Living on the edge : Population genetics of Finno-Ugric-speaking humans in North Eurasia

The major aim of this thesis was to examine the origins and distribution of uniparental and autosomal genetic variation among the Finno-Ugric-speaking human populations living in Boreal and Arctic regions of North Eurasia. In more detail, I aimed to disentangle the underlying molecular and population genetic factors which have produced the patterns of uniparental and autosomal genetic diversity in these populations. Among Finno-Ugrics the genetic amalgamation and clinal distribution of West and East Eurasian gene pools were observed within uniparental markers. This admixture indicates that North Eurasia was colonized through Central Asia/ South Siberia by human groups already carrying both West and East Eurasian lineages. The complex combination of founder effects, gene flow and genetic drift underlying the genetic diversity of the Finno-Ugric- speaking populations were emphasized by low haplotype diversity within and among uniparental and biparental markers. A high prevalence of lactase persistence allele among the North Eurasian Finno- Ugric agriculturalist populations was also shown indicating a local adaptation to subsistence change with lactose rich diet. Moreover, the haplotype background of lactase persistence allele among the Finno- Ugric-speakers strongly suggested that the lactase persistence T-13910 mutation was introduced independently more than once to the North Eurasian gene pool. A significant difference in genetic diversity, haplotype structure and LD distribution within the cytochrome P450 CYP2C and CYP2D regions revealed the unique gene pool of the Finno-Ugric Saami created mainly by population genetic processes compared to other Europeans and sub-Saharan Mandenka population. From all studied populations the Saami showed also significantly the highest allele frequency of a CYP2C19 gene mutation causing variable drug reactions. The diversity patterns observed within CYP2C and CYP2D regions emphasize the strong effect of demographic history shaping genetic diversity and LD especially among such small and constant size populations as the Finno-Ugric-speaking Saami. Moreover, the increased LD in Saami due to genetic drift and/or admixture was shown to offer an advantage for further attempts to identify alleles associated to common complex pharmacogenetic traits.

Neutraalsus uudistekstides, kas seda on? : sukeldumissõda Eesti ja Soome pressis

Helsingin ja Tallinnan välillä liikennöinyt Copterlinen helikopteri putosi mereen 10.8.2005. Tarkastelen aiheen uutisointia Viron ja Suomen lehdistössä ja siitä mediapalstoilla käytyä “sotaa”. Tutkimuksen tavoitteena on selvittää minkälaisin keinoin mediasotaa käydään. Analysoin lähemmin yhden artikkelin Iltasanomista, Iltalehdestä, Turun Sanomista, Helsingin Sanomista ja Õhtuleht- ja Postimees-lehdistä. Teoreettisena pohjana käytän Norman Faircloughin teoksessa Language and Power esitettyä kriittistä diskurssianalyysiä. Käytän lisäksi mm. Tiit Hennosten kirjaa Uudise käsiraamat ja Reet Kasikin artikkeleita tekstianalyysistä. Mediasotaan osallistuvat laatulehdiksi luokiteltavat Turun Sanomat, Eesti Päevaleht, Postimees ja Turun Sanomat ja iltapäivälehdiksi luokiteltavat Iltalehti, Iltasanomat ja Õhtuleht. Helsingin Sanomat ei osallistunut mediasotaan, vaan keskittyy objektiiviseen uutisointiin. Keskeisin keino luoda sukellussota on vastakkainasettelu. Suhteet virolaisten ja suomalaisten välillä luodaan kansalaisuussanoilla suomalaiset ja virolaiset. Lukijoille kategorisoidaan maailma virolaiseksi ja suomalaiseksi. Positiivisia ja negatiivisia seikkoja asetetaan vastakkain luomalla tekstin sisäisiä antonyymipareja kuten nopea/ hidas, pieni ryhmä/ suuri ryhmä. Toimittajat luovat lähteilleen ja osallistujille auktoriteettia antamalla heille vastakkain matalan tai korkean statuksen kuten ministeri/ kadunmies. --- Suomalaiset lehdet käyttävät toimittajien itse keksimiä metaforia. Ekspressiivisiä sanoja käytetään välittämään tunteita, asenteita ja ajatuksia. Artikkeleissa hämärretään agentit kieliopin avulla. Käyttämällä passiivia, refleksiivisiä verbejä ja subjektittomia lauseita, esitetään prosesseja toisenlaisina kuin ne ovat ja jätetään näin aktiiviset tekijät mainitsematta. Artikkeleiden alku- ja loppulauseita vertaillessa voi havaita, että syytöksiä, spekulaatioita ja väitteitä esiintyy artikkeleiden otsikoissa ja ensimmäisissä lauseissa. Suomalaiset puolustautuvat huonojen pelastustyöntekijöiden leimaa vastaan ja virolaiset puolestaan oppipojan leimaa vastaan. Vasta-argumentteja tuodaan vain vähän ja ne sijoitetaan viimeisiksi. Molempien maiden lehdistöt kritisoivat viranomaisia. Artikkelit eivät noudata ideaaliuutisen kriteerejä.

