Finnish NLP Grammar

Finite state and Constraint Grammar based analysers, proofing tools and other resources

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Adjective inflection

The adjectives are inflected like regular nouns. The only morphological difference in adjectives compared to other nouns is higher likelihood of comparative derivations–they are fully productive. For adjectives that do not compare, use qualifiers classification instead. VISK § 300

Adjective stem variation and allomorph selection

Adjective stems are formed like noun stems, with similar patterns. Adjectives have additionally the productive comparative derivations, which may have their own stems, particularly an e-stem for a-stem words. The examples in this chapter are the same set of cases as with nouns: singular nominative, singular essive, singular inessive, plural essive, plural elative, singular partitives, singular illatives, plural partitives plural genitives, plural illatives and the compound forms. And also the comparative derivations: comparative singular nominative and superlative singular nominative. Majority of adjeciteves are equivalent to corresponding noun classes, so some examples have been omitted.

Bisyllabic / derivational adjective stems without stem variation

The most basic adjective stems do not have any stem internal variation. They end in o, u, y or ö, and with some limited set of new words, e. This class has the fewest allomorphs. There are a number of productive adjective classes in this section, including all lexicalised nut participle’s passives (-tu, -ty), moderative derivations (-hko, -hkö) and … Examples follow in specific sub-classes.

The words in this class ending in o belong to ADJ_TUMMAHKO, the old dictionaries use class ¹. The stems should be entered in dictionary like: tummahko+A:tummahko A_TUMMAHKO ; This class includes back vowel moderative derivations. N.B. the comparative derivation of moderatives is semantically awkward, but morphologically plausible.

The stems ending in u are in class ADJ_VALKAISTU, and in old dictionaries the class is ¹. These stems should be entered in dictionary like: valkaistu+A:valkaistu A_VALKAISTU ; Common part of this class is formed by nut participle passive’s back vowel versions after s stem verbs:

The stems ending in y are in class ADJ_HÄPÄISTY, and in old dictionaries the class is ¹. Common part of this class is formed by nut participle passive’s front vowel versions after s stem verbs:

The words in this class ending in ö belong to ADJ_HÖLÖ, the old dictionaries use class ¹. This class includes front vowel moderative derivations.

The new words with e stem have same allomorph selection as old short unchanging bisyllabic u, y, o and ö stems, and no stem-internal variation. The classification for the back vowel variant of this class is ADJ_TOOPE, and old dictionaries used the class ⁸.

The front variation of unchanging e stems is class @LEXNAME, and in old dictionaries ⁸.

Trisyllabic and longer non-derived adjectuve stems

The trisyllabic and longer words with stem vowels o, u, y and ö also have no stem variation either, but selection of suffix allomorphs for plural genitives and partitives is wider than for bisyllabic and derived ones.

The o final trisyllabic stems are in class ADJ_KOHELO, and the old dictionaries used ².

And the trisyllabic ö stem is classified ADJ_LÖPERÖ.

Unchanging long vowel stems

The words with stem vowels o, u, y and ö preceded by vowels still have no stem variation, but use yet another pattern of allomorphs for singular and plural partitives and plural genitive

The class for o final long vowel stems is ADJ_AUTIO, and old old dictionaries used ³.

The front voweled stems with ö after vowels go to class ADJ_RIIVIÖ, and used the old dictionary class ³.

There are no examples of new loan word adjectives ending in long vowel Furthermore there are no examples of adjectives in other classes without stem variation yet. There are some examples of these in nouns if you need new classes at some point.

The abovementioned o, u, y and ö stems as well as new e stems can all form combinations with gradation feature as well. Not all combinations are yet found for adjectives, for full reference, read the noun classes.

The quantitative k gradations with o bisyllabic o stem use class ADJ_KOLKKO, and old dictionaries use classes ¹⁻A and ¹⁻D.

The quantitative k gradations with u bisyllabic o stem use class ADJ_VIRKKU, and old dictionaries use classes ¹⁻A and ¹⁻D.

The quantitative k gradations with y bisyllabic o stem use class ADJ_SÄIKKY, and old dictionaries use classes ¹⁻A and ¹⁻D.

