Papers by Juho Pystynen
Finnisch-Ugrische Forschungen, Dec 2020
The article revisits the development of Proto-Uralic close front *i in Proto-Permic. Two regular ... more The article revisits the development of Proto-Uralic close front *i in Proto-Permic. Two regular reflexes of *i have been posited in earlier literature: *i and *e. In a survey of preexisting etymological research, a third reflex *i̮ is identified as also being similarly abundant, which motivates rehabilitating several etymological comparisons that have been rejected as irregular in recent critical works. Altogether 17 examples of PP *i̮ continuing earlier *i are discussed in some detail. Typical phonological environments for the development of *i̮ are further identified, and several open problems are shown to remain. Lastly some implications of the results for future research are suggested.
Rasprave 46/2 (2020.), 2020
This paper presents the new project Digital etymological dictionary of the oldest vocabulary of F... more This paper presents the new project Digital etymological dictionary of the oldest vocabulary of Finnish (University of Helsinki, funded by the Kone Foundation) and discusses the present state and challenges of the (especially digital) etymological resources of the Finnic languages and Uralic languages in general. It is also shown how crowdsourcing of etymology can work, and how the present platform could be used in the etymological lexicography of other languages and language families.
Ёмас сымыӈ нэ̄кве во̄ртур э̄тпост самын патум. Scripta miscellanea in honorem Ulla-Maija Forsberg, 2020
Petri Kallio Rocks. Liber semisaecularis 7.2.2019, Feb 2019
Finnish, Ingrian, Votic and marginally Karelian show for the verb 'to stand' an unexpected conson... more Finnish, Ingrian, Votic and marginally Karelian show for the verb 'to stand' an unexpected consonant stem seis- (inf. seistä, ppp. seisty, etc.) besides the regular vowel stems seiso-, seisa-, sõisa- (< Proto-Finnic *saisa-). As Finnic shows no parallels of secondary consonant-stem inflection in verbs, I propose to derive this as a relict of a PF *saisë-. This further turns out to be, via the recently proposed soundlaw *a-ë < *ä-ä, regularly derivable from Proto-Uralic *säŋćä- 'to stand still, stop', a previously identified front-vocalic doublet of PU *saŋća- 'to stand'. Fi. seis 'stop!' may retain the original difference in meaning, although the relicization process cannot be reconstructed in detail.
Petri Kallio Rocks. Liber semisaecularis 7.2.2019, Feb 2019
Commentary to Jaakko Häkkinen's article Kantasuomen keskivokaalit: paluu.
Häkkinen is surely rig... more Commentary to Jaakko Häkkinen's article Kantasuomen keskivokaalit: paluu.
Häkkinen is surely right in defending the reconstruction of back unrounded *ë already for Proto-Finnic, but attributing its origin purely to Indo-European loanwords seems to be falsified by its appearence also in a handful of derivatives built on native Uralic roots. The traditionally assumed sound change *e > *ë before back vowels therefore still seems to be necessitated.
For the reconstruction of an analogous pre-Proto-Finnic *ï, Häkkinen's new argument based on loanwords into early Permic appears doubtful due to the numerous uncertainties remaining in our knowledge of Permic historical vocalism.
Conference Presentations by Juho Pystynen
Vowel system of Pre-Saami (JP) *ĭ *ī *ŭ *ū *e *o *ä *a Four paired series = three heights, partia... more Vowel system of Pre-Saami (JP) *ĭ *ī *ŭ *ū *e *o *ä *a Four paired series = three heights, partial lenght or tenseness contrast. Rounding contrast: unrecoverable, thus omitted. Vowel system of standard Proto-Saami *i *u *ie *uo or: *ē *ō *e̮ *o *ea *oa or: *ɛ ̄*ɔ *ā Four paired series and unpaired *ā. Asymmetrically *e̮ for expected **e. Four-to-five heights? Partial length contrast only for *o | *ō ?? Pre-Saami to (Proto-)Saami For recap: a broad outline of the standard correspondences Saami *i *u *e̮ *o *e̮ -e̮ *ie-e̮ *uo-e̮ Pre-Saami *ī *ū *i (? *ü) *u *e-ᴇ *ä-ᴇ *o-ᴇ, *a-ᴇ Finnic *ii *uu *i, *ü *u *e-i *ä-i, *ee-i *o-i, *a-i, *oo-i Saami *ea-ē *oa-ē *uo-ē *ā-ē Pre-Saami *e-ᴀ *o-ᴀ *a-ᴀ *ä-ᴀ Finnic *e-ä *o-a, *a-i, *oo-i *a-a *ä-ä, *a-i, *oo-i *ᴀ, *ᴇ are used here for the reflexes of the Proto-Uralic open and non-open unstressed stem vowels, respectively; loss or preservation of vowel harmony in Pre-Saami is not readily dateable and not highly relevant for the GSVS. Pre-Saami labial vowel stems largely follow the development of *ᴀ-stems and they are omitted here for brevity.
