Native to Russia Native speakers 120 (2010 census) | Region Ingria ISO 639-3 izh | |
Ethnicity 820 Izhorians (1989 census) Language family Uralic
Finnic
Eastern
Ingrian | ||
Ingrian (also called Izhorian) is a nearly extinct Finnic language spoken by the (mainly Orthodox) Izhorians of Ingria. It has approximately 120 speakers left, most of whom are aged. It should not be confused with the Southeastern dialects of the Finnish language that became the majority language of Ingria in the 17th century with the influx of Lutheran Finnish immigrants (whose descendants, Ingrian Finns, are often referred to as Ingrians). The immigration of Lutheran Finns was promoted by Swedish authorities (who gained the area in 1617 from Russia), as the local population was (and remained) Orthodox.
Contents
History
In 1932–1937, a Latin-based orthography for the Ingrian language existed, taught in schools of the Soikino Peninsula and the area around the mouth of the Luga River. Several textbooks were published, including, in 1936, a grammar of the language. However, in 1937 the Izhorian written language was abolished and mass repressions of the peasantry began.
Alphabet (1936)
The order of the 1936 alphabet is similar to the Russian Cyrillic alphabet.
Alphabet (2005-present)
The order of the current alphabet matches the Finnish alphabet.
Dialects
Four dialects groups of Ingrian have been attested, two of which are probably extinct by now:
A fifth dialect may have once been spoken on the Karelian Isthmus in northernmost Ingria, and may have been a substrate of local dialects of southwestern Finnish.
Grammar
Like other Uralic languages, Ingrian is a highly agglutinative language.