The Republic of Karelia news agency is launching a national project. We want to tell about the people who lived for centuries on the shores of Onega and Ladoga lakes, on the White Sea and along the Karelian rivers. About our ancestors and contemporaries. About people.

The Republic still has more questions than answers. Where did Pakkaine come from - Olonets Santa Claus? How to cook turnip? With whom did the Karelian rangers fight as part of the Swedish army? Is it true that Kalevala is an encyclopedia of Finnish life?

We will all know and tell. And on the way we will learn languages: Karelian, Finnish, Vepsian. There will be no homework - we remember everything in the lesson.

Hello! Welcome!

Xenia ZHELEZKO,
teacher of Finnish and Karelian languages ​​at the Finno-Ugric school named after I. Elias Lönnrot:
"Hello, welcome!" (Karelian)

For those who want to compare greetings in Finnish, Karelian and Vepsian, our translator has compiled a small dictionary:

Hello!

fin. — terve
Karelian. (Livvik, South Karelian dialect) — terveh teile
Veps. — tervhen

Welcome!

fin. — tervetuloa
Karelian. — terveh tulles
Veps. — tervhen tuldes

If greetings "Hello!" and "Welcome!" used in the same context, it is enough to say:

fin. — Tervetuloa!
Karelian. — Terveh tulles!
Veps. — Tervhen tulde!

peoples

First, let's break everything down. Several peoples lived together on the territory of Karelia for many centuries - each of them contributed something of its own to the historical appearance of the republic. The greatest influence (besides Russians) was exerted by Karelians, Vepsians and Finns.

Over the past thousand years, these peoples have developed side by side, exchanging cultural achievements, mixing with each other - and as a result, the modern Baltic-Finnish peoples living in our republic have appeared. However, within each of them there are separate groups. Sometimes they differ in the dialect of their language, sometimes in their place of residence, and sometimes in both.

Tatiana BERDASHEVA,
researcher at the National Museum:

- In the first third of the 20th century, many expeditions and solo researchers (professionals and just lovers of antiquity) came to Karelia and the North-West.

The complex expeditions were headed by a talented scientist, anthropologist and ethnologist D.A. Zolotarev (1885-1935), head of the ethnographic department of the Russian Museum. Well-known scientists, photographers, artists, folklore researchers, ethnographers came to Karelia. The purpose of the expeditions is to study the culture different peoples north: Karelians, Finns, Saami, Vodi, Izhors and Russians.

Thanks to photographers who studied our region in the 1920s, we see the faces of people who lived in Karelia almost a hundred years ago. The life of that generation cannot be called easy. Quite recently, the Revolution died down, the Civil War (and intervention in the north) swept through the country like a skating rink.

Still remembered and honored traditions. But the peasant life of rural families has changed irrevocably.

Karely

In the Karelian people, scientists traditionally distinguish three groups, which differ primarily in the features of the language and place of residence.

Proper Karelians

In the north of the republic, for several centuries now, there have been people who call themselves simply “Karels”. Scientists also refer to them as "Karelians proper" or "Northern Karelians". Their language is closest to Finnish, most often it is considered the reference dialect of Karelian.

Lesson prepared:
Evgeny Lisakov, journalist
Alisa Agranovich, journalist
Igor Georgievsky, photographer
Vitaly Golubev, photographer
Maxim Shumeiko, videographer
Sergey Belyaev, videographer
Dmitry Hambir, designer
Pavel Stepura, designer
Elena Fomina, editor

With the support of the Ministry of the Republic of Karelia for National Policy, Relations with Public, Religious Associations and Mass Media

KARELIAN LANGUAGE belongs to the Baltic-Finnish group of the Uralic language family. According to the 1989 census, there were 130,929 Karelians in the USSR, of which 81,300 (59%) were in Karelia; 30.1 thousand (22%) lived in the Tver region of the Russian Federation, 7.5 thousand lived in the Leningrad and Murmansk regions; 10 thousand Karelians live in Finland, mainly in the province of Oulu. 47.3% of them consider Karelian as their native language. The Karelian language is used as a means of everyday communication mainly in rural areas; Most Karelians are bilingual - they also speak Russian. A certain number of Karelians live in Finland and Sweden.

Two ancient tribes took part in the ethnogenesis of the Karelians - the Korela and the whole.

