On the syntax of clitic particles in Finnish

-- AR 29/12/2010

The clitic particles come in two groups:

  Pas ::= pas | pa | han | kos | ko | kohan | pahan -- free variation
  Kin ::= kin/kaan                                  -- depending on polarity

(vowel harmony ignored). A Finnish sentence can have at most one of each. A Pas clitic is
always attached to the first word ("Aripas juo maitoa") or phrase such as NP 
("minun poikanipas juo maitoa"). A Kin clitic can be attached to almost any word; if the
same as Pas, Kin must come first ("Arikinhan juo maitoa"). Some combinations are clumsy
but presumably OK ("Arikinpas"). If the verb is first, it doesn't seem to allow Kin
(*"juokin Ari maitoa"). 

The following is a list of combinatory possibilities. Adverbs (represented by "nyt")
can be added ad libitum - at most two of them then become carriers of clitics
("nythän Ari juo maitoa täälläkin").


-- declaratives and questions

(Notice that, in the presence of "ei", Kin is "kaan", otherwise "kin".)

ari    Pas? ei? (juo Kin maitoa nyt | juo maitoa Kin nyt | juo maitoa nyt Kin?)
maitoa Pas? ei? (ari Kin juo    nyt | ari juo    Kin nyt | ari juo    nyt Kin?)
nyt    Pas? ei? (ari Kin juo maitoa | ari juo Kin maitoa | ari juo    maitoa Kin?)

ari    Kin  Pas? ei? juo maitoa nyt 
maitoa Kin  Pas? ari ei? juo nyt
nyt    Kin  Pas? ari ei? juo maitoa

juo    Pas? (ari Kin maitoa nyt | ari maitoa Kin nyt | ari maitoa nyt Kin?)
ei     Pas? (ari Kin juo maitoa nyt | ari juo Kin maitoa nyt | ari juo maitoa Kin nyt |
             ari juo maitoa nyt Kin?)

-- imperatives

The question clitic is (for obvious semantic reasons) omitted from the Pas category:

  Pas- ::= pa | pas | han | pahan 

juo    Pas-? (ari Kin maitoa nyt | ari maitoa Kin nyt | ari maitoa nyt Kin?)
älä    Pas-? (ari Kin juo maitoa nyt | ari juo Kin maitoa nyt | ari juo maitoa Kin nyt 
              | ari juo maitoa nyt Kin?)


-- negation word

Strangely enough, Kin seems to be getting accepted in plural (= two-syllabic) negations:

  *enkään, *etkään, *eikään, ?emmekään, ?ettekään, ?eivätkään (quite some Google hits)