Northern Karelian dialect
Northern Karelian is one of the two dialects of Karelian Proper. Northern Karelian is spoken mainly in White Karelia, and is also the traditional language of the villages of Hietajärvi, Kuivajärvi and Rimpi in the Kainuu region of Finland. Northern Karelian is the most mutually intelligible Karelian dialect to speakers of the Finnish language.
Northern Karelian differs from South Karelian due to its inclusion of the voiceless consonants p, t, k, s and š. It also differs due to its more common usage of the š letter more than in other Karelian dialects.
Location
Northern Karelian is spoken in the northernmost parts of the Republic of Karelia, which is called White Karelia and in the villages of Hietajärvi, Kuivajärvi and Rimpi in Kainuu. Specifically it is spoken in the parishes of,, Kiestinki, Kontokki,, Paanajärvi,, Suomussalmi, Uhtua,, and Vuokkiniemi.Examples
The following example is from Petroskoi in 1995:| 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:
| Livvi | Southern | Northern | English |
| pakkaskuu | pakkaiskuu | pakkaiskuu | January |
| tuhukuu | tuuččakuu | tuiskukuu | February |
| kevätkuu | kevätkuu | kevätkuu | March |
| sulakuu | sulakuu | šulakuu | April |