Pronunciation of standard D While the letter D in standard Finnish makes the sound , this sound is not used in most dialects of Finnish outside of loanwords. In the central and northern Ostrobothnian dialects, D is not pronounced -
lehdet (leaves) is pronounced
lehet. In some occasions, a , or may be inserted in its place, such as
syvän,
meijät and
saaha (as opposed to standard
sydän, meidät, saada). The dialects of
Kaustinen,
Halsua and
Veteli use an sound in the place of , for example
lehdet is pronounced like
lehret. This is likely
South Ostrobothnian influence, from the times before the
Savonian expansion.
Pronunciation of standard ts The Northern Ostrobothnian dialects use
tt in its place, e.g.
metsä (forest) is pronounced
mettä.
Consonant gradation does not affect it, therefore the genitive of
mettä is
mettän. The dialects of
Utajärvi,
Vaala and
Ylikiiminki have consonant gradation for this sound, making the genitive in those dialects
metän. The Central Ostrobothnian dialects use the Savonian-like
ht-pronunciation, e.g.
mehtä. In the western parts of this dialect area, it is unaffected by consonant gradation (genitive
mehtän), in the eastern parts it is affected (genitive
metän). The dialects of
Kaustinen,
Halsua and
Veteli use a non-gradated
ss here:
messä, messän.
Diphthongs Diphthongs uo, yö and ie These diphthongs are pronounced as
ua,
yä and
iä (e.g.
nuari tyämiäs instead of
nuori työmies, "young workman") in the city of
Oulu and its surroundings all the way to
Muhos,
Kiiminki and
Haukipudas. In this area, the feature is not as strong as it is in the
Tavastian dialects, suggesting that this is a fairly late development. Other Central and Northern Ostrobothnian dialects simply use the same pronunciations as the standard language.
Reduction of diphthongs ending in i, u and y Most central and northern Ostrobothnian dialects use the standard pronunciations for these diphthongs. However, reduced forms of these diphthongs (e.g.
koira "dog" can be pronounced as
koera) may be encountered in an area from
Haapajärvi to
Ylikiiminki near the Savonian dialectal area, making this an example of Savonian influence.
Middle (epenthetic) vowel An
epenthetic vowel, usually called
välivokaali or
loisvokaali in Finnish, is present in all central and northern Ostrobothnian dialects, e.g.
kylmä (cold) and
lehmä (cow) are pronounced as
kylymä, lehemä. ===
/h/ after unstressed syllables === The
h-sound after unstressed syllables can only be found in the southwesternmost parts of the dialect area. In
Lohtaja,
Himanka,
Kannus and
Toholampi it appears as
lampahat, tupahan (standard
lampaat,
tupaan). A
syncope form appears in Veteli, Kaustinen, Halsua and
Ullava, e.g.
lamphat,
tuphan.
Inessive suffix While in standard Finnish the
inessive suffix is
-ssa or
-ssä depending on
vowel harmony, a large part of the central and northern Ostrobothnian dialects use a shorter form
-sa, -sä e.g.
maasa, kyläsä instead of
maassa, kylässä (in a/the land/ground, in a/the village). Dialects on the eastern edges of the group, such as the dialect spoken in
Haapajärvi, do not use this feature and simply use the standard-like
maassa and
kylässä.
-ea and -eä These two vowels in the end of a word are most notably used to end various
adjectives. In central and northern Ostrobothnia, these are pronounced as
-ia and
-iä instead, e.g.
korkia and
pimiä instead of
korkea and
pimeä (respectively "high" and "dark"). The dialects of
Pudasjärvi and
Ranua, however, use the
-ea/-eä pronunciations. This may be influence from the dialects of Kainuu.
Possessives A shared possessive suffix and , for the first-person and second-person plural exists in some of these dialects, , standard: , "our house, your (plural) house". == See also ==