Kven Finnish

Facts

  • Language: Kven Finnish
  • Alternate names: North Fennic, North Finnish, Kven
  • Language code: fkv
  • Language family: Uralic, Finnic, Coastal Finnic, Neva, North Finnic, Nuclear Finnish
  • Number of speakers: 1,500-10,000 (estimated)
  • Vulnerability: Endangered
  • Script:

More information:

    Christian (Laestadian).

    Disputed whether a separate language or a dialect of Finnish. "There have been some controversies and official debates about the Kven minority, its status and their language in Norway since the 1980s. The main questions have concerned the status of the Kven language as an independent language and the language used in schools and higher education (Anttonen 1999)... When the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages came into force in Norway in 1998, the language of the Kvens was defined as Kven/Finnish, but in 2005 the denomination was changed to 'the Kven language'." (Räisänen & Kunnas 2012)