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On a macro level, Finnish belongs to the Uralian family of languages. In detail, Finnish belongs to Finno-Ugric sub branch of the Uralian family of languages. It is observed by archeologists that Finno-Ugric languages have existed in the region, where today’s Finland is located from around 5,000 years before. Finnish, by some scholars, is believed to have some loan words from the Indo-European languages such as English, Swedish, German, Russian, Latin and few other languages of the family. According to a survey, there are around 8 million Finnish-speaking populations in the whole world. Out of these, there are around 6 million in Finland and the rest are scattered in counties that include but are not limited to United States of America, Sweden, Canada, Russia, United Kingdom, Germany, Estonia, Australia and Norway. The United States of America has the maximum number of Finnish speaking immigrants than other countries. There are nearby a million of Finnish speaking population in United States. Different dialects Apart from Standard Finnish, there are several dialects of Finnish language. These dialects are divided into 2 groups, which are called Western dialects and Eastern dialects. The dialects of Finnish language have very minor, but distinct variations from each other. These variations are mainly related to vowels, diphthongs and rhyme. The Western dialect group includes sub groups such as: Southern Western, Tavastian, Southern Botnian, Middle and Northern Botnian and Perapohjola. The different dialects under these sub groups include: Northern and Southern, Pori, Ala-Satakunta, Turku, Somero, Western Uusimaa, Yla-Satakunta, Heart Tavastian, Southern Tavastian, Southern-Eastern Tavastian, Hollola, Porvoo, Iitti, Tornio, Kemi, Kemijarvi, Jallivaara and Ruija. The Eastern dialect group includes sub groups such as: Savonian and South- Eastern groups. The different dialects under these sub groups are: Northern Savonian, Southern Savonian, Middle Savonian, Eastern Savonian (North Karelian), Kainuu, Keuruu- Evijarvi, Varmlandic, South Eastern, Lemi middle, Sortavala middle and Ingrian dialects. Some characteristics of Finnish language Finnish language uses several suffixes for communicating grammatical association of words. Most of these suffixes have an alternative form in order to achieve the vowel harmony; this is one of the unique features of Finnish language. These suffixes are also used for creation of words. Finnish language doesn’t have any grammatical gender. The pronouns are applicable both ways, for example “he” and “she,” as in English. Objective questions in Finnish language have a verb in the beginning with a suffix ‘ko’. There is no passive tense form of the verbs in Finnish, as they are in English. |