Karelian language
Encyclopedia
Karelian language is a Finnic language spoken mainly in the Russia
n Republic of Karelia
. Linguistically Karelian is closely related to the Finnish
dialects spoken in eastern Finland
and some Finnish linguists even classified Karelian as a dialect of Finnish. Karelian is not to be confused with the Southeastern dialects of Finnish, sometimes referred to as karjalaismurteet ('Karelian dialects') in Finland.
There is no standard
Karelian language so each writer writes in Karelian according to his own dialectal form. Written forms have been developed for North Karelian; Olonets Karelian
; Tver Karelian, and Lude
. All variants, except the Tver Karelian, are written with the Latin
based Karelian alphabet
, though the Cyrillic alphabet
has been used in the past.
branch of the Uralic languages
and it is closely related to Finnish
. Finnish and Karelian have common ancestry in the Proto-Karelian language spoken in the coast of Lake Ladoga
in the Iron Age
and Karelian forms a dialect continuum
with the Eastern dialects of Finnish. Earlier some Finnish linguists classified Karelian as a dialect of Finnish, sometimes known in older Finnish literature as Raja-Karjalan murteet ('Border Karelian dialects'), but today, however, Karelian is seen as a proper language. Besides Karelian and Finnish, the Finnic subgroup also includes Estonian
and other minority languages spoken around the Baltic Sea
.
, Russia
but notable Karelian-speaking communities can also be found in Tver region
northwest of Moscow
. Karelian is also spoken in Finland
where Karelian-speakers are estimated to be around 5,000, most of whom belong to the older generations. Due to post-WWII mobility and internal migration, Karelians now live scattered throughout Finland, and Karelian is no longer spoken as a local community language.
Karelian has official status as a minority language and since the late 1990s there have been moves to pass special language legislation, which would give Karelian an official status on par with Russian
. Karelians
in Tver Oblast
have a national-cultural autonomy which guarantees the use of the Karelian language in schools and mass media. In Finland
, Karelian has official status as a non-regional national minority language within the framework of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages
.
, and Lude
. These varieties constitute a continuum of dialects, the ultimate ends of which are no longer mutually intelligible. Varieties can be further divided into individual dialects:
s, if not including vowel length
:
The vowel length in Karelian is like the one in the Finnish language
but the long mid and open vowels have been diphthongized so only the close vowels /i/, /y/ and /u/ may occur long.
s:
s:
Olonets Karelian has only the triphthongs ieu, iey, iäy, uau, uou and yöy.
with the additional letters Č, Š, Ž, Ä and Ö and excludes the letters C, Q, W and X. This unified alphabet is used to write all Karelian variants except Tver Karelian. The very few texts that were published in Karelian from medieval times through the 19th century used the Cyrillic alphabet. With the establishment of the Soviet Union, Finnish, written with the Latin alphabet, became official. However, from 1937–39 Karelian written in Cyrillic replaced Finnish as an official language of the Karelian ASSR
(see "History" below).
Notice that 'c' and 'č' have length levels, which is not found in standard Finnish. For example, in Kalevala, Lönnrot
's orthography metsä : metsän hides the fact that the pronunciation of the original material is actually /mettšä : metšän/, with palatalization of the affricate. The exact details depend on the dialect, though. See Yleiskielen ts:n murrevastineet.
Karelian actually uses /z/ as a voiced alveolar fricative
. (In Finnish, z is a foreign spelling for /ts/.) The plosives /b/, /d/ and /ɡ/ may be voiced. (In most Finnish dialects, they are not differentiated from the unvoiced /p/, /t/, and /k/. Furthermore, in Karelian, voiced consonants occur also in native words, not just in loans as in standard Finnish.)
The sounds represented by č, š and ž are native to Karelian, but not Finnish. Speakers of Finnish do not distinguish /ʃ/ and /ʒ/ from /s/, nor /tʃ/ from /ts/ (medial) or /s/ (initial). For example, the native Karelian words kiza, šoma, liedžu and seičemen are kisa, soma, lietsu and seitsemän in standard Finnish.
; Southern dialect, spoken in the area of the modern day Estonia
and northern Latvia
, and Eastern dialect, spoken in the regions east of the Southern dialect. In the 6th century, Eastern dialect arrived at the western shores of the Lake Ladoga
and in the 9th century, Northern dialect reached the same region. These two dialects blended together and formed the Proto-Karelian language.
region in the eastern Finland
increasingly mixing with population from the western Finland. In 1323 Karelia
was divided between Sweden
and Novgorod
according to the Treaty of Nöteborg
, which started to slowly separate descendants of the Proto-Karelian language from each other. In the areas occupied by Sweden, Proto-Karelian started to develop into dialects of Finnish; Savonian dialects and Southeastern dialects.
