Finnish
Suomen kieli
Pronunciation	[ˈsuo̯mi]
Spoken in	Finland, Estonia, Ingria, Karelia, Norway, Sweden
Region	Northern Europe
Native speakers	5,009,390  (1993)[1]
Language family	Uralic Finnic Finnish
Writing system	Latin (Finnish alphabet)
Official status
Official language in	Finland  European Union recognised as minority language in:  Sweden[2]  Republic of Karelia[3]
Regulated by	Language Planning Department of the Institute for the Languages of Finland
Language codes
ISO 639-1	fi
ISO 639-2	fin
ISO 639-3	fin
Official language.   Spoken by a minority.
This page contains IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Unicode characters.

Finnish ( suomi (help·info), or suomen kieli) is the language spoken by the majority of the population in Finland (92% as of 2006^[update][4]) and by ethnic Finns outside Finland. It is one of the two official languages of Finland and an official minority language in Sweden. In Sweden, both standard Finnish and Meänkieli, a Finnish dialect, are spoken. The Kven language, a Finnish dialect, is spoken in Northern Norway.

Finnish is the eponymous member of the Finnic language family and is typologically between fusional and agglutinative languages. It modifies and inflects the forms of nouns, adjectives, pronouns, numerals and verbs, depending on their roles in the sentence.

Classification[link]

Finnish is a member of the Finnic group of the Finno-Ugric family of languages. The Finnic group also includes Estonian and other minority languages spoken around the Baltic Sea.

Finnish demonstrates an affiliation with the Uralic languages in several respects including:

• Shared morphology:

• case suffixes such as genitive -n, partitive -(t)a / -(t)ä (< Uralic *-ta), essive -na / -nä
• plural markers -t and -i-
• possessive suffixes such as 1st person singular -ni (< Uralic *-mi), 2nd person singular -si (< Uralic *-ti).
• various derivational suffixes

• Shared basic vocabulary displaying regular sound correspondences with the other Uralic languages.

Several theories exist as to the geographic origin of Finnish and the other Uralic languages, but the most widely held view is that they originated as a Proto-Uralic language somewhere in the boreal forest belt around the Ural Mountains region and/or the bend of the middle Volga. The strong case for Proto-Uralic is supported by common vocabulary with regularities in sound correspondences, as well as by the fact that the Uralic languages have many similarities in structure and grammar.

The Finns are more genetically similar to their Indo-European speaking neighbours than to the speakers of the geographically close Uralic language Sami. It has been argued that a native Finnic-speaking population therefore absorbed northward migrating Indo-European speakers who adopted the Finnic language, giving rise to the modern Finns.^[5]

The Defense Language Institute in Monterey, California, classifies Finnish as a level III language (of 4 levels) in terms of learning difficulty for native English speakers.^[6]

Geographic distribution[link]

Areas in Southern Sweden with a Finnish-speaking population (2005)

Finnish is spoken by about five million people who reside mainly in Finland. There are also notable Finnish-speaking minorities in Sweden, Norway, Russia, Estonia, Brazil, Canada, and the United States. The majority of the population of Finland, 90.37% as of 2010^[update], speak Finnish as their first language.^[7] The remainder speak Swedish (5.42%),^[7] Sami (Northern, Inari, Skolt) and other languages. It has achieved some popularity as a second language in Estonia.

Official status[link]

Finnish is one of two official languages of Finland (the other being Swedish, spoken by 5.42% of the population as of 2010^[update][7]) and an official language of the European Union. It enjoys the status of an official minority language in Sweden. It is also one of the working languages of the Nordic Council. Despite this fact, it is regarded globally as one of the least useful languages, often referred to as "the Great Consequence of a Culturally Barren Country," due to the harshness of how it is spoken. Under the Nordic Language Convention, citizens of the Nordic countries speaking Finnish have the opportunity to use their native language when interacting with official bodies in other Nordic countries without being liable to any interpretation or translation costs.^[8][9]

History[link]

Prehistory[link]

The Finnic languages evolved from the Proto-Finnic language after Sámi was separated from it around 1500–1000 BCE.^{[citation needed]} Current models assume three or more hypothetical Proto-Finnic proto-dialects evolving over the first millennium BCE.^[10] The greatest divergence between Finnic languages is centered south of the Gulf of Finland^{[citation needed]}. Thus, linguists agree^{[weasel words]} that the Proto-Finnic language itself was never spoken in Finland^{[citation needed]}, but in an urheimat somewhere south of modern St. Petersburg^{[citation needed]}. Its daughter languages, which spread north, then developed into Finnish.^{[11][better source needed]} The Finnic languages separated around the 1st century, but continued to influence each other^{[citation needed]}. Therefore^{[further explanation needed]}, the Eastern Finnish dialects are genetically Eastern Proto-Finnic, with many Eastern features, and the Southwestern Finnish dialects have many Estonian influences^{[citation needed]}.

Medieval period[link]

Finland was annexed to Catholic Sweden in the Middle Ages. Prior to this, Finnish was an oral language. Even after, the language of larger-scale business was Middle Low German, the language of administration Swedish, and religious activities were held in Latin, leaving few possibilities for Finnish-speakers to use their mother tongue in situations other than daily chores.

The first known written example of Finnish comes from this era and was found in a German travel journal dating back to c.1450: Mÿnna tachton gernast spuho somen gelen Emÿna daÿda (Modern Finnish: "Minä tahdon kernaasti puhua suomen kieltä, [mutta] en minä taida"; English: "I willingly want to speak Finnish, [but] I am not able").^[12] According to the travel journal, a Finnish bishop, whose name is unknown, was behind the above quotation. The erroneous accusative case in gelen (Finnish kielen) and the lack of the conjunction mutta seem to indicate a foreign speaker with a incomplete grasp of Finnish grammar, as errors with the numerous noun cases are typical of those learning Finnish.^[13] Finnish priestdom at the time was largely Swedish-speaking.^[14]

Writing system[link]

Mikael Agricola, a 19th century drawing by Albert Edelfelt

The first comprehensive writing system for Finnish was created by Mikael Agricola, a Finnish bishop, in the 16th century. He based his orthography on Swedish, German, and Latin. His ultimate plan was to translate the Bible, but first he had to define rules on which the Finnish standard language still relies, particularly with respect to spelling.

Agricola's written language was based on western dialects of Finnish, and his intention was that each phoneme should correspond to one letter. Yet, Agricola was confronted with many problems in this endeavour and failed to achieve uniformity. This is why he might use different signs for the same phonemes depending on the situation. For example he used dh or d to represent the voiced dental fricative /ð/ (English th in this) and tz or z to represent the geminate unvoiced dental fricative /θ/ (the th in thin). Additionally, Agricola might use gh or g to represent the voiced velar fricative /ɣ/ and either ch, c or h for /h/. For example he wrote techtin against modern spelling tehtiin.

Later others revised Agricola's work, striving for a more phonemic system. Along the way, Finnish lost some of its phonemes. The sounds /ð/ and /θ/ disappeared from the standard language, surviving only in a small rural region in Western Finland.^[15] Elsewhere, traces of these phonemes persist as their disappearance gave Finnish dialects their distinct qualities. For example, /θ/ became ht or tt (e.g. meþþä → mehtä, mettä) in the eastern dialects and in some western dialects. In the standard language, however, the effect of the lost phonemes is thus:

• /ð/ became /d/
• /θ/ became /ts/
• /ɣ/ became /v/ but only if the /ɣ/ appeared originally between high labial vowels, otherwise lost entirely.

Modern Finnish punctuation, along with that of Swedish, uses the colon character to separate the stem of the word and its grammatical ending in some cases (such as after abbreviations), where some other alphabetic writing systems would use an apostrophe. Suffixes are required for correct grammar, so this is often applied, e.g. EU:ssa "in the EU".

Modernization[link]

Elias Lönnrot as depicted in a 19th century caricature – Lönnrot made several journeys to Karelia and Eastern Finland to collect folklore, from which he compiled the Kalevala.

In the 19th century Johan Vilhelm Snellman and others began to stress the need to improve the status of Finnish. Ever since the days of Mikael Agricola, written Finnish had been used almost exclusively in religious contexts, but now Snellman's Hegelian nationalistic ideas of Finnish as a full-fledged national language gained considerable support. Concerted efforts were made to improve the status of the language and to modernize it, and by the end of the century Finnish had become a language of administration, journalism, literature, and science in Finland, along with Swedish.

The most important contributions to improving the status of Finnish were made by Elias Lönnrot. His impact on the development of modern vocabulary in Finnish was particularly crucial. In addition to compiling the Kalevala, he acted as an arbitrator in disputes about the development of standard Finnish between the proponents of western and eastern dialects, ensuring that the western dialects Agricola had preferred preserved their preeminent role, while many originally dialectical words from Eastern Finland were introduced to the standard language enriching it considerably.^[16] The first novel written in Finnish (and by a Finnish-speaker) was Seven Brothers, published by Aleksis Kivi in 1870.

