On the Two-level Model in Description of Phonological and Morphophonological Processes in Finnish Dialects

Abstract

This paper deals with description of word formation processes in the Finnish Savo and south-western dialects with the help of the Two-level analysis. The Two-level analysis is compared with a system in which structural and prosodic properties of word forms are taken into account. The linguistic part of the Two-level model consists of a description of word forms at a partly abstract lexical level and the surface level. As a result of phonological and morpho-phonological processes, in several cases, the number and the structure of syllables are changed. In the Two-level morphological analysis, the variety in linearization processes, such as direct assimilations can be captured. A distinctive part of the processes taking place in word formation in Finnish dialects are based on the prosodic properties of these dialects. These processes can be described, when information on all the structural levels of words: phonemic level, number and phonemic and moraic structure of syllables, and stress and pitch relationships are taken into account. It is shown that, when the number of syllables in a word and the structure of syllables are changed, also the metrical structure of the words is changed.