Siperiaa sanoiksi - uralilaisuutta teoiksi : Kai Donner poliittisena organisaattorina sekä tiedemiehenä antropologian näkökulmasta

The doctoral dissertation, entitled Siperiaa sanoiksi - uralilaisuutta teoiksi. Kai Donner poliittisena organisaattorina sekä tiedemiehenä antropologian näkökulmasta clarifies the early history of anthropological fieldwork and research in Siberia. The object of research is Kai Donner (1888-1935), fieldworker, explorer and researcher of Finno-Ugric languages, who made two expeditions to Siberia during 1911-1913 and 1914. Donner studied in Cambridge in 1909 under the guidance of James Frazer, A. C. Haddon and W. H. R. Rivers - and with Bronislaw Malinowski. After finishing his expeditions, Donner organized the enlistment of Finnish university students to receive military training in Germany. He was exiled and participated in the struggle for Finnish independence. After that, he organized military offensives in Russia and participated in domestic politics and policy in cooperation with C. G. E. Mannerheim. He also wrote four ethnographic descriptions on Siberia and worked with the Scandinavian Arctic areas researchers and Polar explorers. The results of this analysis can be sum up as follows: In the history of ethnographic research in Finland, it is possible to find two types of fieldwork tradition. The first tradition started from M. A. Castrén's explorations and research and the second one from August Ahlqvist's. Donner can be included in the first group with Castrén and Sakari Pälsi, unlike other contemporary philologists, or cultural researcher colleagues, which used the method of August Ahlqvist. Donner's holistic, lively and participant-observation based way of work is articulated in his writings two years before Malinowski published his thesis about modern fieldwork. Unfortunately, Donner didn't get the change to continue his researche because of the civil war in Finland, and due to the dogmatic position of E. N. Setälä. Donner's main work - the ethnohistorical Siberia - encloses his political and anthropological visions about a common and threatened Uralic nation under the pressure of Russian. The important items of his expeditions can be found in the area of cultural ecology, nutritional anthropology and fieldwork methods. It is also possible to prove that in his short stories from Siberia, there can be found some psychological factors that correlate his early life history.

Sijasynkretismi morfologian koetinkivenä

Syncretism and the overlapping of morphologi- cally distinct units or entire categories have different influences on morphosyntactically cumulative and less cumulative forms. The Finnic languages, in comparison to the more eastern Finno-Ugric languages, mainly display morphologically less complex forms. Morphologically there is a clear distinction in the way syncretism is manifested in the Finnic languages that, consequently, is one of the most distinct features in the inflectional system despite the close ge- nealogical affinity. This can concretely be seen in the differences in the case inflection of the southern, such as Livonian, Estonian and Votic, and northern Finnic languages, most notably Finnish, Karelian and Veps. The comparison of syncretism in these languages shows both cross-linguistic regularity and language-specific rules that determine syncretic forms. Diachronic change and the erosion of suffixal ele- ments are closely involved in the rise of syncretism. The paper exam- ines the symmetries and asymmetries in the occurrence of syncretic forms in Finnic case paradigms.