Dialects[link]

The dialects of Finnish are divided into two distinct groups, the Western dialects and the Eastern dialects.^[17] The dialects are almost entirely mutually intelligible and distinguished from each other by only minor changes in vowels, diphthongs and rhythm. For the most part, the dialects operate on the same phonology, grammar and vocabulary. There are only marginal examples of sounds or grammatical constructions specific to some dialect and not found in standard Finnish. Two examples are the voiced dental fricative found in Rauma dialect and the Eastern exessive case.

Map of Finnish dialects

The classification of closely related dialects spoken outside Finland is a politically sensitive issue that has been controversial since Finland's independence in 1917. This concerns specifically the Karelian language in Russia and Meänkieli in Sweden, the speakers of which are often considered oppressed minorities. Karelian is different enough from standard Finnish to have its own orthography. Meänkieli is a northern dialect entirely intelligible to speakers of any other Finnish dialect, which achieved its status as an official minority language in Sweden for historical and political reasons regardless of the fact that Finnish is an official minority language in Sweden, too.

Western dialects[link]

The South-West dialects (lounaismurteet) are spoken in Finland Proper and Satakunta. Their typical feature is abbreviation of word-final vowels, and in many respects they resemble Estonian. The Tavastian dialects (hämäläismurteet) are spoken in Tavastia. They are closest to the standard language, but feature some slight vowel changes, such as the opening of diphthong-final vowels (tie → tiä, miekka → miakka, kuolisi → kualis). The Southern Ostrobothnian dialects (eteläpohjalaiset murteet) are spoken in Southern Ostrobothnia. Their most notable feature is the pronunciation of 'd' as a tapped or even fully trilled /r/. The Middle and North Ostrobothnia dialects (keski- ja pohjoispohjalaiset murteet) are spoken in Central and Northern Ostrobothnia. The Far-Northern dialects (peräpohjalaiset murteet) are spoken in Lapland. The dialects spoken in the western parts of Lapland are recognizable by retention of old 'h' sounds in positions where they have disappeared from other dialects.

One of the Far-Northern dialects, Meänkieli, which is spoken on the Swedish side of the border, is taught in some Swedish schools as a distinct standardized language. The speakers of Meänkieli became politically separated from the other Finns when Finland was annexed to Russia in 1809. The categorization of Meänkieli as a separate language is controversial among the Finns, who see no linguistic criteria, only political reasons, for treating Meänkieli differently to other dialects of Finnish.^{[citation needed]}

The Kven language is spoken in Finnmark and Troms, in Norway. Its speakers are descendants of Finnish emigrants to the region in the 18th and 19th centuries. Kven is an official minority language in Norway.

Eastern dialects[link]

The Eastern dialects consist of the widespread Savonian dialects (savolaismurteet) spoken in Savo and nearby areas, and the South-Eastern dialects spoken now only in Finnish South Karelia. The South-Eastern dialects (kaakkoismurteet) were previously spoken also on the Karelian Isthmus and in Ingria. The Karelian Isthmus was evacuated during World War II and refugees were resettled all over Finland. Most Ingrian Finns were deported to various parts of Russia and Estonia.

Palatalization, a common feature of Uralic languages, had been lost in Finnic languages, but it has been reacquired by most of these languages, including Eastern Finnish, but not Western Finnish. In Finnish orthography, this is denoted with a 'j', e.g. vesj, cf. standard vesi.

The language spoken in the parts of Karelia that have not historically been under Swedish or Finnish rule is usually called the Karelian language, and it is considered to be more distant from standard Finnish than the Eastern dialects. Whether this language of Russian Karelia is a dialect of Finnish or a separate language is a matter of interpretation. However, the term Karelian dialects is often used colloquially for the Finnish South-Eastern dialects.

Dialect chart of Finnish[link]

• Western dialects
  • Southern-Western dialects
    • Proper Southern-Western dialects
      • Northern dialect group
      • Southern dialect group
    • Southern-Western middle dialects
      • Pori region dialects
      • Ala-Satakunta dialects
      • dialects of Turku highlands
      • Somero region dialects
      • Western Uusimaa dialects
  • Tavastian dialects
    • Ylä-Satakunta dialects
    • Heart Tavastian dialects
    • Southern Tavastian dialects
    • Southern-Eastern Tavastian dialects
      • Hollola dialect group
      • Porvoo dialect group
      • Iitti dialect group
  • Southern Botnian dialects
  • Middle and Northern Botnian dialects
    • Middle Botnian dialects
    • Northern Botnian dialects
  • Peräpohjola dialects
    • Tornio dialects ("Meänkieli" in Sweden)
    • Kemi dialects
    • Kemijärvi dialects
    • Jällivaara dialects ("Meänkieli" in Sweden)
    • Ruija dialects ("Kven language" in Northern Norway)
• Eastern dialects
  • Savonian dialects
    • Northern Savonian dialects
    • Southern Savonian dialects
    • Middle dialects of Savonlinna region
    • Eastern Savonian dialects or the dialects of North Karelia
    • Kainuu dialects
    • Central Finland dialects
    • Päijänne Tavastia dialects
    • Keuruu-Evijärvi dialects
    • Savonian dialects of Värmland (Sweden)
  • Southern-Eastern dialects
    • Proper Southern-Eastern dialects
    • Middle dialects of Lemi region
    • Dialects of Ingria (in Russia)^[18]

Linguistic varieties[link]

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (October 2009)

There are two main varieties of Finnish used throughout the country. One is the "standard language" (yleiskieli), and the other is the "spoken language" (puhekieli). The standard language is used in formal situations like political speeches and newscasts. Its written form, the "book language" (kirjakieli), is used in nearly all written texts, not always excluding even the dialogue of common people in popular prose. The spoken language, on the other hand, is the main variety of Finnish used in popular TV and radio shows and at workplaces, and may be preferred to a dialect in personal communication.

Standardization[link]

Standard Finnish is prescribed by the Language Office of the Research Institute for the Languages of Finland and is the language used in official communication. The Dictionary of Contemporary Finnish (Nykysuomen sanakirja 1951–61), with 201,000 entries, was a prescriptive dictionary that defined official language. An additional volume for words of foreign origin (Nykysuomen sivistyssanakirja, 30,000 entries) was published in 1991. An updated dictionary, The New Dictionary of Modern Finnish (Kielitoimiston sanakirja) was published in an electronic form in 2004 and in print in 2006. A descriptive grammar (Iso suomen kielioppi,^[19] 1,600 pages) was published in 2004. There is also an etymological dictionary, Suomen sanojen alkuperä, published in 1992–2000, and a handbook of contemporary language (Nykysuomen käsikirja), and a periodic publication, Kielikello. Standard Finnish is used in official texts and is the form of language taught in schools. Its spoken form is used in political speech, newscasts, in courts, and in other formal situations. Nearly all publishing and printed works are in standard Finnish.

Spoken Finnish[link]

The spoken language has mostly developed naturally from earlier forms of Finnish, and spread from main cultural and political centres. The standard language, however, has always been a consciously constructed medium for literature. It preserves grammatical patterns that have mostly vanished from the colloquial varieties and, as its main application is writing, it features complex syntactic patterns that are not easy to handle when used in speech. The spoken language develops significantly faster, and the grammatical and phonological simplifications include also the most common pronouns and suffixes, which sum up to frequent but modest differences. Some sound changes have been left out of the formal language, such as the irregularization of some common verbs by assimilation, e.g. tule- → tuu- (although tule can be used in spoken language as well).

Written language certainly still exerts a considerable influence upon the spoken word, because illiteracy is nonexistent and many Finns are avid readers. In fact, it is still not entirely uncommon to meet people who "talk book-ish" (puhuvat kirjakieltä); it may have a connotation of pedantry, exaggeration, moderation, weaseling or sarcasm. More common is the intrusion of typically literary constructions into a colloquial discourse, as a kind of quote from written Finnish. It should also be noted that it is quite common to hear book-like and polished speech on radio or TV, and the constant exposure to such language tends to lead to the adoption of such constructions even in everyday language.

A prominent example of the effect of the standard language is the development of the consonant gradation form /ts : ts/ as in metsä : metsän, as this pattern was originally (1940) found natively only in the dialects of southern Karelian isthmus and Ingria. In fact, it has arisen from the spelling 'ts' for the dental fricative [θː], which has disappeared. In spoken language, a fusion of Western /tt : tt/ (mettä : mettän) and Eastern /ht : t/ (mehtä : metän) has been created: /tt : t/ (mettä : metän).^[20] It is notable that neither of these forms are identifiable as, or originate from, a specific dialect.