Phonetic variants of the self-name of the ethnic group differ in dialects: karjalaiset(Northern Karelians proper), karjalaћet(Middle Karelians - Tunguda, Padans), karjalaset(Tikhvin Karelians), karjalazet(Livvik area). The Karelian language is divided into three dialects: Karelian proper, Livvik and Ludik, which are divided into numerous dialects. Karelian proper is spoken in the northern and middle parts of Karelia, in Murmansk, Tver, Novgorod and Leningrad regions Russian Federation. The Livvik dialect is widespread in the northeastern part of the Ladoga Lake region, and the Ludikov dialect is distributed along the western coast of Lake Onega. Karelians moved from the Karelian lands proper to the region of Tver in the 17th century. after the conclusion of the Stolbovsky peace treaty, according to which Ladoga and Ingermanland were ceded to Sweden. Harassment by the conquering Swedes forced the Karelian population to move to Russia, which is safer for them.

The first mention of the Karelians appears in the Scandinavian sagas in the 8th century, during the 9th-10th centuries. this ethnonym is repeatedly found in ancient Norwegian and Icelandic sources; it appears in Russian chronicles from the 12th century.

There is a rich oral-poetic tradition in the Karelian language; an epic was composed in the Karelian and Finnish languages. Kalevala. In the past, there was an underdeveloped written language. The oldest monuments - birch bark letters - date back to the 13th century. In the 1930s, attempts were made to create a single literary language, but due to large dialect differences, they failed. For the same reasons, the Republic of Karelia has not yet adopted a language law. V last years measures have been taken to recreate the Karelian script; the Karelian language is taught in preschool institutions, schools, and some universities. Radio and television programs are broadcast in Karelian, periodicals are published in which the authors of publications, due to the lack of a standard language, use their native dialects.

The phonology of the Karelian language has significantly moved away from the common Baltic-Finnish one: most of the ancient long vowels in the first syllable have turned into diphthongs, consonantism has replenished with voiced consonants, and whistling has changed into hissing. The vowel harmony is preserved. The main stress in native words falls on the first syllable, the secondary stress on subsequent odd syllables, except for the last one.

The agglutinative morphological type is mainly preserved, but inflection has also become important: nouns with declension can have different stems in different cases, for example, the noun "water" vede-h(illative singular), vie-n(genitive singular), vet "-t" ä(partitive singular), (partitive plural). The declension system, as in other Baltic-Finnish languages, has a large number of cases. In general, 15 of them are distinguished in the Karelian language, although there are dialectal differences: in Karelian proper, the allative (external case of approach) coincided in form with the adessive (external case of being on something); in Livvik and Ludik - ablative (distant case) with adessive, as well as elative (case of getting out of something) with inessive (case of being in something).

The verb has forms of reflexive conjugation, which are not typical for other Baltic-Finnish languages ​​(except Vepsian).

1. Karelian in the family of Finno-Ugric languages
Language is one of the main distinguishing features of the nationality. There are about four thousand languages ​​on the globe. Most of them form the so-called language families, which are characterized by a common origin and certain similarities in structure.
Karelian belongs to the Finno-Ugric family of languages. It has been established that in the Finno-Ugric languages ​​there are over 1000 words of common origin. For comparison, here are some lexical correspondences for various groups of Finno-Ugric languages:

The original homeland of the Finno-Ugric peoples, whose main occupation was hunting and fishing (to some extent also cattle breeding and agriculture), most scientists consider the basin of the river. Kama to the Urals. In terms of its social organization, it was a tribal society. Around 2500-3000 BC. e. the clans that made up the Finnish and Ugric branches diverged.
Around the 1st millennium BC. e. (or maybe a little earlier) the population, which is commonly called the Baltic-Finnish, was drawn to the Baltic Sea - the linguistic ancestors of modern Karelians, Finns, Vepsians, Estonians, etc. Some scientists suggest that the Baltic coast was inhabited by the Baltic-Finnish tribes already in III millennium BC. e.

As an independent ethnic formation, the Korela tribe crystallized before the 9th century. D. V. Bubrich notes: “The first
the mention of Korela as Kirjala is contained in the Egil-saga, which, although written down rather late, is recognized as reflecting antiquity well. According to this saga, in 874 a war broke out between the Kven leader Faravid (Kvens were natives of Yami, operating near the northern part of the Gulf of Bothnia) and Kore-la. Geographically, the tribe occupied the western coast of Lake Ladoga. Undoubtedly, before this period, the Korela tribe constituted a closer unity with other Baltic-Finnish tribes (em, sum, whole, Estonians, etc.), as evidenced by significant common features both in the phonetics and grammar of these languages, and in the vocabulary. In all Baltic-Finnish languages, the main stress falls on the first syllable and the secondary stress on every odd syllable except the last one. All these languages ​​(except Vepsian) are characterized by the alternation of consonant grades. Most of the Baltic-Finnish languages ​​have vowel harmony. In all the Baltic-Finnish languages, some common phonetic historical processes have taken place.