Birch bark letter no. 292
is the oldest known document in any Finnic language
. The document is dated to the beginning of the 13th century. It was found in 1957 by a Soviet
expedition, led by Artemiy Artsikhovskiy in the Nerev excavation on the left coast side of Novgorod. The language used in the document is thought to be an archaic form of the language spoken in Olonets Karelia, a dialect of the Karelian language.
In the regions ruled by Novgorod, protolanguage started to evolve into Karelian language. In 1617 Novgorod lost parts of the Karelia to Sweden in the Treaty of Stolbovo
, which led the Karelian speaking population of the occupied areas to flee from their homes. This gave rise to the Karelian speaking population in the Tver
and Valday
regions.
, notably A Translation of some Prayers and a Shortened Catechism into North Karelian and Olonets (Aunus) dialects in 1804, and the gospel of St. Matthew in South Karelian Tver dialect, in 1820. Karelian literature in 19th century Russia remained limited to a few primers, songbooks and leaflets.
. In the end they chose Finnish. In 1931, a Karelian literary language using the Latin alphabet was standardized for the Tver Karelian community. From 1937–39 the Soviet government replaced Finnish in the Karelian ASSR with Karelian written in the Cyrillic alphabet. During this period Karjalan Sanomat
was written in Karelian using Cyrillic, rather than in Finnish. The effort was dropped in 1940 and Finnish (written as always in the Latin alphabet) once again became official.
In the 1980s, publishing began again in various adaptations of the Latin alphabet for Olonets Karelian and the White Sea and Tver dialects of Standard Karelian.
In 2008, Joensuu University launched Finland’s first Karelian language professorship, in order to save the language. A year later, Finland’s first Karelian language nest (pre-school immersion group) was established in the town of Nurmes
.
:
father told (me): once, many hundreds of years ago, Karelians from North-Karelia came there. They cut down the forest and founded this village. And even now, there are houses in the village, which have been built from the trees of the old forest.)
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
n Republic of Karelia
Republic of Karelia
The Republic of Karelia is a federal subject of Russia .-Geography:The republic is located in the northwestern part of Russia, taking intervening position between the basins of White and Baltic seas...
. Linguistically Karelian is closely related to the Finnish
Finnish language
Finnish is the language spoken by the majority of the population in Finland Primarily for use by restaurant menus and by ethnic Finns outside Finland. It is one of the two official languages of Finland and an official minority language in Sweden. In Sweden, both standard Finnish and Meänkieli, a...
dialects spoken in eastern Finland
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...
and some Finnish linguists even classified Karelian as a dialect of Finnish. Karelian is not to be confused with the Southeastern dialects of Finnish, sometimes referred to as karjalaismurteet ('Karelian dialects') in Finland.
There is no standard
Standard language
A standard language is a language variety used by a group of people in their public discourse. Alternatively, varieties become standard by undergoing a process of standardization, during which it is organized for description in grammars and dictionaries and encoded in such reference works...
Karelian language so each writer writes in Karelian according to his own dialectal form. Written forms have been developed for North Karelian; Olonets Karelian
Olonets Karelian
Livvi-Karelian is a Finnic language of the Uralic family. spoken by Olonets Karelians , traditionally inhabiting the area between Ladoga and Onega lakes, northward of Svir River...
; Tver Karelian, and Lude
Ludic language
Ludic or Ludian or Ludic Karelian is a Finnic language in the Uralic language family. Some consider it a transitional language between Olonets Karelian language and Veps language. It is spoken by 3,000 people in the Republic of Karelia in Russia, near the northwestern shore of Lake Onega,...
. All variants, except the Tver Karelian, are written with the Latin
Latin alphabet
The Latin alphabet, also called the Roman alphabet, is the most recognized alphabet used in the world today. It evolved from a western variety of the Greek alphabet called the Cumaean alphabet, which was adopted and modified by the Etruscans who ruled early Rome...
based Karelian alphabet
Karelian alphabet
The Karelian language is spoken in Russia, mostly in the Karelian Republic and in a small region just north of Tver, though most residents there were expelled in 1939. Karelian has seen numerous proposed and adopted alphabets over the centuries, both Latin-based and Cyrillic...
, though the Cyrillic alphabet
Cyrillic alphabet
The Cyrillic script or azbuka is an alphabetic writing system developed in the First Bulgarian Empire during the 10th century AD at the Preslav Literary School...
has been used in the past.