The orthography of the informal language follows that of the formal language. However, sometimes sandhi may be transcribed, especially the internal ones, e.g. menenpä → menempä. This never takes place in formal language.

Examples[link]

formal language	colloquial language	meaning
he menevät	ne menee	"they go" (loss of distinction of animacy and the difference between the plural and the singular)
onko teillä	onks teil(lä)	"do you (pl.) have?" (apocope)
(me) emme sano	me ei sanota	"we don't say" or "we won't say" (the first person plural is replaced with the passive voice)
(minun) kirjani	mun kirja	"my book" (possessive suffix not used)
kuusikymmentäviisi	kuuskyt(ä)viis	"sixty-five" (abbreviated forms of numbers)
minä tulen	mä tuun	"I'm coming" or "I will come" (irregular verb, no pro-dropping)
punainen	punane(n) or punaine'	"red" (unstressed diphthong becomes a short vowel)
korjannee	kai korjaa	"probably will fix" (absence of the potential mood)
hyvää huomenta	huomenta	good morning

Note that there are noticeable differences between dialects. Also note that here the formal language does not mean a language spoken in formal occasions but the standard language which exists practically only in written form.

Phonology[link]

Characteristic features of Finnish (common to some other Uralic languages) are vowel harmony and an agglutinative morphology; owing to the extensive use of the latter, words can be quite long.

The main stress is always on the first syllable, and it is articulated by adding approximately 100 ms more length to the stressed vowel.^{[citation needed]} Stress does not cause any measurable modifications in vowel quality (very much unlike English). However, stress is not strong and words appear evenly stressed. In some cases, stress is so weak that the highest points of volume, pitch and other indicators of "articulation intensity" are not on the first syllable, although native speakers recognize the first syllable as a stressed syllable.

There are eight vowels, whose lexical and grammatical role is highly important, and which are unusually strictly controlled, so that there is almost no allophony. Vowels shown in the table below, followed by the IPA symbol. These are always different phonemes in the initial syllable; for noninitial syllable, see morphophonology below. There is no close-mid/open-mid distinction, with true mid or open-mid being used in all cases.

The usual analysis is that Finnish has long and short vowels and consonants as distinct phonemes. However, long vowels may be analyzed as a vowel followed by a chroneme, or also, that sequences of identical vowels are pronounced as "diphthongs". The quality of long vowels mostly overlaps with the quality of short vowels, with the exception of u, which is centralized with respect to uu; long vowels do not morph into diphthongs. There are eighteen phonemic diphthongs; like vowels, diphthongs do not have significant allophony.

Finnish has a consonant inventory of small to moderate size, where voicing is mostly not distinctive, and fricatives are scarce. Finnish has relatively few non-coronal consonants. Consonants are as follows, where consonants in parenthesis are found only in a few recent loans.

1. /d/ is the equivalent of /t/ under weakening consonant gradation, and thus occurs only medially, or in non-native words; it is actually more of an alveolar tap rather than a true voiced stop, and the dialectal realization varies wildly; see main article.
2. The glottal stop can only appear at word boundaries as a result of certain sandhi phenomena, and it is not indicated in spelling: e.g. /annaʔolla/ 'let it be', orthographically anna olla. Moreover, this sound is not used in all dialects.
3. The short velar nasal is an allophone of /n/ in /nk/, and the long velar nasal /ŋŋ/, written ng, is the equivalent of /nk/ under weakening consonant gradation (type of lenition) and thus occurs only medially, e.g. Helsinki - Helsingin kaupunki (city of Helsinki) /hɛlsiŋki - hɛlsiŋŋin/.

Almost all consonants have phonemic geminated forms. These are independent, but occur only medially when phonemic.

Independent consonant clusters are not allowed in native words, except for a small set of two-consonant syllable codas, e.g. 'rs' in karsta. However, because of a number of recently adopted loanwords using them, e.g. strutsi from Swedish struts, meaning "ostrich", Finnish speakers can pronounce them, even if it is somewhat awkward.

As a Uralic language, it is somewhat special in two respects: loss of fricatives and loss of palatalization. Finnish has only two fricatives, namely /s/ and /h/. All other fricatives are recognized as foreign, of which Finnish speakers can usually reliably distinguish /f/ and /ʃ/. (The official alphabet includes 'z' [z] and 'ž' [ʒ], but these are rarely used correctly, including by the Swedish-speakers.) Palatalization is characteristic of Uralic languages, but Finnish has lost it. However, the Eastern dialects and the Karelian language have redeveloped a system of palatalization. For example, the Karelian word d'uuri [dʲuːri], with a palatalized /dʲ/, is reflected by juuri in Finnish and Savo dialect vesj [vesʲ] is vesi in standard Finnish.

A feature of Finnic phonology is the development of labial and rounded vowels in non-initial syllables, as in the word tyttö. Proto-Uralic had only 'a' and 'i' and their vowel harmonic allophones in non-initial syllables; modern Finnish allows other vowels in non-initial syllables, although they are uncommon compared to 'a', 'ä' and 'i'.

Morphophonology[link]

Finnish has several morphophonological processes that require modification of the forms of words for daily speech. The most important processes are vowel harmony and consonant gradation.

Vowel harmony is a redundancy feature, which means that the feature [±back] is uniform within a word, and so it is necessary to interpret it only once for a given word. It is meaning-distinguishing in the initial syllable, and suffixes follow; so, if the listener hears [±back] in any part of the word, they can derive [±back] for the initial syllable. For example, tuote ("product") agglutinates to tuotteeseensa ("into his product"), where the final vowel becomes the back vowel 'a' (rather than the front vowel 'ä') because the initial syllable contains the back vowels 'uo'. This is especially notable because vowels 'a' and 'ä' are different, meaning-distinguishing phonemes, not interchangeable or allophonic. Finnish front vowels are not umlauts.

Consonant gradation is a lenition process for P, T and K, with the oblique stem "weakened" from the nominative stem, or vice versa. For example, tarkka "precise" has the oblique root tarka-, as in tarkan "of the precise". There is also another gradation pattern, which is older, and causes simple elision of T and K. However, it is very common since it is found in the partitive case marker: if V is a single vowel, V+ta → Va, e.g. *vanha+ta → vanhaa. Another instance is the imperative, which changes into a glottal stop in the singular but is shown as an overt 'ka' in plural, e.g. mene vs. menkää.

Grammar[link]

The morphosyntactic alignment is nominative–accusative; but there are two object cases: accusative and partitive. The contrast between the two is telic, where the accusative case denotes actions completed as intended (Ammuin hirven "I shot (killed) the elk"), and the partitive case denotes incomplete actions (Ammuin hirveä "I shot (at) the elk"). Often this is confused with perfectivity, but the only element of perfectivity that exists in Finnish is that there are some perfective verbs. Transitivity is distinguished by different verbs for transitive and intransitive, e.g. ratkaista "to solve something" vs. ratketa "to solve by itself". There are several frequentative and momentane verb categories.

Verbs gain personal suffixes for each person; these suffixes are grammatically more important than pronouns, which are often not used at all in standard Finnish. The infinitive is not the uninflected form but has a suffix -ta or -da; the closest one to an uninflected form is the third person singular indicative. There are four persons, first ("I, we"), second ("you (singular), you (plural)"), third ("s/he, they"). The passive voice (sometimes called impersonal or indefinite) resembles a "fourth person" similar to, e.g., English "people say/do/...". There are four tenses, namely present, past, perfect and pluperfect; the system mirrors the Germanic system. The future tense is not needed, because of context and the telic contrast. For example, luen kirjan "I read a book (completely)" indicates a future, when luen kirjaa "I read a book (not yet complete)" indicates present.

Nouns may be suffixed with the markers for the aforementioned accusative case and partitive case, the genitive case, eight different locatives, and a few other cases. The case marker must be added not only to the main noun, but also to its modifiers; e.g. suure+ssa talo+ssa, literally "big-in house-in". Possession is marked with a possessive suffix; separate possessive pronouns are unknown. Pronouns gain suffixes just as nouns do.

Lexicon[link]

Suomalaisen Sana-Lugun Coetus (1745) by Daniel Juslenius was the first comprehensive dictionary of the Finnish language with 16,000 entries.

See the lists of Finnish words and words of Finnish origin at Wiktionary, the free dictionary and Wikipedia's sibling project.

Finnish extensively employs regular agglutination. It has a smaller core vocabulary than, for example, English, and uses derivative suffixes to a greater extent. As an example, take the word kirja "a book", from which one can form derivatives kirjain "a letter" (of the alphabet), kirje "a piece of correspondence, a letter", kirjasto "a library", kirjailija "an author", kirjallisuus "literature", kirjoittaa "to write", kirjoittaja "a writer", kirjuri "a scribe, a clerk", kirjallinen "in written form", kirjata "to write down, register, record", kirjasin "a font", and many others.

