| Ingrian Finnish | |
| States: | Ingria |
| Ethnicity: | Ingrian Finns |
| Speakers: | ? (A few older people) |
| Script: | Latin |
| Familycolor: | Uralic |
| Fam2: | Finnic |
| Fam3: | Finnish |
| Fam4: | East Finnish |
| Fam5: | South Karelian dialects |
| Map: | File:Inkeri.png |
Ingrian dialects (Finnish: Inkerin suomalaismurteet) are the Finnish dialects spoken by Ingrian Finns around Ingria in Russia. Today, the Ingrian dialects are still spoken in Russia, Finland and Sweden.[1] 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 anymore,[2] and unlike Standard Finnish, the dialects are not taught in schools.
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 (Deportation of the Ingrian Finns, Genocide of the Ingrian Finns). Because of this, language communities broke and Russian influence became larger.[3]
The dialects' personal pronouns differ significantly from the standard language. Follows a comparison with the Karelian language and Standard Finnish:
| Plural | ||
|---|---|---|
| First Person | mie | myö |
| Second Person | sie | työ |
| Third Person | hiä | hyö |
| Plural | ||
|---|---|---|
| First Person | mie | myö |
| Second Person | sie | työ |
| Third Person | hiän | hyö |
| Plural | ||
|---|---|---|
| First Person | minä | me |
| Second Person | sinä | te |
| Third Person | hän | he |
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:
äitj (pronounced as /[æi̯tʲ]/, "mother") for Standard Finnish äiti (pronounced as /[ˈæi̯ti]/)
vesj (pronounced as /[ʋes̠ʲ]/, "water") for Standard Finnish vesi (pronounced as /[ˈʋes̠i]/)
mäkj (pronounced as /[mækʲ]/, "hill") for Standard Finnish mäki (pronounced as /[ˈmæki]/)
kylj (pronounced as /[kylʲ]/, "village") for Standard Finnish kylä (pronounced as /[ˈkylæ]/)Another is the diphthongisation of historically long vowels in initial syllables, much like in the Karelian language:
piä (pronounced as /[piæ̯]/, "head") for Standard Finnish pää (pronounced as /[pæː]/)
kualj (pronounced as /[kuɑ̯lʲ]/, "cabbage") for Standard Finnish kaali (pronounced as /[ˈkɑːli]/)Like in the Ingrian language, Standard Finnish morphological -d- is often replaced by -v-, -vv- and -ij-:
sovan (pronounced as /[ˈs̠oʋɑn]/, "war", gen) for Standard Finnish sodan (pronounced as /[ˈs̠od̪ɑn]/
pöyvvän (pronounced as /[ˈpøy̯ʋːæn]/, "table", gen) for Standard Finnish pöydän (pronounced as /[pøy̯d̪æn]/)Finally, a shift of the diphthongs pronounced as /[ie̯]/, pronounced as /[uo̯]/ and pronounced as /[yø̯]/ to pronounced as /[iɑ̯]/ (pronounced as /[iæ̯]/ in front-vocalic stems), pronounced as /[uɑ̯]/ and pronounced as /[yæ̯]/ respectively is present:
piänj (pronounced as /[piæ̯nʲ]/, "small") for the Standard Finnish pieni (pronounced as /[pie̯ni]/).
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:
latjjat (pronounced as /[ˈlɑtʲjɑt̪]/, "dress") from Russian платье (plat'je)
liäppä (pronounced as /[ˈliæ̯pːæ]/, "hat") from Russian шляпа (šljapa)
Follows a sample text in Ingrian Finnish: