Savo dialects


The Savo dialects are forms of the Finnish language spoken in Savo and other parts of Eastern Finland. Finnish dialects are grouped broadly into Eastern and Western varieties; Savo dialects are of the Eastern variety.
Savo dialects are the most widely distributed Finnish dialect group. They are spoken in Savo, but also in North Karelia, parts of Päijät-Häme, Central Finland, Kainuu, Koillismaa district of Northern Ostrobothnia, the lake section between Southern and Central Ostrobothnia as far north as Evijärvi and in the municipalities of Pudasjärvi and the Southern part of Ranua in Lapland. Also the language spoken by the Forest Finns in Värmland and Norwegian Hedmark of Central Scandinavia belonged to the old Savo dialects. The geographical area the Savo dialects cover makes up one-third the area of Finland.

History

The Savo dialects are of different origin from Western Finnish dialects. Savo dialects form a dialect continuum with other Eastern dialects of Finnish and the Karelian language, with which they have common ancestry in the Proto-Karelian language spoken in the coast of Lake Ladoga in the Iron Age.

Dialects

Northern Savo dialects

Northern Savo dialects are spoken in the municipalities of Hankasalmi, Haukivuori, Heinävesi, Iisalmi, Joroinen, Jäppilä, Kaavi, Kangaslampi, Karttula, Keitele, Kiuruvesi, Konnevesi, , Kuopio, Lapinlahti, Leppävirta, Maaninka, Muuruvesi, Nilsiä, Pieksämäki, Pielavesi, Pyhäsalmi, Rantasalmi, Rautalampi, Riistavesi, Siilinjärvi, Sonkajärvi, Suonenjoki, Säyneinen, Tervo, Tuusniemi, Varpaisjärvi, Varkaus, Vehmersalmi, Vesanto, Vieremä and Virtasalmi.

Southern Savo dialects

Southern Savo dialects are spoken in the municipalities of Anttola, Hirvensalmi, Juva, Kangasniemi, Mikkeli, Mäntyharju, Pertunmaa, Puumala, Ristiina, Sulkava and Suomenniemi.

Middle dialects of Savonlinna area

Middle dialects of Savonlinna area are spoken in the Eastern Savo, the municipalities surrounding the city of Savonlinna between Southern Savo and North Karelia: Enonkoski, Kerimäki, Punkaharju, Savonranta and Sääminki.
The dialect spoken in Enonkoski has many similarities with the dialects of Northern Savo, while the dialect spoken in the Southern parts of Punkaharju resembles South-Eastern dialects in many ways. The difference between dialects in Savonlinna district has its roots in the colonization history. The area of greater Kerimäki was settled by Karelian people till the 16th century, but from the 14th century the Eastern side of Lake Pihlajavesi and the coasts of Puruvesi began to be settles by Savo Finns.
The differences between natural and governmental borders goes together in many ways. In Enonkoski the dialect is more Savonian in the Northern side of Hanhivirta. The other reason to this is that the Northern villages of Enonkoski belonged to Heinävesi in the 19th century, while the Southern villages were part of Kerimäki. The Northern border of Puruvesi goes through Lake Puruvesi. So the old Karelian-based dialect features have kept in Punkaharju much better than in Kerimäki, which is located in the Northern side of Puruvesi.

Eastern Savo dialects or the dialects of North Karelia

Eastern Savo dialects or the dialects of North Karelia are spoken in North Karelia in the municipalities of Eno, Ilomantsi, Joensuu, Juuka, Kesälahti, Kiihtelysvaara, Kitee, Kontiolahti, Korpiselkä, Outokumpu, Liperi, Nurmes, Pielisjärvi, Polvijärvi, Pyhäselkä, Pälkjärvi, Rautavaara, Ruskeala, Soanlahti, Tohmajärvi, Tuupovaara and Valtimo.

Dialects of Kainuu

Kainuu dialects are spoken in Hyrynsalmi, Kajaani, Kuhmo, Kuusamo, Paltamo, Posio, Pudasjärvi, Puolanka, Ranua, Ristijärvi, Sotkamo, Suomussalmi, Taivalkoski and Vaala.

Dialects of Middle Finland

Dialects of Middle Finland are spoken in Hankasalmi, Karstula, Kinnula, Kivijärvi, Konginkangas, Konnevesi, Kyyjärvi, Laukaa, Multia, Pihtipudas, Pylkönmäki, Saarijärvi, Sumiainen, Uurainen, Viitasaari and Äänekoski.

Dialects of Päijät-Häme

Päijät-Häme Savonian dialects are spoken in Joutsa, Jyväskylä, Jämsä, Korpilahti, Koskenpää, Kuhmoinen, Leivonmäki, Luhanka, Muurame, Pertunmaa, Petäjävesi, Sysmä and Toivakka.

