Ingrian is a nearly extinct Finnic language of Russia. The spoken language remains unstandardised, and as such statements below are about the four known dialects of Ingrian (Ala-Laukaa, Hevaha, Soikkola and Ylä-Laukaa) and in particular the two extant dialects (Ala-Laukaa and Soikkola).
The written forms are, if possible, based on the written language (referred to as kirjakeeli, "book language") introduced by the Ingrian linguist in the late 1930s. Following 1937's mass repressions in the Soviet Union, the written language was abolished and ever since, Ingrian does not have a (standardised) written language.
pronounced as /notice/The following chart shows the monophthongs present in the Ingrian language:
| Front ! | Back | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| unrounded | rounded | ||||
| i pronounced as /ink/ | y pronounced as /ink/ | (ь pronounced as /ink/) | u pronounced as /ink/ | ||
| e pronounced as /ink/ | ö pronounced as /ink/ | o pronounced as /ink/ | |||
| ä pronounced as /ink/ | a pronounced as /ink/ |
All vowels can occur as both short (pronounced as //æ e i ɨ ø y ɑ o u//) and long (pronounced as //æː eː iː ɨː øː yː ɑː oː uː//). The long vowel pronounced as //ɨː// is extremely rare, occurring in borrowed words like rььžoi ("red-haired"). The vowels pronounced as //eː øː oː// are often realised as either diphthongs (pronounced as /[ie̯ yø̯ uo̯]/) or diphthongoids (pronounced as /[i̯eː y̯øː u̯oː]/) and in some dialects even as pronounced as /[iː yː uː]/.
Besides the diphthongs that arise due to diphthongisation of the long mid vowels (pronounced as /[ie̯ yø̯ uo̯]/), Ingrian has a wide range of phonemic diphthongs, present in both dialects:
| a- | ai pronounced as //ɑi̯// | au pronounced as //ɑu̯// | ä- | äi pronounced as //æi̯// | äy pronounced as //æy̯// | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| i- | – | iu pronounced as //iu̯// | ||||
| e- | ei pronounced as //ei̯// | eu pronounced as //eu̯// | ||||
| o- | oi pronounced as //oi̯// | ou pronounced as //ou̯// | ö- | öi pronounced as //øi̯// | öy pronounced as //øy̯// | |
| u- | ui pronounced as //ui̯// | – | y- | yi pronounced as //yi̯// | – |
Vowel reduction is a very common feature of the Ala-Laukaa dialect, and is to a very restricted extent also present in Soikkola. The term refers to the process of acoustically weakening the unstressed vowels.
In Soikkola, vowel reduction is restricted to the vowels a and ä; These vowels are sometimes reduced to pronounced as /[ə]/, but mostly in quick speech, making it a purely phonetic feature:
linna pronounced as //ˈlinːɑ/ [ˈlinː'''ə''']/ ("city")
ilma pronounced as //ˈilmɑ/ [ˈiɫm'''ə''']/ ("weather")
In Ala-Laukaa, this process is much more common. In open final syllables, the vowels pronounced as //ɑ æ e// are reduced to pronounced as /[ə]/, the other vowels (pronounced as //i ø y o u//) are simply shortened (pronounced as /[ĭ ø̆ y̆ ŏ ŭ]/). The process of reducing vowels is contrastive in Ala-Laukaa:[2]
linna pronounced as //ˈlinːə// ("city",) linnaa pronounced as //ˈlinːɑ// ("city",)In a closed final syllable, the reduction of the vowel pronounced as //e// is much more uncommon, and occurs primarily in polysyllabic words. In words with three syllables and a long third syllable (in the form CVV), the penultimate syllable will reduce in the same way as described above. In three-syllable words with a short final syllable (in the form (C)CV), however, any short vowel in the second syllable will be reduced to pronounced as /[ə]/. In polysyllabic words, reduction of the even syllables doesn't occur after short syllables.
