Ingrian Finnish dialects

Ingrian Finnish dialects are the Finnish dialects spoken by Ingrian Finns around Ingria in Russia. Today, the Ingrian dialects are still spoken in Russia, Finland and Sweden. In 2010 there were only 20 300 Ingrian Finns left in Russia. The Ingrian dialects are gradually dying out, as primarily elderly people speak them still, and unlike Standard Finnish, the dialects are not taught in schools.

History

After Sweden annexed Ingria in 1617, many people moved to Ingria from Finland, at the time part of Sweden. After Russia annexed it again around 1700, many Russians moved in. However the Finnish language stayed because of the Lutheran church; the difference of religion made mixed marriages rare.
In 1900 the situation changed a lot. At first, minority languages were supported; however, around 1930 Finnish was banned and the Ingrian Finns were deported and genocided. Because of this, language communities broke and Russian influence became larger.

Phonology

The phonology of Ingrian Finnish is very much alike that of the neighbouring Ingrian and Votic languages.
One process present in the dialects is the deletion of final front vowels and their replacement by palatisation, much like in Ala-Laukaa Ingrian and Votic:
Another is the diphthongisation of historically long vowels in initial syllables, much like in the Karelian language:
Like in the Ingrian language, Standard Finnish morphological -d- is often replaced by -v-, -vv- and -ij-:
Finally, a shift of the diphthongs, and to , and respectively is present:

Grammar

The dialects' personal pronouns differ significantly from the standard language. Follows a comparison with the Karelian language and Standard Finnish:

	Singular	Plural
First Person	mie	myö
Second Person	sie	työ
Third Person	hiä	hyö

	Singular	Plural
First Person	minä	me
Second Person	sinä	te
Third Person	hän	he

Vocabulary

Historically, multiple Swedish loanwords have appeared in Ingrian Finnish. Furthermore, the dialects have borrowed extensively from the neighbouring Finnic languages. In more recent years, it has also borrowed extensively from the Russian language:

Sample text

Follows a sample text in Ingrian Finnish:

Ingrian Finnish	IPA	UPA	Standard Finnish	Translation
Oli yks mies elläi Mäni metsää hulkkumaa Ja öksy Ja siis jäi yöks makkaamaa Teki puun alla tulen Ja kävi makkaamaa.			Oli mies eli Meni metsään hölskymään Ja eksyi Ja siis jäi yöksi nukkumaan Teki puun alla tulen Ja kävi nukkumaan.	There lived a man He drifted into the forest And got lost And then he stayed to sleep for the night He made a fire under a tree And went to sleep.