Editing Colloquial Finnish (section)

== Pronunciation ==

===Reflexes of dental fricatives===
The most common reflexes for old Finnish dental fricatives are {{IPA|/d/}} for {{IPA|/ð/}}, and {{IPA|/ts/}} or {{IPA|/t(ː)/}} for {{IPA|/θ(ː)/}}. For example, {{lang|fi|metsä, metsän}} or {{lang|fi|mettä, metän}} ← {{lang|fi|meθθä, meθän}} "forest, of the forest" and {{lang|fi|meidän}} < {{lang|fi|meiðän}} "ours". Loss of {{IPA|/d/}} also occurs, e.g. {{lang|fi|meiän}}. These are seen as "accent-free" pronunciations. Dialects generally have different reflexes &mdash; in fact, the different reflexes are used as a distinguishing feature between different dialects. For more details, see [[Finnish phonology]].

===Word-final ''n''===
One important sound change, which has gone to completion in [[Estonian language|Estonian]] but occurs idiosyncratically in Finnish, is mutation of word-final {{IPA|/n/}} into a [[glottal stop]] {{IPA|/ʔ/}}, orthographically represented by an [[apostrophe]]. In some dialects, such as Savo, word-final {{IPA|/n/}} is systematically replaced by {{IPA|/ʔ/}}, e.g. {{lang|fi|isä'iän}} ← {{lang|fi|isän ääni}} "father's voice". Both pronunciations can be heard in the Helsinki area. This means that the genitive/accusative form {{lang|fi|-n}}, which is very common in any form of Finnish, is simply noted by a glottal stop. However, this glottal stop undergoes sandhi whenever followed by consonant, or more often than not (see below).

===Final vowels===
Certain wordforms that end in {{IPA|/si/}} in Standard Finnish occur without the word-final {{IPA|/i/}} in the spoken language. This includes the base form of certain word stems as well as inflectional endings. In nouns this affects the [[translative case]] ending {{lang|fi|-ksi}} and the 2nd person singular [[possessive suffix]] {{lang|fi|-si}}. In verbs, loss of ''i'' affects the [[conditional mood]] ending {{lang|fi|-isi}} and, in certain verb inflection classes where it is preceded by an ''s'', the [[preterite]] ending {{lang|fi|-i}}. These endings occur word-finally in 3rd person forms.
{| class="wikitable"
|+Final {{IPA|/i/}} deletion
!Written
!Standard
!Colloquial
!Meaning
!Inflected form of
|-
|{{lang|fi|anteek'''si'''}} 
|{{IPA|/ˈɑnteːksi/}}
|{{IPA|[ˈɑnteːks]}}
|'sorry, excuse me'
| –
|-
|{{lang|fi|yk'''si'''}}
|{{IPA|/ˈyksi/}}
|{{IPA|[yks]}}
|'one'
| –
|-
|{{lang|fi|kak'''si'''}}
|{{IPA|/ˈkɑksi/}}
|{{IPA|[ˈkɑks]}}
|'two'
| –
|-
|{{lang|fi|uu'''si'''}}
|{{IPA|/ˈuːsi/}}
|{{IPA|[ˈuːs]}}
|'new'
| –
|-
|{{lang|fi|oli'''si'''}}
|{{IPA|/ˈolisi/}}
|{{IPA|[ˈolis]}}
|'(s/he) would be'
| {{lang|fi|olla}} 'to be'
|-
|{{lang|fi|pala'''si'''}}
|{{IPA|/ˈpɑlɑsi/}}
|{{IPA|[ˈpɑlɑs]}}
|'your piece”<br/>'(s/he) returned'
|{{lang|fi|pala}} 'piece'<br/>{{lang|fi|palata}} 'to return'
|-
|{{lang|fi|pää'''si'''}}
|{{IPA|/ˈpæːsi/}}
|{{IPA|[ˈpæːs]}}
|'your head'<br/>'(s/he) reached, was released'
|{{lang|fi|pää}} 'head'<br/>{{lang|fi|päästä}} 'to reach, be released'
|}

In many dialects loss of final ''i'' is commonplace not only in these cases but also elsewhere.

Particularly in Helsinki, deletion of {{IPA|/æ/}} or {{IPA|/ɑ/}}, spelt «ä» and «a», respectively, in highly frequent words is common. This is a feature of Western Finnish dialects, found also in Savonian dialects and [[Estonian language|Estonian]]. 
: {{lang|fi|mutta}} &mdash; {{lang|fi|mut}} 'but'
: {{lang|fi|kyllä}} &mdash; {{lang|fi|kyl}} 'yes'
: {{lang|fi|-sta}} &mdash; {{lang|fi|-st}} [[elative case]], 'out of / away from the inside of'

===Vowel clusters and diphthongs===
Word-final vowel clusters ending in {{IPA|/ɑ/}} or {{IPA|/æ/}} have much variation in dialects of Finnish. Especially in Helsinki they assimilate, where only the resulting [[chroneme]] marks the partitive in many words.
: {{lang|fi|puhun suomea}} &mdash; {{lang|fi|puhun suomee}} "I speak Finnish"
: {{lang|fi|pitkiä}} &mdash; {{lang|fi|pitkii}} "(some) long (things)"; partitive plural of {{lang|fi|pitkä}}, long
An {{IPA|/eɑ/}} or {{IPA|/eæ/}} cluster also appears in many adjectives:
: {{lang|fi|pimeä}} — {{lang|fi|pimee}} "dark"
In other areas of Finland, these clusters may have a different fate. Another common dialectal variant is the raising of {{IPA|/e/}} to {{IPA|/i/}} in the adjectives: {{lang|fi|pimiä}}. (Partitives are unaffected by this.) Some rarer versions of this suffix include {{lang|fi|-jä / -ja}}, {{lang|fi|-ie}}, and even {{lang|fi|-ii}}.

Similar to the diphthongization of older {{IPA|*/eː oː øː/}} to {{IPA|/{{Not a typo|ie̯}} uo̯ yø̯/}} (unchanged in standard [[Estonian language|Estonian]]), many eastern dialects of Finnish diphthongize also the long vowels {{IPA|/ɑː æː/}} to {{IPA|/oɑ̯ eæ̯/}}. In [[Savonian dialects]], these have shifted further on to {{IPA|/uɑ̯ iæ̯/}}.

{{IPA|/{{Not a typo|ie̯}} uo̯ yø̯/}} can become {{IPA|/iː uː yː/}} when in contact with another vowel. In many cases this results from colloquial deletion of {{IPA|/d/}}. For example:
* {{lang|fi|tiiän}} for standard {{lang|fi|tiedän}} "I know"
* {{lang|fi|viiä}} for standard {{lang|fi|viedä}} "to take away"
* {{lang|fi|lyyä}} for standard {{lang|fi|lyödä}} "to hit"
* {{lang|fi|tuua}} for standard {{lang|fi|tuoda}} "to bring"

===Sandhi===
A related phenomenon is the final consonant [[sandhi]]. When two words co-occur in the same prosodic unit, the consonant beginning the second word assimilates to the word-final consonant in the first word, creating a long consonant. This is not commonly written down, except in dialectal transcriptions. For example, 
:{| class="wikitable"
|+
!
!Writing
!Pronunciation
!Meaning
|-
|Standard
|{{lang|fi|Nyt se tulee!}} 
|{{IPA|/ˈnyt ˈse ˈtuleː/}}
| rowspan="2" |“It's coming now”
|-
|Casual 
|{{lang|fi|Ny se tulee!}} 
|{{IPA|[ˈnysːe ˈtuleː]}}
|}