Middle dialects of Keuruu-Evijärvi

Middle dialects of Keuruu-Evijärvi are spoken in Alajärvi, Evijärvi, Keuruu, Lappajärvi, Lehtimäki, Pihlajavesi, Soini, Vimpeli and Ähtäri. This sub-dialect area is wedge shaped in the middle of Ostrobothnia, which has its own dialects and also Swedish-speaking population. This is the influence of slash-and-burn farmers from Savo who colonized the lake section in Southern Ostrobothnia in the 17th century.

Värmland Savonian dialects

The expansion of Savonian slash-and-burn agriculture, which started in the beginning of Modern era, expanded to Central Scandinavia. Mostly in the beginning of the 17th century Savonian settlers, mainly from the parish of Rautalampi, settled in Värmland, Sweden. In the beginning of the 19th century tens of thousands of people spoke the Savonian language as their mother tongue. These "Forest Finns" were an interesting group from a linguistic point of view because their language was isolated from other influences. The practice of slash and burn agriculture was prohibited in Sweden in the middle of the 17th century and no new Finnish settlers moved to the area. The language of Forest Finns lacked the Schwa vowel and gemination, which are used now in the dialect spoken in Rautalampi. Nowadays the Savonian dialect of Värmland is extinct. Its last speakers were Johannes Johansson-Oinonen and Karl Persson.

Features

Although the Savo dialects are spread over a large geographical area with significant variations, they are rather different from the standard language and are recognized as local dialects. There are large variations between different dialects, but a few of the most stereotypical features are the following.

Phonology

Vowels

  1. Where standard Finnish has a diphthong, Savo may have a narrower diphthong or long vowel. Conversely, where standard Finnish has a long vowel, Savo may have a diphthong.
  2. * as the second element of a diphthong lowers to, e.g. laeta for laita "side", söe for söi "ate".
  3. * lower similarly to, or they may assimilate completely to produce a long vowel, e.g. kaoppa or kaappa for standard Finnish kauppa "store", täönnä or täännä for täynnä "full".
  4. *When standard occur in an initial syllable, they become opening diphthongs. In some varieties these are pronounced as, but in most varieties these diphthongs are wider:. Thus many Savo speakers have mua for Standard Finnish maa "land, country, ground", and have piä for pää "head".
  5. Word-final of standard Finnish correspond to Savonian respectively. Thus Savonians say rieskoo, lähtekee, and lirisöö for standard rieskaa, lähtekää, and lirisee.
  6. When both would be unstressed, the otherwise bisyllabic combinations of o/ö/e followed by a/ä are produced as monosyllabic long vowels when no consonant intervenes. For instance, Savo dialects have ruskee for ruskea "brown", and have kyntöö for kyntöä "plowing ".
  7. An epenthetic vowel is inserted after a medial syllable coda of, or, in certain cases,, e.g. vanaha.
  8. *The epenthetic vowel is often identical in quality to the preceding vowel. However, if the first of the non-epenthetic vowels is high and the second is low, the epenthetic vowel may be mid. Thus silimä and silemä are different Savonian forms for standard Finnish silmä "eye", and kylymä and kylömä are Savonian version of kylmä "cold".

    Consonants

  9. Savo dialects have re-developed palatalized consonants. The consonants that can be palatalized are those that are coronal: l, n, t, r, s. Palatalization of these consonants occurs word-finally, in contexts where a consonant is followed by in standard Finnish. Orthographically, palatalization is often denoted by, where C is the palatalized consonant. Examples include and .
  10. Singleton consonants are geminated when they occur after a stressed short syllable and before a long vowel. Thus männöö, sattaa, opettelloo replace standard menee, sataa, opettelee. This gemination is fed by the process described point 3 of the preceding section: Native Savonians do not say that they speak savoa; they say that they speak savvoo.
  11. *In the eastern Savo dialects, this gemination is more general; it applies to non-singleton consonants, to consonants that don't ordinarily participate in the consonant gradation process, and after unstressed short vowels (hiihtämmään, cf. standard hiihtämään\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\

    Morphology and syntax

  • The use of the -loi plural suffix is more general than in other dialects, including standard Finnish. For instance risti "cross" has the plural partitive form ristilöitä.
  • Although standard and known elsewhere, the usage of verb compounds is particularly prevalent in Savo Finnish and a prolific source of creative expressions. The first verb is in the infinitive and indicates the action, and the second verb is inflected and indicates the manner. For example, seistä toljotat "you stand there gawking" consists of words meaning "to-stand you-gawk".

    Media

Music

The band Verjnuarmu performed melodic death metal in the Savo dialect, while Värttinä performs folk music. The folk song "Ievan polkka" is in the dialect as well.