Classification
The Karelian language belongs to the FinnicFinnic languages
The term Finnic languages often means the Baltic-Finnic languages, an undisputed branch of the Uralic languages. However, it is also commonly used to mean the Finno-Permic languages, a hypothetical intermediate branch that includes Baltic Finnic, or the more disputed Finno-Volgaic languages....
branch of the Uralic languages
Uralic languages
The Uralic languages constitute a language family of some three dozen languages spoken by approximately 25 million people. The healthiest Uralic languages in terms of the number of native speakers are Hungarian, Finnish, Estonian, Mari and Udmurt...
and it is closely related to Finnish
Finnish language
Finnish is the language spoken by the majority of the population in Finland Primarily for use by restaurant menus and by ethnic Finns outside Finland. It is one of the two official languages of Finland and an official minority language in Sweden. In Sweden, both standard Finnish and Meänkieli, a...
. Finnish and Karelian have common ancestry in the Proto-Karelian language spoken in the coast of Lake Ladoga
Lake Ladoga
Lake Ladoga is a freshwater lake located in the Republic of Karelia and Leningrad Oblast in northwestern Russia, not far from Saint Petersburg. It is the largest lake in Europe, and the 14th largest lake by area in the world.-Geography:...
in the Iron Age
Iron Age
The Iron Age is the archaeological period generally occurring after the Bronze Age, marked by the prevalent use of iron. The early period of the age is characterized by the widespread use of iron or steel. The adoption of such material coincided with other changes in society, including differing...
and Karelian forms a dialect continuum
Dialect continuum
A dialect continuum, or dialect area, was defined by Leonard Bloomfield as a range of dialects spoken across some geographical area that differ only slightly between neighboring areas, but as one travels in any direction, these differences accumulate such that speakers from opposite ends of the...
with the Eastern dialects of Finnish. Earlier some Finnish linguists classified Karelian as a dialect of Finnish, sometimes known in older Finnish literature as Raja-Karjalan murteet ('Border Karelian dialects'), but today, however, Karelian is seen as a proper language. Besides Karelian and Finnish, the Finnic subgroup also includes Estonian
Estonian language
Estonian is the official language of Estonia, spoken by about 1.1 million people in Estonia and tens of thousands in various émigré communities...
and other minority languages spoken around the Baltic Sea
Baltic Sea
The Baltic Sea is a brackish mediterranean sea located in Northern Europe, from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from 20°E to 26°E longitude. It is bounded by the Scandinavian Peninsula, the mainland of Europe, and the Danish islands. It drains into the Kattegat by way of the Øresund, the Great Belt and...
.
Geographic distribution
Karelian is spoken by about 100,000 people mainly in the Republic of KareliaRepublic of Karelia
The Republic of Karelia is a federal subject of Russia .-Geography:The republic is located in the northwestern part of Russia, taking intervening position between the basins of White and Baltic seas...
, Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
but notable Karelian-speaking communities can also be found in Tver region
Tver Oblast
Tver Oblast is a federal subject of Russia . Its administrative center is the city of Tver. From 1935 to 1990, it was named Kalinin Oblast after Mikhail Kalinin. Population: Tver Oblast is an area of lakes, such as Seliger and Brosno...
northwest of Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
. Karelian is also spoken in Finland
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...
where Karelian-speakers are estimated to be around 5,000, most of whom belong to the older generations. Due to post-WWII mobility and internal migration, Karelians now live scattered throughout Finland, and Karelian is no longer spoken as a local community language.
Official status
In the Republic of KareliaRepublic of Karelia
The Republic of Karelia is a federal subject of Russia .-Geography:The republic is located in the northwestern part of Russia, taking intervening position between the basins of White and Baltic seas...
Karelian has official status as a minority language and since the late 1990s there have been moves to pass special language legislation, which would give Karelian an official status on par with Russian
Russian language
Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...
. Karelians
Karelians
The Karelians are a Baltic-Finnic ethnic group living mostly in the Republic of Karelia and in other north-western parts of the Russian Federation. The historic homeland of Karelians includes also parts of present-day Eastern Finland and the formerly Finnish territory of Ladoga Karelia...
in Tver Oblast
Tver Oblast
Tver Oblast is a federal subject of Russia . Its administrative center is the city of Tver. From 1935 to 1990, it was named Kalinin Oblast after Mikhail Kalinin. Population: Tver Oblast is an area of lakes, such as Seliger and Brosno...
have a national-cultural autonomy which guarantees the use of the Karelian language in schools and mass media. In Finland
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...
, Karelian has official status as a non-regional national minority language within the framework of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages
European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages
The European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages is a European treaty adopted in 1992 under the auspices of the Council of Europe to protect and promote historical regional and minority languages in Europe...
.
