Väliosanaan

Väliosanaan is a term used in linguistic discussions to describe a proposed phenomenon at morpheme or word boundaries in Finnish and related Finnic languages. The word is built from väli meaning between and sana meaning word, with an -an suffix forming a nominal label. It is used to denote how vowels from adjacent units may influence each other across a boundary, affecting the phonetic realization of the sequence.

In description, väliosanaan may involve epenthetic vowels inserted to resolve a hiatus between a stem-final vowel and a following initial vowel, or it may involve assimilation or vowel coalescence where boundary vowels are altered to become more similar. The process is described as variable: it can be obligatory in careful or formal speech, or optional in casual speech, and its occurrence can depend on phonotactic constraints, dialect, and the morphophonemic system of the language. It is closely related to, but distinct from, more established ideas such as epenthesis and sandhi, and is sometimes discussed as a broader umbrella for cross-boundary vowel adjustments.

Scholarly reception of väliosanaan is mixed. Some analysts treat it as a distinct phonological category that highlights a specific cross-boundary vowel interaction, while others argue that observed patterns are better accounted for by existing concepts like epenthesis, liaison, or assimilation. Because attested instances are limited and descriptions vary across languages and dialects, väliosanaan remains a topic of theoretical discussion rather than a settled, widely adopted label in mainstream phonology. See also: epenthesis, sandhi, vowel harmony, liaison.