Ludic, or ''Ludian'', or ''Ludic Karelian'' ( or ), is a

Finnic language The Finnic (''Fennic'') or more precisely Balto-Finnic (Balto-Fennic, Baltic Finnic, Baltic Fennic) languages constitute a branch of the Uralic language family spoken around the Baltic Sea by the Baltic Finnic peoples. There are around 7 mi ...

in the

Uralic language family The Uralic languages (; sometimes called Uralian languages ) form a language family of 38 languages spoken by approximately 25million people, predominantly in Northern Eurasia. The Uralic languages with the most native speakers are Hungarian (w ...

or a Karelian dialect. It is transitional between the

Olonets Karelian language Livvi-Karelian (Alternate names: ''Liygi'', ''Livvi'', ''Livvikovian'', ''Olonets'', ''Southern Olonetsian'', ''Karelian''; russian: ливвиковский язык) is a dialect of Karelian language, the Karelian language, which is a Finnic ...

and the

Veps language Veps, also known as Vepsian (Veps: ' or '), is a Finnic language from the Uralic language family, that is spoken by Vepsians. The language is written in the Latin script, and is closely related to Finnish and Karelian. According to Soviet sta ...

. It is spoken by 300

Karelians Karelians ( krl, karjalaižet, karjalazet, karjalaiset, Finnish: , sv, kareler, karelare, russian: Карелы) are a Finnic ethnic group who are indigenous to the historical region of Karelia, which is today split between Finland and Russi ...

in the

Republic of Karelia The Republic of Karelia (russian: Респу́блика Каре́лия, Respublika Kareliya; ; krl, Karjalan tašavalta; ; fi, Karjalan tasavalta; vep, Karjalan Tazovaldkund, Ludic: ''Kard’alan tazavald''), also known as just Karelia (rus ...

in Russia, near the southwestern shore of

Lake Onega Lake Onega (; also known as Onego, rus, Оне́жское о́зеро, r=Onezhskoe ozero, p=ɐˈnʲɛʂskəɪ ˈozʲɪrə; fi, Ääninen, Äänisjärvi; vep, Änine, Änižjärv) is a lake in northwestern Russia, on the territory of the Repu ...

, including a few children.

Classification

In the Finnish research tradition, Ludic has been considered a transitional dialect area between Karelian and Veps, while in the Russian research tradition it is, on

ethnographic Ethnography (from Greek ''ethnos'' "folk, people, nation" and ''grapho'' "I write") is a branch of anthropology and the systematic study of individual cultures. Ethnography explores cultural phenomena from the point of view of the subject o ...

grounds, normally considered a dialect of Karelian. A status as an independent language has been proposed in recent times. Ludic is characterised by a specific mixture of Karelian-like traits (such as the diphthongisation of the

Proto-Finnic Proto-Finnic or Proto-Baltic-Finnic is the common ancestor of the Finnic languages, which include the national languages Finnish and Estonian. Proto-Finnic is not attested in any texts, but has been reconstructed by linguists. Proto-Finnic is it ...

non-open long vowels: e.g. *pää > ''piä'' 'head', *soo > ''suo'' 'swamp', contrast Veps ''pä'', ''so'') and Veps-like traits (such as an almost complete loss of

consonant gradation Consonant gradation is a type of consonant mutation (mostly lenition but also assimilation) found in some Uralic languages, more specifically in the Finnic, Samic and Samoyedic branches. It originally arose as an allophonic alternation betw ...

Dialects

Ludic comprises three main dialect groups: * Northern (Lake) Ludic, at the northwestern shores of

* Central (River) Ludic, at settlements along river Shuya and near the city of

Petrozavodsk Petrozavodsk (russian: Петрозаводск, p=pʲɪtrəzɐˈvotsk; Karelian, Vepsian and fi, Petroskoi) is the capital city of the Republic of Karelia, Russia, which stretches along the western shore of Lake Onega for some . The population ...

* Kuďäŕv (Forest) Ludic, in the Mikhaylovskoye rural locality The strongest Karelian resemblance is found in Northern Ludic, while the Kuďäŕv dialect shares the most features with Veps.

Phrases

ken sina oled = who are you mi tämä on = what is this kudam teiš on onni = which one of you is Onni kuspiä sina astud = where do you live mikš sina nagrad = why are you laughing kudam čuas on = what time is it konz hyö tuldah kodih = when are they coming home häin lähtöu huomei = he/she leaves tomorrow

Notes

Literature

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External links