The Komi language is part of the Finno-Ugric language language family, and with the Udmurt language that is closest to it, it forms the Perm group of Finno-Ugric languages. In total, the Finno-Ugric family includes 16 languages, which in ancient times developed from a single base language: Hungarian, Mansi, Khanty (Ugric group of languages); Komi, Udmurt (Perm group); Mari, Mordovian languages ​​- Erzya and Moksha: Baltic - Finnish languages ​​- Finnish, Karelian, Izhorian, Vepsian, Votic, Estonian, Livonian languages. A special place In the Finno-Ugric family of languages, the Sami language occupies a position, which is very different from other related languages.

Finno-Ugric languages ​​and Samoyed languages ​​form the Uralic family of languages. The Amodian languages ​​include Nenets, Enets, Nganasan, Selkup, and Kamasin languages. Peoples speaking Samoyed languages ​​live in Western Siberia, except for the Nenets, who also live in northern Europe.

Hungarians moved to the territory surrounded by the Carpathians more than a thousand years ago. The self-name of the Hungarians Modyor has been known since the 5th century. n. e. Writing in the Hungarian language appeared at the end of the 12th century, and the Hungarians have a rich literature. The total number of Hungarians is about 17 million people. In addition to Hungary, they live in Czechoslovakia, Romania, Austria, Ukraine, and Yugoslavia.

Mansi (Voguls) live in the Khanty-Mansiysk district of the Tyumen region. In Russian chronicles, they, together with the Khanty, were called Yugra. Mansi use Russian writing graphical basis, have their own schools. Total quantity There are over 7,000 Mansi people, but only half of them consider Mansi as their native language.

The Khanty (Ostyaks) live on the Yamal Peninsula, lower and middle Ob. Writing in the Khanty language appeared in the 30s of our century, but the dialects of the Khanty language are so different that communication between representatives of different dialects is often difficult. Many languages ​​have penetrated into the Khanty and Mansi languages lexical borrowings from the Komi language

The Baltic-Finnish languages ​​and peoples are so close that speakers of these languages ​​can communicate with each other without a translator. Among the languages ​​of the Baltic-Finnish group, the most widespread is Finnish, it is spoken by about 5 million people, the self-name of the Finns is Suomi. In addition to Finland, Finns also live in the Leningrad region of Russia. Writing arose in the 16th century, and in 1870 the period of the modern Finnish language began. The epic "Kalevala" is written in Finnish, and a rich original literature has been created. About 77 thousand Finns live in Russia.

Estonians live on the east coast Baltic Sea, the number of Estonians in 1989 was 1,027,255 people. Writing existed from the 16th century to the 19th century. Two literary languages ​​developed: southern and northern Estonian. In the 19th century these literary languages ​​became closer based on the Central Estonian dialects.

Karelians live in Karelia and the Tver region of Russia. There are 138,429 Karelians (1989), a little more than half speak their native language. The Karelian language consists of many dialects. In Karelia, Karelians study and use the Finnish literary language. The most ancient monuments of Karelian writing date back to the 13th century; in Finno-Ugric languages, this is the second oldest written language (after Hungarian).

Izhora is an unwritten language and is spoken by about 1,500 people. Izhorians live on the southeastern coast of the Gulf of Finland, on the river. Izhora, a tributary of the Neva. Although the Izhorians call themselves Karelians, in science it is customary to distinguish an independent Izhorian language.

Vepsians live on the territory of three administrative-territorial units: Vologda, Leningrad regions of Russia, Karelia. In the 30s there were about 30,000 Vepsians, in 1970 there were 8,300 people. Due to the strong influence of the Russian language, the Vepsian language is noticeably different from other Baltic-Finnish languages.

The Votic language is on the verge of extinction, because there are no more than 30 people who speak this language. Vod lives in several villages located between the northeastern part of Estonia and the Leningrad region. The Votic language is unwritten.

The Livs live in several seaside fishing villages in northern Latvia. Their number has sharply decreased over the course of history due to the devastation during World War II. Now the number of Livonian speakers is only about 150 people. Writing has been developing since the 19th century, but currently the Livonians are switching to the Latvian language.

The Sami language forms a separate group of Finno-Ugric languages, since there are many specific features in its grammar and vocabulary. The Sami live in northern regions Norway, Sweden, Finland and the Kola Peninsula in Russia. There are only about 40 thousand people, including about 2000 in Russia. The Sami language has much in common with the Baltic-Finnish languages. Sami writing develops on the basis of different dialects in Latin and Russian graphic systems.

Modern Finno-Ugric languages ​​have diverged so much from each other that at first glance they seem completely unrelated to each other. However, a deeper study of sound composition, grammar and vocabulary shows that these languages ​​have many common features, which prove the former single origin of the Finno-Ugric languages ​​from one ancient proto-language.

Turkic languages

Turkic languages ​​belong to the Altaic language family. Turkic languages: about 30 languages, and with dead languages ​​and local varieties, the status of which as languages ​​is not always indisputable, more than 50; the largest are Turkish, Azerbaijani, Uzbek, Kazakh, Uyghur, Tatar; total number There are about 120 million speakers of Turkic languages. The center of the Turkic area is Central Asia, from where, in the course of historical migrations, they also spread, on the one hand, to southern Russia, Caucasus and Asia Minor, and on the other - to the northeast, to eastern Siberia up to Yakutia. The comparative historical study of Altai languages ​​began in the 19th century. Nevertheless, there is no generally accepted reconstruction of the Altaic proto-language; one of the reasons is the intensive contacts of the Altaic languages ​​and numerous mutual borrowings, which complicate the use of standard comparative methods.

All Finno-Ugric languages ​​are represented in the USSR and the absolute majority of peoples who speak these languages ​​live. The exceptions are the Finns, Hungarians and Sami, the bulk of whom are settled outside the Soviet Union. Apart from the Khanty and Mansi, who live in Western Siberia, all other Finno-Ugric peoples of the USSR live in the European part of the country. Their languages ​​are divided into the following branches: 1) Baltic-Finnish, consisting of two groups - northern (Finnish, Izhorian, Karelian and Vepsian languages) and southern (Estonian, Votic and Livonian); 2) Sami - Sami language; 3) Mordovian - Erzya and Moksha languages; 4) Mari - Mari language; 5) Perm - Udmurt and Komi languages; 7) Ob-Ugric-Khanty and Mansi languages; 8) Hungarian-Hungarian language. The Ob-Ugric and Hungarian branches are usually combined into the Ugric group, the remaining branches into the Finnish group.

