Kukkuzi dialect explained

Kukkuzi
Region:	Ingria
Familycolor:	Uralic
Fam2:	Finnic
Fam3:	Votic
Speakers:	3, possibly extinct
Date:	2006

Kukkuzi dialect or Kukkusi dialect (Rus: Куровицы) is a dialect of Votic spoken in Kukkuzi^[1] the Kukkuzi dialect has been heavily influenced by Ingrian.^[2]

There exists a recording session of the Kukkuzi dialect, which was made in 2008–2012.^[3] A Kukkuzi dialect dictionary has been made in 1980.^[4] The Kukkuzi dialect has been declared to be dead since the 1970s, however three existing speakers have been located in 2006.

Classification

According to E.B. Markus the Kukkuzi dialect has Ingrian like vocabulary and phonetics, while containing Votic grammar which is a result of an incomplete language switch to Ingrian.^[5] However some linguists have claimed it rather as a dialect of Ingrian^[6] and some classify it as a mixed language^[7] In the past Kukkuzi has also sometimes been classified as a Finnish dialect.^[8]

According to Tiit-Rein Viitso, the Kukkuzi dialect was originally a Northern Finnic dialect (related to Finnish, Ingrian, Karelian and Veps) that was influenced by Votic and later the Lower Luga dialect of Ingrian.^{[9] [10]}

Features

• The sound õ exists in Votic but is absent in the Kukkuzi dialect.^[11]
• Some other features of the Kukkuzi dialect are the absence of the sound changes k > tš and s > ťś.^[12]
• The sound k sometimes becomes k' after a front vowel.^[13]

Samples

tässä müü vassa ensimmäissä kertaa kuulimma, että müü oomma neitä vad'd'alaisiita.^[12]

'here we just for the first time heard, that we are Votians.'

lehmääk'ää 'with a cow'

References

1. Neo-Renaissance and revitalization of Votic – who cares?. 10.12697/jeful.2011.2.1.11. 2011. Kuusk. Margit. Heinsoo. Heinike. Eesti ja Soome-Ugri Keeleteaduse Ajakiri. 2. 171–184. free.
2. Web site: Vađđamaa.
3. FEDOR. ROZHANSKIY. 2019. A new resource for Finnic languages: The outcomes of the Ingrian documentation project. University of Tartu.
4. Web site: Vatjan kielen Kukkosin murteen sanakirja · Suomalais-Ugrilainen Seura.
5. Рожанский. Маркус. 2013. О статусе нижнелужского диалекта ижорского языка среди родственных идиомов.
6. Jokipii, Mauno: "Itämerensuomalaiset, Heimokansojen historiaa ja kohtaloita". Jyväskylä: Atena kustannus Oy, 1995.
7. Markus. Elena. The development of a mixed language in the multilingual environment (evidence from the Kukkuzi dialect).
8. Vatjan kielen tutkimisesta ja nykytilanteesta. Virittäjä. 4 January 1991. 95. 4. 448. Heinsoo. Heinike.
9. Encyclopedia: Fennic. Tiit-Rein. Viitso. 1998. The Uralic Languages. Daniel. Abondolo.
10. The Position of Leivu. Journal of Estonian and Finno-Ugric Linguistics. 20 December 2021. 12. 2. 123–143. Kallio. Petri.
11. Book: Pajusalu, Karl. Phonological Innovations of the Southern Finnic Languages1. University of Tartu.
12. Heinsoo. Heinike. 1991-01-04. Vatjan kielen tutkimisesta ja nykytilanteesta. Virittäjä. fi. 95. 4. 448. 2242-8828.
13. Book: Ossi., Kokko. Inkerinsuomen pirstaleisuus : eräiden sijojen kehitys murteen yksilöllistymisen kuvastajana. 2007. Joensuun yliopisto. 978-952-219-012-3. 226041097.