FINNIC LANGUAGES AND

CULTURES IN INGRIA

Fedor Rozhanskiy

handarey@yahoo.com

Finno-Ugric

MordvinianMariPermicLappic (Saami)Finnic

UgricFinno-PermicKhantyMansiHungarian

Finnic

Southern Northern

Estonian

Livonian

Votic

Finnish

Livvi

Ingrian

Karelian

LudianVeps

I N G R I A

The brief history of Votic and Ingrian people

1069 – The first ever reference to Votians in official records (the Novgorod Chronicles).

1164-1189 – The first ever reference to Ingrians in official records (a bull of Pope Alexander III to Uppsala Archibishop Stefan).

1270 – Ingria became a part of the Novgorod region.The Orthodox religion started to spread among the Ingrian population (however, the elements of paganism remained till XVI century). The end of 15th century – Ingria became a part of the Russian State.

1617 – According to the Treaty of Stolbovo Ingria became a part of Sweden.

1700–1721 – In the course of the Northern War Ingria was reunited with Russia. 

18th – 19th centuries – Increasing influence of Russian culture and language.

1917–1920 – The Civil war on the territory of Ingria. According to the Tartu peace treaty (1920) some western parts of Ingria became a territory of Estonia. Finnic population in Ingria was granted cultural autonomy.

The 1930-ies – Contradictive period:1. Support of minor nations2. Period of repressions

Ingrian is taught in school (18 primary and 5 secondary schools) since 1932. The development of orthography and school grammar. The publication of many texts books on various subjects in Ingrian.

1930-1931 – Collectivization.1937 – Ingrian schools are closed. The teachers are subjected to repressions.All remnants of the cultural autonomy are eliminated.

1943 – Germany and Finland signed the agreement about the deportation of Finnic population from Ingria to Finland.

The deportation started in the middle of 1943: Finnish, Ingrian and Votic people from Western Ingria were taken to concentration camp Klooga in Estonia. In several weeks they were sent to Finland.

The real situation: only inhabitants of a few villages managed to escape to the forest and avoided the deportation. The rest people were forced to relocate.

Many people died on their way to Finland.

According to the official documents the deportation was voluntary.

The relocation of people of Ingria is conducted on the basis of voluntary reports of those willing to relocate.

1944 – After the capitulation of Finland most of Ingrian and Votic people wanted to return home. Instead, they were sent to various regions of Russia by the Soviet authorities and forbidden to go to their native villages.

1945-1955 – the permission to return was granted only to those people, whose close relatives served in the Soviet Army.

Only after 1955 Finnic population was allowed to return to their villages. Most of their houses had been burnt or occupied by Russian families.

Russians treated the Finnic population in Ingria quite badly. Attempts to speak in a native language were often suppressed by Russians, who called the Finnic people in offensive names like "talapany" and "chuhna". At school children were prohibited to speak in their native language. The older generation tried not to demonstrate their difference from Russians; the younger generation did not learn their parents’ language, because it gave no perspectives.

From the 1990-ies till present – A new wave of interest to the native population of Ingria: TV reports, articles in newspapers, folklore bands, festivities.

2005 – Ingrian Community is organized.

Still, the older generation (i.e. the native speakers) often feels skeptical about the revival activities.

Population and native speakersYear Ingrians

(population)Ingrians

(speakers)Votians

(population)Votians

(speakers)

1848 18489 5148

1926 16137 ~700-800

1959 1062 369 20-50

1979 748 ~20

1989 820 302

2001 176

2002 327 (?) 362 (?) ~20

2009 ~ 150 >10

Dialects

• Soikkola

• Lower Luga

• Heva

• Oredezhi

Votic Ingrian

• Krevin

• Western (Central)

• Eastern

• Western (Lower Luga)

• Kukkuzi

/t/ ( /t&t/ )

[d] [t~]

[tt]

Ingrian (Soikkola dialect)

aiDa ‘a fence:NOM’

aitta~ ‘a fence:PART’

[D] [t&t]

[t]

Sounds:

Phonemes: /tt/

tap&pa ‘be enough:IMP:2SG’

tappa ‘kill:PRS:3SG’

