Nyelvtudományi közlemények 91. kötet (1990)

100 OSMO 1KOLA
A dilemma in the written language:
fluctuations in the form of the Finnish accusative ob ject
by OSMO IKOLA
All the European languages and all those of European origin possess certain common
features of style and sentence structure which hâve been transferred from one language
to another, with Latin as the starting point. Sometimes there is an instability in sentence
structure which results from the fact that no model exists in the spoken language. To
illustrate this state of affairs, the author adduces the example of the fluctuation of form
that occurs in the Finnish ob ject.
The object in Finnish has two cases, accusative and partitive. In the singular, the
accusative either lias an ending (like the genetive) or is without an ending (like the
nominative). Which form of the accusative is to be used in a particular situation dépends
exclusively upon syntactic, formai contingencies; the fluctuation of form has no semantic
function.
In ail simple instances, the form of the accusative object is determined by clear and
rather easy rules. On the other hand, usage is unstable in those instances where the object
is connected with an infinitive which is distant and syntactically detached from the
predicate. For example: Muistamme hätten yrityksettsä ratkaista kysyntys/kysymyksen
(accusative without ending/accusative with ending). English: 'We remember his attempt
to résolve the question.' K. Sorsa sai tehtäväkseen muodostaa hallituksen/hallitus (accusative
with ending/accusative without ending). English: 'K. Sorsa was given the task of
forming a government.'
This instability is explained by the fact that thèse are structures which belong to
the written language only and hâve no model in the spoken language of the people. It is
always necessary, however, to choose one or other form of the accusative because there is
no neutral form. And there is, moreover, no way of imposing stable usage.
Nyelvtudományi Közlemények 91. 1990.