Karelian

Facts

Language: Karelian
Alternate names: karjala, карельский язык, Karelian proper, Karelisch, carélien, karely, Sobstvenno-Karel'skij-Jazyk, Karely, Karelian Proper, Karel'skiy Jazyk, Severno-Karel'skij, karel΄skij jazyk, karjalan kieli, venäjänkarjalaisten kieli, Russisch-Karelisch, Olonetzisch-Lüdisch, Gárjilgiella
Language code: krl
Language family: Uralic, Finnic, Coastal Finnic, Neva, North Finnic, Ladogan
Number of speakers: 63,000
Vulnerability: Threatened
Script: Cyrillic script, no longer in use. Latin script.

More information:

Two language nests started in 1999 and 2002 in northwestern county center of Kalevala (Salminen 2007).

Karelian belongs to the North group of the Baltic-Finnic language, with the closest related language being Finnish. Some scholars do not regard Karelian as a separate language at all, but classify it as an eastern dialect of the Finnish language. However, it should be considered a separate language because of its geo-political location within the boundaries of another state. (The Red Book of the Peoples of the Russian Empire)