South Karelian dialect

South Karelian
South Karelian
Suvikarjala
Native toRussia
RegionKarelia
Uralic
Official status
Recognised minority
language in
Language codes
ISO 639-3–
Spread of South Karelian (1b) in the 20th century.

South Karelian (South Karelian: Suvikarjala) is the most spoken of the two dialects of Karelian Proper, and it is spoken in the Republic of Karelia and in the Tver Oblast. South Karelian was also previously spoken in Border Karelia when it was apart of Finland.[3][4] Many speakers of the South Karelian dialect were evacuated from Finnish Karelia into other areas of Finland during the 20th century, where a number of speakers are still retained.[5] South Karelian displays a higher degree of regional variation than any other Karelian dialect.[6]

The Karelian enclave dialects such as Tikhvin, Valday and Tver Karelian are also derived from South Karelian.[6]

South Karelian is mainly distinguished from North Karelian by containing the sounds b, d, g, z and ž, which are missing from the Northern dialect of Karelian proper.[7]

  1. ^ Change in the regulation by the president of Finland about European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages, 27.11.2009 (in Finnish)
  2. ^ "Законодательные акты: О государственной поддержке карельского, вепсского и финского языков в Республике Карелия". Archived from the original on 11 October 2017. Retrieved 8 January 2011.
  3. ^ "Murtehet | Karjalan Sivistysseura" (in Karelian). Retrieved 2024-04-13.
  4. ^ "Kuka puhuu karjalaa?". Kotimaisten kielten keskus (in Finnish). Retrieved 2024-08-14.
  5. ^ "Тверской диалект карельского языка | Малые языки России". minlang.iling-ran.ru. Retrieved 2024-08-14.
  6. ^ a b Koivisto, Vesa (October 2023). "Tver' Karelian as a new dialect". Nordic Journal of Linguistics. 46 (2): 141–160. doi:10.1017/S0332586523000112. ISSN 0332-5865.
  7. ^ "Murtehet | Karjalan Sivistysseura" (in Georgian). Retrieved 2024-08-14.