Editing Consonant gradation (section)

====Analogical extension of gradation====

The consonant clusters {{IPA|/ht/}} and {{IPA|/hk/}} were, comprising two obstruents, not originally subject to gradation (as is still the case for similar clusters such as {{IPA|/sp/}}, {{IPA|/st/}}, {{IPA|/tk/}}). However, gradation pairs ''ht : *hð'' and ''hk : *hɣ'' were at one point introduced. The first of these patterns remains common in modern Finnish, e.g. ''vahti : vahdit'' '{{Not a typo|guard(s)}}'. The second is only found in a limited number of words, e.g. ''pohje : pohkeet'' 'calf : calves', but ''rahka : rahkat'' '{{Not a typo|[[quark (cheese)|quark]](s)}}'. Usage varies for some words with {{IPA|/hk/}}, e.g. for the plural of ''nahka'' 'leather, hide', both ''nahat'' and ''nahkat'' are acceptable.

Quantitative consonant gradation has expanded to include in addition to the pairs ''kk : k'', ''pp : p'', ''tt : t'', also ''gg : g'' and ''bb : b'' (but not ''dd : d'') in a number of recent loanwords, such as {{lang|fi|blogata : bloggaan}} 'to blog'; {{lang|fi|lobata : lobbaan}} 'to lobby'.