Handbook of Finnish

Book excerpt: This is an extensive manual of the Finnish language. It is an ideal source of information when you wish to learn about some specific features of Finnish, such as pronunciation, word formation, notational conventions, or verb forms, even with minimal or no previous understanding of the language. It is intended primarily for people who study, learn, or use Finnish as a foreign language. It is particularly useful to advanced language learners, translators, and linguists. The book covers · all the major features of Finnish grammar, including both standard written language, common spoken language, and features of major dialects · treatises of key specialties of Finnish such as idiomatic uses of locational case forms · in-depth look at some topics largely ignored in Finnish grammars, such as compositive forms of words and “passive” forms of verbs · punctuation rules and rules for writing numbers and special notations · issues in writing and processing Finnish-language texts in the modern world, with computers The book is also useful to people with Finnish as their native or second language, because it gives them a different look at the language. The approach in the book partly deviates from the tradition of Finnish grammars, Finnish style guides, and teaching of Finnish at schools. It treats Finnish as a world to be explored, rather than something we know all too well, and it treats it like any other language, using international concepts and terms.