There is a significant difference between the Finno-Ugric languages ​​of different branches, about the same as there is between the languages ​​of individual branches of the Indo-European family of languages ​​- for example, French and German. On the other hand, the proximity of languages ​​belonging to the same branch to each other is approximately the same as what we observe in the languages ​​of the same branch of the Indo-European language family, for example, in Russian and Polish. The Samoyed languages ​​are genetically related to the Finno-Ugric languages, together with which they form the Uralic family of languages.

Finno-Ugric languages ​​have a number of common features in grammar, phonetics and vocabulary, going back to a single source - the Finno-Ugric language-base, which was spoken by the most ancient Finno-Ugric tribes.

Most scientists consider Eastern Europe, the region of the middle reaches of the Volga and Kama, the region lying between the Volga bend and the Ural ridge to be the original homeland of the Finno-Ugric peoples.

The people who spoke a Finno-Ugric language lived for thousands of years in this territory in the vicinity of the Indo-Iranian peoples who were located to the south of the Finno-Ugric peoples. The Indo-Iranians had a significant influence on the Finno-Ugric language. Some borrowings penetrated into the common Finno-Ugric language from the pre-Indo-Iranian language (for example, the name of a pig: Udm. Pars, Finnish. porsas\ honey: Komi Zha, Finnish. mesi), the other* part, of later origin, came from the common Indo-Iranian language (for example, words denoting with a hundred;: udm. syu, mord, syado, Finnish. sata, Hung. szaz etc., with horn) - udm. Sur, Mar. jiur, mord, syuro, Finnish. sarvi, Hung. szarv) etc.

The Finno-Ugric language-base was probably divided into territorial dialects. In the process of settling over the vast territory of Eastern Europe, speakers of individual dialects began to gradually separate from the main mass of Finno-Ugric peoples and lose contact with the latter; as a result, their dialects developed into independent languages.

About 2.5 thousand years BC. e. (and perhaps earlier) the eastern branch of the Finno-Ugric languages ​​separated, which subsequently served as the basis for the formation of peoples speaking Ugric languages, i.e., Hungarian, Khanty and Mansi; the languages ​​of that part of the tribes that remained after the separation of the Ugrians formed a linguistic unity for a long time (the so-called Baltic-Finnish-Permian unity).

In the 1st millennium BC. e. The Perm branch emerged, which included the languages ​​of the common ancestors of the Komi and Udmurts. Later, probably long before our era, the other two branches emerged: the Baltic-Finnish and the Volga.

Peoples speaking Finno-Ugric languages ​​have had contact with neighboring peoples throughout their history. This is indicated numerous borrowings, both in general throughout the entire language family, and in individual branches and languages. For example, in the Baltic-Finnish language, there are Baltic borrowings that penetrated in the last centuries BC. e.; the second layer consists of ancient Germanic borrowings, which began to penetrate into the Baltic-Finnish languages ​​at the turn of our era, and the third layer is ancient Slavic borrowings (V-VIII centuries AD), which appeared after the collapse of the Baltic-Finnish language - basics.

The Udmurt, Komi and Mari languages ​​adopted a certain number of both ancient Chuvash (VII-XIII centuries) and later in origin words of the Chuvash language.

He had a strong influence on the Mari, Udmurt and Mordovian languages Tatar language, whose carriers appeared in the Volga region in the 13th century. n. e. Mordovians and Mari came into contact with eastern groups ancient Balts.

The Karelians and Vepsians, who once lived in close proximity to the Komi (X-XV centuries AD), had a noticeable influence on the Komi language and, finally, all East Finnish languages ​​were strongly influenced by Eastern Slavs, especially the Russians, with whom they have lived side by side for a number of centuries. Sometimes there was a change of languages. For example, the Sami originally spoke one of the Samoyed languages. They adopted Finno-Ugric speech from their southern neighbors no later than the common Baltic-Finnish era.

The languages ​​of the Finno-Ugric peoples continued to develop during the period of their isolated life. As a result, they diverged from each other so much that they retained in their language only a small layer from the Finno-Ugric language in the form of common grammatical features, words of common origin and sound correspondences.

So, for example, the characteristic archaic short consonant affricates s, s’ have been preserved to one degree or another in all Finno-Ugric languages: in some to a greater extent(for example, in Permian), and in others - to a lesser extent (for example, in Baltic-Finnish and Ob-Ugric). At the same time, the palatal consonants s’, V, p’ completely disappeared in the Baltic-Finnish languages ​​and were completely preserved in the Permian languages. Long consonants (kk,tt and pp), which were found in the Finno-Ugric proto-language, in the middle of the word were preserved only in the Baltic-Finnish and Sami languages.

Thanks to numerous changes in consonants that occurred in different Finno-Ugric languages ​​in various directions, the consonant systems of modern languages ​​have become significantly different from each other. If some consonants have been preserved unchanged (for example, sonorants), then the other part of the sounds in modern Finno-Ugric languages ​​is presented in the form of natural sound correspondences. So, for example, the word 'mouse' sounds in Finnish hiire, Hung. egir, muzzle, sheer (sejer), udm. Shir.

In the area of ​​vowel sounds in Finno-Ugric languages, the situation is even more complicated. Ancient system vowels are best preserved in the Baltic-Finnish and Sami languages, and in other languages ​​great changes have occurred: in the Mordovian, Mari and Permian languages, for example, the distinction between long and short vowels has been lost; middle vowels were formed (Komi $, e, a); in Mari, Moksha-Mordovian and in some dialects of the Udmurt language there was a reduction of the voice x (d, §, etc.); in the Mordovian dialects and in most dialects of the Permian languages, the labialized front vowel (th) disappeared, etc.

Characteristic limited use Labialized vowels in the non-first syllable are observed not only in modern Baltic-Finnish, but also in some other Finno-Ugric languages ​​(for example, in Udmurt and Komi). Currently, in the Finno-Ugric languages, labialized and long (where available) vowels are also found in the non-first syllable, but in them these categories of vowels appeared later, as a result independent development sound system of these languages.

The vocalism of the first and non-first syllables is directly related to the law of vowel harmony, which is expressed in the agreement of the vowels of suffixal syllables with the vowels of the base of the word: if the base has a front vowel, then a front vowel appears in the suffixes (Finnish. kddessd with in hand 5); the back vowel of the stem corresponds to the back vowel in the suffixal syllable (Finnish. sanassa s in word 5). Vowel harmony is characteristic of all Finno-Ugric languages, with the exception of Udmurt, Komi and Sami languages.

Most modern linguists are inclined to believe that in the proto-language the stress was necessarily on the first syllable and that the previous place of stress was preserved in the Baltic-Finnish languages, Sami, Hungarian and Mansi, excluding the southern dialects; the peculiarities of stress in the remaining Finno-Ugric languages ​​(Perm, Mordovian, Mari and Khanty), where it is not associated with the first syllable, in their opinion, are explained by the separate development of these languages ​​- the influence of Turkic languages ​​(for example, in South Mansi and Udmurt, in which it usually rests on last syllable), changes in the vowel system, etc. However, it is equally acceptable to assume that in the most ancient language, the stress was not lexically fixed, but more or less free.