Substrata Uralica : Studies on Finno-Ugrian Substrate in Northern Russian Dialects

The thesis consists of five articles and an introduction. It treats the problems of the Uralic substrate, most notably, the substrate toponyms, in the Russian dialects of Arkhangelsk region. The articles contribute to the general linguistic discussion concerning the nature of linguistic substrate and the outcome of language shift and to the onomastic discussion concerning the etymologisation and ethnic interpretation of substrate toponymy. Among the questions the articles scrutinised are the following: 1) How may phonetic and morphosyntactic substrate interference be verified? 2) How typical is the transfer of vocabulary in the case of a language shift? 3) How the borrowing of toponymy and appellative vocabulary are connected in the case of a language shift? 4) How does the etymologisation of the toponyms differ from the etymologisation of appellatives? 5) How reliable can the toponymic etymologies be? 6) How can the substrate language be identified? It is found that the substrate interference that can be meaningfully studied, from the point of view of historical linguistics, is predominantly lexical and not related to phonetics and morphosyntax, as presumed in many handbooks. New methods are outlined for the identification of substrate languages separately from the lexical, phonological and typological point of view by using the substrate toponymy as the main source of information on extinct languages. A reliability scale for the toponymic etymologies is developed that helps to identify the kinds of etymologies containing ethnohistorically meaningful information. The study also sheds light on questions related to Uralistics and Slavistics. The most important of these are the following: 1) Which Uralic languages were spoken in North Russia prior to Slavic? 2) When did the Slavicisation of the Finno-Ugrian population take place in the area of the Arkhangelsk Region? 3) What is the significance of the Finno-Ugrian substrate in northern Russian dialects to comparative Uralistics? 4) Are there any traces of pre-Uralic substrate languages in north-eastern Europe? The Finnic substrate languages, already identified by earlier studies, seem to have consisted of two groups, one of which was closest to the southern Finnic. Also, language(s) close to Sámi in some respects though not identical with it where spoken in pre-Slavic North Russia.

Inarinsaamen käsitemetaforat

This study discusses the conceptual metaphors of Inari Saami, an endangered, indigenous, Finno-Ugrian language spoken in northern Finland. The research focuses on systematical mappings between source and target domains in conventional Inari Saami metaphors and metonymies. The research material consists of the Inarinsaamen idiomisanakirja [Inari Saami idiom dictionary] which has been compiled by the author in collaboration with an Inari Saami co-author; the Inarilappisches Wörterbuch; Inarinsaamelaista kansantietoutta [Inari Saami folk knowledge]; and Aanaarkiela čájttuzeh [Inari Saami sample texts]. The metaphors and metonymies found in these literary sources are divided into categories on the basis of the target domains and according to the classic model of Lakoff ja Johnson (1980). This method reveals the systematical recurrence of source domains inside each category and thus discovers the systematical patterns of metaphoric mapping, the conceptual metaphors . As a result 44 conceptual metaphors and 16 conceptual metonymies are presented through approximately 500 glossed examples. These findings are discussed against the background of what is known about the cognitive and neural processing of metaphors on the one hand, and what is known about Inari Saami culture on the other. This theoretical framework highlights culture as the underlying force behind conceptual metaphors. The recurring metonymies seem to follow a culturally salient indexicality. For example, the Inari Saami conceptual metonymy TIME IS NATURE reflects the seasonal changes in the year s cycle, which was the salient index of time in traditional Inari Saami culture. The recurring metaphors, for their part, follow a culturally salient iconicity. The conceptual metaphor PRIDE IS ANTLERS is based on an iconicity which is experienced and interpreted by the Inari Saami. A proud person is associated with a reindeer who shows off his impressive antlers. The conceptual metaphor/metonymy seems to be a reflection of culture rather than a cognitive means of understanding an abstract domain in terms of a concrete domain, as hypothesized by certain theoreticians. Repeating this study with other languages may lead to the possibility of typologizing the metaphorical systems of the world s languages and understanding the diversity of metaphor systems in the endangered languages of the world.

