Meänkieli is a Finnic variant spoken in northern Sweden by around 70,000 people.[1] Although its status as an independent language is disputed by some linguists due to its mutual intelligibility with Finnish, the Swedish state has granted Meänkieli with the status of an official minority language in Sweden and is thus treated as a separate language from standard Finnish by the Swedish authorities. A standardized literary language for Meänkieli has been created that is based around the dialects around Pajala, Övertorneå and Haparanda, which has been used in Meänkieli literature. This article describes the grammar of the written language of Meänkieli.[2] [3] [4] [5]
Personal pronouns in Meänkieli.[6] [7]
| 1st person | 2nd person | 3rd person | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| singular | plural | singular | plural | singular | plural | ||
| Nominative | mie("I") | met("we") | sie("you") | tet("you") | se/hään("he, she, it") | het("they") | |
| Accusative | minun | meän | sinun | teät | hänen | heät | |
| Genitive | minun | meän | sinun | teän | hänen | heän | |
| Partitive | minua | meitä | sinua | teitä | häntä | heitä | |
| Illative | minhuun | meihin | sinhuun | teihin | hänheen | heihin | |
| Inessive | minussa | meissä | sinussa | teissä | hänessä | heissä | |
| Elative | minusta | meistä | sinusta | teistä | hänestä | heistä | |
| Essive | minuna | meinä | sinuna | teinä | hänenä | heinä | |
| Translative | minuksi | meiksi | sinuksi | teiksi | häneksi | heiksi | |
| Adessive | mulla | meilä | sulla | teilä | hällä | heilä | |
| Allative | mulle | meile | sulle | teile | hälle | heile | |
| Ablative | multa | meiltä | sulta | teiltä | hältä | heiltä | |
Nominative case
The nominative is the base form of a word and does not have a suffix, however the plural is made by the ending -t. For example, talo 'house' becomes talot 'houses'.
Genitive case
The genitive case is used to express ownership and it is made with the ending -n in the singular. However, the plural genitive has multiple possible endings in Meänkieli, which are -tten, -ten, -jen, -in and -en. For example, kala 'fish' in the genetive becomes kaloitten or kalain, while the word mies 'man' becomes miehitten or miesten. The endings -in and -en are somewhat archaic, but are still sometimes used in modern Meänkieli.
Partitive case
The partitive case is used to express partialness or indefiniteness. It is formed by the suffixes -a, -ta, -tä, -ä. For example, in the sentence "karasissa oon piiliä" 'there are cars in the garage', the word piili 'car' is in the partitive case. The plural is formed by adding either -i(ta/tä) or -j(a/ä), for example talo 'house' become taloja in the plural.
Essive
The essive case is formed by the endings -na or -nä, and describes states of being and time. For example, in the sentence "mie olin kipeännä", the word kipeä 'sick' is in the essive case.
Accusative
The accusative case is used to express a direct object. It's formed by the ending -n in the singular and -t in the plural. For example, the word kirja 'book' in the accusative becomes "kirjan".
Translative
The translative is formed by the ending -ksi, which describes becoming something. For example, in the sentence "ko sie luet tätä kramatiikkia, sie tulet viishaamaksi", the word viisas 'wise' is in the translative.
Inessive
The inessive describes being in or inside something, and it is formed by the ending -ssa or -ssä. For example, the word käsi 'hand' becomes "käessä" in the inessive. The plural is formed by inserting the vowel I before the singular case ending. For example, mettä 'forest' becomes mettässä in the singular inessive, while it becomes mettissä in the plural form. Other examples of the inessive include:
Elative
The elative describes derivation, having the meaning 'of, from, out of' or it can refer to a thing spoken, written or thought about. The elative it is formed by the ending -sta or -stä. Examples of the elative include:
Illative
The illative in Meänkieli describes movement into something. It is formed by lengthening the last vowel with the suffix -n and aspirating the last consonant, while the plural is formed by the ending -in.