The Finno-Ugric proto-language was characterized by a two-syllable stem of the word, ending with a short vowel sound e or less often ah. It is well preserved in Finnish. In other languages, major changes have occurred in the stem of the word due to the loss of final vowels and under the influence of other factors (for example, Finnish. vere-, Sami, varra, Mord, Ver, Mar., Vur, Hung. vir, Komi and Udm. vir with blood>).

In modern Finno-Ugric languages, a word begins with one consonant or (less often) with one vowel sound. A cluster of consonants or vowels at the beginning of a word is usually found in borrowed and figurative words.

Ancient case indicators have been preserved in almost all modern Finno-Ugric languages: in some in the form of case endings, in others - as part of complex case forms, in others - as part of adverbs and postpositions. Most modern Finno-Ugric languages ​​are multi-case (Hungarian has 21 cases, Finnish -15, Komi -16, Udmurt -15, Mordovian -12, etc.). In polycase languages, a number of case endings arose either from postpositions and ancient case endings, or from a combination of different primary case affixes.

The ancient dual number was preserved only in the Mansi, Khanty and Sami languages.

The Finno-Ugric language-base belonged entirely to agglutative languages. Meanwhile in modern languages Along with agglutination, there are already some features of an inflectional nature.

Let us also note the following features of the Finno-Ugric languages. In almost all modern Finno-Ugric languages: a) there is one type of declension and one type of conjugation; only in certain languages ​​(for example, Mari and Udmurt) apparently two types of conjugation were developed later; b) the present and future tenses of the verb do not differ from each other in their form (compare Komi Gizha with writing and writing 5); c) the presence of a special negative verb, which changes in the same way as other verbs (cf. mar. om lud s don’t read 5, ot lud s don’t read 5, ogegi lud s doesn’t read 5, etc.); in the Hungarian language the conjugated forms of the negative verb have been lost; d) word formation and inflection are carried out, as a rule, with the help of suffixes; prefixes found in some modern languages ​​are new; e) the adjective-definition precedes the word being defined and does not agree with it (mord, od kudo with new house 5, od kudoso with in new house 5, od kudot with new houses 5, etc.); The exception is the Baltic-Finnish languages, in which there is agreement between the adjective-definition and the word being defined (cf. Finnish. uudessa kirjassa s in the new book 5, uudesta kirjasta c from the new book 5).

Currently, there is writing in Hungarian, Estonian, Mordovian (Erzyan and Moksha), Mari (meadow-eastern and mountain dialects), Udmurt and Komi (Komi-Zyryan and Komi-Permyak dialects).

The spoken Estonian language is divided into three dialects: Coastal, North Estonian and South Estonian. Coastal dialects are common in the coastal strip along the Gulf of Finland, especially in its eastern part.

The largest group of Estonian dialects is the North Estonian dialect. It is distributed in northern and central Estonia, over a vast area stretching from the Baltic Sea to Lake Peipsi. On the basis of the northern dialect (mainly the Central Northern dialect of this dialect), the modern Estonian literary language developed.

The South Estonian dialect is divided into three dialects: Western, Tartu and Võru.

Writing in Estonian appeared in the 16th century. The first printed book was published in 1535. In the XVI-XVIII centuries. literature was published in two dialects: South Estonian and North Estonian. The literary language was under strong German influence. In the 19th century in the process of forming the Estonian nation, a transition was made from two literary languages ​​to a single one with its simultaneous democratization. Enormous merit in the development of the national literary language belongs to the educational writer F. R. Kreutzwald. Currently, individual dialects of the Estonian language, under the influence of school, the press, and radio, have noticeably become closer and are developing under the influence of strong influence literary language.

The Mordovian literary languages, Erzya and Moksha, mainly serve the Mordovian population of the Mordovian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. They were formed after the October Revolution. On the territory of the Mordovian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, Moksha dialects are combined into three dialect groups: northern, southwestern and southeastern. The northern dialects of the Mordovian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic are widespread in northwestern regions: Temnikovsky, Krasnoslobodsky and some others. Southwestern dialects - in the territory of Zubovo-Polyansky, Shiringushsky, Torbeevsky and some other areas. The southeastern group of dialects (otherwise known as Insar) is distributed on the territory of the Insarsky, Ruzaevsky, and partly Staroshaigovsky districts of the Mordovian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. One of the northern Moksha dialects is adopted as the basis for the Moksha-Mordovian literary language. The Erzya-Mordovian literary language is based on dialects spoken mainly in the Ardatov region of the Mordovian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic.

Mordovian literary languages ​​are close and differ from each other in much the same way as Ukrainian differs from Belarusian. The Moksha literary language is characterized by the presence of a front vowel a and a reduced vowel d, as well as voiceless consonants l x, p x, l X, /?ъ x, y x. These sounds are absent in the Erzya literary language. There is also a well-known difference in vocabulary and grammar.

The Mari language has three dialects: meadow, eastern and mountainous, on the basis of which two literary languages ​​were formed - meadow-eastern and mountainous. The Meadow dialect mainly covers the territory of the Mari Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic and adjacent areas of the Kirov region. The southern border runs along the river. Volga, western - along the Bolshaya Kokshaga, Mamoksha and Yaranka rivers, eastern - along the line of the Mariets plant, Mosara, Mari Kitnya, Izi Morko and further to the last Mari settlements.

The Eastern dialect is widespread in the territory of the Tatar, Udmurt and Bashkir Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republics, Sverdlovsk and Perm regions, as well as in the south-eastern part of the Kirov region. The eastern dialect is quite close to the meadow dialect, so representatives of these dialects use a single literary language.

The mountain dialect exists only in the area of ​​Sanchursk, Yaransk (Kirov region), Kilemar (Mari Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic) and nearby territories. In this dialect, two dialects are distinguished: southern (Kozmodemyansky) and northern (Iranian). The literary language is based on the southern dialect. Currently, the Mari are striving to move to a single meadow-eastern literary language, which is used by 80% of the population.

The main difference between the three dialects is expressed mainly in phonetics, for example, in the eastern dialect there is a phoneme a, in the mountain dialect there is a phoneme a and a reduced front vowel y, in the meadow there are no these sounds. The mountain dialect differs from the meadow and eastern dialects much more than the latter from each other. This difference is expressed not only in phonetics, but also in grammar and vocabulary, for example, form plural in mountain dialect it is formed using a special suffix -ela; there are several hundred words of basic vocabulary fund, incomprehensible to representatives of other dialects.

