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Karelian

Karelian is a language spoken in Karelia, a region in Russia. It is closely related to Finnish and is written with the Latin alphabet. There are two main dialects of Karelian, the Western and Eastern dialects. The Western dialect is spoken in Finland and the Eastern dialect is spoken in Russia. Karelian is a Finnic language, and as such, is closely related to Finnish and other Finnic languages such as Estonian and Livonian. It is thought that Karelian was originally spoken in a larger area of Europe, but was pushed eastwards by the spread of Germanic languages. Today, it is estimated that there are around 300,000 speakers of Karelian, most of whom live in Karelia, a region in Russia. Karelian is written with the Latin alphabet, and there are two main dialects, the Western and Eastern dialects. The Western dialect is spoken in Finland, and the Eastern dialect is spoken in Russia. The two dialects are not mutually intelligible, and there are also some differences in the written language. For example, in the Eastern dialect, the letter “w” is used instead of “v”, and “j” is used instead of “i”. Karelian is an endangered language, as many speakers are switching to Russian or Finnish. However, there are efforts underway to revive the language, and there are some schools in Karelia that teach Karelian as a second language.

Language group

Finno-Ugrian languages

Language locales, regions and scripts

Karelian
krl
Karelian, Russia, Latin
krl-Latn-RU
Karelian, Latin
krl-Latn