Karelian Proper () is a

supradialect Supradialect (from Latin , "above", and Ancient Greek , "discourse") is a linguistic term designating a dialectological category between the levels of language and dialect. It is used in two distinctive contexts, describing structural or function ...

of the

Karelian language Karelian (; ; ; ) is a Finnic language spoken mainly by the Karelians, Karelian people in the Russian Republic of Karelia. Linguistically, Karelian is closely related to the Finnish language, Finnish dialects spoken in eastern Finland, and some ...

, which is a Finnic language. Karelian Proper is one of two/three Karelian dialects, along with Livvi-Karelian and Ludic. Karelian Proper is a direct descendent of the Old Karelian language, compared to Livvi-Karelian and Ludian

s which were formed through interactions between the Old Karelian and the Old Veps languages. Karelian Proper is situated in all of

White Karelia White Karelia (; North Karelian and or simply ''Viena''; ) is a historical region in Northern Europe, comprising the northernmost part of Karelia, and of the Republic of Karelia in Russia. It is bordered by the White Sea to the east, Murmansk O ...

and ''Central Karelia'' (parts of Olonets Karelia).

Dialects

Karelian Proper is divided into two main dialects, which are Northern Karelian and South Karelian. The terms North and South Karelian are often avoided to avoid conflict with the

Regions of Finland Finland is divided into 19 regions (; ) which are governed by regional councils that serve as forums of cooperation for the Municipalities of Finland, municipalities of each region. The councils are composed of delegates from the municipal c ...

;

North Karelia North Karelia (or ''Northern Karelia'', ; ) is a region in eastern Finland. It borders the regions of Kainuu, North Savo, South Savo and South Karelia, as well as Russia's Republic of Karelia. It is the easternmost region of Finland and share ...

and

South Karelia South Karelia (or ''Southern Karelia'', ; ) is a Regions of Finland, region of Finland. It borders the regions of Kymenlaakso, Southern Savonia, South Savo and North Karelia, as well as Russia (Republic of Karelia and Leningrad Oblast). Hist ...

. Karelian Proper and most of its dialects are mostly mutually intelligible with the

Finnish language Finnish (endonym: or ) is a Finnic languages, Finnic language of the Uralic languages, Uralic language family, spoken by the majority of the population in Finland and by ethnic Finns outside of Finland. Finnish is one of the two official langu ...

, however Karelian Proper is not entirely mutually intelligible with Livvi-Karelian. Karelian dialects Vepkar English 2019

* Karelian Proper ** North Karelian (spoken in the parishes of , , Kiestinki, Kontokki, , Paanajärvi, ,

Suomussalmi Suomussalmi () is a municipality in Finland located in the Kainuu region about northeast of Kajaani, the capital of Kainuu and south of Kuusamo. The municipality has a population of () and covers an area of of which is water. The population ...

, Uhtua, , and Vuokkiniemi) ** South Karelian (spoken in the parishes of

Ilomantsi Ilomantsi (, ) is municipality and a village of Finland. It is located in the North Karelia region. The municipality has a population of () and covers an area of of which is water. The population density is . The easternmost point of Finland ...

, Impilahti, , , ,

Porajärvi Porosozero (; ; ) is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, rural locality (a settlement) in Suoyarvsky District of the Republic of Karelia, located along the Suna River. Subdivisions of Russia#Municipal divisions, Municipally, it is a part a ...

Repola Reboly (, , ) is a settlement in the Republic of Karelia of the Russian Federation by the Finnish border, located southeast of Kuhmo and northeast of Lieksa. In 1926 the settlement had a population of 1,465, in 2010 - 258 people. History ...

, Rukajärvi, , , Suojärvi and ; and additionally in the enclaves of

Tver Tver (, ) is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, city and the administrative centre of Tver Oblast, Russia. It is situated at the confluence of the Volga and Tvertsa rivers. Tver is located northwest of Moscow. Population: The city is ...

Tikhvin Tikhvin (; Veps: ) is a town and the administrative center of Tikhvinsky District in Leningrad Oblast, Russia, located on both banks of the Tikhvinka River in the east of the oblast, east of St. Petersburg. Tikhvin is also an industrial ...

and Valday) *** Tver Karelian ***** dialect ***** Maksuatiha dialect ***** Ruameška dialect ***** dialect ***** Vesjegonsk (Vessi) dialect

White Sea Karelian

White Sea Karelian (North Karelian) is the second most spoken dialect of Karelian Proper, spoken in the northernmost parts of the

Republic of Karelia The Republic of Karelia, or simply Karelia or Karjala (; ) is a Republics of Russia, republic of Russia situated in the Northwest Russia, northwest of the country. The republic is a part of the Northwestern Federal District, and covers an area of ...

and in

Kuhmo Kuhmo (known as ''Kuhmoniemi'' until 1937) is a List of cities and towns in Finland, town and a municipalities of Finland, municipality in Finland and is located at the south-eastern corner of the Kainuu regions of Finland, region. The municipali ...

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

. Within the Republic of Karelia it is mainly spoken in

Kalevala The ''Kalevala'' () is a 19th-century compilation of epic poetry, compiled by Elias Lönnrot from Karelian and Finnish oral folklore and mythology, telling a story about the Creation of the Earth, describing the controversies and retaliatory ...

