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The 'Kven language' (''suomi'', ''kveenin kieli'' or recently proposed ''kainun kieli'') is a Finno-Ugric language, spoken mostly by the Kven population in Northern Norway. From a linguistic point of view the Kven language is a mutually intelligible dialect of Finnish, but for political and historical reasons it received in 2005 status of a legal minority language in Norway, within the framework of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages.

Contents

Geographic distribution

Language or Finnish dialect?

Official status

References

External links

Geographic distribution

Today, most speakers of the ''Kven language'' are found mostly in Northeastern Norwegian communities such as Bugøynes, Neiden, Vestre Jakobselv, Vadso, and Børselv. Also a few older speakers may still be found in the municipalities of Nordreisa and Storfjord. Bugøynes perhaps remains the most vital of all the remaining Kven communities in Norway.
In Northeastern Norway, mainly around Varanger Fjord, the spoken language is quite similar to the standard Finnish, whereas west of Alta the few remaining ''Kven'' speakers speak Finnish with more particularities, due to a deeper isolation from Finland.
In a 2005 government report, the number of people speaking the Kven language in Norway is estimated to be between 2000 and 8000, depending on the criteria used. However, today there are very few young people that speak the language, so the language can be extinct. ^[1].

Language or Finnish dialect?

The Kven language is closely related to the three other official modern-day Finnic languages spoken in Northern Scandinavia: The Meänkieli language (spoken in today's Northern Sweden, also known in English as Torne Valley Finnish), the Karelian language (spoken in today's Northwestern Russia) and the Finnish language. The speakers of ''Kven'', ''Meänkieli'', ''Karelian'' and ''Finnish'' can understand each other's languages without too much difficulty.
The Kven language is also more distantly related to the Finno-Ugric Sami languages, which also is spoken in the entire Northern Scandinavia and in Northwestern Russia as well. But the speakers of a ''Sami'' language and the Kven language are not able to understand each others languages.
Among the dialects of the Finnish language within the boundaries of the modern day Finland, ''Kven language'' is most closely related to northern Finnish dialects spoken also in Sweden (Meänkieli language). Contrary to popular belief, the dialects spoken by the Kvens and Kainuu peoples are not closely related. The Kainuu dialect is one of the Savonian dialects that was formed from the 16th century onwards, when immigrants from Savonia started to settle in the northern wastelands. Dialects closest to the Kven language are called Western Finnish dialects while the Kainuu dialect belongs to the group of Eastern Finnish dialects, predominantly of Karelian origin. ^[2]
The ''Kven language'' has come to incorporate many Norwegian loan words, e.g. ''tyskäläinen'' (meaning "German" in English) instead of standard Finnish ''saksalainen''. The ''Kven language'' also uses some old Finnish words that no longer are used in Finland.

Official status

From the 1860s onwards the Norwegian government attempted to assimilate the Kvens. For example, the use of the Kven language became forbidden in schools and government offices, and Kven town names were replaced by Norwegian names. From 1970s onwards, the ''Kvens'' and the ''Samis'' in Norway have openly been allowed to use their original mother tongues, the ''Kven'' and the ''Sami'' languages, and to teach them to their children in schools. Lately, the Kven culture and language have gained in interest and popularity. In 2005 the language was recognized as a legal minority language in Norway, within the framework of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages.

References

★ Council of Europe: ''European Charter for Regional or Minority Language, Third periodical report, Norway.'' April 2005. [1]

★ Kenneth Hyltenstam & Tommaso Maria Milani: ''Kvenskans status: Rapport för Kommunal- og regionaldepartement och Kultur- og kirkedepartement''. 2003. [2]

★ Norwegian Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development: ''Second periodic report on the implementation of the Council of Europe's framework convention for the protection of national minorities''. October 2005. [3]

1. http://www.kvenskinstitutt.no/spr-k/spr-k.html
2. Map of dialects spoken in Finland.

External links

★ Ethnologue entry

★ ISO 639-3 entry

★ Document describing Kven language grammar (in Finnish)

★ Document describing Kven language grammar (in Norwegian)