Adessive
The adessive describes being at or on something. It can also be used to describe the tool of an action. It is formed by the endings -lla, -la, -llä and -lä. Examples of usage include:
Ablative
The ablative case in formed by the ending -lta or -ltä. The ablative indicates movement from something, for example in the sentence "mie tulen asemalta" (I come from the station), the word asema 'station' is in the ablative case.
Allative
The allative case is formed with the ending -lle or -le. It carries the meaning of "to" or "onto", for example in the sentence "tälle pojale", both the words "tämä" 'this' and poika 'boy' are in the allative case, meaning "to this boy".
Abessive, comitative and the instructive
The abessive, comitative and the instructive have heavily fallen out of use, although still existing within the language. The abessive is formed with the ending -tta or -ttä, and has the meaning of "without" and in some dialects people still use the abessive case after the word "ilman" which means "without", such as in the words "ilman rahatta" 'without money'. The comitative is formed with the ending -ihne + a possessive suffix, while the instructive is formed with the ending -in.
The word "tooli" 'chair' conjugated into all cases.
| Nominative | tooli | chair | |
| Genitive | toolin | chair's | |
| Partitive | toolia | chair | |
| Essive | toolina | as a chair | |
| Accusative | tooli(n) | chair | |
| Inessive | toolissa | in the chair | |
| Elative | toolista | from the chair | |
| Illative | toohliin | into the chair | |
| Adessive | toolila | on the chair | |
| Ablative | toolilta | from the chair | |
| Allative | toolile | to the chair | |
| Abessive | toolitta | without a chair | |
| Comitative | toolinheen | with the chair | |
| Instructive | omin toolin | by (one's own) chair |
In Meänkieli, comparatives are generally formed with an -mpi ending, while superlatives with an -in ending.
| iso 'big' | isompi 'bigger' | issoin 'biggest' | |
| kova 'hard' | kovempi 'bigger' | koviin 'biggest' | |
| selvä 'clear' | selvempi 'clearer' | selviin 'clearest' | |
| fiini 'fine' | fiinimpi 'finer' | fiiniin 'finest' |
In Meänkieli, verb conjugation depends on the personal pronouns. The word "tulla" 'come' is conjugated thus in the present tense:
| mie tulen | I come | |
| sie tulet | you come | |
| se/hään tullee | he/she/it comes | |
| met tulema | we come | |
| tet tuletta | you come | |
| net/het tuleva | they come |
The imperfect tense (which describes past events) is formed by the suffix -i. The word saa'a 'get/receive' is conjugated into the imperfect thus:
| Meänkieli | English | |
|---|---|---|
| mie sain | I got | |
| sie sait | you got | |
| se/hään sai | he/she/it got | |
| met saima | we got | |
| tet saitta | you got | |
| net/het sait | they got |
| mie olen ostanu | I have bought | |
| sie olet ostanu | you have bought | |
| se/hään oon ostanu | he/she/it has bought | |
| met olema ostanheet | we have bought | |
| tet oletta ostanheet | you have bought | |
| net/het oon ostanheet | they have bought |
| 2p sg | huomaa | huomaa | |
| 3p sg | huomakhoon | huomatkoon | |
| 1p pl | huomaama | huomatkaamme | |
| 2p pl | huomakkaa | huomatkaa | |
| 3p pl | huomakhoot | huomatkoot |
| Person | Meänkieli | Finnish | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2p sg | älä huomaa | älä huomaa | |
| 3p sg | älkhöön huomakko | älköön huomatko | |
| 1p pl | emmä huomaa | älkäämme huomatko | |
| 2p pl | älkää huomakko | älkää huomatko | |
| 3p pl | älkhööt huomakko | älkööt huomatko |
Unlike in Finnish, Meänkieli more often aspirates consonants and has specific rules for when consonants become aspirated. Aspiration is written by adding the letter h after or before a consonant. Consonants become aspirated after being followed by two vowels in the passive form of verbs, in the illative case, in the third infinitive, after the genetive forms of words that end with -e and in all perfect and pluperfect forms of verbs. Examples of aspiration include:[9]
A similar system exists in the Kven language.