, Kostomuksha and Loukhi. Within Finland, it is spoken in

. White Sea Karelian is the most mutually intelligible dialect of Karelian Proper to

Finnish Language Finnish (endonym: or ) is a Finnic languages, Finnic language of the Uralic languages, Uralic language family, spoken by the majority of the population in Finland and by ethnic Finns outside of Finland. Finnish is one of the two official langu ...

speakers. Example:

South Karelian

South Karelian is the most spoken of the two dialects of Karelian Proper, and it is spoken in Central Karelia and

Tver Oblast Tver Oblast (, ) is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast). Its administrative center is the city of Tver. From 1935 to 1990, it was known as Kalinin Oblast (). Population: Tver Oblast is a region of lakes, such as Seliger and Brosno. Much o ...

. South Karelian is spoken in , ,

, Rukajärvi, , ,

, , Suojärvi,

Tver Karelia Tver Karelia (; ; ) is the area inside the Tver Oblast that is inhabited by Tver Karelians, Karelians. Geography Refugees from the of the settled on the palace (state) lands of the and other parts of the , which were deserted due to the tur ...

(

Likhoslavl Likhoslavl () is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, town and the administrative center of Likhoslavlsky District in Tver Oblast, Russia, located on the Moscow – Saint Petersburg Railway, Moscow–St. Petersburg Railway, northwest ...

), Tihvinä, Valday, and Impilahti. Example:

Phonology

Vowels

Diphthong A diphthong ( ), also known as a gliding vowel or a vowel glide, is a combination of two adjacent vowel sounds within the same syllable. Technically, a diphthong is a vowel with two different targets: that is, the tongue (and/or other parts of ...
s

Triphthong In phonetics, a triphthong ( , ) (from Greek , ) 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. While "pure" vowels, or monophthongs, are ...
s

Consonant In articulatory phonetics, a consonant is a speech sound that is articulated with complete or partial closure of the vocal tract, except for the h sound, which is pronounced without any stricture in the vocal tract. Examples are and pronou ...
s

/b, d, ɡ, z, ʒ/ are consonants found in loanwords in Karelian Proper alongside; /dʲ lʲ nʲ rʲ sʲ tʲ/ (/zʲ/ as palatalized consonants in loanwords only in Karelian Proper. In South Karelian (Tver Karelian), /dʲ lʲ nʲ rʲ sʲ tʲ zʲ/ also exist as palatalized consonants.

Grammatical cases

Grammatical cases of Karelian Proper is extremely similar to the Finnish language and to other related

Baltic-Finnic languages The Finnic or Baltic Finnic languages constitute a branch of the Uralic language family spoken around the Baltic Sea by the Baltic Finnic peoples. There are around 7 million speakers, who live mainly in Finland and Estonia. Traditionally, ...

. These are the grammatical cases for ''food'':

Alphabet

Until the 1930s, no Karelian language nor dialect had an official alphabet, and the

Cyrillic alphabet The Cyrillic script ( ) is a writing system used for various languages across Eurasia. It is the designated national script in various Slavic, Turkic, Mongolic, Uralic, Caucasian and Iranic-speaking countries in Southeastern Europe, Easte ...

was sometimes used until then. From 1930 to 1931 a new alphabet was developed and all Karelian languages adopted the

Latin alphabet The Latin alphabet, also known as the Roman alphabet, is the collection of letters originally used by the Ancient Rome, ancient Romans to write the Latin language. Largely unaltered except several letters splitting—i.e. from , and from � ...

. In 2007, the current

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, b ...

was adopted by the

, making it a uniform script for all Karelian languages. This unified alphabet was approved in 2007 as a replacement to deal with the separate Olonets Karelian and Karelian Proper alphabets. The main difference between the two alphabets is the inclusion of the letter ''C''.

Dialects

White Sea Karelian

South Karelian

Phonology

Vowels

Diphthong A diphthong ( ), also known as a gliding vowel or a vowel glide, is a combination of two adjacent vowel sounds within the same syllable. Technically, a diphthong is a vowel with two different targets: that is, the tongue (and/or other parts of ...
s

Triphthong In phonetics, a triphthong ( , ) (from Greek , ) 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. While "pure" vowels, or monophthongs, are ...
s

Consonant In articulatory phonetics, a consonant is a speech sound that is articulated with complete or partial closure of the vocal tract, except for the h sound, which is pronounced without any stricture in the vocal tract. Examples are and pronou ...
s

Grammatical cases

Alphabet

Letter names and IPA

Common phrases

Notes

References

Dialects

White Sea Karelian

South Karelian

Phonology

Vowels

Diphthong A diphthong ( ), also known as a gliding vowel or a vowel glide, is a combination of two adjacent vowel sounds within the same syllable. Technically, a diphthong is a vowel with two different targets: that is, the tongue (and/or other parts of ...s

Triphthong In phonetics, a triphthong ( , ) (from Greek , ) 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. While "pure" vowels, or monophthongs, are ...s

Consonant In articulatory phonetics, a consonant is a speech sound that is articulated with complete or partial closure of the vocal tract, except for the h sound, which is pronounced without any stricture in the vocal tract. Examples are and pronou ...s

Grammatical cases

Alphabet

Letter names and IPA

Common phrases

Notes

References

Diphthong A diphthong ( ), also known as a gliding vowel or a vowel glide, is a combination of two adjacent vowel sounds within the same syllable. Technically, a diphthong is a vowel with two different targets: that is, the tongue (and/or other parts of ...
s

Triphthong In phonetics, a triphthong ( , ) (from Greek , ) 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. While "pure" vowels, or monophthongs, are ...
s

Consonant In articulatory phonetics, a consonant is a speech sound that is articulated with complete or partial closure of the vocal tract, except for the h sound, which is pronounced without any stricture in the vocal tract. Examples are and pronou ...
s