Here are some of the more common such suffixes. Which of each pair is used depends on the word being suffixed in accordance with the rules of vowel harmony.

• -ja/jä : agent (one who does) (e.g. lukea "to read" → lukija "reader")
• -lainen/läinen: inhabitant of (either noun or adjective). Englanti "England" → englantilainen "English person or thing"; Venäjä → venäläinen "Russian person or thing".
• -sto/stö: collection of. For example: kirja "a book" → kirjasto "a library"; laiva "a ship" → laivasto "navy, fleet".
• -in: instrument or tool. For example: kirjata "to book, to file" → kirjain "a letter" (of the alphabet); vatkata "to whisk" → vatkain "a whisk, mixer".
• -uri/yri: an agent or instrument (kaivaa "to dig" → kaivuri "an excavator"; laiva "a ship" → laivuri "shipper, shipmaster").
• -os/ös: result of some action (tulla "to come" → tulos "result, outcome"; tehdä "to do" → teos "a piece of work").
• -ton/tön: lack of something, "un-", "-less" (onni "happiness" → onneton "unhappy"; koti "home" → koditon "homeless").
• -llinen: having (the quality of) something (lapsi "a child" → lapsellinen "childish"; kauppa "a shop, commerce" → kaupallinen "commercial").
• -kas/käs: similar to -llinen (itse "self" → itsekäs "selfish"; neuvo "advice" → neuvokas "resourceful").
• -va/vä: doing or having something (taitaa "to be able" → taitava "skillful"; johtaa "to lead" → johtava "leading").
• -la/lä: a place related to the main word (kana "a hen" → kanala "a henhouse"; pappi "a priest" → pappila "a parsonage").

Verbal suffixes are extremely diverse; several frequentatives and momentanes differentiating causative, volitional-unpredictable and anticausative are found, often combined with each other, often denoting indirection. For example, hypätä "to jump", hyppiä "to be jumping", hypeksiä "to be jumping wantonly", hypäyttää "to make someone jump once", hyppyyttää "to make someone jump repeatedly" (or "to boss someone around"), hyppyytyttää "to make someone to cause a third person to jump repeatedly", hyppyytellä "to, without aim, make someone jump repeatedly", hypähtää "to jump suddenly" (in anticausative meaning), hypellä "to jump around repeatedly", hypiskellä "to be jumping repeatedly and wantonly", hyppimättä "without jumping", hyppelemättä "without jumping around". Often the diversity and compactness of this agglutination is illustrated with istahtaisinkohan "I wonder if I should sit down for a while" (from istua, "to sit, to be seated"):

• istua "to sit down" (istun "I sit down")
• istahtaa "to sit down for a while"
• istahdan "I'll sit down for a while"
• istahtaisin "I would sit down for a while"
• istahtaisinko "should I sit down for a while?"
• istahtaisinkohan "I wonder if I should sit down for a while"

Borrowing[link]

Over the course of many centuries, the Finnish language has borrowed many words from a wide variety of languages, most from neighboring Indo-European languages. Indeed, some estimates put the core Proto-Uralic vocabulary surviving in Finnish at only around 300 word roots.^{[citation needed]} Owing to the different grammatical, phonological and phonotactic structure of the Finnish language, loanwords from Indo-European have been assimilated.

In general, the first loan words into Uralic languages seem to come from very early Indo-European languages, and later mainly from Iranian, Turkic, Baltic, Germanic, and Slavic languages. Furthermore, a certain group of very basic and neutral words exists in Finnish and other Finnic languages that are absent from other Uralic languages, but without a recognizable etymology from any known language. These words are usually regarded^[who?] as the last remnant of the Paleo-European language spoken in Fennoscandia before the arrival of the proto-Finnic language^{[citation needed]}. Words included in this group are e.g. jänis (hare), musta (black), mäki (hill), saari (island), suo (swamp) and niemi (cape (geography)).

Also some place names, like Päijänne and Imatra, are probably before the proto-Finnic era.^[21]

Often quoted loan examples are kuningas "king" and ruhtinas "sovereign prince, high ranking nobleman" from Germanic *kuningaz and *druhtinaz—they display a remarkable tendency towards phonological conservation within the language. Another example is äiti "mother", from Gothic aiþei, which is interesting because borrowing of close-kinship vocabulary is a rare phenomenon. The original Finnish emo occurs only in restricted contexts. There are other close-kinship words that are loaned from Baltic and Germanic languages (morsian "bride", armas "dear", huora "whore"). Examples of the ancient Iranian loans are vasara "hammer" from Avestan vadžra, vajra and orja "slave" from arya, airya "man" (the latter probably via similar circumstances as slave from Slav in many European languages).

More recently, Swedish has been a prolific source of borrowings, and also, the Swedish language acted as a proxy for European words, especially those relating to government. Present-day Finland belonged to the kingdom of Sweden from the 12th century and was ceded to Russia in 1809, becoming an autonomous Grand Duchy. Swedish was retained as the official language and language of the upper class even after this. When Finnish was accepted as an official language, it gained only legal "equal status" with Swedish, which persists even today. It is still the case today, though only about 5.5% of Finnish nationals, the Swedish-speaking Finns, have Swedish as their mother tongue. During the period of autonomy, Russian did not gain much ground as a language of the people or the government. Nevertheless, quite a few words were subsequently acquired from Russian (especially in older Helsinki slang) but not to the same extent as with Swedish. In all these cases, borrowing has been partly a result of geographical proximity.

Especially words dealing with administrative or modern culture came to Finnish from Swedish, sometimes reflecting the oldest Swedish form of the word (lag – laki, 'law'; län – lääni, 'province'; bisp – piispa, 'bishop'; jordpäron – peruna, 'potato'), and many more survive as informal synonyms in spoken or dialectal Finnish (e.g. likka, from Swedish flicka, 'girl', usually tyttö in Finnish).

Typical Russian loanwords are old or very old, thus hard to recognize as such, and concern everyday concepts, e.g. papu "bean", sini "(n.) blue" and pappi "priest". Notably, a few religious words such as Raamattu ("Bible") are borrowed from Russian, which indicates language contact preceding the Swedish era. This is mainly believed to be result of trade with Novgorod from the 9th century on and Russian Orthodox missions in the east in the 13th century.

Most recently, and with increasing impact, English has been the source of new loanwords in Finnish. Unlike previous "geographical" borrowing, the influence of English is largely "cultural" and reaches Finland by many routes, including international business, music, film and TV (foreign films and programmes, excluding ones intended for a very young audience, are shown subtitled), literature, and, of course, the Web – this is now probably the most important source of all non-face-to-face exposure to English.

The importance of English as the language of global commerce has led many non-English companies, including Finland's Nokia, to adopt English as their official operating language. Recently, it has been observed that English borrowings are also ousting previous borrowings, for example the switch from treffailla "to date" (from Swedish, träffa) to deittailla from English "to go for a date". Calques from English are also found, e.g. kovalevy (hard disk). Grammatical calques are also found, for example, the replacement of the impersonal (passiivi) with the English-style generic you, e. g. sä et voi "you cannot", instead of ei voi "one cannot".

However, this does not mean that Finnish is threatened by English. Borrowing is normal language evolution, and neologisms are coined actively not only by the government, but also by the media. Moreover, Finnish and English have a considerably different grammar, phonology and phonotactics, discouraging direct borrowing. English loan words in Finnish slang include for example pleikkari "PlayStation", hodari "hot dog", and hedari "headache", "headshot" or "headbutt". Often these loanwords are distinctly identified as slang or jargon, rarely being used in a negative mood or in formal language. Since English and Finnish grammar, pronunciation and phonetics differ considerably, most loan words are inevitably sooner or later calqued – translated into native Finnish – retaining the semantic meaning.

Neologisms[link]

Some modern terms have been synthesised rather than borrowed, for example:

puhelin "telephone" (literally: "to chat" [puhella] + instrument suffix "-lin" to make "an instrument for talking")

tietokone "computer" (literally: "knowledge machine")

levyke "diskette" (from levy "disc" + a diminutive -ke)

sähköposti "email" (literally: "electrical mail")

linja-auto "bus" (literally: route-car)

Neologisms are actively generated by the Language Planning Office and the media. They are widely adopted. One would actually give an old-fashioned or rustic impression using forms such as telefooni or kompuutteri when the neologism is widely adopted.

Loans to other languages[link]

Orthography[link]

The first page of Abckiria (1543), the first book written in the Finnish language. The spelling of Finnish in the book had many inconsistencies: for example, the k sound could be represented by c, k or even g; the long u and the long i were represented by w and ij respectively, and ä was represented by e.