In the field of morphology, the following common features are characteristic of the Baltic-Finnish languages: the presence of 10 to 15 cases in them (in Vepsian, due to the late development of cases from postpositions, there are much more of them); the case system of these languages ​​is characterized by the division of local cases into internal local and external local; Along with prepositions, they also contain postpositions. The verb in the Baltic-Finnish languages ​​has compound tenses (perfect and pluperfect).

A characteristic phenomenon of the syntax of the Baltic-Finnish languages, which distinguishes them from other Finno-Ugric languages, is the agreement of the word being defined with the defining word in number and case.

Especially bright the linguistic relationship of Karelian with other Baltic-Finnish languages ​​is manifested in the vocabulary:
Karelian Finnish Veps Estonian
korva korva korv V korv ’yxo’
nena nena nena nina 'hoc'
ossa otsa 'forehead'
rinta rinta rind rind ‘chest’
sormi sormi sor'm sorm 'finger'
laksi lasch iaht ‘bay’
koski koski kos'k 'threshold',
'waterfall'
tuuli tuuli 'wind'

The Karelian language throughout the territory of residence of the Karelians is divided into a number of dialects and smaller territorial linguistic units - dialects, dialects. The speech of the Karelians on the territory of the KASSR does not have a single center with linguistic differences smoothly diverging along the periphery, but represents sharply defined areas with characteristic features characteristic of each of them. These features are manifested in phonetics, morphology and vocabulary.

In Soviet Finno-Ugric studies, the following division of the Karelian language is accepted. contains three dialects: Karelian proper (in central and northern Karelia, as well as in the Kalinin, Leningrad and Novgorod regions), Livvik (near the eastern coast of Lake Ladoga and further into the depths of the Olonets Isthmus) and Ludikov (in a narrow strip along the eastern edge of the Livvik dialect, not far from Lake Onega) Adverbs are divided into dialects, and those, in turn, into dialects. In some areas of distribution of Karelian speech, there is a sharp opposition between Karelian speech proper, on the one hand, and Livvik and Ludikov, on the other, so significant that it sometimes makes it difficult for representatives of different dialects to understand each other.

The most significant features of pronunciation that characterize the adverbs of the Karelian language are the final voicing of the word and the alternation of consonant grades. In place of the final a (a) of the proper Karelian dialect in the Livvik dialect, in certain cases, and (i) appears, in the Ludik dialect these vowels either disappear or go into e or o (5):
Proper Karelian Livvikovskoe Dikovskoe
orava oravu oravu
huapa huabu huabe
valta valdu valde
isanta izandu ""ande
'squirrel'
'aspen'
'power'
'master'

Alternations can be quantitative (for example, doubled consonants kk, tt, pp alternate with single k, t, p) and qualitative (for example, k alternates with v or the combination nt alternates with pp).
In the proper Karelian dialect, both quantitative and qualitative alternations of consonants are presented. In the Livvik dialect there are quantitative alternations, but there are no qualitative alternations of combinations ht, st, tk.

In Ludikov's dialect there are only quantitative alternations. This is clearly seen if we put the names in the singular and plural (where the syllable is closed):
hukka-hukat aitta-aitat joki-jovet tapa-tavat halko-halot
Livvikovskoe Lyudikovskoe
hukku-hukat hukke-hukat ‘wolf’
aittu-aitat aitte-aitat 'barn'
jogi-jovet d'ogi-d'oget 'river'
taba-tavat taba-tabat 'custom'
halgo-ballot halg-halgot 'log'
ranta-rannat randu-rannat rande-randat 'shore'
lastu-lassut lastu-lastut lastu-lastut 'sliver'
matka-matat matku-matkat matk-matkat 'path'

Morphological differences are manifested primarily in the case system. The Karelian dialect itself is characterized by three internal local cases: inessive, illative and elative - and two external local cases: ablative and adessive. In the Livvik and Ludikov dialects, the elative coincides with the inessive, and the ablative with the adessive.

The Karelian dialect proper differs from the Livvik and Ludikov dialect also in the formation of reflexive forms of the verb and forms of the 3rd person singular imperfect. In Ludikov's dialect there are peculiar initial forms of the verb.
There are also differences in vocabulary. Since the differences in it are leveled out faster (dictionary borrowings are the most mobile), it is difficult to find words that clearly delimit these adverbs of the Karelian language. And the very boundaries between adverbs are blurred due to natural reasons. Speaking about the differences in the vocabulary between dialects, we can only talk about words that are characteristic of a larger group of dialects of a particular dialect:

Proper Karelian Livvikovskoe Lyudikovskoe
vasen hurai hura 'left'
vuattiet sovat sobat 'clothes'
kirppu condzoi condzoi, sonzar ‘flea’
paksu jarei, sangei dared ‘thick’
akie rakki rakk hot’
valehella kielastua kielastada 'to lie'
malttua ellendia elgeta ’understand’