Lower Luga Ingrian

/t/ sata ‘hundred:NOM’

/tt/ satta ‘hundred:PART’

/d/ sada ‘garden:NOM’/dd/ sadda

‘garden:PART’

Phonetics – problem of borrowings (Votic)LABIAL ALVEOLAR PALATAL VELAR

PLOSIVES VL. p pp tt’

tt k kk

PLOSIVES VD. b dd’d’

g

NASALS m mm

nn’

nn

FRICATIVES VL. ff s ss š šš h hh

FRICATIVES VD. v vv z zz ž

AFFRICATES VL. ts tts tš ttšAFFRICATES VD. dž

APPROX-IMANTS

LATERAL l l’

ll l’l’

tš ttš

VELARIZED л лл CENTRAL r rr j jj

Phonetics – problem of borrowings (Votic)LABIAL ALVEOLAR PALATAL VELAR

PLOSIVES VL. pp’

ppp’p’

tt’

ttt’t’

k kk

PLOSIVES VD. b bb dd’ d’d’

g

NASALS mm’

mm

nn’

nnn’n’

FRICATIVES VL. ff’

ff ss’

ss šš’

ššš’š’

hh’

hh

FRICATIVES VD. vv’

vv zz’

zzz’z’

ž

AFFRICATES VL. ts tts tš ttšAFFRICATES VD. dž

APPROX-IMANTS

LATERAL l l’

ll l’l’

tš ttš

VELARIZED л лл CENTRAL r

r’rr j jj

Phonetics – problem of borrowings (Votic)

VOTIC RUSSIAN

b

griba grib ‘mushroom’

gribba

- bbb

- bb

‘mushroom:PART’

bb

grib

  

FRONT

BACK

UNROUNDED ROUNDED

CLOSED i J% U U_ uu%

MIDDLE e O o

OPEN A A_ aa%

Vowels (Soikkola Ingrian)

e% O_ o%

Closed long vowels

o%e%Proto-Finnic

Finnish

Votic

Ingrian (Lower Luga)

O_

Ingrian (Lower Luga)

Ingrian (Soikkola)

Ingrian (Soikkola)

uoie UOo%e% U_

uoie UO

o+%

e+%

O+_

u%J% U_

o%e% O_

Nominal paradigms (Soikkola Ingrian)

“a river” “a toe”

Sg Pl Sg PlNominative joGi joe-D varvaZ varp&paha-

DGenitive joe-n joGi-loi-n varp&pah

a-nvarp&pah-i-

nPartitive jok&ki

-ajoGi-loi-a varva~S-t varBah-i-a

Illative jok&ke~

joGi-loi varBaha~-SSe

varBah-i-SSe

Inessive joe-Z joGi-loi-Z varBaha-Z varBah-i-ZElative joe-St joGi-loi-St varBaha-

StvarBah-i-St

Allative joe-le joGi-loi-le varBaha-le

varBah-i-le

Adessive joe-ll joGi-loi-ll varBaha-ll varBah-i-llAblative joe-lt joGi-loi-lt varBaha-lt varBah-i-ltTranslative joe-kS joGi-loi-kS varBaha-

kSvarBah-i-kS

Essive jok&ke~-n

? varBaha~-n

?

- SG PL

PRS

1 tJ%-n tJ%-mA2 tJ%-D tJ%-ttA3 tek&kO

~tek&kO~-D

IMPF

1 te-i-n te-i-mA2 te-i-D te-i-ttA3 teG-i tek&k-i-D

COND

1 tek&k-iZi-n

teG-iZi-mmA

2 tek&k-iS-t teG-iZi-ttA

3tek&k-iZ teG-iZi-

vADIMP 2 tJ% teh-kA

PRTACT teh-t teh-neDPRTPASS teh-tU

INF teh-ASUP teGO-mA~

IMPERS

PRS teh-hAIMPF teh-tiCOND teh-tAiZ

Verbal paradigm (“to do” in Soikkola Ingrian)

tek&kO-

teGO-

tek&k-

teG-

te-

tJ%-

teh-

Stems

Case marking of the objectV + O

Verbs with a strong Partitive government

Partitive

?

Negative constructions

Partitive

?

Incomplete action

Partitive

?

