About the Uralic languages

I post stuff related to linguistics, language learning, culture and especially the Uralic languages. My mother tongue is Finnish and I am currently learning Olonets Karelian, my grandfather's mother tongue. You can ask me anything about Finnish grammar! (Right now I'm having some technical troubles, and thus my posts might not appear as often as usual. Be patient.)

[depressingfinland]

Sanos muuta / Älä muuta sano

Say another thing / Don’t say anything else. Both meaning “I agree”. (via depressingfinland)

[uralic-solidarity-blog]

Has anyone else tried translating this yet?

The longest possible non-compound word in Finnish is "kumarreksituteskeleentuvaisehkollaismaisekkuudellissenneskenteluttelemattomammuuksissansakaankopahan." I haven't seen any English translation for it, so I tried to make one myself: "I wonder if not even in his/her/its/their state of being possessed by having tendencies to not repeatedly perform an action that somewhat resembles bowing to the ground multiple times in a row." What do you guys think?

[unofficial-estonia]

Rye bread is terrible

so is your attitude

[uralic-solidarity-blog]

Ways to pronounce niin according to sanakirja.org.

[aninsufferableknowitall]

I think the thing I hate most in the world is when books are re-branded so that they have pictures from the film/TV version on their covers.

[uralic-solidarity-blog]

Language of the week: Mari

The Mari language is a Uralic language spoken in Russia, in the Mari republic, Марий Эл (mari el). It is the fourth biggest language amongst the Uralic languages, as it has approximately 600 000 speakers. There are two significantly different main dialects: Meadow (Eastern) Mari and Hill (Western) Mari. Although the language faces some serious threats when it comes to its survival, Mari is definitely doing well compared to most of the other Uralic languages.

Meadow Mari alpabet.

Hill Mari alphabet.

Mari is an officially recognized language in the Mari republic, it is taught in more than 200 schools, and there is even a Mari national theatre founded in 1919 located in Yoshkar-Ola (Йошкар-Ола,) the main city of Mari El. However, both dialects are losing active speakers; those who use the language on daily basis, and thus are more likely to transmit it to the next generation than the more passive speakers. Especially young people and speakers who live in larger cities are less likely to use the language actively. Like many other Uralic peoples, the Mari people have faced and do still face oppression and discrimination for speaking their native language. The republic has had the same president, Leonid Markelov, for over twenty years now, and according to a Mari activist Vasili Pektejev, the position of Mari language has worsened the whole time Markelov, who is not Mari himself, has been in charge. Even the national theatre has “russified” after the beginning of the 21st century.

From time to time the Maris are called “the last pagans of Europe,” since most of them practice their own native religion despite of countless efforts to convert them to Christianity or simply stop the traditional practices, the former being carried out by missionaries and the latter by Soviet legislations that fortunately are not enforced anymore. The Mari priests themselves reject the pagan label and prefer the term traditional religion, as priest Vyacheslav Mamayev explains during an interview on Mari religion. Most of the Mari people are officially baptized, but they still continue practising the traditional religion, although some Orthodox Christian traditions might also be practised.

Generally speaking the Mari language is definitely in a better position than many other Uralic languages: both main dialects have a written form and texts available, the language is officially recognized and taught in schools, there are newspapers and radio programmes and tons of materials on both dialects, but there is still a lot of work to be done to preserve the language. Leonid Markelov will continue to make matters worse as long as he is in charge, and his regime doesn’t allow the opposition to have a voice. We should not settle for what we have, instead we should support Mari activists and fight for the survival of yet another beautiful Uralic language.

Sources: -Ethnologue; Hill mari, and Meadow Mari -Omniglot -Fenno-Ugrica -Mari Uver -Finno-Ugric Mari people of Central Russia complain of ethnic persecution -Mari drama theatre -Yle (in Finnish)

[uralic-solidarity-blog]

I haven't posted anything for a while, because some unexpected things happened. I have been very busy with school, too, but the first period is over now. I will continue my language of the week series (which will probably end up being "language of the month" rather than language of the week, though) with Mari language, starting today.

[fuforeverandalways]

Estonian Muhu Island

photo credit:koprakardulas flickr

[unofficial-estonia]

I'm hungarian and when I see finno-ugric post I always smile because I feel like the connection between estonian,finnish and hungarian is so smol and cute. We are a smol family. A smol,weird language family.

Us Finno-Ugrics must keep together! :)

[just-shower-thoughts]

If a centaur gave me a blow job, it’d just be gay human sex. If I gave a centaur a blow job, it’d be bestiality.

[ruttotohtori]

hmmm

[jookos-kookos]

mielenkiintonen kuvakulma

[ruttotohtori]

Mut tosha vois muute tehä sit nii et kentauri ottaa suihi ihmiselt ja ihmine ottaa suihi käänteiskentaurilt ja käänteiskentauri ottaa suihi kentaurilt ni sit kukaa ei sekaannu toisee lajii.

[uralic-solidarity-blog]

Ei jumalauta vieläkö käänteiskentauri on julkkis?

//Yes, tomorrow I will make a sideblog for all this Finnish crap.