Dialects
Karelian language has three main varieties which can be considered as dialects or separate languages: Karelian Proper which comprises North Karelian and South Karelian (including the Tver enclave dialects), Olonets KarelianOlonets Karelian
Livvi-Karelian is a Finnic language of the Uralic family. spoken by Olonets Karelians , traditionally inhabiting the area between Ladoga and Onega lakes, northward of Svir River...
, and Lude
Ludic language
Ludic or Ludian or Ludic Karelian is a Finnic language in the Uralic language family. Some consider it a transitional language between Olonets Karelian language and Veps language. It is spoken by 3,000 people in the Republic of Karelia in Russia, near the northwestern shore of Lake Onega,...
. These varieties constitute a continuum of dialects, the ultimate ends of which are no longer mutually intelligible. Varieties can be further divided into individual dialects:
- Karelian Proper
- North Karelian
- Jyskyjärvi dialect
- Kieretti dialect
- Kiestinki dialect
- Kontokki dialect
- Oulanka dialect
- Paanajärvi dialect
- Pistojärvi dialect
- Suomussalmi dialect
- Uhtua dialect
- Usmana dialect
- Vitsataipale dialect
- Vuokkiniemi dialect
- South Karelian
- Ilomantsi dialect
- Impilahti dialect
- Korpiselkä dialect
- Mäntyselkä dialect
- Paatene dialect
- Porajärvi dialect
- Repola dialect
- Rukajärvi dialect
- Suikujärvi dialect
- Suistamo dialect
- Suojärvi dialect
- Tihvinä dialect
- Tunkua dialect
- Valdai dialect
- Tver Karelian
- Dorža dialect
- Maksuatiha dialect
- Ruameška dialect
- Tolmattšu dialect
- Vesjegonsk (Vessi) dialect
- North Karelian
- Olonets Karelian (or Livvi)
- Kotkatjärvi dialect
- Munjärvi dialect
- Nekkula-Riipuškala dialect
- Salmi dialect
- Säämäjärvi dialect
- Tulemajärvi dialect
- Vieljärvi dialect
- Vitele dialect
- LudeLudic languageLudic or Ludian or Ludic Karelian is a Finnic language in the Uralic language family. Some consider it a transitional language between Olonets Karelian language and Veps language. It is spoken by 3,000 people in the Republic of Karelia in Russia, near the northwestern shore of Lake Onega,...
- Kontupohja dialect (northern Lude)
- Kuujärvi dialect
- Prääsä dialect (middle Lude)
Monophthongs
Karelian language has 8 vowelVowel
In phonetics, a vowel is a sound in spoken language, such as English ah! or oh! , pronounced with an open vocal tract so that there is no build-up of air pressure at any point above the glottis. This contrasts with consonants, such as English sh! , where there is a constriction or closure at some...
s, if not including vowel length
Vowel length
In linguistics, vowel length is the perceived duration of a vowel sound. Often the chroneme, or the "longness", acts like a consonant, and may etymologically be one, such as in Australian English. While not distinctive in most dialects of English, vowel length is an important phonemic factor in...
:
| Front Front vowel A front vowel is a type of vowel sound used in some spoken languages. The defining characteristic of a front vowel is that the tongue is positioned as far in front as possible in the mouth without creating a constriction that would be classified as a consonant. Front vowels are sometimes also... |
Back Back vowel A back vowel is a type of vowel sound used in spoken languages. The defining characteristic of a back vowel is that the tongue is positioned as far back as possible in the mouth without creating a constriction that would be classified as a consonant. Back vowels are sometimes also called dark... |
|||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unrounded | Rounded | Unrounded | Rounded | |
| Close Close vowel A close vowel is a type of vowel sound used in many spoken languages. The defining characteristic of a close vowel is that the tongue is positioned as close as possible to the roof of the mouth without creating a constriction that would be classified as a consonant.This term is prescribed by the... |
i /i/ | y /y/ | u /u/ | |
| Mid Mid vowel A mid vowel is a vowel sound used in some spoken languages. The defining characteristic of a mid vowel is that the tongue is positioned mid-way between an open vowel and a close vowel... |
e /e/ | ö /ø/ | o /o/ | |
| Near-open Near-open vowel A near-open vowel is a type of vowel sound used in some spoken languages. The defining characteristic of a near-open vowel is that the tongue is positioned similarly to an open vowel, but slightly more constricted. Near-open vowels are sometimes described as lax variants of the fully open vowels... |
ä /æ/ | |||
| Open Open vowel An open vowel is defined as a vowel sound in which the tongue is positioned as far as possible from the roof of the mouth. Open vowels are sometimes also called low vowels in reference to the low position of the tongue... |
a /ɑ/ | |||
The vowel length in Karelian is like the one in the Finnish language
Finnish language
Finnish is the language spoken by the majority of the population in Finland Primarily for use by restaurant menus and by ethnic Finns outside Finland. It is one of the two official languages of Finland and an official minority language in Sweden. In Sweden, both standard Finnish and Meänkieli, a...
but the long mid and open vowels have been diphthongized so only the close vowels /i/, /y/ and /u/ may occur long.