The Mari had a written language even before the revolution, starting in the 18th century, but they did not have a developed literary language: not great literature Mainly religious content was published in different dialects and had different graphics and spelling.

Udmurt language is divided into three dialects: northern, southern and southwestern.

The dialect of the Besermians, a small group living in the northwestern part of the Udmurt Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic among the Udmurts who speak a northern dialect, is somewhat special. It is noticeably different from other dialects of the Udmurt language. There is reason to believe that the Besermyan dialect is the awakened language of some Turkic people. The majority of Udmurts speak northern and southern dialects.

The difference between the adverbs of the Udmurt language is expressed both in vocabulary and in grammar and phonetics. The following phenomena are characteristic of the northern dialect: the use of many words before a bilabial at the beginning w (vaz instead of az with early 5 other dialects); in many dialects of this dialect there is a middle vowel in instead of ы of other dialects (shvr instead of gayr with mouse 5); special vocabulary: chachcha S forest\ zdk big 5, etc. The southern dialect is characterized by the presence of a special nasal consonant g] (ng): bag], ‘face 5; special vocabulary: nylpi with children\atay with father 5 idr. The southwestern dialect is characterized by the presence of front-middle series b, y, close to German b, y; at the beginning of the word db instead of y in other dialects (dad instead of yb s ice 5); in affricates з, х the plosive element is very weak; specific words: aldar with liar\ tenke with ruble; etc.

Writing in the Udmurt language appeared in the 18th century, but before the revolution, unified norms of the literary language did not take shape.

The dialectal basis of the Udmurt literary language, which developed over a number of decades in various dialect environments, is currently not entirely clear. In its grammatical structure and phonetics it is closer to dialects middle zone Udmurtia and contains elements of other dialects both in vocabulary and grammar (for example, along with valyosta, the form of southern dialects valyesyz ‘horses 5’ is allowed).

The Komi language is divided into three dialects: Komi-Zyryan, Komi-Permyak and Komi-Yazva. On the basis of the first two of them, after the October Revolution, special literary languages ​​were formed, and the Komi-Yazvins do not have their own written language. The Komi-Zyryan dialect is divided into dialects: Nizhnevychegodsky, Prisyktyvkarsky, Verkhnevychegodsky, Srednesysolsky, Verkhnesysolsky, Luzsko-Letsky, Udora (Vashko-Mezensky), Izhemsky and Pechora. The Komi-Zyrian literary language is based on the Prisyktyvkar dialect.

The Komi-Permyak dialect consists of three main dialects: Kosinsky-Kama (northern), Invensky (southern) and Zyuzdinsky (in the upper reaches of the Kama, Kirov region). The first two dialects are common in the Komi-Permyak district of the Perm region. The northern dialect is characterized by the presence of the sound l, which is absent in the southern dialect (northern vol, southern vdv with horse 5, northern lok, southern vok^idi 5); The exception is the Nerdvinsky and Onkovsky dialects, which are geographically adjacent to the southern dialect, but have the sound l. Komi-Permyak literary language serving the national population Komi-Permyak district, is based on the Kudymkar-Inven dialect, but with the use of the sound l in the form in which it is used in the Komi-Zyryan literary language. Such moderate use of the consonant l was introduced into the literary language in order to bring together the two main Komi-Permyak dialects.

The difference between the Komi-Zyryan and Komi-Permyak languages ​​is insignificant; it is expressed in some phonetic differences.

The Komi-Yazva dialect is noticeably different from other dialects in its phonetics: it has front-mid vowels o, u, a wide back vowel e, a special stress system and a number of special words: mountain with voice 5, kesek with meat 5, code with well 5, vepnv S say 5, etc.

In the XIV century. missionary Stefan created writing in the ancient Komi language based on Greek and Slavic letters and translated some church books. Ancient Komi writing by the 17th century. was forgotten, replaced by Russian-based graphics. In the XVII-XX centuries. Before the October Revolution, there was some literature in the Komi language, but it was published in different dialects and did not have uniform spelling standards.

Thus, the Mordovians, Mari, Udmurts and Komi are infantile peoples; their literary languages ​​took shape only after the October Revolution. During the years of Soviet power, quite a large literature was created in these languages ​​and a tremendous amount of work was done to standardize the language and scientific study his. Currently, newspapers and magazines, textbooks for primary schools are published in these languages, and fiction all genres: poems, plays, novels, etc.

The Karelians, Vepsians, Vods, Livs, and Izhorians currently do not have a written language in their native language. Experiments to create writing in these languages ​​were carried out several times, but historically they were not consolidated. These were mainly translations of religious books and individual examples of literary creativity.

In the 30s, an attempt was made to create writing, textbooks and schools in the Karelian, Vepsian and Izhorian languages. This attempt played some role in the process of eradicating illiteracy. Karelians currently use Russian or Finnish (mainly northern part Karelia) literary languages, Vepsians - Russian, Vod - Russian or Estonian, Livonians - Latvian, Izhorians - Russian or Finnish.

The Karelian language, widespread in the Karelian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, as well as in the Kalinin and Novgorod regions (where Karelians moved from the north in the 17th century), is divided into dialects: Karelian proper (the northern part of the Karelian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, Kalinin and Novgorod region), Lyudikovsky (south-east of the Karelian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic) and Livvikovsky (south-west of the Karelian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic).

The Izhorian language is genetically closest to Karelian language and to the eastern dialects of Finnish. The main dialects are Soykinsky, Kheva, Lower Luga and Upper Luga.

Vepsians live surrounded by the Russian population in the Leningrad and Vologda regions and in Karelia on the shore of Lake Onega. The Onega group is territorially separated from the rest of the Vepsians. The following dialects of the Vepsian language are distinguished: South Vepsian, Middle Vepsian and Onega.

The Votic language is currently spoken by several dozen people, mainly old people, living in the Leningrad region, not far from the northern border with Estonia.

The Livonian language serves as a means of communication at home for only 400-500 people who are bilingual; Their second language is Latvian, which they use outside the home.

The Sami (Lapp) language is divided into three dialects that are quite distant from each other (western, southern and eastern). In the Soviet Union, on the Kola Peninsula, there lives a small group of Sami who speak an eastern dialect (Lovozersky, Notozero and other dialects). Among the foreign Sami in Finland, Sweden and Norway (there are more than 30 thousand of them) since the 17th century. There is a written language, but it is of very limited use, and a small number of books and newspapers are currently published. In the 30s, an attempt was made to create a written language for the Sami of the USSR based on the Latin alphabet. Currently, the Sami of the Kola Peninsula use the Russian literary language.

