Finnish Phonology - Phonotactics

Phonotactics

The phonemic template of a syllable in Finnish is (O)(L)V(V)(L)(O) with O being an obstruent and L a liquid consonant. A syllable containing two identical vowels is realized as a long vowel, a syllable containing two different vowels as a diphthong. A final consonant of a Finnish word, though not a syllable, must be a coronal one.

Originally Finnish syllables could not start with two consonants but many loans containing these have added this to the inventory. This is observable in older loans such as ranska ← Swedish franska ("French") contrasting newer loans presidentti ← Swedish president ("president"). In the past decades it used to be common to hear these clusters simplified in speech (resitentti), particularly, though not exclusively, by either rural Finns or Finns who knew little or no Swedish or English. Even then, the Southwestern dialects formed an exception: consonant clusters, especially those with plosives, trills or nasals, are common: examples include place names Friitala and Preiviiki near the town Pori, or town Kristiinankaupunki. Nowadays the overwhelming majority of Finns have adopted initial consonant clusters in their speech.