Diphthongs
North Karelian and Olonets Karelian have 21 diphthongDiphthong
A diphthong , also known as a gliding vowel, refers to two adjacent vowel sounds occurring within the same syllable. Technically, a diphthong is a vowel with two different targets: That is, the tongue moves during the pronunciation of the vowel...
s:
| Diphthongs | Ending with a | Ending with e | Ending with i | Ending with o | Ending with u | Ending with y | Ending with ä | Ending with ö |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Starting with a | ai | au | ||||||
| Starting with e | ei | eu | ey | |||||
| Starting with i | ie | iu | iy | iä | ||||
| Starting with o | oi | ou | ||||||
| Starting with u | ua | ui | uo | |||||
| Starting with y | yi | yä | yö | |||||
| Starting with ä | äi | äy | ||||||
| Starting with ö | öi | öy | ||||||
Triphthongs
In addition to the diphthongs North Karelian has a variety of triphthongTriphthong
In phonetics, a triphthong is a monosyllabic vowel combination involving a quick but smooth movement of the articulator from one vowel quality to another that passes over a third...
s:
| Triphthongs | ||
|---|---|---|
| iei | uai | yäi |
| ieu | uau | yäy |
| iey | uoi | yöy |
| iäy | uou | |
Olonets Karelian has only the triphthongs ieu, iey, iäy, uau, uou and yöy.
Writing system
Alphabet
Karelian is written using a Latin-based alphabet consisting of 28 characters. It extends the basic modern Latin alphabetBasic modern Latin alphabet
The International Organization for Standardization basic Latin alphabet consists of the following 26 letters:By the 1960s it became apparent to the computer and telecommunications industries in the First World that a non-proprietary method of encoding characters was needed...
with the additional letters Č, Š, Ž, Ä and Ö and excludes the letters C, Q, W and X. This unified alphabet is used to write all Karelian variants except Tver Karelian. The very few texts that were published in Karelian from medieval times through the 19th century used the Cyrillic alphabet. With the establishment of the Soviet Union, Finnish, written with the Latin alphabet, became official. However, from 1937–39 Karelian written in Cyrillic replaced Finnish as an official language of the Karelian ASSR
Karelian ASSR
The Karelian ASSR was an autonomous republic of the Russian SFSR, Soviet Union, with the capital in Petrozavodsk.The Karelian ASSR was formed as a part of the Russian SFSR by the Resolution of the Presidium of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee of June 27, 1923 and by the Decree of...
(see "History" below).
Orthography
Karelian is written with orthography similar to Finnish orthography. However, some features of the Karelian language and thus orthography are different from Finnish:- The Karelian system of sibilants is extensive; in Finnish, there is only one: /s/.
- Phonemic voicing occurs.
- Karelian retains palatalizationPalatalizationIn linguistics, palatalization , also palatization, may refer to two different processes by which a sound, usually a consonant, comes to be produced with the tongue in a position in the mouth near the palate....
, usually denoted with an apostrophe (e.g. d'uuri) - The letter 'ü' may replace 'y' in some texts.
- The letter 'c' denotes /ts/, although 'ts' is used also. 'c' is more likely in Russian loan words.
| Fricatives | |||||
| Letter | Alt. | IPA International Phonetic Alphabet The International Phonetic Alphabet "The acronym 'IPA' strictly refers [...] to the 'International Phonetic Association'. But it is now such a common practice to use the acronym also to refer to the alphabet itself that resistance seems pedantic... | Olonets Karelian | Karelian Proper | Finnish |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| č | ch | /tʃ/ | čoma, seiče | šoma, seičemen | soma, seitsemän |
| s | s | /s/ | se | že | se |
| š | sh | /ʃ/ | niškoi | niškoihin | niskoihin |
| z | z | /z/ | tazavaldu | tažavalda | tasavalta |
| ž | zh | /ʒ/ | kiža, liedžu | kiza, liedžu | kisa, lietsu |
Notice that 'c' and 'č' have length levels, which is not found in standard Finnish. For example, in Kalevala, Lönnrot
Elias Lönnrot
Elias Lönnrot was a Finnish philologist and collector of traditional Finnish oral poetry. He is best known for compiling the Kalevala, the Finnish national epic compiled from national folklore.-Education and early life:...