The reduced vowels in Ala-Laukaa Ingrian can further experience deletion:
istuisi ("he/she sat down") pronounced as /[ˈistŭ'''sĭ'''] ~ [ˈistŭ'''sʲ'''] ~ [ˈistŭ'''zʲ''']/
Ingrian, just like its closest relatives Finnish and Karelian, has the concept of vowel harmony. The principle of this morphophonetic phenomenon is that vowels in a word consisting of one root are all either front or back. As such, no native words can have any of the vowels together with any of the vowels .[3] [4]
To harmonise formed words, any suffix containing one of these six vowels have two separate forms: a front vowel form and a back vowel form. Compare the following two words, formed using the suffix -kas: liivakas ("sandy") from liiva ("sand") and iäkäs ("elderly") from ikä ("age").
The vowels are considered neutral and can co-occur with both types of vowels. However, stems with these vowels are always front vowel harmonic: kivekäs ("rocky") from kivi ("rock").
Compound words don't have to abide by the rules of vowel harmony, since they consist of two stems: rantakivi ("coastal stone") from ranta ("coast") + kivi ("stone").
The consonantal phonology of Ingrian varies greatly among dialects. For example, while Soikkola Ingrian misses the voiced-unvoiced distinction, it has a three-way consonant length distinction, missing in the Ala-Laukaa dialect.
| Plosive | p, b pronounced as /link/ | t, d pronounced as /link/ | k, g pronounced as /link/ | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | m pronounced as /link/ | n pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | |||
| Fricative | f pronounced as /link/ | s, z pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | h pronounced as /link/ | ||
| Lateral | l pronounced as /link/ | |||||
| Trill | r pronounced as /link/ | |||||
| Affricate | ts pronounced as /link/ | c pronounced as /link/ | ||||
| Approximant | v pronounced as /link/ | j pronounced as /link/ |
In the Soikkola dialect, consonants have a three-way distinction in length. Geminates can be either short (1.5 times the length of a short consonant) or long (twice the length of a short consonant):
tapa pronounced as //ˈtɑpɑ// ("manner")
tappaa pronounced as //ˈtɑpˑɑː// ("he/she catches" also: "manner")
tappaa pronounced as //ˈtɑpːɑː// ("to kill")A similar phenomenon can be observed in the related Estonian language.
A word with the underlying structure *(C)VCVCV(C) is geminated to (C)VCˑVːCV(C) in the Soikkola dialect:
omena pronounced as //ˈomˑeːnɑ// ("apple" ; respelled ommeena)
omenan pronounced as //ˈomˑeːnɑn// ("apple" ; respelled ommeenan)
orava pronounced as //ˈorˑɑːʋɑ// ("squirrel" ; respelled orraava)This rule however does not apply to forms that are underlyingly tetrasyllabic:
omenaal (< *omenalla) pronounced as //ˈomenɑːl// ("apple")
omenaks (< *omenaksi) pronounced as //ˈomenɑːks// ("apple")
The Soikkola dialect also exhibits a phonetic three-way voicing distinction for plosives and the sibilant:
poika pronounced as //ˈpoi̯kɑ//, pronounced as /[ˈpoi̯ɡ̊ɑ]/
poikaa pronounced as //ˈpoi̯kɑː//, pronounced as /[ˈpoi̯kɑː]/
pojat pronounced as //ˈpojɑt//, pronounced as /[ˈpojɑd̥]/
pojat nooret pronounced as //ˈpojɑt ˈnoːret//, pronounced as /[ˈpojɑd‿ˈnoːred̥]/
pojat suuret pronounced as //ˈpojɑt ˈsuːret//, pronounced as /[ˈpojɑt‿ˈʃuːred̥]/
pojat ovat pronounced as //ˈpojɑt ˈoʋɑt//, pronounced as /[ˈpojɑd‿ˈoʋɑd̥]/