Nonverbal predication in Erzya : Studies on morphosyntactic variation and part of speech distinctions

This dissertation consists of four articles and an introduction. The five parts address the same topic, nonverbal predication in Erzya, from different perspectives. The work is at the same time linguistic typology and Uralic studies. The findings based on a large corpus of empirical Erzya data, which was collected using several different methods and included recordings of the spoken language, made it possible for the present study to apply, then test and finally discuss the previous theories based on cross-linguistic data. Erzya makes use of multiple predication patterns which vary from totally analytic to the morphologically very complex. Nonverbal predicate clause types are classified on the basis of propositional acts in clauses denoting class-membership, identity, property and location. The predicates of these clauses are nouns, adjectives and locational expressions, respectively. The following three predication strategies in Erzya nonverbal predication can be identified: i. the zero-copula construction, ii. the predicative suffix construction and iii. the copula construction. It has been suggested that verbs and nouns cannot be clearly distinguished on morphological grounds when functioning as predicates in Erzya. This study shows that even though predicativity must not be considered a sufficient tool for defining parts of speech in any language, the Erzya lexical classes of adjective, noun and verb can be distinguished from each other also in predicate position. The relative frequency and degree of obligation for using the predicative suffix construction decreases when moving left to right on the scale verb adjective/locative noun ( identificational statement). The predicative suffix is the main pattern in the present tense over the whole domain of nonverbal predication in Standard Erzya, but if it is replaced it is most likely to be with a zero-copula construction in a nominal predication. This study exploits the theory of (a)symmetry for the first time in order to describe verbal vs. nonverbal predication. It is shown that the asymmetry of paradigms and constructions differentiates the lexical classes. Asymmetrical structures are motivated by functional level asymmetry. Variation in predication as such adds to the complexity of the grammar. When symmetric structures are employed, the functional complexity of grammar decreases, even though morphological complexity increases. The genre affects the employment of predication strategies in Erzya. There are differences in the relative frequency of the patterns, and some patterns are totally lacking from some of the data. The clearest difference is that the past tense predicative suffix construction occurs relatively frequently in Standard Erzya, while it occurs infrequently in the other data. Also, the predicative suffixes of the present tense are used more regularly in written Standard Erzya than in any other genre. The genre also affects the incidence of the translative in uľ(ń)ems copula constructions. In translations from Russian to Erzya the translative case is employed relatively frequently in comparison to other data. This study reveals differences between the two Mordvinic languages Erzya and Moksha. The predicative suffixes (bound person markers) of the present tense are used more regularly in Moksha in all kinds of nonverbal predicate clauses compared to Erzya. It should further be observed that identificational statements are encoded with a predicative suffix in Moksha, but seldom in Erzya. Erzya clauses are more frequently encoded using zero-constructions, displaying agreement in number only.