The quantitative k gradations with o bisyllabic ö stem use class ADJ_KÖKKÖ, and old dictionaries use classes ¹⁻A and ¹⁻D.

there is no unvarying e final adjective with k ~ 0 gradation.

The quantitative gradation of p before o is in class ADJ_SUIPPO and old dictionaries would use ¹⁻B.

The quantitative gradation of p before u is in class ADJ_IKÄLOPPU and old dictionaries would use ¹⁻B. It is only a nominal compound based adjective that ends in u and has p ~ 0 gradation here:

and none of the adjectives end in y and quantitative p gradation.

The quantitative gradation of p before ö is in class ADJ_LÖRPPÖ and old dictionaries would use ¹⁻B.

The quantitative gradation of t before o is in class ADJ_VELTTO, which was ¹⁻C in the dictionary.

The quantitative gradation of t before u is in class ADJ_VIMMATTU, which was ¹⁻C in the dictionary. The u stems with quantitative t gradation are commonest with nut participle passive derivation’s back form (-ttu).

The quantitative gradation of t before y is in class ADJ_YLENNETTY, which was ¹⁻C in the dictionary. The u stems with quantitative t gradation are commonest with nut participle passive derivation’s front (-tty).

The quantitative gradation of t before y is in class ADJ_KYYTTÖ, which was ¹⁻C in the dictionary.

The quantitave k gradation has a variant that allows use of apostrophe instead of nothing in the weak grade.

The class for o final bisyllabic stems with optional ’ is ADJ_LAKO, this is a subset of dictionary class ¹⁻D.

There’s no k to optional apostrophe with u. nor with y and k: nor ö with k: There’s none with k gradating to always apostrophe either. For examples of these, see noun classes

The qualitative gradation of p between vowels in o stems goes to v, the class for this is ADJ_KELPO, the dictionary class for this is ¹⁻E.

There are none ending in vowel + pu nor with y and p nor ö with p.

The gradation of t ~ d after o is in class ADJ_MIETO, the dictionary class for this is ¹⁻F.

The gradation of t ~ d after u is in class ADJ_VIIPALOITU, the dictionary class for this is ¹⁻F. The commonest t ~ d variation in u stems comes from nut participle’s passive’s back form (-tu).

The gradation of t ~ d after u is in class ADJ_YKSILÖITY, the dictionary class for this is ¹⁻F. The commonest t ~ d variation in u stems comes from nut participle’s passive’s front form (-ty).

And there’s none with t and ö

The adjectives with -nko stem belong to class ADJ_LENKO, and the dictionary class was ¹⁻G.

There’s no adjectives ending in nku nor with y and nk And ö with nk There are no gradating p’s after m’s in unchanging stems For all these, check the noun patterns. The quantitative gradation of t after l in o stems is in class ADJ_MELTO, which corresponds to dictionary class ¹⁻I.

The quantitative gradation of t after l in o stems is in class ADJ_PARANNELTU, which corresponds to dictionary class ¹⁻I. The common u stem after l is in nut participles passive (-tu):

The quantitative gradation of t after l in o stems is in class ADJ_VÄHÄTELTY, which corresponds to dictionary class ¹⁻I. As with y and t:

There’s no adjective ending -ltö in our lexical database.

The quantitative gradation of t after n in o stems is in class ADJ_VENTO, which corresponds to dictionary class ¹⁻J.

The quantitative gradation of t after n in u stems is in class ADJ_PANTU, which corresponds to dictionary class ¹⁻I. The common u stem after n is in nut participle’s passive’s back form (-tu):

The quantitative gradation of t after n in y stems is in class ADJ_MENTY, which corresponds to dictionary class ¹⁻I. The common u stem after n is in nut participle’s passive’s front form (-ty):

There are no adjectives ending in -ntö

The quantitative gradation of t after r in o stems is in class ADJ_MARTO, which corresponds to dictionary class ¹⁻J.

