Siberian Finnish or Korlaka is the form of
Finnish spoken in Siberia by the
Siberian Finns
Siberian Finns (Finnish: ''Siperiansuomalaiset'', Siberian Finnish: ''korlakat'') are Finnish people living in Siberia, mainly descendants of Ingrian Finns, who were deported into Siberia. According to some estimates up to 30,000 Ingrian Finns wer ...
. Siberian Finnish is an umbrella name, this name refers to at least two languages/dialects.
The first language is an Lower
Luga Ingrian Finnish
The Ingrians ( fi, inkeriläiset, ; russian: Ингерманландцы, translit=Ingermanlandts'i), sometimes called Ingrian Finns, are the Finnish population of Ingria (now the central part of Leningrad Oblast in Russia), descending from Lut ...
– Lower Luga
Ingrian (Izhorian) mixed language.
The ancestors of the speakers of this language migrated from the Lower Luga area (more exactly Rosona river area,
Yamburgsky Uyezd of the
Saint Petersburg Governorate) to Siberia in 1803-1804. The academic name for this language:
Siberian Ingrian Finnish (Russian: Сибирский ингерманландский идиом),
native speakers call this language as follows: suomen kiel', mejjen kiel', oma kiel'. Most native speakers (at the time of 2022) of this language live in
Ryzhkovo village, as well as near Ryzhkovo, in
Omsk
Omsk (; rus, Омск, p=omsk) is the administrative center and largest city of Omsk Oblast, Russia. It is situated in southwestern Siberia, and has a population of over 1.1 million. Omsk is the third largest city in Siberia after Novosibirsk ...
and in
Tallinn
Tallinn () is the most populous and capital city of Estonia. Situated on a bay in north Estonia, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, Tallinn has a population of 437,811 (as of 2022) and administratively lies in the Harju ' ...
(
Estonia
Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, a ...
).
The second Finnish language in Siberia is a language spoken by the descendants of exiles from the
Grand Duchy of Finland and repressed people Finnish ethnic origin during the
Soviet period
The history of Soviet Russia and the Soviet Union (USSR) reflects a period of change for both Russia and the world. Though the terms "Soviet Russia" and "Soviet Union" often are synonymous in everyday speech (either acknowledging the dominance ...
.
This language is close to standard Finnish (probably based on Eastern Finnish dialects and has borrowings from Estonian and Russian). Several native speakers of this language live in
Omsk
Omsk (; rus, Омск, p=omsk) is the administrative center and largest city of Omsk Oblast, Russia. It is situated in southwestern Siberia, and has a population of over 1.1 million. Omsk is the third largest city in Siberia after Novosibirsk ...
, and a few isolated native speakers of this language live in other settlements of the
Omsk Region (Orlovka, probably Ivanovka and Kovalevo).
Siberian Finnish differs depending on the background of the speaker and their education level; most speakers of Siberian Finnish are old. And the Finnish skills of the Siberian Finns are being lost.
Some speakers of Siberian Finns have lived in
Ryzhkovo,
Orlovka,
Bugene (another name for this village is "Finy" (Russian: Фины), this village has not been inhabited since about 2010) and
Ivanovka.
The History of Studying Siberian Finnish
Vieno Zlobina suspected high influence from
Siberian Estonians
Siberia ( ; rus, Сибирь, r=Sibir', p=sʲɪˈbʲirʲ, a=Ru-Сибирь.ogg) is an extensive geographical region, constituting all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has been a part of ...
in Siberian Finnish, however
Ruben Erik Nirvi
Ruben Erik Nirvi (until 1928 Snirvi, born 16 December 1905 in Askola - died 26 January 1986 in Helsinki) was a Finnish linguist. He was the deputy of Finnish philology at the University of Helsinki from 1955 to 1957 and the personal additional pro ...
theorized that the similar features came before going into Siberia, such as the
comitative ending -kä/ka.