Uncountable object or object expressing indefinite quantity

Partitive

?

Personal object

Pronominal object

Partitive

Total case

Nominative / Genitive / Accusative (of pronouns)

hA_ kra%Skaja~ tADA aitta~He is painting this fence:PARThA_ ajoi minnua ~ miun poiZHe has driven me:PART~GEN away

miA oSSin leipA~I bought (some) bread:PARThA_ suvvaiZ miun Siart jo aikkaHe fell in love with my sister:PART (already) long ago

miA oSSin tAmAn leivA&nI bought this bread:GEN

hA_ teGi tAmAn koin jo aikkaHe built (=made) this house:GEN (already) long ago

hA_ ei kra%ZanD tADA aitta~He has not painted this fence:PART

hA_ kra%Skaja~ tAmAn aija&nHe will paint this fence:GEN

hA_ kra%SkaiZ tAmAn aija&nHe has painted this fence:GENhA_ ajoi Suen poiZHe has driven a wolf:GEN away

Case of the total object

V + O

Plural object Singular object

Personal pronouns

Accusative

Nouns

Nominative

Constructions without a subject:

- Imperative

- Impersonal

- polypredicative constructions “(one) must …”, etc.

Nominative

Other

Genitive

Votic and some sub-dialects of Lower Luga Ingrian

Verb in 3rd Plural form

Nominative

Genitive

hA_ kra%SkaiZ aija&DHe has painted fences:PL:NOM

hA_ kra%SkaiZ aija&nHe has painted a fence:GEN

hA_ kra%SkaiZ heijeDHe has painted them:ACC

hA_ tein tAmAn koinHe has built this house:GEN

te% tAmA koDiBuild this house:NOM !

hA_n osti lampa~n He bought a sheep:GEN

hO_ ossetti lammEz They bought a sheep:NOM

Language continuumVotic – Ingrian – Ingrian Finnish

1. The features that exist in one language but are not present in other languages are very rare.

2. Most features are specific for a group of sub-dialects but not for the whole language.

Sub-dialect 1 Sub-dialect 2 Sub-dialect 3

Sub-dialect 4 Sub-dialect 5 Sub-dialect 6

Language continuum

Ingrian lA_tA

Votic pajatta

Ingrian Finnish ha%sta% (luatJ%, la%tJ%)

Ingrian and Votic: the “basic” roots are the same. The only exception: a verb “to speak”, which also distinguishes Votic and Ingrian from Ingrian Finnish.

Meaning Ingrian (Soikkola)

Ingrian (Lower Luga)

Ingrian Finnish Votic

log herS palkki palkki irsibucket uhlu paMki paMki paMkimilk maiDo maito maito pJ%m`prettier kABiem

plusti(m)p lustimpi ~

kaunempi

Kustipi

table kanZ laut(E) pOUtA Kaut(E)sack SAkki sAkki ~

kotikkosAkki sAkki ~

kotti

Language continuum

“Close the oven, all the firewood has already burnt”

Ingrian (Soikkola)

pa%

kiukka

kJ%n

halo-t kaik

jo pallo-i-t

Ingrian (Lower Luga)

pa%

kiuka kJ%ni

pu%-d ~ halo-d

kaik

jo pRlas-ti

Kukkuzi pa%

kiugRs

kJ% pu%-d kaik

jo poltRt-ti

Votic pa%

ahjo tSJ%n

aKgo-d kRjg

jo pRKRt-ti

put:Imp oven:Nom closed tree/log-Pl.Nom all already burn-Impf(-)3Pl

FEATURES

Ingrian (both dialects)

Ingrian (Soikkola)Lower Luga Ingrian and VoticVoticKukkuzi dialect

“He is from your village”

Ingrian (Soikkola)

hA_n ono Siu-n kUlA-St

Ingrian (Lower Luga)

hA_n ono siu-n kUlA-st

Kukkuzi hA_n on sinu kUlA-ssVotic tAm

Aon sinu tSUlA-ss

3Sg to be:Prs:3Sg you:Gen village:Elat

FEATURES

Ingrian (both dialects)

Ingrian (Soikkola)Lower Luga Ingrian and VoticVotic