Peoples

About the Ural peoples

The history of the Uralic languages ​​and peoples goes back many millennia. The process of formation of modern Finnish, Ugric and Samoyed peoples was very complex. Former name Uralic family of languages ​​- Finno-Ugric, or Finno-Ugric family, was later replaced by Uralic, since the Samoyed languages ​​belonged to this family was discovered and proven.

Ural language family is divided into the Ugric branch, which includes the Hungarian, Khanty and Mansi languages ​​(the latter two are united under common name"Ob-Ugric languages"), into the Finno-Perm branch, which unites the Perm languages ​​(Komi, Komi-Permyak and Udmurt), the Volga languages ​​(Mari and Mordovian), the Baltic-Finnish language group (Karelian, Finnish, Estonian languages, and also the languages ​​of the Vepsians, Vodi, Izhora, Livs), Sami and Samoyed languages, within which a northern branch (Nganasan, Nenets, Enets languages) and a southern branch (Selkup) are distinguished.

Writing for Karelians (in two dialects - Livvik and Karelian proper) and Vepsians was restored to Latin based in 1989. The rest of the peoples of Russia use a writing system based on the Cyrillic alphabet. Hungarians, Finns and Estonians living in Russia use the Latin-based script adopted in Hungary, Finland and Estonia.

The Uralic languages ​​are very diverse and differ markedly from each other.

In all languages ​​united in the Uralic language family, a common lexical layer has been identified, which allows us to assert that 6-7 thousand years ago there was a more or less unified proto-language (base language), which suggests the presence of a proto-Uralic community speaking this language.

The number of peoples speaking Uralic languages ​​is about 23 - 24 million people. The Ural peoples occupy a vast territory that stretches from Scandinavia to the Taimyr Peninsula, with the exception of the Hungarians, who, by the will of fate, found themselves apart from the other Ural peoples - in the Carpathian-Danube region.

Most of the Ural peoples live in Russia, with the exception of Hungarians, Finns and Estonians. The most numerous are the Hungarians (more than 15 million people). The second largest people are the Finns (about 5 million people). There are about a million Estonians. On the territory of Russia (according to the 2002 census) live Mordovians (843,350 people), Udmurts (636,906 people), Mari (604,298 people), Komi-Zyryans (293,406 people), Komi-Permyaks (125,235 people), Karelians (93,344 people) , Vepsians (8240 people), Khanty (28678 people), Mansi (11432 people), Izhora (327 people), Vod (73 people), as well as Finns, Hungarians, Estonians, Sami. Currently, the Mordovians, Mari, Udmurts, Komi-Zyrians, and Karelians have their own national-state entities, which are republics within the Russian Federation.

Komi-Permyaks live on the territory of the Komi-Permyak Okrug of the Perm Territory, the Khanty and Mansi - the Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug-Ugra of the Tyumen Region. Vepsians live in Karelia, in the northeast of the Leningrad region and in the northwestern part of the Vologda region, the Sami live in Murmansk region, in the city of St. Petersburg, Arkhangelsk region and Karelia, Izhora - in the Leningrad region, the city of St. Petersburg, the Republic of Karelia. Vod - in the Leningrad region, in the cities of Moscow and St. Petersburg.

Finno-Ugric languages

Finno-Ugric languages ​​are a group of languages ​​that go back to a single Finno-Ugric proto-language. They form one of the branches of the Uralic family of languages, which also includes the Samoyedic languages. Finno-Ugric languages ​​according to the degree of relationship are divided into groups: Baltic-Finnish (Finnish, Izhorian, Karelian, Vepsian, Votic, Estonian, Livonian), Sami (Sami), Volga (Mordovian - Moksha and Erzya languages, Mari), Permian (Komi -Zyrian, Komi-Permyak, Udmurt), Ugric (Hungarian, Khanty, Mansi). Speakers of the Finno-Ugric language live in northeastern Europe, in part of the Volga-Kama region and the Danube basin, in Western Siberia.

The number of speakers of Finno-Ugric languages ​​is currently about 24 million people, including Hungarians - 14 million, Finns - 5 million, Estonians - 1 million. According to the 1989 population census, 1,153 people live in Russia 987 Mordvins, 746,793 Udmurts, 670,868 Mari, 344,519 Komi-Zyryans, 152,060 Komi-Permyaks, 130,929 Karelians, as well as 1,890 Sami, 22,521 Khanty and 8,474 Mansi. Hungarians (171,420 people) and Finns (67,359 people) also live in Russia.

In traditional Finno-Ugric studies, the following diagram of the family tree of the Finno-Ugric languages, proposed by the Finnish scientist E. Setälä, is accepted (see figure).

According to chronicles, there were also Finno-Ugric languages ​​Merya and Muroma, which fell out of use in the Middle Ages. It is possible that in ancient times the composition of Finno-Ugric languages ​​was wider. This is evidenced, in particular, by numerous substratum elements in Russian dialects, toponymy, and the language of folklore. In modern Finno-Ugric studies, the Meryan language, which represented an intermediate link between the Baltic-Finnish and Mordovian languages, has been fairly fully reconstructed.

Few Finno-Ugric languages ​​have long written traditions. Thus, the most ancient written monuments belong to the Hungarian language (12th century), later Karelian texts (13th century) and monuments of ancient Komi writing (14th century) appeared. The Finnish and Estonian languages ​​received writing in the 16th and 17th centuries, the Udmurt and Mari languages ​​- in the 18th century. Some Baltic-Finnish languages ​​remain unwritten to this day.

According to most scientists, the Proto-Finno-Ugric and Proto-Samoyedic branches separated from the Uralic proto-language in the 6-4 millennium BC. Then separate Finno-Ugric languages ​​developed. In the course of their history, they were influenced by neighboring unrelated Germanic, Baltic, Slavic, Indo-Iranian and Turkic languages, and began to differ significantly from each other. The history of the Sami language is interesting in this regard. There is a hypothesis that the Sami group arose as a result of the transition of the aboriginal population of the Far North of Europe to the use of one of the Finno-Ugric languages, close to the Baltic-Finnish languages.

The degree of similarity between the individual Finno-Ugric languages ​​that make up the linguistic branches is not the same. Thus, researchers note the great similarity of the Hungarian and Mansi languages, the relative proximity of the Perm and Hungarian languages. Many Finno-Ugric scholars doubt the existence of a single ancient Volga language group and the Volga-Finnish proto-language and consider the Mari and Mordovian languages ​​to be representatives of separate language groups.

