Värmland Savonian dialect

The Värmland Finnish,^[2] or Värmland Savonian dialect (Finnish: Vermlannin savolaismurre) is an extinct Savonian dialect spoken in Värmland by the Forest Finns.^[1] However some speakers also lived in Norway.^[3]

Värmland Finnish
Native to	Sweden, Norway
Region	Värmland
Ethnicity	Forest Finns
Extinct	1969, with the death of Karl Persson[1]
Language family	Uralic Finnic Finnish Eastern Finnish dialects Savonian dialects Värmland Finnish
Language codes
ISO 639-3	–
Glottolog	None
Värmland, where the dialect was spoken

In Savonian dialects, a vowel is inserted in the middle of the word talavi 'winter' (written Finnish "talvi"), however this feature is completely lacking from Värmland Finnish, which suggests it was a later development in Savonian.^[4]

History

Savo Finnish speakers came to Sweden during the 1600s (mainly from Rautalampi).^{[citation needed]} During the 1800s, there were thousands of Finnish speakers in Värmland. Unlike Savonian, the Värmland dialect did not have consonant gemination or the schwa, because they were later developments in the Savonian dialects spoken in Finland.

By the 1960s, only a few descendants of the original Savonians who had spoken Finnish as children remained.^[5] The last speakers of Värmland Savonian were Johansson-Oinoinen and Karl Persson, who died in 1965 and 1969.^[1]