Overview of some forthcoming thesis work, presented at the summer conference for linguistics PhD ... more Overview of some forthcoming thesis work, presented at the summer conference for linguistics PhD students at University of Helsinki.
Dobar dan, mi smo uredništvo etimološkog e-rječnika za najstarije riječi finskog jezika. Ja se zo... more Dobar dan, mi smo uredništvo etimološkog e-rječnika za najstarije riječi finskog jezika. Ja se zovem Santeri Junttila i evo moji kolege Sampsa Holopainen i Juho Pystynen. Starši član naše kolektive, docent Petri Kallio na žalost nije smogao doći s nama. Ja ću kratko predstaviti naš projekt na hrvatskom jeziku, i moji kolege ću nastaviti na engleskom.
"Archaisms in the historical phology of Livonian"
In this talk I demonstrate how improved underst... more "Archaisms in the historical phology of Livonian"
In this talk I demonstrate how improved understanding of a deep-level proto-language, such as Proto-Uralic, can lead to improved understanding of the history of its daughter groups, such as Finnic. I present three features of Livonian which can be shown to be archaisms by external comparison, and which require amending the reconstruction of Proto-Finnic:
1. In Livonian, earlier *tk > *kk versus *dk, *čk > *tk, contrasting with South Estonian: *tk, *dk > *kk versus *čk > *ck; and with core Finnic: all three > *tk. These isoglosses must pre-date the general pan-Finnic merger of *d, *č into *t, and I propose that these mergers could be also shifted somewhat forward within the relative chonology of Finnic. In particular, the important sound change *ti > *ći can be still maintained as Proto-Finnic proper, if also *či > *ći is assumed to have taken place alongside. By contrast it appears possible that *di may have initially remained outside assibilation, and forms like *täwdə > Finnish täysi (: täyte-) 'full' are in origin analogical rather than soundlawful.
2. In Liv., earlier *wj > *jj, while earlier *jw > *vv, contrasting with both > *jv elsewhere. This finds key evidence however from only a single loanword: lōja 'ship' ← Germanic *flawja-.
3. In Liv., earlier *ojə > *oi, contrasting with *ojə > *ui elsewhere. This development has been mostly masked by the developments *oojə, *oj(C) > *oi in all of Finnic. It however appears to be related to the much more widespread development *oCə > *uCə, found in some shape widely across Uralic.
"Parallel loaning: a phenomenon distorting our understanding of historical phonology"
I identify... more "Parallel loaning: a phenomenon distorting our understanding of historical phonology"
I identify in this talk two distinct types of parallel loaning, which have differing impacts on comparative lexical material. The first are divergent parallel loans, which are relatively easily filtered out in analyses of historical phonology due to their irregular sound correspondences. The second are convergent parallel loans, whose effect is more pernicious: they create trivial correspondences that may mask older conditional sound changes, and make the inherited component of the lexicon seem more irregular in its sound correspondences than it really is.
As a case study, I treat the reflexation of Proto-Uralic *ë in the eastern branches (Hungarian, Mansi, Khanty and Samoyedic). I show that inherited vocabulary has distinct reflexes of the vowel combinations *ë-a and *ë-ə. However, later loanwords from Indo-European (e.g. #śëta '100') may follow the initial-syllable development of *ë-ə, while showing second-syllable vocalism pointing to *ë-a. I conclude that these loans postdate Proto-Uralic: they were introduced only after the split of inherited *ë into two reflexes *ï and *ë in eastern Uralic, and they introduce a new vowel combination *ë-a alongside the inherited combinations *ï-a and *ë-ə. In western Uralic, no split of *ë occurs, and the loanwords show no difference in development from inherited *ë-a. The resulting individual vowel correspondences, such as Finnish /a/ ~ Khanty *aa, are thereby regular if taken in isolation, and they create an illusion of origin from a common proto-language.
Theses by Juho Pystynen
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Papers by Juho Pystynen
Häkkinen is surely right in defending the reconstruction of back unrounded *ë already for Proto-Finnic, but attributing its origin purely to Indo-European loanwords seems to be falsified by its appearence also in a handful of derivatives built on native Uralic roots. The traditionally assumed sound change *e > *ë before back vowels therefore still seems to be necessitated.