Thus, in phonetics, morphology, and partly in vocabulary, traces of the ancient confrontation between the Karelian dialect proper, on the one hand, and the Livvik and Ludik dialect, on the other hand, have been preserved. This opposition is due to deep historical reasons. In accordance with the theory of D. V. Bubrikh, the Livvik and Ludik dialects of the Karelian language have a Vepsian basis. This led D. V. Bubrikh to the conclusion that the Karelian people formed from significant parts of the Korela tribe and individual parts of the entire tribe. During the period of the creation of Karelian autonomy, and especially in connection with the creation in the 30s of writing in the Karelian language, the process of consolidating Karelian dialects and erasing dialect differences somewhat intensified. However, this process has not been completed to the end.

When talking about the features of a language, they usually compare it either with a closely related language or with another language that is well known. Karelian and Russian belong to different language families; they also differ typologically, that is, in their structure. However, like all languages ​​of the world, they have common features.

Since it was in interaction with the Russian language for a long time, certain features characteristic of the Russian language were developed in its sound structure. It is likely that voiced and soft consonants in most cases appeared in many Karelian dialects under the influence of the Russian language. TO characteristic features The sound structure of the Karelian language can be attributed to the presence of long consonants, complex sounds dz, dz. Vowel harmony is specific for the Karelian language, the essence of which lies in the fact that if front vowels a, b, y appear in the first syllable, then front vowels appear in subsequent syllables of the word. If in the first syllable there are back vowels a, o, and, then in subsequent syllables, vowels of the same series. The exception is the vowels e and i, which can appear in words with both front and back vowels. Vowels are also opposed to short and long, longitude has a meaningful character, for example: tuli 'fire' - tuuli 'wind' Diphthongs are characteristic of the Karelian language (triphthongs in some dialects). Diphthongs (triphthongs) are a combination of two (three) vowels pronounced in one syllable.

Karelian typologically belongs to the so-called agglutinating languages ​​(from the Latin word agglutino 'glue, attach'). This means that each grammatical indicator has only one grammatical meaning and is attached (“glued”) in a certain order either to the root of the word or to another formant. For example, in the Karelian word form kot'i-loi-ssa 'in the houses', with the word kot'i 'house', the indicator -loi- denotes plurality, -ssa - being inside. (Compare in Russian: v dom-ax, where the indicator -ax denotes both being inside, together with the preposition "in", and the plural.) Along with agglutination, the Karelian language has a fairly developed system of alternating degrees of consonants and vowels of the word stem.

Karelian has basically the same parts of speech as Russian. The exception is postpositions, which have the same function as prepositions, but come after the noun they govern, for example: talon kohassa 'opposite the house'
The noun in the proper Karelian dialect has 12 cases (in the Kalinin dialects - 13):

Case and its meaning Indicator Singular Plural
case number number
hammas' 'tooth'
1. Nominative (who? what?) -t hammas hampahat1
2. Genitive (of whom? What?) -p, -en hampahan hampahien
3. Accusative (of whom? What?) 4. Partitive (of whom? What?) -p, -ta, -e hampahan hammas hammasta hampahat hampahie
5. Inessive (in whom? in what?) -ssa (-ssa).hampahassa hampahissa
6. Elative (from whom? from what?) -sta (-sta) hampahasta hampahista
7. Illative (in whom? in hampahah hampahih
8. Adesiv (who? what?) -11a hampahalla hampahilla
9. Ablative (from whom? from what?) hampahalta hampahilta
10. Essive (to be who? what?) -pa hampahana hampahina
11. Translative (to become who? What?) -ksi (-ksi) hampahakse hampahikse
12. Abessive -tta harnpahatta hampahitta
(without whom? without what?)

Adjectives, telatives, and pronouns are also declined in these cases.
sign plural are in the nominative and accusative -t, in other oblique cases -i- or -loi-(loi-). The category of possessiveness is represented by suffixes of the 2nd and 3rd person singular, which are attached to nouns denoting close relatives, for example: tautto-s 'your father', tuatto-h 'his father' No grammatical gender.
Verbal forms are divided into personal (finite) and impersonal (infinite). The personal forms of the verb change in three persons, two numbers, four forms of tense: two simple (present and imperfect) and two compound (perfect and pluperfect). Verbs have four moods: indicative (has all four forms of tense), subjunctive (present and perfect), possibilistic (present and perfect), and imperative (present).
1 The forms of the name and the verb and the following examples, unless otherwise specified, are given according to the proper Karelian dialect (Kalevala dialect).

