Modern Finnish grammars display a clear tendency to eliminate the category of the accusative entirely, or to limit it only to manifestations which are heterophonic from manifestations of other cases (the nominative and genitive). However, in older grammars (from the first half of the 20th century), the accusative was considered a proper full member of the inventory of Finnish cases. The present paper can be seen as a defense of the former approach to the accusative, because the author believes that the new approach exposes only the paradigmatical aspect of this part of the Finnish language, concealing the syntagmatic aspect. By means of syntagmatic comparison, different types of grammatical neutralizations are brought into view. One of them is especially instructive for the case in question, because it reveals specific properties not only of the accusative, but also of the category of voice in Finnish.
Most SLA theories and models have recognised cross-linguistic influence (CLI) as an important or even the major factor determining the second language acquisition, which, in interaction with other factors, determines the likelihood of the transferability of a given structure in a given context. Interlingual identifications made by learners between the first (L1) or formerly learned (Ln) and target language (TL) enable both positive and negative transfer from the L1/Ln, depending on the learners’ perceptions of the convergence or divergence of the L1/Ln and TL patterns. However, largely due to the visibility of non-target like language usage, the majority of studies on the CLI have focused on the negative outcomes of the issue or dealt with the CLI without separately tackling the positive and negative influence. In closely related languages like Finnish and Estonian with their rich inflectional morphology, the L1 influence is clearly seen in bound morphology, and its outcomes are considerably more often positive than negative. The paper aims to explore how and why learners’ perceptions of similarity do or do not get realised as positive CLI in inflectional morphology, on the basis of the following two databases: 1) thinking aloud protocols and retrospective interviews on an experimental inflection test of Estonian high school students learning Finnish as a foreign language; 2) longitudinal video-taped data of Estonian primary school children learning Finnish as a second language in a preparatory class. The results indicate that both second and foreign language learners benefit from similar inflectional patterns when they perceive cross-linguistic similarity and then apply a pattern similar to L1 and TL. For foreign language learners, the two main reasons of rejecting the converging morphological patterns of L1 and TL are: 1) a psychological barrier, avoiding “too” similar patterns in Estonian and Finnish, causing the repetition of the pattern during analogical processing; 2) competition between analogical and rule-based production, which is supported by foreign language instruction. In learning closely related inflectional morphology, system learning for production precedes item learning for production both in second and foreign language learners.
Even rather similar proverbs and idiomatic phrases can have national nuances. They reflect the view of life and cultural reality typical for the nation in question. They give information about history, religion, manners, ethics, feelings, etc., of a country. However, the interaction between neighbours is a part of culture, and has contributed to cultural exchange. Because the ideas appearing in proverbs and phrases are in many respects universal, their globalisation happens naturally. Idiomatic phrases are challenging to translate because their meaning is not compositionally derived from their parts. This article demonstrates and compares the strategies that have been used for Estonian and Finnish (TL) in idiomatic phrase translations. The source languages (SL) are German and English. Two main translation strategies are presented: domesticating and foreignising. Domestication refers to the strategy in which the translator tries to reduce potential SL-specific elements by substituting them with corresponding TL-specific cultural elements. When using foreignisation as a strategy, translators refrain from making any changes, although cultural elements are divergent in the SL and TL, and they are retained in translations as close to the original as possible. The meaning of the idiom can be divided into two: the core meaning and additional meaning. Using this dichotomy helps, above all, to describe what kind of changes take place in the domesticating process. Idiomatic phrases carry a package of cultural values associated with the SL, and it is not an easy task to discover which culture-specific and language-specific features, and how, are translatable into the TL. In addition, idiomatic phrases can contain various more or less “poetic” elements, like uncommon words, exceptional word order, alliteration or rhyme. Transferring all these qualities to the TL is difficult but would contribute to maintaining the original expressive power, which is an important component of the idiomatic phrase in its native language. The results indicate that domestication strategies have a very important role in translation. Estonian and Finnish translators favour, for instance, substitution. They also add some expressive constituents like alliteration. Very old loan idioms are not domesticated. Particularly older people prefer established translations, even though they can encompass culturally unfamiliar elements. An interesting new phenomenon is direct, word-for-word translation. This kind of foreignising may be due to the speakers’ wish to show their English skills or their expertise. The use of this strategy stresses something special, like belonging to a certain in-group. There are some differences between Estonian and Finnish translations. Sometimes the Finnish translators advance further in the direction of the target language and culture than the Estonian ones. However, this solution seems to be arbitrary, not regular. Finns are keen on using a new calque translation which not necessarily adds to the intelligibility of the text. Some typically Finnish idiomatic phrases, popular especially among the young people, have not crossed the ocean. It would be very interesting to find out if the Finns living or studying in Estonia have absorbed local idioms.
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