's orthography metsä : metsän hides the fact that the pronunciation of the original material is actually /mettšä : metšän/, with palatalization of the affricate. The exact details depend on the dialect, though. See Yleiskielen ts:n murrevastineet.
Karelian actually uses /z/ as a voiced alveolar fricative
Voiced alveolar fricative
The voiced alveolar fricatives are consonantal sounds. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents these sounds depends on whether a sibilant or non-sibilant fricative is being described....
. (In Finnish, z is a foreign spelling for /ts/.) The plosives /b/, /d/ and /ɡ/ may be voiced. (In most Finnish dialects, they are not differentiated from the unvoiced /p/, /t/, and /k/. Furthermore, in Karelian, voiced consonants occur also in native words, not just in loans as in standard Finnish.)
The sounds represented by č, š and ž are native to Karelian, but not Finnish. Speakers of Finnish do not distinguish /ʃ/ and /ʒ/ from /s/, nor /tʃ/ from /ts/ (medial) or /s/ (initial). For example, the native Karelian words kiza, šoma, liedžu and seičemen are kisa, soma, lietsu and seitsemän in standard Finnish.
Prehistory
The Late Proto-Finnic language evolved from the Early Proto-Finnic language after the Proto-Lappic was separated from it around 1500–1000 BCE. It has been proposed that the Late Proto-Finnic language evolved into three dialects: Northern dialect, spoken in the western FinlandFinland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...
; Southern dialect, spoken in the area of the modern day Estonia
Estonia
Estonia , officially the Republic of Estonia , is a state in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea, to the south by Latvia , and to the east by Lake Peipsi and the Russian Federation . Across the Baltic Sea lies...
and northern Latvia
Latvia
Latvia , officially the Republic of Latvia , is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by Estonia , to the south by Lithuania , to the east by the Russian Federation , to the southeast by Belarus and shares maritime borders to the west with Sweden...
, and Eastern dialect, spoken in the regions east of the Southern dialect. In the 6th century, Eastern dialect arrived at the western shores of the Lake Ladoga
Lake Ladoga
Lake Ladoga is a freshwater lake located in the Republic of Karelia and Leningrad Oblast in northwestern Russia, not far from Saint Petersburg. It is the largest lake in Europe, and the 14th largest lake by area in the world.-Geography:...
and in the 9th century, Northern dialect reached the same region. These two dialects blended together and formed the Proto-Karelian language.
Medieval period
By the end of the 13th century, speakers of the Proto-Karelian language had reached the SavoSavonia (historical province)
Savonia is a historical province in the east of Finland. It borders to Uusimaa, Tavastia, Ostrobothnia, and Karelia. Largest cities in Savo by population are Kuopio, Mikkeli, Savonlinna and Varkaus.-Administration:...
region in the eastern Finland
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...
increasingly mixing with population from the western Finland. In 1323 Karelia
Karelia
Karelia , the land of the Karelian peoples, is an area in Northern Europe of historical significance for Finland, Russia, and Sweden...
was divided between Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
and Novgorod
Novgorod Republic
The Novgorod Republic was a large medieval Russian state which stretched from the Baltic Sea to the Ural Mountains between the 12th and 15th centuries, centred on the city of Novgorod...
according to the Treaty of Nöteborg
Treaty of Nöteborg
Treaty of Nöteborg, also known as Treaty of Oreshek , is a conventional name for the peace treaty that was signed at Orekhovets on August 12, 1323. It was the first settlement between Sweden and Novgorod Republic regulating their border...
, which started to slowly separate descendants of the Proto-Karelian language from each other. In the areas occupied by Sweden, Proto-Karelian started to develop into dialects of Finnish; Savonian dialects and Southeastern dialects.
Birch bark letter no. 292
Birch bark letter no. 292
The Birch bark letter given the document number 292 is the oldest known document in any Finnic language. The document is dated to the beginning of the 13th century...
is the oldest known document in any Finnic language
Finnic languages
The term Finnic languages often means the Baltic-Finnic languages, an undisputed branch of the Uralic languages. However, it is also commonly used to mean the Finno-Permic languages, a hypothetical intermediate branch that includes Baltic Finnic, or the more disputed Finno-Volgaic languages....
. The document is dated to the beginning of the 13th century. It was found in 1957 by a Soviet
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
expedition, led by Artemiy Artsikhovskiy in the Nerev excavation on the left coast side of Novgorod. The language used in the document is thought to be an archaic form of the language spoken in Olonets Karelia, a dialect of the Karelian language.
