Karelian Proper language

Karelian Proper
Varšinaiskarjala
Native toRussia and Finland
RegionWhite Karelia and parts of Olonets Karelia
Uralic
Dialects
Latin (Karelian alphabet)
Official status
Recognised minority
language in
Language codes
ISO 639-3krl
Karelian Proper consists of 1a, 1b and 1e

Karelian Proper (Karelian Proper: Varšinaiskarjala) is a supradialect of the Karelian language, which is a Finnic language. Karelian Proper is one of two/three Karelian dialects, along with Livvi-Karelian[3] and Ludic. Karelian Proper is a direct descendent of the Old Karelian language [fi], compared to Livvi-Karelian and Ludian supradialects which were formed through interactions between the Old Karelian and the Old Veps languages.[4] Karelian Proper is situated in all of White Karelia and Central Karelia (parts of Olonets Karelia).

Dialects

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Karelian Proper is divided into two main dialects, which are Northern Karelian and South Karelian.[5] The terms North and South Karelian are often avoided to avoid conflict with the Regions of Finland; North Karelia and South Karelia. Karelian Proper and most of its dialects are mostly mutually intelligible with the Finnish language, however Karelian Proper is not entirely mutually intelligible with Livvi-Karelian.[6]

Scheme of dialects of the Karelian language includes Karelian Proper supradialect, Livvi-Karelian supradialect, Ludian supradialect.

White Sea Karelian

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White Sea Karelian (North Karelian) is the second most spoken dialect of Karelian Proper, spoken in the northernmost parts of the Republic of Karelia and in Kuhmo, Finland. Within the Republic of Karelia it is mainly spoken in Kalevala, Kostomuksha and Loukhi. Within Finland, it is spoken in Suomussalmi.[7] White Sea Karelian is the most mutually intelligible dialect of Karelian Proper to Finnish Language speakers.

Example:[8]

North Karelian Finnish English
Ennein vanhah karjalaiset varattih riähkyä. Ennen vanhaan karjalaiset varoivat tekemästä syntiä. In the old days, Karelians were careful not to sin.

South Karelian

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South Karelian is the most spoken of the two dialects of Karelian Proper, and it is spoken in Central Karelia and Tver Oblast. South Karelian is spoken in Tunkua [ru], Suikujärvi [fi], Repola, Rukajärvi, Paatene [ru], Mäntyselkä [fi], Porajärvi, Ilomantsi, Korpiselkä [fi], Suojärvi, Tver Oblast (Likhoslavl), Tihvinä, Valday, Suistamo [ru] and Impilahti.[7]

Example:[9]

South Karelian Finnish English
Terveh teillä kaikilla armahat rištikanzat! Tervehdys teille kaikille rakkaat kuulijat! Greetings to all you dear listeners!

Phonology

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Vowels

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[10] Front-harmonic Neutral Back-harmonic
Front+neutral Front+front Neutral+front Neutral+back Back+neutral Back+back
Open to close äi äy ai au
Mid to close öi öy ey ei eu oi ou
Close yi iy iu ui
Close to mid ie uo
Close to open ua
[10] Front-harmonic Neutral Back-harmonic
Front+neutral Front Neutral+front Neutral+back Back+neutral Back
Close-mid-close yöy iey iei ieu uoi uou
Close-open-close yäi yäy iäy uai uau

/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.

Labial Dental/

Alveolar

Postalv./

Palatal

Velar Glottal
Nasal m ⟨m⟩ n ⟨n⟩
Plosive voiceless p ⟨p⟩ t ⟨t⟩ k ⟨k⟩
voiced b ⟨b⟩ d ⟨d⟩ ɡ ⟨g⟩
Affricate (ts ⟨c⟩)[a] ⟨č⟩
Fricative voiceless (f ⟨f⟩)[a] s ⟨s⟩ ʃ ⟨š⟩ h ⟨h⟩
voiced v ⟨v⟩ z ⟨z⟩ ʒ ⟨ž⟩
Trill r ⟨r⟩
Approximant l ⟨l⟩ j ⟨j⟩