For the reconstruction of an analogous pre-Proto-Finnic *ï, Häkkinen's new argument based on loanwords into early Permic appears doubtful due to the numerous uncertainties remaining in our knowledge of Permic historical vocalism.
Conference Presentations by Juho Pystynen
In this talk I demonstrate how improved understanding of a deep-level proto-language, such as Proto-Uralic, can lead to improved understanding of the history of its daughter groups, such as Finnic. I present three features of Livonian which can be shown to be archaisms by external comparison, and which require amending the reconstruction of Proto-Finnic:
1. In Livonian, earlier *tk > *kk versus *dk, *čk > *tk, contrasting with South Estonian: *tk, *dk > *kk versus *čk > *ck; and with core Finnic: all three > *tk. These isoglosses must pre-date the general pan-Finnic merger of *d, *č into *t, and I propose that these mergers could be also shifted somewhat forward within the relative chonology of Finnic. In particular, the important sound change *ti > *ći can be still maintained as Proto-Finnic proper, if also *či > *ći is assumed to have taken place alongside. By contrast it appears possible that *di may have initially remained outside assibilation, and forms like *täwdə > Finnish täysi (: täyte-) 'full' are in origin analogical rather than soundlawful.
2. In Liv., earlier *wj > *jj, while earlier *jw > *vv, contrasting with both > *jv elsewhere. This finds key evidence however from only a single loanword: lōja 'ship' ← Germanic *flawja-.
3. In Liv., earlier *ojə > *oi, contrasting with *ojə > *ui elsewhere. This development has been mostly masked by the developments *oojə, *oj(C) > *oi in all of Finnic. It however appears to be related to the much more widespread development *oCə > *uCə, found in some shape widely across Uralic.
I identify in this talk two distinct types of parallel loaning, which have differing impacts on comparative lexical material. The first are divergent parallel loans, which are relatively easily filtered out in analyses of historical phonology due to their irregular sound correspondences. The second are convergent parallel loans, whose effect is more pernicious: they create trivial correspondences that may mask older conditional sound changes, and make the inherited component of the lexicon seem more irregular in its sound correspondences than it really is.
As a case study, I treat the reflexation of Proto-Uralic *ë in the eastern branches (Hungarian, Mansi, Khanty and Samoyedic). I show that inherited vocabulary has distinct reflexes of the vowel combinations *ë-a and *ë-ə. However, later loanwords from Indo-European (e.g. #śëta '100') may follow the initial-syllable development of *ë-ə, while showing second-syllable vocalism pointing to *ë-a. I conclude that these loans postdate Proto-Uralic: they were introduced only after the split of inherited *ë into two reflexes *ï and *ë in eastern Uralic, and they introduce a new vowel combination *ë-a alongside the inherited combinations *ï-a and *ë-ə. In western Uralic, no split of *ë occurs, and the loanwords show no difference in development from inherited *ë-a. The resulting individual vowel correspondences, such as Finnish /a/ ~ Khanty *aa, are thereby regular if taken in isolation, and they create an illusion of origin from a common proto-language.
Theses by Juho Pystynen
English summary: https://protouralic.wordpress.com/2019/04/06/the-origin-of-the-finnic-long-vowels-an-outline/
Häkkinen is surely right in defending the reconstruction of back unrounded *ë already for Proto-Finnic, but attributing its origin purely to Indo-European loanwords seems to be falsified by its appearence also in a handful of derivatives built on native Uralic roots. The traditionally assumed sound change *e > *ë before back vowels therefore still seems to be necessitated.
For the reconstruction of an analogous pre-Proto-Finnic *ï, Häkkinen's new argument based on loanwords into early Permic appears doubtful due to the numerous uncertainties remaining in our knowledge of Permic historical vocalism.
In this talk I demonstrate how improved understanding of a deep-level proto-language, such as Proto-Uralic, can lead to improved understanding of the history of its daughter groups, such as Finnic. I present three features of Livonian which can be shown to be archaisms by external comparison, and which require amending the reconstruction of Proto-Finnic:
1. In Livonian, earlier *tk > *kk versus *dk, *čk > *tk, contrasting with South Estonian: *tk, *dk > *kk versus *čk > *ck; and with core Finnic: all three > *tk. These isoglosses must pre-date the general pan-Finnic merger of *d, *č into *t, and I propose that these mergers could be also shifted somewhat forward within the relative chonology of Finnic. In particular, the important sound change *ti > *ći can be still maintained as Proto-Finnic proper, if also *či > *ći is assumed to have taken place alongside. By contrast it appears possible that *di may have initially remained outside assibilation, and forms like *täwdə > Finnish täysi (: täyte-) 'full' are in origin analogical rather than soundlawful.