Finnish is written with the Swedish variant of the Latin alphabet that includes the distinct characters Ä and Ö, and also several characters not used in Finnish (including for example C, Q, X, Z, Ž, and Å). The Finnish orthography follows the phoneme principle: each phoneme (meaningful sound) of the language corresponds to exactly one grapheme (independent letter), and each grapheme represents almost exactly one phoneme. This enables an easy spelling and facilitates reading and writing acquisition. The rule of thumb for Finnish orthography is: write as you read, read as you write. However, morphemes retain their spelling despite sandhi.

Some orthographical notes:

• Long vowels and consonants are represented by double occurrences of the relevant graphemes. This causes no confusion, and permits these sounds to be written without having to nearly double the size of the alphabet to accommodate separate graphemes for long sounds.
• The grapheme h is sounded slightly harder when placed before a consonant (initially breathy voiced, then voiceless) than before a vowel.
• Sandhi is not transcribed; the spelling of morphemes is immutable, e.g. tulen+pa /tulempa/.
• Some consonants (v, j, d) and all consonant clusters do not have distinctive length, and consequently, their allophonic variation is typically not specified in spelling, e.g. rajaan /rajaan/ (I limit) vs. raijaan /raijjaan/ (I haul).
• Pre-1900s texts and personal names use w for v. Both correspond to the same phoneme, the labiodental approximant /ʋ/, a v without the fricative ("hissing") quality of the English v.
• The letters ä [æ] and ö [ø], although written as umlauted a and o, do not represent phonological umlauts, and they are considered independent graphemes; the letter shapes have been copied from Swedish. An appropriate parallel from the Latin alphabet are the characters C and G (uppercase), which historically have a closer kinship than many other characters (G is a derivation of C) but are considered distinct letters, and changing one for the other will change meanings.

Although Finnish is almost completely written as it is spoken, there are a few differences:

• The n in nk is a velar nasal, as in English. As an exception to the phonetic principle, there is no g in ng, which is a long velar nasal as in English singalong.
• Sandhi phenomena such as the gemination between words or the change 'n+k' to [ŋk] is not marked in writing.
• The double consonant in clitic is marked as a single consonant.
• Only comparative and superlative adjectives the letter m is used like in speech in word like parempi, but in other similar cases the letter n is used, like in onpa
• The /j/ after the letter i is very weak or there is no /j/ at all, but in writing it is used; for example: urheilija. Indeed the j is not used in writing words with consonant gradation (like aion and some other (like läksiäiset))
• In speech there is no difference between the use of /i/ in words (like ajoittaa, but ehdottaa), but in writing there are quite simple rules: The i is written in forms derived from words that consist two syllables and end in a or ä (sanoittaa, "to write song-lyrics", from sana, "word"), and in words that are old-stylish (innoittaa). The i is not written in forms derived from words that consist two syllables and end in o or ö (erottaa "to discern, to differentiate" from ero difference), words which do not clearly derive from a single word (hajottaa can be derived either from the stem haja- seen in such adverbs as hajalle, or from the related verb hajota), and in words that are descriptive (häämöttää) or workaday by their style (rehottaa)

Graphemes ä and ö are sometimes converted in two ways, a and o, respectively and, ae and oe respectively. Finnish graphemes ä and ö are not umlauts like in German; conversion to ae and oe in Finnish language is less correct than in German language. Conversion to a and o is more common and almost universally used in email-addresses. Conversion ae and oe is rare but formally used in passports and equivalent situations. Both conversion rules have minimal pairs.

The sounds š and ž are not a part of Finnish language itself and have been introduced artificially by a government regulation. Although they occur in some rare loanwords, their principal use is in the transcription of foreign names. For technical reasons or convenience, the graphemes sh and zh are often used in quickly or less carefully written texts instead of š and ž. This is a deviation from the phonetic principle, and as such is liable to cause confusion, but the damage is minimal as the transcribed words are foreign in any case. Finnish does not use the sounds z, š or ž, but for the sake of exactitude, they can be included in spelling. (The recommendation cites the Russian play Hovanshtshina as an example.) Many speakers pronounce all of them s, or distinguish only between s and š, because Finnish has no voiced sibilants.^[22]

The language may be identified by its distinctive lack of the letters b, c, f, q, w, x, z and å.

Language example[link]

	Sample of spoken Finnish Taken from Wikipedia article on the Finnish language in Finnish
Problems listening to this file? See media help.

— Väinö Linna: The Unknown Soldier; these words were also inscribed in the 20 mk note.

(Translation: "The benevolent sun watched them. By no means was it angry at them. Perhaps it even felt a kind of compassion towards them. Jolly good brothers.")

Basic greetings[link]

Sample sound of "Hyvää huomenta"

• (Hyvää) huomenta – (Good) morning
• (Hyvää) päivää – (Good) afternoon (literally "Good day")
• (Hyvää) iltaa – (Good) evening
• Hyvää yötä / Öitä! – Good night / "Night!"
• Terve! / Moro! – Hello!
• Hei! / Moi! – Hi!
• Heippa! / Moikka! / Hei hei! / Moi moi! – Bye!
• Nähdään! – See you later! ("we see")
• Näkemiin – Goodbye (Literally "Till (I)/we see (each other)".
  "Näkemiin" comes from the word "näkemä" ("sight"). Literally "näkemiin" means "Until seeing (again)"
• Hyvästi – Goodbye / Farewell
• Hauska tutustua! – Nice to meet you.
• Kiitos – Thank you
• Kiitos, samoin – "Thank you, the same to you" / Likewise (as a response to "well-wishing")
• Mitä kuuluu? – How are you / How are you doing? (Not used among strangers, literally "What are you hearing?")
• Kiitos hyvää! – I'm fine, thank you.
• Tervetuloa! – Welcome!
• Anteeksi - Sorry / Excuse me

Important words and phrases[link]

Tietosanakirja, 11 volumes, 1909–1922, Finnish encyclopedia.

• kyllä – yes
• joo – yes (informal)
• ei – no
• en – I will not / I do not
• minä, sinä, hän (se) – I, you, he/she(it)
• me, te, he (ne) – we, you (two or more), they
• (minä) olen – I am
• (sinä) olet – you are (singular)
• te olette – you are (plural)
• (minä) en ole – I am not
• (sinä) et ole – You are not
• yksi, kaksi, kolme – one, two, three
• neljä, viisi, kuusi – four, five, six
• seitsemän, kahdeksan – seven, eight
• yhdeksän, kymmenen – nine, ten
• yksitoista, kaksitoista, kolmetoista – eleven, twelve, thirteen
• sata, tuhat, miljoona – hundred, thousand, million
• (minä) rakastan sinua – I love you
• kiitos – thank you
• anteeksi – forgive me, excuse me, sorry
• voitko auttaa – can you help

• apua! – help!
• voisit(te)ko auttaa – could you help
• missä ... on? – where is ...?
• olen pahoillani – I'm sorry (apology)
• otan osaa – My condolences
• onnea – good luck
• totta kai/tietysti/toki – of course
• pieni hetki, pikku hetki, hetkinen – one moment please!
• odota – wait
• missä on vessa? – where is the bathroom?
• Suomi – Finland
• suomi/suomen kieli – Finnish language
• suomalainen – (noun) Finn; (adjective) Finnish
• En ymmärrä – I don't understand
• (Minä) ymmärrän – I understand
• ¹Ymmärrät(te)kö suomea? – Do you understand Finnish?
• ¹Puhut(te)ko englantia? – Do you speak English?
• Olen englantilainen / amerikkalainen / kanadalainen / australialainen / uusiseelantilainen / irlantilainen / skotlantilainen / walesilainen / ranskalainen / saksalainen / kiinalainen / japanilainen – I am English / American / Canadian / Australian / New Zealander / Irish / Scottish / Welsh / French / German / Chinese / Japanese
• ¹Olet(te)ko englantilainen? – Are you English?
• Missä (sinä) asut/¹Missä (te) asutte? – Where do you live?

¹ -te is added to make the sentence formal (T-V distinction). Otherwise, without the added "-te", it is informal. It is also added when talking to more than one person. The transition from second-person singular to second-person plural (teitittely) is a politeness pattern, advised by many "good manners guides". Elderly people, especially, expect it from strangers, whereas the younger might feel it to be too formal to the point of coldness. However, a learner of the language should not be excessively concerned about it. Omitting it is never offensive, but one should keep in mind that on formal occasions this custom may make a good impression.

