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Concept
Savonian dialects
Summary
The Savonian dialects (also called Savo Finnish)(Savolaismurteet) are forms of the Finnish language spoken in Savonia and other parts of Eastern Finland. Finnish dialects are grouped broadly into Eastern and Western varieties; Savonian dialects are of the Eastern variety.
Savonian dialects are the most widely distributed Finnish dialect group (setting aside the higher-level east/west split mentioned above). They are spoken in the Savonia region (in both North and South 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 forest settlers in Värmland and Norwegian Hedmark of Central Scandinavia belonged to the old Savonian dialects. The geographical area the Savonian dialects cover makes up one-third the area of Finland.
To speak Savonian is sometimes referred to as speaking with a "crooked chin" (viäräleuka, or vääräleuka in standard Finnish).
The Savonian dialects are of different origin than Western Finnish dialects. Savonian dialects form a dialect continuum with other Eastern dialects of Finnish and the Karelian language, with whom they have common ancestry in the Proto-Karelian language spoken in the coast of Lake Ladoga in the Iron Age.
Although the Savonian 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 Savonian dialects, but a few of the most stereotypical features are the following.
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.
/i/ as the second element of a diphthong lowers to /e/, e.g. laeta for laita "side", söe for söi "ate".
Official source
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