The quantitative gradation of t after r in u stems is in class ADJ_PURTU, which corresponds to dictionary class ¹⁻J. The common u stem after r is in nut participle’s passive’s back form (-tu):

The quantitative gradation of t after r in y stems is in class ADJ_PIERTY, which corresponds to dictionary class ¹⁻J. The common u stem after r is in nut participle’s passive’s front fomr (-ty):

There are no adjectives ending in -rtö. Just as well, the class for UkU : UvU- is limited to few nouns we know.

The special illative alternation with k gradation, unaltering stems

The trisyllabic words ending with gradating long k have plural illative in both strong and weak forms.

The class for trisyllabic -kko stems is ADJ_HUPAKKO, the corresponding dictionary class is ⁴⁻D.

Adjective stems with i:e variations

The i stems of new i final words have i : e : 0 variation. These classes include new loans ending in consonant, which use -i to form inflectional stems. The i stems combined with gradation of will form five separate stem variants:

The i finals with back vowel harmony go to class ADJ_ABNORMI, where old dictionary classification was ⁵.

The i finals with front vowel harmony go to class ADJ_STYDI, where old dictionary classification was ⁵.

Stems with quantitative k gradation, i final and back harmony are in class ADJ_OPAAKKI and dictionary class ⁵⁻A or ⁵⁻D.

Stems with quantitative k gradation, i final and front harmony are in class ADJ_PINKKI and dictionary class ⁵⁻A or ⁵⁻D.

There’s no back vowel version of the bisyllabic gradating -ppi form.

Stems with quantitative p gradation, i final and front harmony are in class ADJ_SIPPI and dictionary class ⁵⁻B.

Stems with quantitative t gradation, i final and back harmony are in class ADJ_HURTTI and dictionary class ⁵⁻C.

Stems with quantitative t gradation, i final and front harmony are in class ADJ_VÄÄRTTI and dictionary class ⁵⁻C.

There are no bisyllabic adjectives ending in vowel and gradating -pi.

Stems with t ~ d gradation, i final and back harmony are in class ADJ_TUHTI and dictionary class ⁵⁻F.

Stems with t ~ d gradation, i final and front harmony are in class ADJ_REHTI and dictionary class ⁵⁻F.

There are no adjectives with i stems with other gradations.

Trisyllabic and longer i stems

The i stems with trisyllabic allomorph sets have class ADJ_ABNORMAALI, and dictionary class of ⁶.

The i stems with trisyllabic allomorph sets have class ADJ_ÖYKKÄRI, and dictionary class of ⁶.

There are no adjectives acting like nouns where i-final nominatives have singular e stems.

Bisyllabic A-stem adjectives

The a stems differ from regular nouns in one more feature: some of them, but not all, have a:e variation before the comparative stem. The selection of this feature may be phonological, but it is complex, and often there is variation between speakers. The plural partitives and genitives are a good indicator of classificaion of a, ä final stems, as are the vowels of comparative and plural stems.

Bisyllabic a stems with e comparative and j plurals are in class ADJ_AAVA, and dictionary class ⁹.

The ka stem with e comparative and j plurals is ADJ_TARKKA, and the dictionary class is ⁹-A or ⁹⁻D.

No a final adjectives with quantitative p gradation.

The ta stem with j plurals is ADJ_MATTA, and the dictionary class is ⁹-C.

The pa : va stem with e comparative and j plurals is ADJ_HALPA, and the dictionary class is ⁹⁻E.

The ta : da stem with a comparative and j plurals is ADJ_EHTA, and the dictionary class is ⁹⁻F.

None with k:g gradation.

The pa : ma stem with e comparative and j plurals is ADJ_RAMPA, and the dictionary class is ⁹⁻H.

No a stems with t:l gradations

The ta : na stem with a comparative and j plurals is ADJ_VIHANTA, and the dictionary class is ⁹⁻J.

And finally, no a stems with t:r or t:l gradations.

Some other trisyllabic a finals with a : 0 plurals

Mostly regular a comparatives, no a : o variation and more syllables. Common for va participles, and other derivations

The a : 0 stem is in class ADJ_AALTOILEVA and the old dictionary used ¹⁰ as the paradigm class.

The ä : 0 stem is in class ADJ_TYÖLLISTETTÄVÄ and the old dictionary used ¹⁰ as the paradigm class.