Grammatical cases

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Grammatical cases of Karelian Proper is extremely similar to the Finnish language and to other related Baltic-Finnic languages. These are the grammatical cases for food:[11]

case singular plural
nom. ruoga ruogat
acc. ruoga, ruogan ruogat
gen. ruogan ruogin
par. ruogua ruogie
ess. ruogana ruogina
tra. ruogakši ruogiksi
ine. ruogašša ruogissa
abe. ruogatta ruogitta
ela. ruogašta ruogista
adessive-allative ruogalla ruogilla
abl. ruogalda ruogilda
com. ruoganke, ruogineh ruogineh, ruoginke
prol. ruogačči ruogičči
approx. ruogalluo ruogilluo

Alphabet

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Until the 1930s, no Karelian language nor dialect had an official alphabet, and the Cyrillic alphabet was sometimes used until then. From 1930 to 1931 a new alphabet was developed and all Karelian languages adopted the Latin alphabet.

Majuscule Forms (also called uppercase or capital letters)
A B Č D E F G H I J K L M N O P R S Š Z Ž T U V Y Ä Ö ʼ
Minuscule Forms (also called lowercase or small letters)
a b č d e f g h i j k l m n o p r s š z ž t u v y ä ö ʼ

In 2007, the current Karelian alphabet was adopted by the Republic of Karelia, 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.[12] The main difference between the two alphabets is the inclusion of the letter C.

Majuscule Forms (also called uppercase or capital letters)
A B C Č D E F G H I J K L M N O P R S Š Z Ž T U V Y Ä Ö ʼ
Minuscule Forms (also called lowercase or small letters)
a b c č d e f g h i j k l m n o p r s š z ž t u v y ä ö ʼ

Letter names and IPA

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Letter Letter name[13] IPA
A aa /ɑ/
B bee /b/
C cee /ts/
Č čee /tʃ/
D dee /d/
E ee /e/
F ef /f/
G gee /ɡ/
H hoo /h/
I ii /i/
J jii /j/
K koo /k/
L el /l/
M em /m/
N en /n/
O oo /o/
P pee /p/
R er /r/
S es /s/
Š šee /ʃ/
Z zee /z/
Ž žee /ʒ/
T tee /t/
U uu /u/
V vee /v/
Y yy /y/
Ä ää /æ/
Ö öö /ø/
ʼ pehmennyšmerkki /ʲ/

Common phrases

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Notes

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  1. ^ a b The consonants /f/ and /ts/ are found in loanwords (except Ludic Karelian, which has /ts/ in native words). The consonants /b, d, ɡ, z, ʒ/ are found only in loanwords in Karelian Proper (North), but occur in native words in other varieties of Karelian.

References

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  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. ^ "Karelian language | Finno-Ugric, Baltic, Dialects | Britannica". www.britannica.com. Retrieved 2024-04-13.
  4. ^ Krizhanovskaya, Natalia; Novak, Irina; Krizhanovsky, Andrew; Pellinen, Nataliya (2022-07-04). "Morphological inflectional rules for Karelian Proper verbs". Eesti ja Soome-ugri Keeleteaduse Ajakiri. Journal of Estonian and Finno-Ugric Linguistics. 13 (2): 47–78. doi:10.12697/jeful.2022.13.2.02. ISSN 2228-1339.
  5. ^ "Kielitoimiston sanakirja". www.kielitoimistonsanakirja.fi. Retrieved 2024-04-13.
  6. ^ "ELDIA project – Karelian". Archived from the original on 2011-07-26. Retrieved 2010-07-10.
  7. ^ a b "Murtehet | Karjalan Sivistysseura" (in Karelian). Retrieved 2024-04-13.
  8. ^ "Näyte vienankarjalasta | Karjalan Sivistysseura" (in Finnish). Retrieved 2024-04-16.
  9. ^ "Näyte eteläkarjalasta | Karjalan Sivistysseura" (in Finnish). Retrieved 2024-04-16.
  10. ^ a b П.М. Зайков. Грамматика карельского языка. Петрозаводск: Периодика, 1999
  11. ^ "VepKar :: Lemmas". dictorpus.krc.karelia.ru. Retrieved 2024-04-13.
  12. ^ "Government of Karelia approved uniform Karelian language alphabet". Retrieved 2010-06-14.
  13. ^ "Kirjaimet". Karjalan kielioppi (in Livvi-Karelian). Archived from the original on 2016-03-03. Retrieved 2010-06-14.
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