Finno-Ugric languages ​​are still characterized by common properties and patterns. Many modern people are characterized by vowel harmony, fixed word stress, absence of voiced consonants and combinations of consonants at the beginning of a word, regular interlingual phonetic correspondences. Finno-Ugric languages ​​are united by an agglutinative system with to varying degrees expressiveness. They are characterized by the absence grammatical gender, the use of postpositions, the presence of a personal-possessive declension, the expression of negation in the form of a special auxiliary verb, the wealth of non-finite forms of the verb, the use of a definition before the defined, the invariability of the numeral and adjective in the function of definition. In modern Finno-Ugric languages, at least 1000 common proto-Finno-Ugric roots have been preserved. A number of features bring them closer to languages ​​of other families - Altaic and Indo-European. Some scientists also believe that the Yukaghir language, which is part of the group of Paleo-Asian languages, is close to the Finno-Ugric (Uralic) languages.

Currently, small Finno-Ugric languages ​​are threatened with extinction. These are Votic, Livonian and Izhorian languages, the speakers of which are very few. Population censuses indicate a reduction in the number of Karelians, Mordovians, and Vepsians; The number of speakers of Udmurt, Komi and Mari languages ​​is decreasing. For several decades, the scope of use of Finno-Ugric languages ​​has been declining. Only in lately the public drew attention to the problem of their preservation and development.

Sources:

1. Historical and cultural atlas of the Komi Republic. - M., 1997.
2. Finno-Ugric and Samoyed peoples: Statistical collection. - Syktyvkar, 2006.
3. Tsypanov E.A. "Encyclopedia. Komi language." - Moscow, 1998. - pp. 518-519

Finns never "came" to Finland because Finns, Finnish identity or Finnish language in in the existing sense have never existed anywhere outside of Finland. What is now considered "Finnish" was formed here over thousands of years, influenced by many peoples, languages ​​and cultures.

Many Finns learned in school that our ancestors arrived from the east (where languages ​​related to Finnish are still spoken) approximately 2,000 years ago. This was a plausible theory at the time, but nothing more: contrary to what was believed in the first half of the 20th century, Finland has been continuously inhabited since the last Ice Age, i.e. our first ancestors lived here already about 9,000 years ago. Very little is known about these first people of Finland: we do not know where they came from (from the south, of course...) and what language they spoke (it could have been Finno-Ugric or even some other language with a completely unknown ancestry ). Of course, after this Finland experienced many cultural and linguistic influences from many directions.

Several decades ago, the Finno-Ugric family tree was interpreted as a map showing how Finno-Ugric peoples migrated to their current habitats. Modern archaeological evidence does not support such extensive movements. In addition, recent research into loanwords has shown the presence of very ancient Indo-European loanwords, especially in Finnish and the westernmost branch of the FU languages; this means that some "proto-form" of the Finnish language must have been functioning in the Baltic Sea region for a very long time.

On the other hand, the Finnish language is of course related to the languages ​​spoken in central Russia and Western Siberia. This means either that the area of ​​the Finno-Ugric (Uralic) proto-language was very vast, stretching, perhaps, from the Baltic Sea to the Urals, or what we should find alternative models to explain the spread of these languages.

Some scholars suggest that the Uralic languages ​​must have functioned much further west, even in the areas that are now Northern Germany and Denmark. In particular, Kalevi Wiik, professor of phonetics, states that the Germanic languages ​​were originally “spoken by Indo-Europeans with a Uralic accent.” However, Wiik's hypothesis met with serious criticism from Finnish Indo-Europeanists. There is no hard evidence to help us identify the languages ​​that were probably spoken in northern Europe before the rise of the modern Indo-European and Uralic languages.

One of the best ways to make Finn jump up is to tell him/her that Finns have slanted eyes and speak Russian or a similar language. In fact - almost any Finn will answer this - English language and almost everything European languages, including Russian and others Slavic languages, belong to the great and powerful Indo-European family of languages ​​- but not Finnish. The Finnish language, together with Estonian, Hungarian, Sami (“Laplandic”) and many others (see below), belong to the Finno-Ugric (or Uralic) family of languages.

Of course the Russians were ours eastern neighbors for a thousand years or so. Before the East Slavic tribes came to what is now Northern (Central) Russia, the area was probably inhabited by Finno-Ugric tribes who spoke languages ​​now long extinct. Some names of these peoples and languages ​​are mentioned in old chronicles, but no other evidence remains. It has been established, for example, that Moscow is located on ancient Finno-Ugric territory. Later, Finnish root languages ​​(Finnish and its closest relatives) clearly influenced neighboring northwestern Russian dialects. East Finnic languages ​​(like Karelian) were also deeply imbued with Russian loanwords and other influences. Finnish speakers, however, were mainly subject to Swedish influence (until 1809) and received most of their vocabulary and cultural influences from the West.

Finnish has some Russian loanwords, and somewhat later influences can be seen, for example, in Helsinki slang (words like place"place" or snaijata"to know" were used on the streets of trilingual Helsinki in the 19th century), but, generally speaking, the influence of the Russian language in Finnish was rather weak compared to the influence of Swedish. Even now, although Finland often claims to have been an important gateway between East and West, there are surprisingly few Finns who know Russian (in fact, far fewer than Finns who know, for example, German or French).

No, that's not true. No serious student of the Finno-Ugric languages ​​has ever doubted their common origin. Of course, there are different opinions as to how this common origin and the relationship between FU languages ​​should be specifically explained and interpreted.

What was really wrong was probably an outdated idea regarding the cultural or even racial connections of the Finno-Ugrians. In addition, there are people who have more or less crazy ideas about the connection of their native language with some very prestigious or exotic languages ​​(for example, Hungarian with Sumerian). There may be political or nationalist motives, as in 19th century Hungary, when some Hungarians, who did not want to be related to the "most primitive peoples of Eurasia", tried to prove that the Hungarian language was related to the Turkic languages ​​- which would make them descendants or relatives of the powerful warriors of the East.

The FU languages ​​still share some central characteristics and vocabulary elements, allowing us to reconstruct many features and details of a common proto-language.

From this proto-language, existing FU languages ​​developed in different directions, subject to both internal drifts and foreign influences. Traditionally this has been illustrated by the model family tree, which is of course a rough and simplified description. Currently, many linguists paint a bush-like model, with the main branches (Finnish, Sami, Mordovian, Mari, Permian, Ugric, Samoyedic) as equals; their internal relations cannot be satisfactorily described in terms of a family tree model.

The proto-language was spoken at least about six thousand years ago (about the same time as the Indo-European proto-language); this means that the most distant branches of the FU family of languages ​​are very distantly related. The kinship between Finnish and Hungarian can be compared to the kinship between English and Hindi. (This means that there is, in any case, no more than racial or cultural similarity between Finns and Hungarians...)

Languages ​​are genetically related if their common characteristics - words, affixes, features - can be explained by inheritance from a common proto-language.