See also[link]

• Estonian language
• Finland's language strife
• Finnish cultural and academic institutes
• Finnish name
• Finnish numerals
• Quenya, an "Elvish" language invented by J. R. R. Tolkien, based primarily on Finnish

References[link]

External links[link]

Finnish language edition of Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Wikibooks has a book on the topic of Finnish

• The Wiktionary entry for Finnish
• Media related to Finnish language at Wikimedia Commons
• Finnish language, on Ethnologue
• Collection of Finnish bilingual dictionaries

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lez:Финн чӀалvep:Suomen kel'

Hasse Walli

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Hannes Mikael Waldemar "Hasse" Walli was born on 10 February 1948 in Helsinki. His father Aarno Walli was a musician and bandleader, his mother Anne-Marie Strandberg a singer. Hasse Walli was about ten years old when he started playing drums. He drummed in various bands in early 1960s such as The Islanders, The Electric Five and Nameless. Gradually Walli switched from drums to electric guitar. After Nameless had split, Walli started as a solo guitarist in The Typhoons. The Typhoons split when its members had to join the obligatory military service.

In spring 1966 Walli can be said to have finally launched his professional musical career as guitarist when he started playing with Jormas, a band which was extremely popular not only in Finland but in the rest of Scandinavia too. During the seven months Hasse Walli spent in Jormas, they toured expansively Finland, Sweden and Denmark, Walli also appearing on the band's album and singles. Again, Jormas split too when its members had to join military service; Walli finding soon himself doing a brief stint in The Frankies of Johnny Liebkind. However, soon Hasse Walli became frustrated in having to play soft pop, when the rawer sounds of The Yardbirds and John Mayall's Bluesbreakers (which especially inspired Walli) started to make waves in the mid-60s rock scene.

With his friend Måns Groundstroem, Edward Vesala (who was not to spend a lot of time in the band) and British expatriate Jim Pembroke, Walli initiated a new band dedicated to this sound, which was baptized Blues Section, and which was to become a groudbreaking act in the whole Finnish rock scene. Another great inspiration to Blues Section was the Jimi Hendrix gig in May 1967 at Kulttuuritalo, Helsinki. Blues Section lasted until the late 1968, during which time Walli recorded with the band their seminal eponymous album, several singles, film music and other material later to be heard on various collection albums, and played over 150 live gigs. During this period Walli also played guitar in the jazz band Otto Donner Treatment, the composer-musician Henrik Otto Donner being the essential and extremely innovative producer figure behind Blues Section and their record label Love Records.

Following the split of Blues Section, Hasse Walli played for some time in the band of light pop singer Tapani Kansa and as a bar musician at the restaurant Fennia. In summer 1969 Walli was planning a new band called Paradise with the former Jormas members Pepe Willberg, Kikke Bergholm and Matti Oiling, which never came into being, though Willberg later on used the name Paradise with his own band. On 31 August 1969 Hasse Walli was involved in a car accident which interrupted his career for a while after when he was returning from a gig. Walli's injured left hand was operated and the guitarist, forced to take a break from playing, spent some time in the bohemian circles of Copenhagen, leading a vagrant life also as a street musician in French Riviera.

After returning to Finland, Hasse Walli played for a while with Kirka & D'Islanders, in a band called Zeus producing Vesa-Matti Loiri's first album 4+20 and collaborating with jazz musician Make Lievonen. Hasse Walli Eternal Band was a jazzy project which worked under different line-ups from 1968 to 1971, playing among all at the first Ruisrock festival of Turku in 1970. Other jazz projects of this period where Walli contributed were Irina Milan & Tabu, Simo Big Band, Carita Holmström's backing band, Paroni Paakkunainen & Unisono and German Heinz Sauer-Günther Lenz Quintet; furthemore, he played with Edward Vesala and Junnu Aaltonen, also at Afrikan Tähti band of pop singer Maarit. Walli's Punainen Lanka ensemble where Eija Ahvo and Harri Saksala sang and which explored folk music of Finland and America, was part of 70s leftist political song movement gaining strong foothold in Finland.

The band Piirpauke, combining folk music, ethnic sounds (later to be known as world music) to progressive jazz rock, was one of Hasse Walli's best-known musical projects, starting in 1975. The major figure in the band was Sakari Kukko, a multi-instrumentalist playing saxophone, flute and keyboards, who had played with Walli in various ensembles, Kukko-Walli Quartet among them. The best known Piirpauke track is the hypnotic 'Konevitsan kirkonkellot' from the band's eponymous 1975 debut album, based on a traditional Karelian folk song. The band had an enormous live success and Hasse Walli stayed in Piirpauke about three years, later returning to the band for its tours in 1983 and 1994.

In the late 1970s Hasse Walli was active in ELMU, a society established in 1978 to propagate live music in a time when disco and recorded music were worryingly diminishing the working opportunities of musicians playing live. This was also the time when Walli got more and more interested in world music. His enthusiasism for reggae started in 1977 after having seen Bob Marley performing live in Stockholm. Hasse Walli had visited a youth festival in Cuba with Punainen Lanka and Sakari Kukko, and he formed in 1979 Hasse Walli Projekti which played Cuban music and reggae rhythms.

The first eponymous solo album of Hasse Walli was released in 1981, the year when Walli was also chosen the Musician of the Year by Katso magazine. The next year, when he had his band Hasse Walli All Stars, saw the second album, called Sounds Afro! By this time Walli had seriously gotten into African music, and he dissolved the band and travelled in January 1982 to Dakar, the capital of Senegal, to explore local sounds such as Mbalax, Senegalese pop.

Jamming with local musicians at clubs, Walli practiced hard to get into the heart of this musical style quite differing from the Western genres of rock, blues and jazz he had already learned to master. Hasse Walli played with some musicians who had been performing with the legendary Youssou N'Dour. On returning to Finland and enrichened by his experiences in Senegal, Walli started a band called Dakar Sound. Afro-Line was another band of Walli he started with Congolese expatriate Marie-Alphonse Liwata, releasing the albums Viva Africa (1983), Dakar Nights (1985) and Close to the Line (1987). During the years 1983-86 Hasse Walli shuttled between Gambia, Dakar and Finland.

By 1988 Walli felt he had finally learned enough to compose and arrange Mbalax music and start an all-African band for this (Walli's earlier Afro bands had mostly consisted of Finnish musicians), and he returned to Dakar for this purpose. Soon got together the new band, called Asamaan, with such musicians as Manel Diop, Yamar Thiam, Aladji Oumar Faye, Omar Cheikh Diene, Pape Sarr and Mousse Gueye. The first Asamaan album Modern Mbalax came out in 1989, receiving excellent reviews in world music circles. Walli and Asamaan played at folk music, jazz and rock festivals, doing also some street performances in Helsinki. Asamaan published two more albums, African Sky (1990) and, with a new line-up, Teranga (1993). Film director Kari Happonen documented Mbalax music scene in Dakar and Asamaan in his 1991 documentary Mbalax! Rytmin lähteillä.

Teranga marked the end of Hasse Walli's Afro period. When he returned from Senegal to Finland in June 1993, he thought the time might be now right to return to his 1960s musical roots, and the band Suuret Setelit was launched, playing rock and rhythm & blues. The gigs of Suuret Setelit were eagerly checked by a completely new generation of Hasse Walli fans. Suuret Setelit lasted until 1995, the year Walli also performed together with Remu Aaltonen, the last remaining member of the legendary 70s band Hurriganes. Hasse Walli also played several Back to the 60s type of concerts with some his peers from that period such as Danny; never forgetting his love of African music, either.

In recent years Walli has been touring with his current band Hasse Walli Power Trio. Additionally, he has worked with guitarist and singer Steve Webb, and they have released two albums together.

Trivia[link]

Hasse Walli's younger brother was Petri Walli of Kingston Wall.

Discography[link]

• Jormas: Jormas (1966, HMV)
• Blues Section: Blues Section (1968, Love Records)
• Blues Section: Some of Love (1969, Love Records)
• Piirpauke: Piirpauke (1975, Love Records)
• Piirpauke: Piirpauke 2 (1976, Love Records)
• Piirpauke: Live (1977, Love Records)
• Piirpauke: Ilahu illalla (1983, Love Records)
• Hasse Walli: Hasse Walli (1981, Kompass Records)
• Hasse Walli: Sounds Afro (1982, Kompass Records)
• Hasse Walli's Afro-Line: Viva Africa (1983, Sinetti Records)
• Hasse Walli's Afro-Line: Dakar Nights (1985, Digelius Music)
• Hasse Walli's Afro-Line: Close to the Line (1987, Digelius Music)
• Hasse Walli & Asamaan: Modern Mbalax (1989, Olarin Musiikki)
• Hasse Walli & Asamaan: African Sky (1990, Olarin Musiikki)
• Hasse Walli & Asamaan: Teranga (1993, Olarin Musiikki)
• Blues Section: Blues Section 2 (1995, Love Records)
• Piirpauke: Metamorphosis Live 1977-1995 (1995, Rockadillo)
• Hasse Walli: Kevyet Kengät (2000, HCD)
• Hasse Walli: Todellinen Live (2001, HCD)
• Hasse Walli & Steve Webb: Winners (2002, HCD)
• Hasse Walli: Live Crazy (2004, HCD)
• Hasse Walli & Steve Webb: Sweet Nina (2005, HCD)
• Piirpauke: Historia of Piirpauke Vol. 1 (2008, HCD)

As a guest discography[link]

• Hector: Kadonneet lapset
• Hector: Linnut Linnut
• Kirka: Kirka
• Vesa-Matti Loiri: 4x20
• Sakari Kukko: Kajastus
• Eero Koivistoinen: Valtakunta (1968, Otava)

Also on the releases of Sammy Babitzin, Freeman, Make Lievonen, Punainen Lanka, Juhani Aaltonen.