Kantauralin murteutuminen vokaalivastaavuuksien valossa

Tässä työssä käsittelen kolmen läntisimmän (saame, itämerensuomi ja mordva) ja kolmen itäisimmän kielihaaran (mansi, hanti ja samojedi) ensitavun vokaalivastaavuuksia aineistonani Pekka Sammallahden sanalista artikkelista Historical phonology of the Uralic Languages (kirjasta The Uralic languages, 1988, toimittanut Denis Sinor). Keskiset kielihaarat marin, permin ja unkarin olen tässä työssä jättänyt systemaattisen tarkastelun ulkopuolelle, koska pohjustustyön aikana selvisi kaksi tendenssiä: yhtäältä monella näiden kielihaarojen vokaaleista on taustallaan useita eri kantauralin vokaaleja, ja toisaalta monilla kantauralin vokaaleilla on jatkajinaan erilaisia vokaaleja kyseisissä kielihaaroissa. Lisäksi jättämällä näiden kielten vokaaliston systemaattisen selvittämisen myöhempiin tutkimuksiin minun on mahdollista koetella lopputyössä esittämiäni hypoteeseja. Tarkasteluni perusteella sana-aineisto antaa mahdollisuuden sellaiselle uudelleentulkinnalle, että kantauralin ensitavun vokaaliparadigma olisikin ollut aiemmin oletettua rikkaampi. Itäisissä kielihaaroissa on säilynyt enemmän distinktiivisiä vokaalifoneemeja kuin läntisissä, ja vaikka läntisissä kielihaaroissa vokaalifoneemien kokonaislukumäärä on lähtökohtaisesti pienempi, selittyvät eräissä sanaryhmissä esiintyvät vokaalivastaavuussarjat luontevimmin niin, että vokaalit ovat lännessä langenneet yhteen, mutta eri kielihaaroissa eri tavalla. Toisin sanoen itäisten kielihaarojen distinktiivisiä vokaaleja vastaavat systemaattisella tavalla läntisten kielihaarojen epäsäännöllisinä pidetyt vastaavuussarjat. Nähdäkseni tässä työssä esittämiäni seikkoja ei ole aikaisemmin havaittu johtuen menetelmän sisäänrakennetuista rajoituksista: yksittäisiä vokaaleja vertaamalla on mahdollista löytää säännölliset vastineet vain niin monelle vokaalille kuin löytyy kummastakin (tai jokaisesta) vertailtavasta kielestä. Pääsääntöisesti vertailu tavoittaa siis vain sen määrän distinktiivisiä yksiköitä kuin löytyy siitä kielestä, jossa yksikköjen lukumäärä on pienin. Tämän vertailevan menetelmän rajoituksen ylitettyäni esitänkin lopputyössäni kantauraliin kahta uutta vokaalia, jotka vastaavat uralistiikassa vanhastaan tunnettuja redusoituneita vokaaleja (etinen ja takainen labiaalisuudeltaan redusoitunut vokaali). Tarkastelussani perustelen myös, miksi äännetaso on luotettavin murteutumisen osoittaja ja että äänteellisin perustein ei ole löydettävissä tukea samojedihaaran varhaiselle erolle muun kielikunnan yhteydestä; pikemminkin samojedi jakaa eräitä äänteellisiä uudennoksia (sekä vokaaliston että konsonantiston osalta) ugrilaisten kielten kanssa. Lisäksi toisin kuin on perinteisesti ajateltu, yhteisen sanaston lukumäärä ei voi aukottomasti todistaa varhaisesta diakronisesta kuilusta kielihaarojen välillä: sanastoeroille on löydettävissä muitakin mahdollisia selityksiä, kuten vaikkapa tiiviit kielikontaktit. Sen sijaan äännetasoa voidaan pitää luotettavana silloin kun useat kielikuntaa jakavat äänteelliset isoglossit osuvat samaan kohtaan. Tällä perusteella näyttää alustavasti siltä, että varhaisin kantauralin jälkeinen murreraja osuisi suomalais-permiläisten ja ugrilais-samojedilaisten kielten väliin.

Toward a widely usable finite-state morphology workbench for less studied languages, 1: Desiderata

Most of the world’s languages lack electronic word form dictionaries. The linguists who gather such dictionaries could be helped with an efficient morphology workbench that adapts to different environments and uses. A widely usable workbench could be characterized, ideally, as generally applicable, extensible, and freely available (GEA). It seems that such a solution could be implemented in the framework of finite-state methods. The current work defines the GEA desiderata and starts a series of articles concerning these desiderata in finite- state morphology. Subsequent parts will review the state of the art and present an action plan toward creating a widely usable finite-state morphology workbench.

Why study translation universals?