Indicative sanuo ’to say’ Present
affirmative form
negative form
Unit h.
1 l. mie sanon l. sie sanot 3 hian sanou
Mn. h. myo sanomma tyo sanotta hyo sanotah
Unit h. en sano et sano ei sano
'I say, I will say', 'you say, you will say', etc.
Imperfect
sanoin
2 vanoit
3 sano
'I said, I said',
1 l. olen sanon
2 l. olet sanon
3 l. on sanon
'I said, I said'.
sanorna en sanon
sanoja and sanon
sanottih ei sanon
'you said, said', etc.
Perfect
olemma sanon en ole sanon
oletta sanon and ole sanon
on sanottu ei ole sanon
'you said, said', etc.
Pluperfect
Mn. h.
emma sano etta sano ei sanota
emma sanon etta sanon ei sanottu
emma ole sanon etta ole sanon ei ole sanottu
1 l. ol'in sanon ol'ima sanon en ollun sanon
2 l. ol'it sanon ol'ija sanon et ollun sanon
3 l. ol'i sanon ol'i sanottu ei ollun sanon
'I said, said' (in the past), 'you said, said' (in the past)
Subjunctive Present
Affirmative form Negative form
Unit hours Mn. hours h.
1 l. sanosin sanosima en sanois
2 l. sanosit sanosija et sanois
sanois sanottais ei sanois
"I would say' (now or in the future), 'you would say', etc.
Perfect
emma ollun sanon etta ollun sanon ei oltu sanottu D.
Mn. h. emma sanois etta sanois ei sanottais
l. olisin (oisin) sanon
2 l. olisit (oisit)
sanon
3 l. olis (ois)
sanon
olisima (oisima) sanon
olisija (oisija) sanon
olis (ois) sanottu
en olis (ois) sanon
et olis (ois) sanon
ei olis (ois) sanon
emma olis (ois) sanon
etta olis (ois) sanon
ei olis (ois) sanottu
"I would say' (in the past), 'you would say', etc.

affirmative form
Possibility
negative
Unit h.
1 l. sanonen
2 l. sanonet
3 l. sanonou 'perhaps I will say1
Mn. h. sanonemma sanonetta sanottaneh
Unit h. en sanone et sanone ei sanone
perhaps you will say, etc. Perfect
1 l. ollen sanon ollemma sanon en olle sanon
2 l. ollet sanon olletta sanon and olle sanon
3 l. ollou sanon ollou sanottu ei olle sanon
'maybe I said', 'maybe you said', etc.
Imperative Present
Approval form hours Mn.
1l. - -
2 l. sano sanokkua
3 l. sanokkah sanokkah 'tell', 'let him say', etc.
Negative h.
ela sano elkah sanokkah
form
Mn. h. emma sanone etta sanone ei sanottane
emma olle sanon etta olle sanon ei olle sanottu
form
Mn. h. elka sanokka elkya sanokkua elkah sanokkah

Non-personal (i.e., not changed in persons, numbers, moods) forms of the verb include active and passive participles of a completed and unfinished action, passive participles in -ta (-ta), negative participles in -matoin (-matoin), as well as gerunds (in the grammars of the Finnish language, it qualifies as II and III infinitives).

Word formation of nouns and adjectives with the help of suffixes is quite productive. The most productive suffixes are -i (y): itku 'cry' from itkie 'cry'; -us(ys): kaunehus 'beauty' from kaunis 'beautiful'; -nta(-nta) vejanta 'transportation' from vetya 'carry'; -min'i: suomini 'food' from syyvva 'eat', 'eat'; -ja(-ja): elaja 'inhabitant' from elya 'to live'; -kko(-kko):
koivikko 'birch forest' from koivu 'birch'; -n'i: l'intun'i 'bird' from lintu 'bird'; -kas(-kas) vuahikas 'foamy' from vuahti 'foam'; -hko(-hko): viluhko 'cold' from vilu 'cold', etc. Nouns are also formed by compounding.
Particularly productive is the suffix word formation of verbs. The verbs of the Karelian language do not distinguish between completeness or incompleteness of an action, as in Russian. However, the word-building suffixes of verbs in the Karelian language can convey shades of the course of an action, for example, instantaneous, duration, one-time, multiple, etc.:
kaccuo 'look' - kacahtua 'look', laskie 'let out' laskel-tua 'release quickly', muistua 'remember' - muissella 'remember' The meanings of compulsion and reflexivity are also expressed with the help of suffixes, for example: palua 'burn' - polttua 'to burn (literally: "to make it burn")'; pessa 'wash' - peseytyo 'wash'