In the regions ruled by Novgorod, protolanguage started to evolve into Karelian language. In 1617 Novgorod lost parts of the Karelia to Sweden in the Treaty of Stolbovo
Treaty of Stolbovo
The Treaty of Stolbovo is a peace treaty of 1617 that ended the Ingrian War, fought between Sweden and Russia.After nearly two months of negotiations, representatives from Sweden and Russia met at the village of Stolbova, south of Lake Ladoga, on 27 February 1617.From the outset, Sweden had gone...
, which led the Karelian speaking population of the occupied areas to flee from their homes. This gave rise to the Karelian speaking population in the Tver
Tver Oblast
Tver Oblast is a federal subject of Russia . Its administrative center is the city of Tver. From 1935 to 1990, it was named Kalinin Oblast after Mikhail Kalinin. Population: Tver Oblast is an area of lakes, such as Seliger and Brosno...
and Valday
Valday
Valday is a town in Novgorod Oblast, Russia, the administrative center of Valdaysky District. It lies on the federal highway M10 connecting Moscow and St. Petersburg, from Moscow and from Veliky Novgorod...
regions.
19th century
In the 19th century a few books were published in Karelian using the Cyrillic alphabetCyrillic alphabet
The Cyrillic script or azbuka is an alphabetic writing system developed in the First Bulgarian Empire during the 10th century AD at the Preslav Literary School...
, notably A Translation of some Prayers and a Shortened Catechism into North Karelian and Olonets (Aunus) dialects in 1804, and the gospel of St. Matthew in South Karelian Tver dialect, in 1820. Karelian literature in 19th century Russia remained limited to a few primers, songbooks and leaflets.
Soviet period
In 1921, the first all-Karelian congress under the Soviet regime debated between Finnish and Karelian should be the official language (next to Russian of course) of the new "Karelian Labour Commune" (Карялан тыöкоммууни in Cyrillic Karelian, Karjalan Työkommuuni), which two years later would become the Karelian ASSRKarelian ASSR
The Karelian ASSR was an autonomous republic of the Russian SFSR, Soviet Union, with the capital in Petrozavodsk.The Karelian ASSR was formed as a part of the Russian SFSR by the Resolution of the Presidium of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee of June 27, 1923 and by the Decree of...
. In the end they chose Finnish. In 1931, a Karelian literary language using the Latin alphabet was standardized for the Tver Karelian community. From 1937–39 the Soviet government replaced Finnish in the Karelian ASSR with Karelian written in the Cyrillic alphabet. During this period Karjalan Sanomat
Karjalan Sanomat
Karjalan Sanomat is a Finnish language newspaper from the Republic of Karelia, published in Petrozavodsk.Previous names:* 1920-1923: Karjalan kommuuni * 1923-1937: Punainen Karjala...
was written in Karelian using Cyrillic, rather than in Finnish. The effort was dropped in 1940 and Finnish (written as always in the Latin alphabet) once again became official.
In the 1980s, publishing began again in various adaptations of the Latin alphabet for Olonets Karelian and the White Sea and Tver dialects of Standard Karelian.
Recent events
In 2007 a standard alphabet was adopted to write all dialects.In 2008, Joensuu University launched Finland’s first Karelian language professorship, in order to save the language. A year later, Finland’s first Karelian language nest (pre-school immersion group) was established in the town of Nurmes
Nurmes
Nurmes is a town and municipality of Finland.It is located in the province of Eastern Finland and is part of the North Karelia region. The town has a population of and covers an area of of which is water. The population density is ....
.
Media in Karelian
- Oma Mua is published in Olonets Karelian.
- Vienan Karjala is published in North Karelian dialect.
- Karielan Šana is published in Tver Karelian dialect.
- KARJAL ŽURNUALU — A monthly Karelian language journal published by Karjalan Kielen Seura in Finland.
North Karelian
A sample from the book Luemma vienankarjalaksi:Sample 1
Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human RightsUniversal Declaration of Human Rights
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights is a declaration adopted by the United Nations General Assembly . The Declaration arose directly from the experience of the Second World War and represents the first global expression of rights to which all human beings are inherently entitled...
