random Finno-Ugric words of the day: Livvi kräppi n. ‘small shriveled thing, old coot’; kräpöi a. ‘shriveled, of poor quality’ — “clearly” part of a loanword layer from colloquial English
(actual etymology seems to start from rapistuo ‘to deteriorate‘ (attested in Karelian proper, also Finnish rapistua) → räpištyö ‘id.’ with ideophonic/affective fronting → kräpištyö ‘id.’ with ideophonic /kr-/ → reanalysis / back-derivation to an ideophonic root √kräpp-)
The only vowels that can occur long in Livvi Karelian are “i, u, and y”.
For examples on how to use length and what it sounds like, check out these videos about Finnish. It functions in Karelian the exact same way:
https://youtu.be/1msI1kEnR18
https://youtu.be/4XnYfwpX3TQ?t=1m1s
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Aspiration:
In English, the sounds p, t, and k are often pronounced with a puff of air, called aspiration. Say the words “pat”, “top”, and “cat” with your hand in front of your mouth. You will feel a puff of air. In Karelian, there is no aspiration. Try saying the words above without the puff of air. Practice repeating them with your hand in front of your mouth until you feel as little air as possible.
More about palatalization:
Palatalization happens occasionally in places where it is not marked with an apostrophe (’). Speakers of Finnish may notice some of these instances, such as when a word in Livvi Karelian contains a double consonant where the corresponding Finnish word has a single consonant followed by “j”. There are other causes of palatalization as well, which I will cover in a later post.
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Now that you know how the letters should be pronounced, try practicing yourself! The following is an excerpt from p. 9 of Tiedoiniekan hattu “Moomin and the Magic Hat” by Tove Jansson (translated by Natalja Sinitskaja):
“Erähänny keväthuondeksennu nelländel čuasul Muuminotkon piäl lendi enzimäine kägöi. Se istavui Muumitaloin sinizele levole da kukui kaheksa kerdua -- vähästy käheittäjen, sendäh ku kevät vaste vie algavui.
Sit se lendi ielleh päivännouzupuoleh.
Muumipeigoi havačui da hätken virui lageh kaččojen da miettijen, kus häi on. Häi magai sada yödy da sada päiviä, unet vie pyörittih hänes ymäbri da tahtottih kiškuo hänen järilleh omih mualoih.“
I don’t have the English version of the book, so the following is my own translation, as close to word for word as possible:
“One spring morning at 4 o’clock over Moomin Valley flew the first cuckoo. It sat itself onto the Moomin House’s blue roof and cuckooed eight times -- a little hoarsely, since spring had just begun.
Then it flew again to the east.
Moomin troll awoke and for a long time lay stretched out looking at and thinking about where he is. He slept one hundred nights and one hundred days, dreams still spun around inside him and wanted pull him back into their own lands“
Ugh. Seeing her made my day soooo much brighter! Misssssed my livvi. Even after years of having a really weird and super busy friendship to where we never see each other or talk, we still manage to always pick up where we left off and click right back! Thank you for being the amazing friend you've always been! It's hard to find one like you! #selfie #livvi
It's about to get weird up in hiryah #comedyshow I shall #livvi #goingout my #comfortzone to live and an experience a life worth #livvin #for #liveauthentic #livethedream cause I know I am.. Stay posted😎
