What is a dialect?

A dialect is a regional variant of a language. Dialects originated at a time when most people spent their whole lives living and working within the same village or parish. Local language variants thus evolved among inhabitants of a particular geographical area.

Today, however, regional linguistic differences have diminished through the influence of such factors as increased geographical mobility and the mass media. It has been predicted that traditional dialects would gradually die out, but quite the reverse has occurred. Dialects have in fact gained new prestige in recent years, and Finns have begun speaking dialects in various social settings to emphasise their local identity. In addition, an assortment of new language variants defined by such factors as age, profession or formality scale has emerged alongside regional dialects. Nowadays the ability to modify one’s register in different speech settings is an integral part of mastering a language.

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Finnish and its related languages

The Research Institute has an extensive dialect archive. The Lexical Archive of Finnish Dialects contains millions of words and phrases dating from the early 20th century to the present day. The audio archive contains recorded samples of dialects spoken in nearly every parish of Finland dating from 1959 onwards. The Dictionary of Finnish Dialects (Suomen murteiden sanakirja) is in the process of being compiled based on material in the Lexical Archive of Finnish Dialects. Seven of its twenty volumes have been published to date (a–konkelopuu).
[Go to dialect map.]

Three Saami languages are spoken in Finland: Inari, Skolt and North Saami. The Research Institute’s audio archive contains samples of Saami dialects and other dialects related to Finnish.

The Research Institute has published an extensive dictionary of Karelian and Mordvin dialects. Dictionaries of the Mari (Cheremis) and Mansi (Vogul) languages are in the process of being compiled. An electronic corpus and dialect lexicon of Vepsian are also available.

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Finland Swedish

Finland-Swedish dialects belong to the East Swedish family of dialects. They preserve many features encountered only in peripheral, mainly northern, Swedish dialects. Nearly half of all Swedish-speaking Finns speak a dialect as their first language.

Finland Swedish is divided into four main dialects by geographical region: Ostrobothnian, Åland Islands Swedish, Southwest Finland Swedish and Uusimaa Swedish. The Dictionary of Swedish Dialects in Finland (Ordbok över Finlands svenska folkmål) is in the process of being compiled. Three volumes have been published to date (a–kyss), with another four planned.

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Finnish Romany

Romany is the only Indo-Aryan language spoken exclusively in Europe since the Middle Ages. Numerous dialects are spoken, the most common being the Vlax group of dialects. Finnish Romany belongs to the northwest group of Romany dialects, which trace back to Europe’s German-speaking regions. The Research Institute has compiled a Romany dictionary incorporating local variants of Romany spoken only in Finland.

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Finnish Sign Language dialects

Two sign languages are used in Finland: Finnish and Finland Swedish. Both are based on the Swedish system of sign language. Over the years, Finnish Sign Language has branched off so distinctly from Swedish Sign Language that the two are not always mutually intelligible. Regional dialects and numerous other signing variations are common between different sign languages. Native users of the same sign language will encounter few barriers to mutual comprehension, however.


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