Vocabulary of the Karelian language historically consists of Finno-Ugric and Baltic-Finnish layers. Naturally, the development of vocabulary (including the meanings of words) proceeded independently in each language. It is interesting to note that Karelian and Finnish have words that are common in form but different in meaning: haju (livv.) 'mind' (Finnish 'smell'); gita (lvv.) 'unpretentious in food' (Finnish 'ugly'); suarna 'fairy tale' (Finnish 'sermon'); rogo 'lye' (Finnish 'ashes'); suuvella 'to jinx' (Finnish 'to kiss'). During the period of independent development of the Karelian language, such words as tuhjo 'bush', n'apie 'sharp', kopittuo (Liv.) 'to walk', atkal 'boring', or'hoi 'bush', cakata 'scold' , soba (Livv.) 'clothing' (singular), vana 'lowland'

Particularly well represented in Karelian speech phraseology that gives it a figurative and expressive character, for example: hampahan piah panna 'to remember (lit.: "to put on the tip of the tooth")', piassa kynsista 'to be freed (lit.: "to escape from the claws")' pitay pianahka 'to grow old (lit. .: "to wear out the scalp")' ei lapsaha sankot vahassa kummassa 'will not be taken immediately (lit.: "buckets will not clink at a small miracle")'
Undoubtedly, the wealth of word-formation and expressive possibilities of the Karelian language was one of the most important factors in the creation of the Kalevala folk epic, unique in its beauty and depth of expression, which M. Gorky put on a par with the Iliad. It is noteworthy that the enrichment of the Finnish literary language took place, in particular, through the "Kalevala" - at the expense of East Karelian dialects. In fact, almost all Kalevala vocabulary entered the Finnish literary language.
For example, such remarkable facts speak about the vocabulary richness of the Karelian language and its richest expressive possibilities. In the 20-30s. 20th century Finnish scientist E. Ahtia in a small region of the village of Syamozero collected a card index of Karelian words with a volume of over 120 thousand vocabulary cards. At the end of the 30s. in the republic over 200 works in the Karelian language, including translations of the classics of Russian literature, came out of print in a short time.

One of the characteristic features of the sound system of the Karelian language is the abundant use of vowels compared to consonants, which gives the language musicality. The Karelian language in this respect is close to Finnish, in which 109 consonants are used per 100 vowels; For comparison, we can say that 111 consonants are used in Hungarian for 100 vowels, in French - 116, in German - 164, and in Danish - 176.

Karelian speech with its sound captivated people who did not actively own it, but perceived it by ear. A contemporary and friend of Pushkin, the Decembrist poet Fyodor Glinka, who served his exile in Karelia in the 1920s and 1930s. 19th century, wrote:

And sweet in the forest Karelian
Her unwritten language...
I wanted to repeat their speech:
In it my hearing rejoiced
Playing the voiced letter "l".

2. Interaction with other languages
Languages ​​on the globe, as a rule, do not develop in isolation, but in contact. Contacting languages ​​leads to their interaction. Vocabulary is usually the easiest to borrow. With prolonged contacts, other levels of the language (phonetic, morphological, syntactic) can also be borrowed.
The most ancient lexical borrowings in the Karelian language are Lithuanian-Latvian, or Baltic. They penetrated the Baltic-Finnish speech at a time when the Karelian language had not yet emerged as an independent language, and therefore Lithuanian-Latvian borrowings are common to one degree or another in all Baltic-Finnish languages. In total there are about a hundred of them. Borrowed words testify to the influence that the ancient Lithuanian-Latvians had on the Baltic Finns. These are mainly words related to technology, trades, nature (in the broad sense of the word), family relations, etc. lohi 'salmon', villa 'wool', heimo 'tribe', kaima 'namesake', tytar \daughter'