References[link]

Hasse Walli & Appe Vanajas: Hehkuva kitara (Helsinki: Otava 1996, ISBN 951-1-13836-7)

External links[link]

• The Official Site
• Historien om klubb Filips del 1. (The history of club Filips pt. 1)
• Historien om klubb Filips del 2. (The history of club Filips pt. 2)

Conan O'Brien
O'Brien in 2006
Birth name	Conan Christopher O'Brien
Born	(1963-04-18) April 18, 1963 (age 49) Brookline, Massachusetts, United States[1]
Medium	Television
Nationality	American
Years active	1985–present
Genres	Improvisational comedy, sketch comedy, physical comedy, surreal humor, self-deprecation
Influences	Johnny Carson, David Letterman, Robert Smigel, Pee-Wee Herman
Spouse	Elizabeth Ann Powel (since 2002; 2 children)
Notable works and roles	The Simpsons (writer, producer, 1991–1993) Late Night with Conan O'Brien (host, 1993–2009) The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien (host, 2009–2010) Conan (host, 2010–present)
Signature
Emmy Awards
Outstanding Writing in a Variety or Music Program 1989 Saturday Night Live 2007 Late Night with Conan O'Brien[2]

Conan Christopher O'Brien (born April 18, 1963) is an American television host, comedian, writer, producer and performer. Since November 2010 he has hosted Conan, a late-night talk show that airs on the American cable television station TBS.^[3][4]

O'Brien was born in Brookline, Massachusetts, and raised in an Irish Catholic family. He served as president of the Harvard Lampoon while attending Harvard University, and was a writer for the sketch comedy series Not Necessarily the News. After writing for several comedy shows in Los Angeles, he joined the writing staff of Saturday Night Live, and later of The Simpsons. He hosted Late Night with Conan O'Brien from 1993 to 2009, followed by seven months hosting The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien, the only person to serve as the permanent host for both NBC programs.

Early life[link]

O'Brien was born in Brookline, Massachusetts (a suburb of Boston) to Thomas O'Brien, a physician, epidemiologist, and professor of medicine at Harvard,^[5][6][7] and Ruth O'Brien (née Reardon), an attorney and partner at the Boston firm Ropes & Gray.^[8] He is the third of six children. O'Brien's family is Irish Catholic and descends from pre-Civil War era immigrants.^[7] In a Late Night episode, O'Brien paid a visit to County Kerry, Ireland, where his ancestors originated.

O'Brien attended Brookline High School, where he served as the managing editor of the school newspaper.^[7] In his senior year, O'Brien won the National Council of Teachers of English writing contest with his short story, "To Bury the Living".^[9] After graduating as valedictorian in 1981, he entered Harvard University.^[10] At Harvard, O'Brien lived in Holworthy Hall during his freshman year^[11] and Mather House during his three upper-class years. He concentrated in history and literature and graduated magna cum laude^[12] in 1985.^[13] His senior thesis concerned the use of children as symbols in the works of William Faulkner and Flannery O'Connor.^[14] Throughout college, O'Brien was a writer for the Harvard Lampoon humor magazine. He also briefly served as the drummer in a band called "The Bad Clams".^[15] During his sophomore and junior years, he served as the Lampoon's president.^[16] At this time, O'Brien's future boss at NBC, Jeff Zucker, was serving as President of the rival The Harvard Crimson.^[17]

Career[link]

[edit] Saturday Night Live (1987–1991)

O'Brien in the offices of The Simpsons writers, 1992

O'Brien moved to Los Angeles after graduation to join the writing staff of HBO's Not Necessarily the News.^[18] He was also a writer on the short-lived The Wilton North Report.^[18] He spent two years with that show and performed regularly with improvisational groups, including The Groundlings. In January 1988, Saturday Night Live's executive producer, Lorne Michaels, hired O'Brien as a writer. During his three years on Saturday Night Live (SNL), he wrote such recurring sketches as "Mr. Short-Term Memory" and "The Girl Watchers"; the latter was first performed by Tom Hanks and Jon Lovitz.^[19] O'Brien also co-wrote the sketch, "Nude Beach", with Robert Smigel, in which the word "penis" was said or sung at least 42 times. While on a writers' strike from Saturday Night Live following the 1987–88 season, O'Brien put on an improvisational comedy revue in Chicago with fellow SNL writers Bob Odenkirk and Robert Smigel called Happy Happy Good Show.^[20][21] While living in Chicago, O'Brien briefly roomed with Jeff Garlin.^[22] In 1989, O'Brien and his fellow SNL writers received an Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing in a Comedy or Variety Series.

O'Brien, like many SNL writers, occasionally appeared as an extra in sketches; his most notable appearance was as a doorman in a sketch in which Tom Hanks was inducted into the SNL "Five-Timers Club" for hosting his fifth episode. O'Brien returned to host the show in 2001 during its 26th season. O'Brien and Robert Smigel wrote the television pilot for Lookwell starring Adam West, which aired on NBC in 1991. The pilot never went to series, but it became a cult hit. It was later screened at The Other Network, a festival of unaired TV pilots produced by Un-Cabaret; it featured an extended interview with O'Brien and was rerun in 2002 on the Trio network.

[edit] The Simpsons (1991–1993)

From 1991 to 1993, O'Brien was a writer and producer for The Simpsons^[19] and was credited as writer or co-writer of four episodes.^[23] Of all the episodes he wrote, he considers "Marge vs. the Monorail" to be his favorite.^[19] Along with this episode, he has sole writing credits on "New Kid on the Block," "Homer Goes to College," and "Treehouse of Horror IV," on which he wrote the episode wraparounds. He was an active producer during seasons 4 and 5 as well, meaning he would frequently contribute to scripts from those seasons as well as come up with story ideas, plot points, and jokes.^[24] The style of the show's comedy during this period was also influenced by his sensibilities, with "Marge vs. the Monorail" being cited by several former writers as the turning point in the show's history where more absurd and visual comedy became acceptable.^[25][26] He also developed a reputation as a "room guy," or a writer who performs comedy bits throughout the day to entertain other writers.^[25]

In his speech given at Class Day at Harvard in 2000,^[27] O'Brien credited The Simpsons with saving him, a reference to the career slump he was experiencing prior to his being hired for the show.^[28]

During his time at The Simpsons, O'Brien also had a side project working with former writing partner Robert Smigel on the script for a musical film based on the "Hans and Franz" sketch from Saturday Night Live. The film was never produced.^[29][30]

[edit] Late Night (1993–2009)

As executive producer, Lorne Michaels invited O'Brien to audition to host the successor show to Late Night with David Letterman.^[7] Premiering on September 13, 1993, Late Night with Conan O'Brien received generally unfavorable critical reviews during its first few years. The show remained on multiweek renewal cycles while NBC decided its fate.^[7] O'Brien later poked fun at the first three years of the show, when on his 10th Anniversary Special Mr. T appeared to give O'Brien a gold necklace with a giant "7" on it. When O'Brien tried to point out that he had actually been on the air for ten years, Mr. T responded, "I know that, fool; but you've only been funny for seven!"^[31]

Beginning in 1996, O'Brien and the Late Night writing team were nominated annually for the Emmy Award for Best Writing in a Comedy or Variety Series, winning the award for the first and only time in 2007. In 1997, 2000, 2002, 2003, and 2004, he and the Late Night writing staff won the Writers Guild Award for Best Writing in a Comedy/Variety Series. In 2001, he formed his own television production company, Conaco, which subsequently shared in the production credits for Late Night.^[7]

A long-running joke, which stems from the recurring segment "Conan O'Brien Hates My Homeland", is that O'Brien resembles the first female president of Finland, Tarja Halonen. After joking about this for several months (which led to his endorsement of her campaign), O'Brien traveled to Finland, appearing on several television shows and meeting President Halonen. The trip was filmed and aired as a special.^[32]

O'Brien ad-libbed the fictional website name "hornymanatee.com" on December 4, 2006, after a sketch about the fictional manatee mascot and its inappropriate webcam site.^[7] NBC opted to purchase the website domain name for $159, since the website did not previously exist. The network was concerned that the Federal Communications Commission would hold NBC liable for promoting inappropriate content if a third party were to register the domain and post such material.^[33] For a period of time, the website hosted material concerning Conan's initial manatee joke and other Tonight Show references, but today the site just redirects to NBC's main web page.

