive has multiple possible endings in Meänkieli, which are -tten, -ten, -jen, -in and -en. For example, kala 'fish' in the genetive becomes kaloitten or kalain, while the word mies 'man' becomes miehitten or miesten. The endings -in and -en are somewhat archaic, but are still sometimes used in modern Meänkieli.^[7]: 61

Partitive case

The partitive case is used to express partialness or indefiniteness. It is formed by the suffixes -a, -ta, -tä, -ä. For example, in the sentence "karasissa oon piiliä" 'there are cars in the garage', the word piili 'car' is in the partitive case. The plural is formed by adding either -i(ta/tä) or -j(a/ä), for example talo 'house' become taloja in the plural.^{[7]: 65–66}

Essive

The essive case is formed by the endings -na or -nä, and describes states of being and time. For example, in the sentence "mie olin kipeännä", the word kipeä 'sick' is in the essive case.^[7]: 67

Accusative

The accusative case is used to express a direct object. It's formed by the ending -n in the singular and -t in the plural. For example, the word kirja 'book' in the accusative becomes "kirjan".^{[7]: 67–68}

Translative

The translative is formed by the ending -ksi, which describes becoming something. For example, in the sentence "ko sie luet tätä kramatiikkia, sie tulet viishaamaksi", the word viisas 'wise' is in the translative.^{[7]: 68–69}

Inessive

The inessive describes being in or inside something, and it is formed by the ending -ssa or -ssä. For example, the word käsi 'hand' becomes "käessä" in the inessive. The plural is formed by inserting the vowel I before the singular case ending. For example, mettä 'forest' becomes mettässä in the singular inessive, while it becomes mettissä in the plural form. Other examples of the inessive include:^[7]: 69

• puu 'tree' - puussa 'in the tree' - puissa 'in the trees'
• kivi 'rock' - kivessä 'in the rock' - kivissä 'in the rocks'

Elative

The elative describes derivation, having the meaning 'of, from, out of' or it can refer to a thing spoken, written or thought about. The elative it is formed by the ending -sta or -stä. Examples of the elative include:^[7]: 70

• nousin sohvasta 'I rose from the sofa'
• mie kerron reisusta 'I tell about the trip'
• mistä syystä 'for what reason'
• Lusikka oon puusta 'the spoon is (derived) from the tree'
• mie tärisen pölöstä 'I tremble from fear'

Illative

The illative in Meänkieli describes movement into something. It is formed by lengthening the last vowel with the suffix -n and aspirating the last consonant, while the plural is formed by the ending -in.^[7]: 73

• pere 'family' - perheesheen 'into the family' - perheishiin 'into the families'
• tie'e 'science' - tietheesheen 'into science' - tietheishiin 'into sciences'
• maa 'land - maahan 'into the land' - maihin 'into the lands'
• koulu 'school' - kouhluun 'into the school', kouhluin 'into the schools'

Adessive

The adessive describes being at or on something. It can also be used to describe the tool of an action. It is formed by the endings -lla, -la, -llä and -lä. Examples of usage include:^{[7]: 73–74}

• mulla oon rahhaa 'I have money'
• minun tyttärellä oon kaks lasta 'my daughter has two children'
• Yölä häätyy nukkua 'at night one must sleep'
• mie hakkasin tämän kirhveelä 'I chopped this with an axe'

Ablative

The ablative case in formed by the ending -lta or -ltä. The ablative indicates movement from something, for example in the sentence "mie tulen asemalta" (I come from the station), the word asema 'station' is in the ablative case.^{[7]: 74–75}

Allative

The allative case is formed with the ending -lle or -le. It carries the meaning of "to" or "onto", for example in the sentence "tälle pojale", both the words "tämä" 'this' and poika 'boy' are in the allative case, meaning "to this boy".^[7]: 76

Abessive, comitative and the instructive

The abessive, comitative and the instructive have heavily fallen out of use, although still existing within the language. The abessive is formed with the ending -tta or -ttä, and has the meaning of "without" and in some dialects people still use the abessive case after the word "ilman" which means "without", such as in the words "ilman rahatta" 'without money'. The comitative is formed with the ending -ihne + a possessive suffix, while the instructive is formed with the ending -in.^{[7]: 76–77}

The word "tooli" 'chair' conjugated into all cases.^{[7]: 77–78}

In Meänkieli, comparatives are generally formed with an -mpi ending, while superlatives with an -in ending.^[7]: 81

In Meänkieli, verb conjugation depends on the personal pronouns. The word "tulla" 'come' is conjugated thus in the present tense:^{[7]: 97–98}

Short verbs such as saa'a 'get', myyä 'sell', jua 'drink' and voija 'to be able to' end in the suffix -pi in the third person singular: saapi 'he gets', myypi 'he sells', juopi 'he drinks', voipi 'he can'.^[9]

The imperfect tense (which describes past events) is formed by the suffix -i. The word saa'a 'get/receive' is conjugated into the imperfect thus:^{[7]: 97–98}

The perfect tense in Meänkieli is formed with the ending -nu/ny and the verb olla 'to be' in the present tense. The word ostaa 'buy' is conjugated thus into the perfect tense:^{[7]: 99–100}

The Meänkieli word "huomata" 'to notice' is thus conjugated into the present imperative forms:^[9]

Similarly to Finnish, Meänkieli uses the verb "älä" to form negative imperatives, the word "huomata" is conjugated into the negative present imperative thus:^[9]

Unlike in Finnish, Meänkieli more often aspirates consonants and has specific rules for when consonants become aspirated. Aspiration is written by adding the letter h after or before a consonant. Consonants become aspirated after being followed by two vowels in the passive form of verbs, in the illative case, in the third infinitive, after the genetive forms of words that end with -e and in all perfect and pluperfect forms of verbs. Examples of aspiration include:^[10][9]

• Sauhnaan 'into the sauna'
• kauphaan 'into the store'
• Stockholmhiin 'into stockholm'
• tulkhoon 'may he/she come'

A similar system exists in the Kven language.^[9]