Editing Consonant gradation (section)

===Karelian===

[[Karelian language|Karelian]] consonant gradation is quite similar to Finnish: *β *ð *ɣ have been lost in a fashion essentially identical to Eastern Finnish (and may have occurred in the common ancestor of the two), with the exception that assimilation rather than loss has occurred also for *lɣ and *rɣ. E.g. the plural of ''jalka'' 'foot' is ''jallat'', contrasting with ''jalat'' in Finnish and ''jalad'' in Estonian.

Karelian still includes some gradation pairs which Finnish does not. The consonants {{IPA|/t k/}} undergo consonant gradation when following a coronal obstruent {{IPA|/s š t/}}: ''muistua'' 'to remember' → ''muissan'' 'I remember', ''matka'' → ''matan'' 'trip' (nom. → gen.). This development may be by analogy of the corresponding liquid clusters. On the other hand, some Karelian dialects (such as [[Livvi-Karelian language|Livvi]] or Olonets) do not allow for gradation in clusters beginning on nasals.  Thus, the Olonets Karelian equivalent of Finnish ''vanhemmat'' (cf. ''vanhempi'' 'older') is ''vahne'''mb'''at''.

The Karelian phoneme inventory also includes the affricate {{IPA|/tʃ/}} (represented in the orthography as ''č''), which may be found geminated and is such subject to quantitative gradation: ''meččä'' 'forest' → ''mečäššä'' 'in (the) forest'.