A popular recurring bit on the show was "Pale Force", a series of animated episodes in which comedian Jim Gaffigan and O'Brien are superheroes who fight crime with their "paleness". As Gaffigan introduced each new episode, O'Brien protested the portrayal of his character as cowardly, weak, and impotent. As of October 2005^[update], Late Night with Conan O'Brien had for eleven years consistently attracted an audience averaging about 2.5 million viewers.^[34] O'Brien is an avid guitarist and music listener. When Bruce Springsteen and the Sessions Band appeared on the show as musical guests, O'Brien joined the 17-piece band, along with the Max Weinberg 7 and guests Jimmy Fallon and Thomas Haden Church, playing acoustic guitar and contributing backup vocals for the song "Pay Me My Money Down". On the June 13, 2008, episode of Late Night, O'Brien simply walked onto the stage at the start of the show. Instead of his usual upbeat antics and monologue, O'Brien announced that he had just received news about the sudden death of his good friend, fellow NBC employee and frequent Late Night guest, Tim Russert. O'Brien proceeded to show two clips of his favorite Russert Late Night moments.^[35] On February 20, 2009, NBC aired the last episode of Late Night with Conan O'Brien. The show consisted of a compilation of previous Late Night clips and included a surprise appearance by former sidekick, Andy Richter. Will Ferrell, John Mayer, and the White Stripes also appeared. O'Brien ended the episode by destroying the set with an axe, handing out the pieces of the set to the audience,^[36][37] and thanking a list of people who helped him get to that point in his career. Among those thanked were Lorne Michaels, David Letterman, Jay Leno, and O'Brien's wife and children.

The Colbert / O'Brien / Stewart mock feud[link]

During the writers' strike in 2008, O'Brien staged a mock feud with Comedy Central's Jon Stewart (of The Daily Show) and Stephen Colbert (of The Colbert Report) over a dispute about which of the three were responsible for giving a "bump" to Mike Huckabee's campaign to become the Republican presidential nominee. This feud crossed over all three shows during the 2007–08 Writers Guild of America strike.^[38]

[edit] The Tonight Show (2009–2010)

In 2004, O'Brien negotiated a new contract with NBC. As part of the deal, O'Brien would take over The Tonight Show from Jay Leno in 2009.^[7] O'Brien was a guest on Jay Leno's final episode of The Tonight Show. On June 1, 2009, Will Ferrell became Conan's first Tonight Show guest on the couch and Pearl Jam appeared as his first musical guest.^[39]

During the taping of the Friday, September 25, 2009, episode of The Tonight Show, O'Brien suffered from a mild concussion after he slipped and hit his head while running a race as part of a comedy sketch with guest Teri Hatcher. He was examined at a hospital and released the same day. A rerun was aired that night, but O'Brien returned to work the following Monday and poked fun at the incident.^[40][41]

[edit] Departure from The Tonight Show

O'Brien in Atlanta, June 2010

On Thursday, January 7, 2010, NBC executive Jeff Zucker met with Jay Leno and Conan O'Brien to discuss how to get Leno out of prime time, where his ratings were lackluster, and back into late night. A proposal was made that would see O'Brien remain as host of The Tonight Show, which would be moved to 12:05 am with Leno hosting a 30-minute show at 11:35 pm^[42] On January 10, NBC Universal Television Entertainment Chairman Jeff Gaspin confirmed that The Jay Leno Show would indeed end at the start of the Winter Olympics on February 12, 2010, and be moved to 11:35 pm following the Olympics coverage.^[43] Sources familiar with the situation told the New York Post that O'Brien was unhappy with NBC's plan.^[44]

On January 12, O'Brien released this statement: "I sincerely believe that delaying The Tonight Show into the next day to accommodate another comedy program will seriously damage what I consider to be the greatest franchise in the history of broadcasting. The Tonight Show at 12:05 simply isn’t The Tonight Show."^[46][47] On January 21, 2010, it was announced that Conan had reached a deal with NBC that would see him exit The Tonight Show the next day. The deal also granted him $45 million, of which $12 million was designated for distribution to his staff, who had moved with Conan to Los Angeles from New York when he left Late Night.

The final Tonight Show with Conan aired January 22, 2010, and featured guests Tom Hanks, Steve Carell (who did an exit interview and shredded Conan's ID badge), Neil Young (singing "Long May You Run"), and Will Ferrell. For Ferrell's appearance, Conan played guitar with the band and Ferrell sang "Free Bird" while reprising his SNL cowbell. Ferrell's wife, Viveca Paulin, together with Ben Harper, Beck, and ZZ Top guitarist Billy Gibbons, also joined the band for this final performance.^[48]

Jay Leno returned to The Tonight Show following NBC's coverage of the 2010 Winter Olympic Games. Under the $45 million deal with NBC, Conan was allowed to start working for another network as soon as September 2010.^[49][50][51] Conan's rumored next networks ranged anywhere from Fox^[52] to Comedy Central.^[53][54]

[edit] After Tonight

On February 8, 2010, it was reported that O'Brien was attempting to sell his Central Park West penthouse in New York with an asking price of $35 million.^[55] He purchased the apartment in 2007 for $10 million.^[55] Two years earlier, O'Brien had purchased a home in the Brentwood section of Los Angeles for over $10.5 million.^[56] Some industry insiders have speculated that O'Brien had chosen to stay on the west coast in order to facilitate a return to late night television^[55] and because he did not want to put his children through another move.^[57]

On February 24, 2010, O'Brien attracted media attention for starting a Twitter account.^[58][59] His tweets, although primarily jokes, amounted to his first public statements since leaving The Tonight Show one month earlier.^[60] After about one hour, O'Brien's subscriber list had rocketed to over 30,000 members and approximately 30 minutes later, he was on the brink of passing 50,000 followers, already 20,000 more than the verified @jayleno account.^[61][62][63] After 24 hours, O'Brien had well over 300,000 followers.^[60] In late May 2010, he surpassed the one million mark for number of Twitter followers,^[64] and as of April 2012^[update] he has over 5.3 million followers.^[65]

O'Brien has been named to the 2010 Time 100, a list compiled by TIME of the 100 most influential people in the world as voted on by readers.^[66] After being prohibited from making television appearances of any kind until May, O'Brien spoke about the Tonight Show conflict on the CBS newsmagazine 60 Minutes on May 2, 2010.^[67] During the interview with Steve Kroft, O'Brien said the situation felt "like a marriage breaking up suddenly, violently, quickly. And I was just trying to figure out what happened." He also said he "absolutely" expected NBC to give him more of a chance and that, if in Jay Leno's position, he would not have come back to The Tonight Show. However, Conan said he did not feel he got shafted. "It's crucial to me that anyone seeing this, if they take anything away from this, it's I'm fine. I'm doing great," said O'Brien. "I hope people still find me comedically absurd and ridiculous. And I don't regret anything."^[68]

The Legally Prohibited from Being Funny on Television Tour[link]

O'Brien performing in a replica of the costume Eddie Murphy wore in Eddie Murphy Raw.

On March 11, 2010, O'Brien announced via his Twitter account that he would embark on a 30-city live tour beginning April 12, 2010, entitled "The Legally Prohibited from Being Funny on Television Tour".^[69][70] Co-host Andy Richter, along with members of the former Tonight Show Band, joined O'Brien on the tour.^[71] Max Weinberg, however, was not able to join,^[72] except for a guest appearance at one of Conan's New York City shows. VIP tickets for $695 offered the opportunity to meet O'Brien in person.^[73] On the same day, teamcoco.com—an apparently official website—was launched.^[74]

On April 12, 2010, O'Brien opened his two-month comedy tour in Eugene, Oregon, with a crowd of 2,500 and no TV cameras. The tour traveled through America's Northwest and Canada before moving on to larger cities, including Los Angeles and New York City, where he performed on the campuses that house both of the NBC-owned studios he formerly occupied. The tour ended in Atlanta on June 14. With ticket prices starting at $40, "The Legally Prohibited from Being Funny on Television Tour" was effectively sold out.^[3]

[edit] Conan (2010–present)

On April 12, 2010, just hours before the start of his tour in Eugene, Oregon, O'Brien announced that he would host a new show on cable station TBS.^[3] The show debuted on November 8, 2010,^[75] and airs Monday through Thursday beginning at 11:00 pm ET/10:00 pm CT. O'Brien's addition moved Lopez Tonight with George Lopez back one hour to midnight ET/11:00 pm CT.^[4] Refusing at first to do to Lopez what had happened to him at NBC, O'Brien agreed to join the network after Lopez called to persuade him to come to TBS.^[76] In Canada, CTV will air the show^[77] and in Turkey, CNBC-e will air the show.