Re: long consonants

Henrik Theiling wrote:

>Hi!
>
>bob thornton <arcanesock@...> writes:
>
>
>>--- # 1 <salut_vous_autre@...> wrote:
>>
>>
>>>I'd want to ask if much languages distinguish long
>>>and short consonants
>>>
>>>
>>...
>>Consonant lengthening, called 'gemination' is found in
>>Finnish, and I think a few Semetic languages. It's
>>uncommon, but not that much so.
>>
>>
>
>Uncommon?  That's not what I would say.  To travel around the world,
>naming a few not-so-unknown langs: it exists in Finnish, Estonian,
>Japanese, Arabic, Greenlandic, Inuktitut, Swiss German, and many
>others.  (And I'm sure I forgot a few other famous ones.)
>
>I'd say it's quite common.
>
>
In Estonian, it's actually used to mark the Illative case.

eg.
Ma lähen kinno
Ma lähe-n kinno
1s  go-1s cinema.ILL
I am going to the cinema

but:

Ma olen kinos
Ma ole-n kino-s
1s  be-1s cinema-INESS
I am in the Cinema