Abstract: Research on translation universals has its roots in the need to make generalizations about the features that distinguish translations from non-translations. They go back to the old tradition of negative comments about the failings of typical translations. These comments concern the relations between translations and the target language, and between translations and their source texts. With the rise of descriptive studies, and the use of corpus research methods borrowed from linguistics, the search for the typical features of translations became more systematic. A number of hypotheses about potential universals have been proposed, and tested on different languages and language pairs. Some of them are evidently false; on others, the jury is still out. If some hypotheses continue to be supported by empirical evidence, the question then arises of how they might best be explained. There has been fierce criticism of some of the assumptions underlying the search for universals, including the use of the term 'universal'itself, but the approach has also brought clear methodological benefits.

Public opinion on useful languages in Europe

This article analyses the results of five Eurobarometer surveys (of 1995, 1997, 1998, 2000 and 2005) designed to measure which languages Europeans consider most useful to know. Most Europeans are of the opinion that English is the most useful, followed by French and German. During the last decade the popularity of French and German as useful languages has been decreasing significantly, while English has remained universally favoured as the most useful language. French and German have lost their popularity especially among those who do not speak them as a foreign language. On the other hand, Spanish, Russian and other languages (often these include languages of neighbouring countries, minority languages or a second official language of the country in question) have kept and even increased their former level of popularity. Opinions about useful languages vary according to a respondent’s knowledge of languages, education and profession. This article analyses these differences and discusses their impact on the study of foreign languages and the future of the practice of foreign languages in Europe.

Cohésion modale et subordination : Le conditionnel et le jussif finnois au miroir de la valeur sémantique et discursive du subjonctif français

Modal cohesion and subordination. The Finnish conditional and jussive moods in comparison to the French subjunctive This study examines verb moods in subordinate clauses in French and Finnish. The first part of the analysis deals with the syntax and semantics of the French subjunctive, mood occurring mostly in subordinate positions. The second part investigates Finnish verb moods. Although subordinate positions in Finnish grammar have no special finite verb form, certain uses of Finnish verb moods have been compared to those of subjunctives and conjunctives in other languages. The present study focuses on the subordinate uses of the Finnish conditional and jussive (i.e. the third person singular and plural of the imperative mood). The third part of the analysis discusses the functions of subordinate moods in contexts beyond complex sentences. The data used for the analysis include 1834 complex sentences gathered from newspapers, online discussion groups and blog texts, as well as audio-recorded interviews and conversations. The data thus consist of both written and oral texts as well as standard and non-standard variants. The analysis shows that the French subjunctive codes theoretical modality. The subjunctive does not determine the temporal and modal meaning of the event, but displays the event as virtual. In a complex sentence, the main clause determines the temporal and modal space within which the event coded by the subjunctive clause is interpreted. The subjunctive explicitly indicates that the space constructed in the main clause extends its scope over the subordinate clause. The subjunctive can therefore serve as a means for creating modal cohesion in the discourse. The Finnish conditional shares the function of making explicit the modal link between the components of a complex construction with the French subjunctive, but the two moods differ in their semantics. The conditional codes future time and can therefore occur only in non-factual or counterfactual contexts, whereas the event expressed by French subjunctive clauses can also be interpreted as realized. Such is the case when, for instance, generic and habitual meaning is involved. The Finnish jussive mood is used in a relatively limited number of subordinate clause types, but in these contexts its modal meaning is strikingly close to that of the French subjunctive. The permissive meaning, typical of the jussive in main clause positions, is modified in complex sentences so that it entails inter-clausal relation, namely concession. Like the French subjunctive, the jussive codes theoretical modal meaning with no implication of the truth value of the proposition. Finally, the analysis shows that verb moods mark modal cohesion, not only on the syntagmatic level (namely in complexe sentences), but also on the paradigmatic axis of discourse in order to create semantic links over entire segments of talk. In this study, the subjunctive thus appears, not as an empty category without function, as it is sometimes described, but as an open form that conveys the temporal and modal meanings emerging from the context.