It is not easy to discover such common characteristics. We must take into account:

• Random similarities. Since the sound systems of all the world's languages ​​use a relatively small number of sounds (usually about thirty), assembled on fairly universal principles, it is statistically very likely that different languages ​​have very similar words- especially if these languages ​​have similar sound systems and if these words are descriptive in nature.
• Typological connections. Turkic languages ​​have many structural features similar to Finnish, for example, such as vowel harmony and suffix morphology (endings added to the end of words). However, this only shows that some features often coincide: Turkic and FU languages ​​(like some other languages ​​of the world) simply coincidentally belong to the same type - agglutive.
• Later influences. Similar sounding words- not necessarily a common inheritance: for example vunukka"grandson" (in some East Finnish dialects) is not originally related to Hungarian unoka, but both are borrowings from Slavic languages.
• Change in sound. Over hundreds and thousands of years, words and sounds can change beyond recognition: would you have noticed that Sanskrit chakra related to English wheel"wheel", or Finnish ydin"essence" with Hungarian velo? Or might you know that Hungarian fiú"boy" and ház"house" is not related to Romanian fiu and German house, but related to Finnish poika And kota, respectively? (Cm. more Indo-European examples: "Does hippo have feathers?")

You can't prove genetic relatedness by simply finding similarities in word lists and dictionaries. Instead, you must find systematic correspondences, reconstruct common proto-forms, explain the course of their changes, and relate all this to what is known about the history of the languages ​​in question and languages ​​in general. Moreover, the similarity of words is not enough, because words change and are replaced: You must find matches also in grammar and affixes.

Most Finno-Ugric scholars would answer: we don’t know, at least nothing has been proven yet. Some linguists have suggested connections between the Finno-Ugric and Indo-European families of languages, but it is more likely that Indo-Europeans are simply our old neighbors: FU languages ​​have some very ancient Indo-European loanwords.

Some other hypotheses have also been proposed (Ural-Altaic, Ural-Dravidian, Finno-Basque, Hungarian-Sumerian, etc., etc.); as a rule, they are either based on outdated ideas or created without expertise in one (or both) of the groups of languages ​​in question. The Ural-Altaic hypothesis is still alive in some places as the generally accepted belief that "Finnish and Turkish are related." However, as stated earlier, the structural similarities between Finnish (or other Finno-Ugric languages) and Turkish (or other Turkic or "Altaic" languages) are of a typological nature: these languages ​​belong to the same type. Basic dictionaries in these languages ​​are very different and do not allow for the reconstruction of a common proto-language. In addition, the existence of the "Altaic" family of languages ​​(Turkic, Mongolian and Tungusic languages, possibly also Korean) is also questioned by many scientists.

(While not genetically related, Turkish has some connections with the Finno-Ugric languages. Some FU languages ​​spoken in Central Russia and Western Siberia, influenced neighboring Turkic languages, and Hungarian has many layers of borrowings from various Turkic-speaking tribes.)

Unfortunately, it is very likely that genetic relationships outside the currently known language families will never be proven. There have been some attempts, such as the Nostratic theory (a macro-family that includes many families of Old World languages), as well as the "Prime World" hypothesis, which, however, must be regarded as wild fantasy (more information is contained in the excellent FAQ sci.lang ).

This question, together with the eternal "Where did the Finns come from?", is the mother of all Finno-Ugric FAQs. After years of studying etymological dictionaries and other exotic material, I have finally compiled a new page dedicated to this question, along with a new bibliography ...

The Finno-Ugric or Uralic (like Tapani Salminen, I use these two words interchangeably) family of languages ​​consists of the following branches:

• Finnish(Finnic), or "Baltic-Finnish" languages: Finnish and his immediate family: Karelsky, Lyudikovsky(in Russian-language sources it is considered as a dialect of Karelian, along with Livvikovsky - V.K.), Vepsian, Ingrian(in Russian-language sources it is not mentioned as a separate language, but refers to dialects of Finnish - V.K.), Vodian, Estonian, Livonian.
• Sami(“Laplandic”): approximately ten languages, the largest of which is North Sami("Norwegian-Lappish", "Fjell Lapp").
• Mordovian: two standard languages: Erzya And Moksha.
• Mari(Cheremis language): two standard languages, West(Mountain Marie) and Oriental(Lugovoy Marie). The Mordovian and Mari branches are sometimes lumped together as the "Volgaic languages", although they are not particularly closely related.
• Perm languages:
• Komi(“Zyryansky” and Permyatsky (Komi-Permyatsky)).
• Udmurt(the language of "Votyakov", in world literature this ethnonym (Votyak), unfortunately, is often confused with Votic (Votic or Votian) of the Finnish branch).
• Ugric languages:
• Hungarian
• Ob-Ugric languages ​​in Western Siberia: Khanty(Ostyak language) and Muncie("Vogulov" language), both with very deep dialect variations
• Samoyed languages(V western Siberia):
• Northern: Nenets(Yurakov language), Enetsky(language of the "Yenisei Samoyeds"), Nganasan(language of the Tavgi people)
• Southern: Selkup(language of the "Ostyak-Samoyeds"), some extinct languages ​​(the last representative of the nationality Kamasin died 1988).

(The names in parentheses and quotation marks, such as "Ostyak" or "Zyryansky", used primarily in the Western world, as well as in pre-Soviet Russia, were originally given by neighbors and are often considered incorrect by the peoples themselves. Some scholars still use them because the use of names, used by the peoples themselves, like “Khanty” or “Komi”, is, in their opinion, only a “democratic” relic of Soviet hypocrisy. However, it seems that the use of their own ethnonyms will nevertheless become a standard. Some “exonyms” also have the danger of being introduced. misleading: the name "Ostyak" was used for three different peoples and languages, i.e. the Khanty of the Ugric branch, the Selkup of the Samoyed branch, as well as the Kets or "Yenisei Ostyaks", speaking one of the "Paleo-Siberian" languages ​​​​not included in Uralic language family, and this term still confuses local authorities and their statistics, and even the local residents themselves!)

Finnish, Estonian and Hungarian are official languages majority in independent states and are thus relatively safe. Other FU languages ​​(like, in fact, most languages ​​of the world) are more or less endangered.

The Volga and Perm languages ​​have hundreds of thousands of speakers, but the majority of people who speak them fluently are elderly and live in rural areas. Most urban residents and young people tend to prefer Russian. These peoples had their own titular republics already in the Soviet Union. However, these republics have a Russian-speaking majority, and Russian dominates in most areas of language use. In addition, the territories of the titular republics do not cover all areas inhabited by these peoples. In recent years, following the collapse of the Soviet Union, national awakening has brought about some positive developments, especially in the Komi and Mari republics.

Of the less common FU languages, for example, Votic, Livonian and several of the smaller Sami languages ​​are almost extinct. Even languages ​​spoken by thousands of people are in great danger, since no one is helping children and young people to become full-fledged speakers of their languages.

