Boundary gemination is a common feature in standard Finnish. In boundary gemination, the final consonant of a word causes the first consonant of the following word to be lengthened. Finnish has many examples of boundary gemination. Let us explore a few.
The following Finnish words exemplify boundary gemination:
hernekeitto (pea soup)
itsepäinen (stubborn)
jätesäkki (garbage bag)
kasvihuone (greenhouse)
liikevaihto (revenue)
osoitekirja (address book)
pesukone (washing machine)
puhetaito (speaking skills)
rannekello (wristwatch)
taidekoulu (art school)
In the compound words, gemination occurs between word boundaries. The word hernekeitto consists of herne (pea) and keitto (soup). The k of keitto is geminated. This is also the case for osoitekirja, pesukone, rannekello and taidekoulu.
In itsepäinen, the p is geminated, in jätesäkki the s, in kasvihuone the h, in liikevaihto the v and in puhetaito the p. Despite the spelling, they are lengthened. Though boundary gemination often occurs with voiceless consonants, it can also occur with voiced as in liikevaihto.
Finnish has the phenomenon of boundary gemination. It is not indicated in the spelling of the language, but it is part of the spoken langauge. Certain dialects do not have boundary gemination, but it is definitely a feature of standard Finnish.
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