Northern Karelian dialect

Not to be confused with Dialects of North Karelia, the dialects of Finnish spoken in the region of North Karelia, Finland.

Northern Karelian (also called: White Sea Karelian, Viena Karelian and North Karelian) (North Karelian: Vienankarjala) is one of the two dialects of Karelian Proper. Northern Karelian is spoken in White Karelia, and is spoken by some in Hietajärvi [fi], Kuivajärvi [fi] and Kuhmo in Finland.^[3] Northern Karelian is the most mutually intelligible Karelian dialect to Finnish Language speakers.^[4]

Northern Karelian
North Karelian White Sea Karelian Viena Karelian
Vienankarjala
Native to	Russia and Finland
Region	White Sea Karelia
Language family	Uralic Finnic Northern Finnic Karelian Karelian Proper Northern Karelian
Official status
Recognised minority language in	Finland[1] Russia: Republic of Karelia[2]
Language codes
ISO 639-3	krl
Glottolog	nort2673
Karelian Proper consists of 1a

Northern Karelian differs from South Karelian due to its inclusion of the voiceless consonants p, t, k, s and š.^[5] It also differs due to its more common usage of the š [sh/see] letter more than in Karelian dialects.

Location

Dialects of the Karelian language according to Vepkar

Northern Karelian is spoken in the northernmost parts of the Republic of Karelia, which is called White Karelia and in Hietajärvi [fi], Kuivajärvi [fi] and Kuhmo, Finland. Specifically it is spoken in the parishes of Jyskyjärvi [ru], Kieretti [ru], Kiestinki, Kontokki, Oulanka [fi], Paanajärvi, Pistojärvi [fi], Suomussalmi, Uhtua, Usmana [ru], Vitsataipale [fi] and Vuokkiniemi.^[5]

Examples

The following example is from Petroskoi in 1995:^[6]

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.

Southern, Northern and Livvi dialects compared:^[7]

Livvi	Southern	Northern	English
pakkaskuu	pakkaiskuu	pakkaiskuu	January
tuhukuu	tuuččakuu	tuiskukuu	February
kevätkuu	kevätkuu	kevätkuu	March
sulakuu	sulakuu	šulakuu	April