Native to Russia, Finland | Native speakers 31,000 (2000–2010) | |
Region between Lake Ladoga and Lake Onega, northward of Svir River, Karelia Language family Uralic
Finnic
Karelian
Livvi-Karelian Writing system Latin (Karelian alphabet)
Cyrillic (Russia) Recognised minority
language in Finland
Republic of Karelia (Russia) | ||
Livvi-Karelian (Alternate names: Livvi, Livvikovian, Olonets, Southern Olonetsian, Karelian; Russian: ливвиковский язык) is a Finnic language of the Uralic family spoken by Olonets Karelians (self-appellation livvi, livgilaizet), traditionally inhabiting the area between Ladoga and Onega lakes, northward of Svir River. The name "Olonets Karelians" is derived from the territory inhabited, Olonets Krai, named after the town of Olonets, named after the Olonka River.
History
Before World War II, Livvi-Karelian was spoken both in Russia and in Finland, in the easternmost part of Finnish Karelia. After Finland was forced to cede large parts of Karelia to the USSR after the war, the Finnish Livvi-Karelian population was resettled in Finland. Today there are still native speakers of Livvi-Karelian living scattered throughout Finland, but all areas in which Livvi-Karelian remain a community language are found in Russia.
Speakers of Livvi-Karelian may be found mainly in Olonetsky, Pryazhinsky, Pitkyarantsky, and partly Suoyarvsky districts of the Republic of Karelia.
Livvi-Karelian long remained relatively uninfluenced by the Russian language despite the large influx of Russians following the founding of Saint Petersburg in 1703.