:
Sample 2
A sample from the book Karjalan kielen harjoituskogomus III–IV luokku Livvin murdehel. Note the older alphabet:| Olonets Karelian | Standard Finnish | English translation | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Karjalas on čoma luondo. Korgiet koivut, | Karjalassa on kaunis luonto. Korkeat koivut, | There is beautiful nature in Karelia. Tall birches, | ||
| vihandat kuuzet da pedäjät čomendetah meččiä. | vihannat kuuset ja petäjät koristavat metsiä. | green spruces and Scots pine Scots Pine Pinus sylvestris, commonly known as the Scots Pine, is a species of pine native to Europe and Asia, ranging from Scotland, Ireland and Portugal in the west, east to eastern Siberia, south to the Caucasus Mountains, and as far north as well inside the Arctic Circle in Scandinavia... s decorate the forest. |
||
| Joga kohtaine on täüzi muarjua da siendü. | Joka paikka on täynnä marjaa ja sientä. | Every place is full of berries and mushrooms. | ||
| Kehtua vai kerätä! Järvet da jovetgi ollah kalakkahat: | Kehtaa vain kerätä! Järvet ja joetkin ovat kalaisat: | If only one picked them! The lakes and rivers, too, are full of fish: | ||
| ongo haugii, lahnua, säüniä, matikkua, kuhua, siigua. | on haukia, lahnoja, säyneitä, madetta, kuhaa, siikaa. | there is pike Esox Esox is a genus of freshwater fish, the only living genus in the family Esocidae — the esocids which were endemic to North America, Europe and Eurasia during the Paleogene through present.The type species is E. lucius, the northern pike... , carp bream Carp bream The common bream, freshwater bream, bream, bronze bream or carp bream, Abramis brama, is a European species of freshwater fish in the family Cyprinidae.... , ide, burbot Burbot The burbot is the only gadiform fish inhabiting freshwaters. It is also known as mariah, the lawyer, and eelpout. It is closely related to the marine common ling and the cusk... , zander Zander Zander is a species of fish. The scientific name is Sander lucioperca , and it is closely allied to perch. Zander are often called pike-perch as they resemble the pike with their elongated body and head, and the perch with their spiny dorsal fin. Zander are not, as is commonly believed, a pike and... , whitefish Common whitefish Coregonus lavaretus is a species of freshwater whitefish, in the family Salmonidae. It is the type species of its genus Coregonus.There are widely different concepts about the number of species in the genus Coregonus and the delimitation of the species Coregonus lavaretus.-Lavaret:In a narrow... . |
||
| Ota ongiruagu da juokse järvele! | Ota onkivapa ja juokse järvelle! | Take a fishing rod and run to the lake! |
Tver Karelian
A sample from the book Armaš šana:father told (me): once, many hundreds of years ago, Karelians from North-Karelia came there. They cut down the forest and founded this village. And even now, there are houses in the village, which have been built from the trees of the old forest.)
See also
- Birch bark letter no. 292Birch bark letter no. 292The Birch bark letter given the document number 292 is the oldest known document in any Finnic language. The document is dated to the beginning of the 13th century...
- KareliaKareliaKarelia , the land of the Karelian peoples, is an area in Northern Europe of historical significance for Finland, Russia, and Sweden...
- Karelian alphabetKarelian alphabetThe Karelian language is spoken in Russia, mostly in the Karelian Republic and in a small region just north of Tver, though most residents there were expelled in 1939. Karelian has seen numerous proposed and adopted alphabets over the centuries, both Latin-based and Cyrillic...
- KareliansKareliansThe Karelians are a Baltic-Finnic ethnic group living mostly in the Republic of Karelia and in other north-western parts of the Russian Federation. The historic homeland of Karelians includes also parts of present-day Eastern Finland and the formerly Finnish territory of Ladoga Karelia...
- Ludic languageLudic languageLudic or Ludian or Ludic Karelian is a Finnic language in the Uralic language family. Some consider it a transitional language between Olonets Karelian language and Veps language. It is spoken by 3,000 people in the Republic of Karelia in Russia, near the northwestern shore of Lake Onega,...
- Olonets Karelian
- Republic of KareliaRepublic of KareliaThe Republic of Karelia is a federal subject of Russia .-Geography:The republic is located in the northwestern part of Russia, taking intervening position between the basins of White and Baltic seas...
External links
- The Peoples of the Red Book: THE KARELIANS
- Karjalaine lehüt - Karelian page
- Neuvostoliiton kielipolitiikkaa: Karjalan kirjakielen suunnittelu 1930-luvulla ("On Soviet language policy: The planning of the Karelian literary language in the 1930's", in Finnish)
- Karjalan kirjakielestä (in Finnish)
- Livgiläižet (in Russian)
- Ethnologue on Karelian
- Karelian language on Omniglot
- Karjalan kirjaimet (in Karelian)
- Karjalan kielioppi (in Karelian)
- Грамматика карельского языка
- УРОКИ КАРЕЛЬСКОГО ЯЗЫКА - Karelian lessons (in Russian)
- A short Karelian Conversation
- Karelian-Russian-Finnish dictionary
- Karelian-Finnish dictionary (Note: č is categorized under tš)
- Karelian-Vepsian-Finnish-Estonian dictionary
- Karjalan kielen harjoituskogomus (PDF/in Karelian)