For a:e comparatives in a:0 class use ADJ_RUMA. No dictionary classification or ~¹⁰,

For ä:e comparatives in a:0 class use ADJ_TYHMÄ. No dictionary classification or ~¹⁰,

THE EPSILON-to-ZILCH SEEMS TO INTERFER WITH COMPILATION 2015-08-23, Jaska 0:  » 0:0 SO TOMMI FINDS THEM

THE EPSILON-to-ZILCH SEEMS TO INTERFER WITH COMPILATION 2015-08-23, Jaska 0:  » 0:0 SO TOMMI FINDS THEM

The quantitative k and t gradations are not found for adjectives with this a stem.

The t:d is missing from this a stem.

p:m is missing from this a, ä stems.

T:l and t:n are missing from this a stem and t:l from ä stem.

K:j is missing.

Certain trisyllabic or longer a stems allow a lot of allomorphs and both a : o : 0 variations:

Certain trisyllabic or longer a stems allow a lot of allomorphs and both a : o : 0 variations:

Special illative gradation in a stems

The a : o stem variation combines with trisyllabic class of special illatives

A-final words with long vowels and syllable boundary

Lexicalised comparatives

Most of the lexicalised comparatives are adjectives that go to this class. The comparatives that are not lexicalised inflect exactly the same, though some versions of morphology may cut off long comparative chains.

Long vowel stems

There are no other bisyllabic long vowel stems in adjectives

There are no other monosyllabic long vowel stems for adjectives. For full listing of possibilities, see nouns.

Some loan words inflect irregularly, either more along the written form or the pronunciation.

There are not many direct adjective loans in general.

Old e stems with i nominative

Some of the old e stems have i nominative but e as stem vowel for singular forms. Most of these are not adjectives though, see full listing from the noun pages.

There are no adjective examples of other gradation variants or consonant cluster simplifications in this class.

Consonant-final stems

The consonant stems use inverted gradation if applicable, that is, the nominatives have end in consonants and their gradating consonants are in weak form. Most of these are rarer for adjectives than nouns.

There are no back vowel variants or gradating words in the basic e conjoining pattern.

There are no other examples of n:m final variation before conjoining e.

Caritives

The common case of n:m variation with conjoining a before singular stems is from caritive suffix -tOn, that forms adjectives productively.

This one word, hapan, also takes the same variation as normative variant. The expected e variant is not normative, but used.

Lexicalised superlatives

Vasen inflects almost like superlative

nen suffixes

Adjectives are commonly formed with nen derivatonns.

s-final adjectives

Most of the cases here are nouns from noun derivations.

No adjectives end in -päs

Gaps.

Gaps

t-finals

Lexicalised nut-participles

Majority of lexicalised nut participles are adjectives.

Old -e^ final stems

Gapping almost all variants of gradations with e, as well as all dual nominative stems.

Exceptional adjectives

The ones that do not fit in the official classes shown in dictionaries.

THE EPSILON-to-ZILCH SEEMS TO INTERFER WITH COMPILATION 2015-08-23, Jaska 0:  » 0:0 SO TOMMI FINDS THEM

THE EPSILON-to-ZILCH SEEMS TO INTERFER WITH COMPILATION 2015-08-23, Jaska 0:  » 0:0 SO TOMMI FINDS THEM

Plurales tantum?

Adjectives aren’t typically plural words, but there are some in the dictionaries.

Adjective inflection proper

The superlative derivation is formed by in suffix, which creates a new adjective baseform. This baseform is handled separately to avoid double superlatives.

The comparative derivation is formed by mpi suffix, which creates a new adjective baseform. This adjective is handled separately to avoid double comparative forms.

This inflectional part attached to adjective comparative stems to avoid circularity in comparative derivations:

This inflectional part is attached to adjective superlative stems to avoid circularity in superlative derivations:

Regular adjective inflection

The adjective inflection apart from the comparative and superlative derivations is same as with nouns. I will only show examples here.

Adjectives can usually be derived into sti adverbs productively

This (part of) documentation was generated from src/fst/morphology/affixes/adjectives.lexc

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