2. In Liv., earlier *wj > *jj, while earlier *jw > *vv, contrasting with both > *jv elsewhere. This finds key evidence however from only a single loanword: lōja 'ship' ← Germanic *flawja-.
3. In Liv., earlier *ojə > *oi, contrasting with *ojə > *ui elsewhere. This development has been mostly masked by the developments *oojə, *oj(C) > *oi in all of Finnic. It however appears to be related to the much more widespread development *oCə > *uCə, found in some shape widely across Uralic.
I identify in this talk two distinct types of parallel loaning, which have differing impacts on comparative lexical material. The first are divergent parallel loans, which are relatively easily filtered out in analyses of historical phonology due to their irregular sound correspondences. The second are convergent parallel loans, whose effect is more pernicious: they create trivial correspondences that may mask older conditional sound changes, and make the inherited component of the lexicon seem more irregular in its sound correspondences than it really is.
As a case study, I treat the reflexation of Proto-Uralic *ë in the eastern branches (Hungarian, Mansi, Khanty and Samoyedic). I show that inherited vocabulary has distinct reflexes of the vowel combinations *ë-a and *ë-ə. However, later loanwords from Indo-European (e.g. #śëta '100') may follow the initial-syllable development of *ë-ə, while showing second-syllable vocalism pointing to *ë-a. I conclude that these loans postdate Proto-Uralic: they were introduced only after the split of inherited *ë into two reflexes *ï and *ë in eastern Uralic, and they introduce a new vowel combination *ë-a alongside the inherited combinations *ï-a and *ë-ə. In western Uralic, no split of *ë occurs, and the loanwords show no difference in development from inherited *ë-a. The resulting individual vowel correspondences, such as Finnish /a/ ~ Khanty *aa, are thereby regular if taken in isolation, and they create an illusion of origin from a common proto-language.
English summary: https://protouralic.wordpress.com/2019/04/06/the-origin-of-the-finnic-long-vowels-an-outline/
etymologies, as well as eleven most tentative borrowing suggestions from the same sources, tentative only due to numerous semantic or phonological problems. The chronology of the totally twenty-six borrowing suggested is considered again to some degree, and solid phonological and semantic considerations are given for each suggestion, and other possible cognates or borrowings in the surrounding languages are also discussed. The results continue to highlight the extensive historical social contacts between the Yukaghir populations and surrounding tribes.
[FIRST DRAFT PAPER VERSION]
1. ⁽*⁾johta- 'to lead, show the way' < *joč-ta-, akin to Western Khanty *joč 'marked path' < *jăč < Proto-Uralic *joč(č)ə
2. ⁽*⁾jouta- 'to have time, be on time, etc.' < *joɣ-ta-, akin to Hungarian jut, Mansi *joqt-, Khanty *jŏɣət- 'come', perhaps also Erzya juta-, Moksha jota-, Samoyedic *jåtə- 'to go' (from ca. Proto-Uralic *jux-ta-). The base root *juxə- seems to have yilded Proto-Finnic *joo-, lost by itself due to homonymy with *joo- 'to drink', but preserved in derivatives like reflexive *joo-ksë- 'to run', *joo-ma '(water)way'.
3. ⁽*⁾hohta- 'to shine' < *šokš-ta-, akin to Mari šokšə 'hot'
4. ⁽*⁾otta- 'to take' < *op-ta-, reflecting a loan (thru Indo-Iranian *Hap-?) from Proto-Indo-European *h₁ep- 'to grab'
5. Hungarian fűz, Mari piðä- 'to bind', not < PU **pitV- but < *piKV-tä-, and akin to Mordvinic ⁽*⁾piks 'rope', not < PU **piksə but < *pikV-ksə; this preform seems appropriate also for its proposed cognates in Old Hungarian †fiu, Khanty *püɣəL, Tundra Nenets ṕud°< *pütə id.
(The Mari verb is now alternately etymologized by Metsäranta 2024 as < *pujV-ntə- 'to string, thread'.)
6. Hung. hízik 'to fatten', Mansi *qōt-, Khanty *qāt-Lə-: not < PU **katV- but < *kojV-ta-, akin to PU *koja 'fat' (Hung. háj etc.); an already 19th century proposal, rehabilitable in light of the today known sound changes *oj > Hung. *ë > í; *j > Ob-Ugric zero / V_V(C)CV.