Much depends on

• Financial realities: the possibilities of national education, the press and cultural events (local authorities and organizations are supported, for example, by the M. A. Castren Society), the people’s own will and their endurance in difficult conditions;
• Environmental policies: the future of the northern FU languages ​​is connected with the preservation of the traditional way of life (reindeer herding, hunting, fishing). Particularly in Siberia and the Kola Peninsula, it is now threatened by environmental pollution caused by mining, oil and gas industries and nuclear testing;
• Language policy and the level of knowledge: do people themselves consider bilingualism a wealth, or do authorities or even parents themselves encourage children to renounce the language of their ancestors “for their own good”?

There is no such thing as "Finno-Ugric culture" or "Finno-Ugric way of life." FU languages ​​live on the lips of peoples living in different environments.

When you think of Finno-Ugric languages, most Finns picture exotic hunters and reindeer herders living in wigwam-like huts on the Arctic tundra. This picture, to some extent, corresponds to the northern Finno-Ugrians (Sami, Ob Ugrians, Samoyeds), whose history and way of life have many analogies with the (better known) destinies of some indigenous peoples of North America.

However, the Finnish, Volga and Permian peoples do not fit into this picture: they were farmers for thousands of years, and their lives were similar to those of their Russian-, Swedish-, Latvian- or Turkic-speaking neighbors. (Replace the cabin with a log house, and the tundra with forests and fields; You can also imagine apple trees or beehives with bees around the house.) The Hungarians, before settling in Hungary (according to old chronicles, this happened exactly in 896 AD), were , probably by nomadic horsemen in the steppes of what is now Ukraine or southern Russia.

In the last hundred years, urbanization and industrialization have also affected the Finno-Ugric countries. In some cases this meant a loss of language and identity. In Russia, factories and growing cities also brought in a largely Russian-speaking population, which is one of the reasons (though far from the only one) why the Finno-Ugric peoples in Russia are a minority even in their titular regions.

Even similar questions are sometimes asked. Of course, all languages ​​are constantly changing, but Finnish, in some respects (especially sound system), is very conservative: he even preserved some Indo-European borrowings in a form very close to the original. Finnish kuningas closer to ancient Germanic kuningaz than modern "descendants": English king, German könig or Swedish k(on)ung(or Russian prince, borrowing from the same Germanic root).

On the other hand, standard Finnish can be called a young language. The first books written in Finnish appeared in the 16th century, but modern standard Finnish was created only in the 19th century, as a mixture of words and properties from different dialects.

Because Finnish differs from Indo-European languages ​​in many visible respects, it appears even more exotic than it actually is. In fact, FU languages ​​are quite typical northern Eurasian languages. Especially the Baltic-Finnish languages ​​were deeply imbued with Indo-European (especially Baltic and Germanic, as well as Slavic) influence, both in vocabulary and grammar.

Finns themselves often believe that their language is "exclusive" because all the foreign languages ​​they know are Indo-European, and they consider Indo-European features to be universal. Indeed, the absence of grammatical gender (FU languages ​​have only one word for "he" and "she"), the absence of the verb "to have" (Finnish uses structures like "the book with me" to say "I have a book") or the absence of grammatical expressive future tense causes some tension - but in fact this is quite common.

Standard Finnish, like most other written languages, has an "official" grammar and rules. These rules, of course, are not dictated by heavenly inspiration, but are formulated by people. These people try to make the rules as good as possible based on what is native and known to most Finns (traditions of written Finnish, dialects), or what they think is clear, logical or even beautiful if possible. However, things may be controversial; sometimes they are just a matter of taste. This means that forms that deviate from the standard are not necessarily "worse" or "more un-Finnish" than other forms.

The idea of ​​"good Finnish" is a matter of equality. Our traditions of Scandinavian democracy require a neutral standard language that can serve all citizens equally well. (The situation in England, where - as they say - a person's speech reveals his social background and what school he graduated from, is often cited as a terrifying example in this regard ;-).) In Finland, the Finnish Language Research Center includes the Finnish Language Agency, which gives advice on questions of "correctness".

Of course, having a standard language does not mean that all Finns must use the standard language in all cases. Finnish, like all other languages, has many dialects. Although schools and facilities mass media have smoothed out many of the features of the original dialects spoken at the beginning of this century, local (areal) differences still remain - some scholars use the term "areal spoken languages". In everyday use, Standard Finnish, being a relatively artificial formation based on many different dialects, is gradually giving way to colloquial varieties of Finnish, and they are used in increasingly formal contexts.

Our most ancient words, dating back to the Uralic (Finno-Ugric) proto-language, which was spoken at least 6000 years ago, are, for example, elää"live", uida"swim", kala"fish", nuoli"arrow", suksi"skis", numbers from 1 to 6: yksi, kaksi, kolme, neljä, viisi, kuusi(more examples on the new Finno-Hungarian page.) Some of these may be ancient borrowings from an Indo-European proto-language, e.g. nimi"title" ("name") or tehdä"do". "Younger" words include descriptive formations and loanwords. Finnish has many means of forming words from other words, and some loanwords have become completely independent. For example, no Finn (except a linguist) would think that the word toinen"second, other" derived from tuo"This".

The Finnish language has many layers of Indo-European borrowings. The oldest probably belong to the Proto-Indo-European stage. Finnish later received loanwords from Baltic (for example, morsian"bride", silta"bridge", kirves"axe", härkä"ox", etc.) and Germanic languages. Many Germanic loanwords are technical terms (for example, rauta"hardware" and laiva"ship") or associated with organized society and power (for example, kuningas"king", ruhtinas"prince", hallita"manage", tuomita"judge"). The influx of Germanic loanwords continued from modern Swedish; Until the last century, Swedish was the language of education and administration in Finland and gave us hundreds of loanwords. The influence of Russian was clearly more modest, although there are some (ancient) Russian loanwords common to all dialects of Finnish (and related languages), e.g. vapaa"free", risti"cross", pappi"priest", lusikka"spoon". Now, of course, English is an important source of loanwords.

The Sami languages ​​gave borrowings mainly to the northern Finnish dialects (from Sami words, tundra And mursu"walrus" also spread to other European languages). The Estonian language received hundreds of Finnish borrowings, but gave us only a couple of neologisms: lavastaja"scene designer" lennokki"airplane model"

Many Finnish words have no analogues in related languages(outside the Finnish group). It has been suggested that they may be borrowings from unknown language, spoken here before the arrival of our linguistic ancestors, but it is also possible that they are ancient Uralic words whose analogues simply do not survive in other Uralic languages, or that they are Indo-European loanwords yet to be discovered.