Estonian scientists (Juri Viikberg,
Anu Korb
Anu Korb (born on 1950 Kärdla, Hiiu County) is an Estonian folklorist.
Since 1975, she is working as a researcher and archivist at Estonian Literary Museum
The Estonian Literary Museum (ELM; et, Eesti Kirjandusmuuseum), is a national researc ...
, Aivar Jürgenson) had conducted large-scale studies on devoted to the Siberian Estonians and during these expeditions, they discovered at Finnish-speaking ethnic groups and the groups in which the Estonian and Finnish ethnic and linguistic components were in a complex interaction. Daria Sidorkevich from the
Institute for Linguistic Studies of the
Russian Academy of Sciences
The Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS; russian: Росси́йская акаде́мия нау́к (РАН) ''Rossíyskaya akadémiya naúk'') consists of the national academy of Russia; a network of scientific research institutes from across t ...
researched and documented the
Siberian Ingrian Finnish language in 2008 - 2014. Ph.D. thesis about this language was written by Daria Sidorkevich in 2013-14.
Siberian Ingrian Finnish was also researched and documented by
Mehmet Muslimov
Mehmet Muslimov ( rus, Мехмед Закирович Муслимов, born August 14, 1964) is a Russian linguist, and an expert in Finno-Ugric languages. He is a member of ''Strana Yazykov'', a nationwide network of language activists.
Biog ...
from the
Institute for Linguistic Studies of the
RAS
Ras or RAS may refer to:
Arts and media
* RAS Records Real Authentic Sound, a reggae record label
* Rundfunk Anstalt Südtirol, a south Tyrolese public broadcasting service
* Rás 1, an Icelandic radio station
* Rás 2, an Icelandic radio stati ...
, Fedor Rozhanskiy from
University of Tartu, Natalia Kuznetsova from
Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore
Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore (English: ''Catholic University of the Sacred Heart'', colloquially the ''Catholic University of Milan''), known as UCSC or UNICATT or simply Cattolica, is an Italian private research university founded in 19 ...
and Ivan Ubaleht from
Omsk State Technical University
Omsk State Technical University (OmSTU) in Omsk, Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its international ...
. Ruslan Haarala did a study on Siberian Finnish in 2005. Finnish speakers can still be found inside Siberia.
According to Haarala it is possible to improve the situation of Siberian Finnish, because it is still being used.
Examples of Siberian Finnish
* Tere! = hello
* saatko arvoa = do you understand
* Juttele eestis tai suomeks, daže ryssäki käyb = speak in Estonian or Finnish, well even Russian works
* gorod, linna = city
* dom, tuba = house
* otpusk = vacation
* ulitsa, tänävä = road
* elänikot = people
* saada arvoa = to understand
* kõik = all
* aek = time
* hän õppib = he learns
* lapsenka = with a child
* syntysin = I was born
* käsiinkä = with hands
* korlaka = Siberian Finn
* piam menem penssiäm pääl = I am soon retiring
* tirehtoori = director
* ded ne pomnit = uncle doesn't remember
* juure = into
* daže = even
* hevosenka = on a horse
Grammar
Some grammatical elements in Siberian Finnish are the comitative ending ka/kä and the 3rd person singular ending -b and the imperfect ending si-.
Siberian Finnish has a large Russian influence, such as "vnuki" 'grandchild', izvenenija 'sorry' and tak praela 'right?'.
References
External links
Documentary about Siberian Finns with spoken Siberian FinnishSiberian Finnish Incubator plusWorking Repository of Siberian Ingrian Finnishcontains audio, video and annotations under a free license (
CC BY
A Creative Commons (CC) license is one of several public copyright licenses that enable the free distribution of an otherwise copyrighted "work".A "work" is any creative material made by a person. A painting, a graphic, a book, a song/lyrics ...
)
Siberian Ingrian Finnish Talking Dictionary
Finnish dialects
Languages of Siberia
{{Finnish dialects