bocka pronounced as /[ˈpot͡ɕkɑ]/ ~ pronounced as /[ˈbot͡ɕkɑ]/; compare also pocka pronounced as /[ˈpot͡ɕkɑ]/
A word-final dental nasal (pronounced as //n//) assimilates to the following stop and nasal:
meehen poika pronounced as /[ˈmeːhe'''m'''‿ˈpoi̯ɡ̊ɑ]/
meehen koira pronounced as /[ˈmeːhe'''ŋ'''‿ˈkoi̯rɑ]/
kanan muna pronounced as /[ˈkɑnɑ'''m'''‿ˈmunɑ]/Some speakers also assimilate word-final pronounced as //n// to a following liquid, glottal fricative or bilabial approximant:
meehen laps pronounced as /[ˈmeːhe'''l'''‿lɑps]/
joen ranta pronounced as /[ˈjoe'''r'''‿rɑnd̥a]/
miul on vene pronounced as /[ˈmiul o'''ʋ'''‿ˈʋene]/
varis on harmaa pronounced as /[ˈʋɑriz o'''x'''‿ˈxɑrmɑː]/
| Dental | Postalveolar/ Palatal | Velar | Glottal | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plosive | p pronounced as /link/ | b pronounced as /link/ | t pronounced as /link/ | d pronounced as /link/ | k pronounced as /link/ | g pronounced as /link/ | ||||
| Nasal | m pronounced as /link/ | n pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | |||||||
| Fricative | f pronounced as /link/ | s pronounced as /link/ | z pronounced as /link/ | š pronounced as /link/ | ž pronounced as /link/ | h pronounced as /link/ | ||||
| Lateral | l pronounced as /link/ | |||||||||
| Trill | r pronounced as /link/ | |||||||||
| Affricate | ts pronounced as /link/ | c pronounced as /link/ | ||||||||
| Approximant | v pronounced as /link/ | j pronounced as /link/ | ||||||||
In the Ala-Laukaa dialect, phonetic palatalisation of consonants in native words occurs first of all before the vowels and the approximant pronounced as //j//:
tyttö pronounced as /[ˈ'''tʲ'''ytːø̆]/ ("girl"); compare Soikkola pronounced as /[ˈ'''t'''ytːøi̯]/ and Standard Finnish pronounced as /[ˈ'''t̪'''yt̪ːø̞]/.The palatalised pronounced as //t// and pronounced as //k// may both be realised as pronounced as /[c]/ by some speakers. Furthermore, palatalisation before pronounced as //y(ː)// and pronounced as //i(ː)// that have developed from an earlier *pronounced as //ø// or *pronounced as //e// respectively is rare:
töö pronounced as /[ˈ'''t'''øː] ~ [ˈ'''t'''yø̯] ~ [ˈ'''t'''yː]/ ("you (plural)")The cluster ⟨lj⟩ is realised as a long palatalised consonant in the Ala-Laukaa dialect:
neljä pronounced as /[ˈne'''lʲː'''(ə)]/ ("four"); compare Soikkola pronounced as /[ˈne'''lj'''æ]/
paljo pronounced as /[ˈpɑ'''lʲː'''ŏ]/ ("many"); compare Soikkola pronounced as /[ˈpɑ'''lj'''o]/
kiljua pronounced as /[ˈki'''lʲː'''o]/ ("to shout"); compare Standard Finnish pronounced as /[ˈki'''lj'''uɑ]/These same phenomena are noticed in the extinct Ylä-Laukaa dialect:[6]
tyttö pronounced as /[ˈ'''tʲ'''ytːøi̯]/ ("girl")
neljä pronounced as /[ˈne'''lʲː'''æ]/ ("four")
At the end of a word, the sibilant ⟨s⟩ is voiced:
lammas pronounced as /[ˈlɑmːə'''z''']/ ("sheep")
mees pronounced as /[ˈmeː'''z''']/ ("man")Like in the Soikkola dialect, when preceding a word beginning with a voiceless stop, this sibilant is again devoiced:
lammas pellool pronounced as /[ˈlɑmːəs‿ˈpelolː(ə)]/
mees kyläs pronounced as /[ˈmeːs‿ˈkylæsː(ə)]/
Stress in Ingrian falls on the first syllable in native words, but may be shifted in loanwords. An exception is the word paraikaa (pronounced as //pɑrˈɑi̯kɑː//, "now"), where the stress falls on the second syllable. Secondary stress falls on odd-numbered syllables or occurs as a result of compounding and is not phonemic.