It is assumed that contacts between the Baltic Finns and the Lithuanian-Latvians took place as early as the 1st millennium BC. Approximately at the turn of our era, Germanic borrowings begin to penetrate into the Baltic-Finnish languages. The German influence was longer than the Baltic one. In addition to words belonging to the same areas as the words of Lithuanian-Latvian origin, here we can include words related to navigation, trade, household, etc.: ualto 'wave', kapa 'chicken', valas 'whale' , lato 'barn', late 'floor', paita 'shirt', sukka 'stocking, sock', leipa 'bread', pullo 'bottle', nuotta 'seine', pelto 'field', tuah 'dung', nuakla ' nail', n'iekla 'needle', pallo 'ball', kulta 'gold', rauta 'iron'
At the turn of the VIII-IX centuries. the Baltic Finns came into contact with the Eastern Slavs. True, some scientists believe that these contacts began much earlier. Thus, the Karelians call Russia the word Venaja, which originally meant the name of one of the Slavic tribes - the Wends, who lived on the Vistula even before the 8th century. Already in the XI century. Russians vigorously moved north, reaching the Kola Peninsula. Contacts between the Baltic-Finnish and Slavic tribes, of course, are reflected in the vocabulary of the Baltic-Finnish languages, and Karelian in particular. Since the process of Christianization of the Karelians was under the influence of Russians, the terms of the Christian religion were deposited in the Karelian language, for example: kuoma 'godfather, godfather, godmother', pakana 'pagan', rist'i 'cross', etc. Russian borrowings can be include vocabulary from the field of weaving, construction, agriculture, housekeeping, etc. Here are examples: kuontalo 'tow', palttina 'canvas', vart-lina 'spindle', suapas 'boot', ikkuna 'window', l'iava 'shed ', taltta 'chisel, chisel', cirppi 'sickle', lusikka 'spoon', tavara 'goods', etc.
Most of the ancient Slavic borrowings are common throughout the Baltic-Finnish languages.
The influence of East Slavic speech was reflected not only in vocabulary, but also in phonetics and grammar.

Insofar as Karelians historically gravitated towards the Russian state, their mutual contacts with the Russians were carried out both through official and unofficial channels. Contacts along the administrative-state line were especially livened up during the rise of Novgorod. Many historical documents cover this period well. By this time, as is known, the Russians settled in the territory around Lake Onega, along the Karelian and Tersk coasts of the White Sea. The geographical proximity of the Karelian and Russian settlements created a good basis for mutual contacts; this was reflected in the Russian dialects of Zaonezhye and the White Sea region, where borrowings from the Baltic-Finnish (and especially from Karelian) languages ​​are widely represented. The Baltic-Finnish basis was also reflected in the phonetics of the Russian dialects of Zaonezhye, in which the stress falls on the first syllable. The development of writing and literacy was a powerful additional stimulus for the penetration of Russian borrowings into the Karelian language.

3. Written monuments
Written monuments, the importance of which can hardly be overestimated, are the most important source for the study of the history of the language. Based on archaeological monuments, we can fairly accurately reconstruct the life of an ancient person, his occupations, and culture. But none of them can say about belonging to one or another ethnic group - people. Only written monuments can give an idea of ​​the ethnicity of archaeological finds. Therefore, the idea expressed by the Russian poet I. A. Bunin remains quite fair:

Silent tombs, mummies and bones.-
Only the word is given life:
From the ancient darkness, on the world churchyard,
Only letters are heard.

The first writing systems arose in Egypt and Central Asia. Slavic writing (Cyrillic) in Russia began to be used in the X-XI centuries. in connection with Christianization. However, some letter may have been used by the Slavs before.
The first written monument Finno-Ugric peoples is the "Tombstone speech" (Halotti Beszed). The monument dates from the end of the 12th century. and is a free translation from Latin into the Vadar language of a text of spiritual content.

In 1951, during excavations in Novgorod by the Soviet archaeologist A. V. Artsikhovsky, birch bark letters were found - a discovery that became sensational all over the world. So far, about 600 letters have been found. The value of these charters also lies in the fact that they provide information that could never be found either in the annals, or in acts, or in church books, that is, they describe everyday life Novgorodians with their affairs and concerns.
Among others, a letter was found representing a coherent Karelian text.

In many charters there are Karelian geographical names and personal names. “Ikagal at Krivets has 3 martens,” says the text of the letter No. 278, “Igolai dove and Laydikol have half a ruble and 2 martens. Leinuja in Laidikole has 6 Bel. Philip has a deyak with 30 bel. At Zechariah and in Kalinitsa, stripes and 5 and 5 white.
Sidui has 4 martens at Avinitsy. Mikita Istovna has 6 martens from Evanov. Munomel in Kurol has Igalin's brother half a ruble and 2 martens. U Leg... The note is a list of duties. The whites and martens mentioned in the list speak of ignorance of money at that time. As you can see, most of the names in the note are Karelian: Ikogal, Igolay, Leinui, Sidui, Munomel, Igalin brother. The names of settlements - Laidikola, Kurola - are also Karelian. In total, eight birch-bark letters were found, in which Karelian names of people and villages are found. Two of them (No. 292 and No. 403) contain a coherent text. All these letters date back to the XIII-XIV centuries.