[alexanderstubb]

Odotan sitä hetkeä kun Alex haluaa valloittaa Tumblrin ja joutuu ostamaan tän urlin multa kaikilla meidän verorahoilla

[teacupful-of-languages]

Sexual orientation & gender identity vocabulary in Finnish

HLBTIQ - LGBTQI Seksuaalinen suuntautuminen - sexual orientation Sukupuoli - gender, sex Sukupuoli-identiteetti - gender identity Muunsukupuolisuus - gender binary Intersukupuolisuus - intersex Polyamoria - polyamory Seksuaalivähemmistö - sexual minority Sukupuolivähemmistö - gender minority  Heteronormatiivisuus - heteronormativity  Sukupuolinormi - gender norm Heterofobia - heterophobia Homofobia - homophobia Transfobia - transphobia Heteroseksuaali - heterosexual Hetero - straight Homoseksuaali - homosexual Homo - gay Biseksuaali - bisexual Bi - bi Lesbo - lesbian Panseksuaali - pansexual Aseksuaali - asexual Demiseksuaali - demisexual Heteroromanttinen - heteroromantic Homoromanttinen - homoromantic Biromanttinen - biromantic Panromanttinen - panromantic Aromanttinen - aromantic Polyamorinen - polyamorous Cis-sukupuolinen - cis-gender  Transgender - transgender Transsukupuolinen - transsexual  Transu - tran Transvestiitti - transvestite Genderqueer - genderqueer Muunsukupuolinen - non-binary  Androgyyni - androgyne Genderfluid - genderfluid Drag king - drag king Drag queen - drag queen Rekisteröity parisuhde - registered partnership Samaa sukupuolta olevien avioliitto - same sex marriage Homoavioliitto - gay marriage Sateenkaariperhe - “rainbow family”, LGBT family Adoptio - adoption Sukupuolineutraali - gender neutral Olla kaapissa - to be in the closet Tulla ulos kaapista - to come out of the closet Rakkaus - love Tasa-arvo - equality Ihmisoikeus - human right Sateenkaari - rainbow Pride - pride

[unofficial-estonia]

Harry Potter book titles in Estonian:

Harry Potter ja tarkade kivi

Harry Potter ja saladuste kamber

Harry Potter ja Azkabani vang

Harry Potter ja tulepeeker

Harry Potter ja Fööniksi Ordu

Harry Potter ja segavereline prints

Harry Potter ja Surma vägised

[uralic-solidarity-blog]

The early Soviet years meant a cultural awakening for the Vepsian people. An official policy supported minority peoples and their languages, and a written form was created for many languages, Veps amongst them. In the early thirties Veps was not only taught in schools but used as a teaching language as well. School books were published and distributed. The establishment of an oppressive assimilation policy in 1937 seized the progress when all national cultural activities were stopped, which had horrible results: more and more people moved into big cities and assimilation accelerated.

A picture from a fourth year biology book written in Vepsian. (V. A. Tetjurev, 1935)

Despite the assimilation policy of the Soviet years, Veps is still an alive language with 1640 native speakers according to the 2010 census. There was a new national awakening in the 1990s, when a Veps cultural society was formed in 1990 and Kodima, a Vepsian newspaper was first published in 1993. Veps is taught at schools, although the classes are not very popular. Veps is an endangered language, and the progress made in the last 25 years is small, but as long as there are enough people interested in the language and its future, Veps might have a chance to survive for at least another hundred years.

Heinäntego, haymaking. A text from the book Meiden sana, "Our word” written in Vepsian. (A. Kottina, A. Maksimov, and N. Zaiceva, 1998.)

Sources: -Ethnologue -Sukukansat.org (in Finnish) -The red book of the peoples of the Russian empire More: -Barents Observer: “I fear our language will die”

[saeruth-deactivated20190514]

[uralica-deactivated20210801]

Ak Ana, the “White Mother” is the primordial creator-goddess of Turkic people and the Khanty and Mansi peoples of Siberia. She is also known as the goddess of the water. She was the consort of Kayra Han.

Water had created earlier than Earth. Therefore she was believed to be a sister to Earth. The beginning of the Earth emanated from Water. In ancient Turkish beliefs, Tangri (God) Kaira Khan is a pure, white goose that flies constantly over an endless expanse of water (time). But before Ak-Ana appears to urge Kaira Khan to create, he experiences a disturbance of his calm. From the bottom of the Water a “sacred duck” Lura lifted the sand, clay and silt, from which the Earth was created. Water was the initial state of everything in existence. Water evenly gave rise to both foreign and hostile elements. It was the possessor of spirits and the entrance into the other realm. The life, fertility and productivity of land depended on the Ak Ana.

art credit (x)

[uralic-solidarity-blog]

"We have children but no excessive ones. DRIVE CAREFULLY!" -a road sign in Untamala, Western Finland

[depressingfinland]

I wouldn't have gone to ice skating anyway.

“Lappeenrantas sport services Upkeep of ice skating track has been discontinued Move at your own risk”

Because times are hard, we need to save money too.

— Fan submission, thanks  mkananoja!