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: A , B , C , D , E , F , G , H , I , J , K , L , M , N , O , P , Q , R , S ( Š ), T , U , V ( W ), X , Y , Z ( Ž ), Å , Ä , Ö The three Consonant letters "Š", "W" and "Ž", which are put in parentheses, are generally not considered independent letters. Thus, when arranging words Alphabetically , each is treated as an equivalent to the preceding letter ("S", "V" or "Z", respectively) of the alphabet. However, if the material is considered multilingual, "W" ''may'' be alphabetized independently after "V" (as in English, for example). The main features of the Finnish alphabet that make it different from the basic Latin alphabet are the three extra Vowel letters "Å", "Ä" and "Ö" in the end of the list. "Å" is retained only for the purpose of writing Swedish names of persons and places, but "Ä" and "Ö" are inherent also in the Finnish language. Unlike the similar looking German Umlauted letters (from which the Glyph s are derived), they are considered letters in their own right and thus alphabetized separately (after "Z"). The dots above the base glyph are considered an essential part of each letter, and it is improper to replace "Ä" with "AE" and "Ö" with "OE", since this would look disturbing and could cause confusion – for example, consider the word ''hän'' (he, she) vs. ''haen'' (I get, I seek). If the proper letters are not available, "Ä" and "Ö" are usually replaced with "A" and "O", respectively. However, strictly speaking, this is as faulty as using "AE" and "OE", and may actually cause even worse confusion, since there are a lot of cases, where the dots are the only visible difference between two words – for example ''saari'' (island) vs. ''sääri'' (leg), or ''vaara'' (danger) vs. ''väärä'' (wrong). In handwritten text, the actual form of the extra marking may vary from a pair of dots to a pair of short vertical bars, to a single horizontal bar, or to a figure resembling a Tilde (in practice, almost any Diacritic Mark situated above the base glyph would probably be interpreted as a carelessly written pair of dots), but with computerized Character Set s these alternatives would basically be false. NOTES ABOUT WRITING INHERENT AND FOREIGN SOUNDS The Finnish Orthography is very Phonological . When writing Finnish, the foundational principle is that each letter stands for one Sound and each sound is always represented by the same letter. The most notable exeption to this rule is the ''ng''-sound, which do not have an alloted letter (instead, it is written with "NG" or – when followed directly by "K" – merely with "N"). In the Finnish writing system, some basic Latin letters are considered redundant, and other letters generally represent sounds, which are not inherent in the Finnish language. Thus, they are not used in established Finnish words, but they may occur in newer Loanword s as well as in foreign Proper Names , and they are included in the Finnish alphabet in order to maintain international compatibility. The pronunciation of these letters varies quite a lot.
In addition to the alien letters shared with the basic Latin (and Swedish) alphabet, "Š" and "Ž" with special diacritics have been adopted, originally from the – is a Turkish rank or honorary title). Diacritical or accent marks are never added to letters in Finnish words (since the dots above the inherent "Ä" and "Ö" are basically not considered diacritics), but " é " may occur in proper names with Swedish origins. (Also " à ", a French loanword, is quite commonly used to indicate pieces per something or cost per piece, though it's often confused with "á".) Generally, diacritics are retained in foreign proper names, if possible, but when arranging words alphabetically, diacritics are usually ignored. A few foreign characters or glyphs may need closer scrutiny:
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