The first Karelian words in written sources proper have been known since the beginning of the 14th century. A significant number of toponymic names of Karelian origin are found in the text of the Orekhovets peace treaty (1323), for example: Sevilaksha, Yasky, Ogreba, Lembo, Pekhksi, Kangasyervi, Sergilakshi, Kore-lomkoshka, Kolemakoshki, etc. A number of Karelian geographical names and personal names is found in the “Census Book of Accounts for Novgorod of the Votsk Pyatina of 7008” (1500 according to the new chronology), as well as in the “Scribal Books of the Obonezhskaya Pyatina of 1496 and 1563”.
Of undoubted interest for the history of the Karelian language are the Russian-Karelian dictionary entries of the 17th - early 18th centuries. The first of the records has been preserved in one of the lists of the so-called "ABC (Alphabetic) Patericon" of the library of the Solovetsky Monastery and dates back to the middle of the 17th century. The second entry from the handwritten collections of the collection of P. P. Vyazemsky can be dated to the beginning of the 18th century. The largest in volume is the text monument, the so-called "Ten Ludikov's conspiracies". They are recorded in a manuscript collection of the beginning of the 18th century. The written monuments of the Karelian language include the translation of the Gospel of Matthew - "Gerran m1yan Shyundyu Rubhtynan of Saint 1st Evangeli Matveist" (Pshteri, 1820), published in St. Petersburg, as well as the Gospel of Mark.
In 1786, in connection with the publication of the dictionary by P. S. Pallas “Comparative dictionaries of all languages ​​and dialects”, the first most significant list of Karelian words at that time appeared (273 words and numerals 1-10, 100 and 1000).

At present, the Karelian language does not have a written language and serves as a means of communication mainly in rural areas (in a family, brigade, state farm). Karelian, however, is not only a means of communication.

Language is an expression of the spiritual life of the people and the initial element of culture. The Karelian language imprinted the entire centuries-old path of development of the material and spiritual life of the Karelian people. The expressive possibilities of the language made it possible to create invaluable monuments of folk art - fairy tales, songs, lamentations, riddles, jokes and, most importantly, the national epic "Kalevalu", that is, everything that is called the spiritual culture of the people.

Karelian language - karjalan kieli, belongs to the Baltic-Finnish branch of the Finno-Ugric group of languages, native language Karelians, who call themselves the autoethnonym karjalaizet. The number of speakers is about 80 thousand people, including 53 thousand people in Russia (according to the 2002 census), including 35 thousand people in Karelia. There are three main dialects of the Karelian language: Karelian proper, Livvik (Olonets) and Ludikov. Based on them, there are literary variants of the Karelian language. Karelian is an old written language, the first written text written in Cyrillic dates back to the 12th-13th centuries. Birch bark No. 292 - four lines of a lightning spell, found in Novgorod. From the XVII-XVIII centuries. dictionary entries are known, the first printed texts appeared in the first half of the 19th century, it was a translated spiritual literature. From the first half of the 13th century until the 1930s, there was a written language based on the Cyrillic alphabet. In 1931, the Latinized Karelian alphabet was compiled and introduced. In 1937, the alphabet of the Karelian language was approved based on the Cyrillic alphabet, developed by Professor D.V. Bubrikh. However, due to large dialect differences and other reasons, this attempt was not successful, and by the end of 1940, all work on the cultivation of the language was curtailed. Only since the beginning of the 90s. 20th century The Karelian language regained the status of a written literary language based on the Latin alphabet. The phonetic system of the Karelian language is characterized by: voicing of consonants in intervocalic position and after sonorant consonants; positional palatalization of consonants; consistent quantitative and qualitative alternation of consonants in Karelian proper, quantitative and limited qualitative alternation in Livvik, only qualitative alternation in Ludik dialect; diphthongization of long and contracted vowels. The grammatical system as a whole retains the general Baltic-Finnish appearance, the changes are caused by the influence of the Russian language. There are many words in the vocabulary that are common with the Vepsian and eastern dialects of the Finnish language, as well as Russian borrowings.

Link to information on specialized sites on the topic "Karelian language":
1. http://fulib.ru/ - Finno-Ugric electronic library
2. http://fulr.karelia.ru/cgi-bin/flib/materials1.cgi?id=2 - Electronic collection of publications in Karelian
3. http://elibrary.karelia.ru/book.shtml?levelID=034005&id=2071&cType=1 - Grammar of the Karelian language

List of additional materials:
1. Bubrich D. V. The origin of the Karelian people. Petrozavodsk, 1947.
2. Zaikov P. M. Grammar of the Karelian language: phonetics and morphology. Petrozavodsk, 1999.
3. Baltic-Finnish peoples. History and fate of kindred peoples. / Comp. M. Jokipii. - Jyväskylä: Atena Publishing House, 1995. - 504 p.
4. Ryagoev V.D. Karelian language // Languages ​​of the world. Uralic languages. - M., 1993. S. 63-76.
5. Tsypanov E.A. Finno-Ugric languages: a comparative survey. - Syktyvkar: Kola Publishing LLC, 2009. - pp. 205-224.