Karjalan kansat ja kielet kontakteissa. Asutushistoriallista taustaa ja lingvistisiä seurauksia

• Anneli Sarhimaa

Avainsanat: karjala, karjalaiset, kielikontaktit

Abstrakti

Karelian peoples and languages in contact (englanti)

1995 (99)

Anneli Sarhimaa

Karelian peoples and languages in contact: settlement history and linguistic consequences

Linguists have recently become increasingly interested in the role played by language contacts in the development of the languages spoken in Karelia and also more widely in Northwest Russia. Traditional research, which sought to prove one-way influences, has now been complemented by studies of multidirectional contact and convergence processes. Nowadays, research in the Northwest Russian language area is also multidisciplinary, and a central aim is to combine research results from different fields in order to produce a holistic description of the area's ethnic, cultural and linguistic history. The article traces the main stages of Karelian settlement from the original inhabitants to the present day, and discusses issues concerning the birth and development of the main languages that have been, or are, spoken in the area (Eastern Sami, Karelian, Veps, and the northwestern dialects of Northern Russian). It begins with a survey of the ethnic and linguistic history of Karelia; the main lines of settlement development are summarized in a series of four maps at the end of the article (Appendix 1). The survey includes brief accounts of a number of linguistic changes which have so far been attributed to mutual influence. The linguistic consequences of Russian-Karelian language contacts are then illustrated by means of an example: this shows the complex effects which the coexistence of the Karelian peoples has had on the languages they have spoken through the ages. A main objective here is to show that at least as regards the eastern Baltic-Finnic languages and the northwestern dialects of Northern Russian, the phenomenon is one of interference in the literal meaning of the term, 'getting mixed up with one other'.

The article is the most comprehensive of the linguistically oriented accounts available concerning the state of historical and linguistic research on Karelia. It is largely based on Russian-language sources, and aims to bring this research to the attention of Finnish readers. As a fairly wide-ranging survey of the field, it also seeks to be of use to those writing dissertations etc. on language contacts, and should provide background material for elementary studies on Karelia.