Editing Karelian language (section)

{{Short description|Finnic language of Karelia, in Russia and Finland}}
{{distinguish|Kartvelian languages|Karelian Proper language}}
{{Infobox language
| name             = Karelian
| nativename       = {{lang|krl|karjala, karjalan kieli<br /> kard'al, kard'alan kiel' <br /> kariela, karielan kieli}}
| states           = [[Russia]], [[Finland]]
| region           = [[Republic of Karelia]], [[Tver Oblast]] ([[Tver Karelia]])
| ethnicity        = [[Karelians]]
| speakers         = 9000 native speakers, 14,000 total (Russia)
| date             = 2020
| ref              = <ref name="2020census">{{Cite web |script-title=ru:Росстат — Всероссийская перепись населения 2020 |title=Rosstat — Vserossiyskaya perepis' naseleniya 2020 |language=ru |trans-title=Rosstat — All-Russian Population Census 2020 |url=https://rosstat.gov.ru/vpn_popul |access-date=2023-01-03 |website=rosstat.gov.ru}}</ref>
| speakers2        = 11,000 fluent speakers, 30,000 with some knowledge (Finland)<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.karjalansivistysseura.fi/%d0%ba%d0%b0%d1%80%d0%b5%d0%bb%d1%8c%d1%81%d0%ba%d0%b8%d0%b9-%d1%8f%d0%b7%d1%8b%d0%ba/ |script-title=ru:Карельский язык |title=Karel'skiy yazyk |language=ru |trans-title=Karelian}}</ref><ref name="Karjala">{{Cite web |title=Karjala |url=https://www.kotus.fi/kielitieto/kielet/karjala |access-date=2024-09-08 |website=Kotimaisten kielten keskus |language=fi}}</ref>
| script           = [[Latin script|Latin]] ([[Karelian alphabet]])
[[Cyrillic script|Cyrillic]] (in the past, 1820–1940, before the Latin script was officially adopted in 1989)<ref>{{Cite web |date= |title=Alphabet Karelian | url=https://www.omniglot.com/writing/karelian.htm|access-date=2022-02-22}}</ref>
| familycolor      = Uralic
| fam2             = [[Finnic languages|Finnic]]
| fam3             = Northern Finnic
| fam4             = [[Proto-Karelian language|Ladogan]]?
| dia1             = [[Livvi-Karelian language|Livvi]]
| dia2             = [[Karelian Proper language|Karelian proper]]
| dia3             = [[Bjarmian languages#Affinities|Bjarmian]] {{extinct}}<ref name=":0">{{Cite thesis|last=Saarikivi|first=Janne|title=Substrata Uralica: Studies on Finno-Ugrian Substrate in Northern Russian Dialects|degree=PhD|publisher=University of Helsinki|location=Helsinki, Finland|url=https://helda.helsinki.fi/handle/10138/19635|isbn=978-952-10-4519-6}}</ref>
| iso2             = krl
| iso3             = krl
| glotto           = kare1335
| glottorefname    = Karelian
| minority         = <br/>{{flag|Finland}}<ref>[https://www.finlex.fi/fi/valtiosopimukset/sopimussarja/2009/68 Change in the regulation by the president of Finland about European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages, 27.11.2009] (in Finnish)</ref><br/>{{flag|Russia}}
*{{flag|Republic of Karelia}}<ref name=minorityref>{{cite web|url=http://gov.karelia.ru/Legislation/lawbase.html?lid=1751|title=Законодательные акты – Правительство Республики Карелия|work=gov.karelia.ru|access-date=2010-07-29|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171011113305/http://gov.karelia.ru/Legislation/lawbase.html?lid=1751|archive-date=2017-10-11}}</ref>
| notice           = IPA
| map              = 2.2a-Karelian-and-Ludic traditional.png
| mapcaption       = Distribution of Karelian and Ludic at the beginning of the 20th century<ref name=map1/><ref name=map2/>
| map2             = Lang Status 60-DE.svg
| mapcaption2      = {{center|Karelian is classified as "definitely endangered" by the [[UNESCO]] ''[[Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger]]''<ref>{{cite web |url=https://en.wal.unesco.org/countries/russian-federation/languages/karelian |title=Karelian in Russian Federation 
|work=UNESCO WAL |access-date=22 June 2024}}</ref>}}
| dia5             = 
}}
{{Infobox ethnonym|root=|people=[[Karelians]]|language=Karelian;<br />[[Livvi-Karelian language|Livvi-Karelian]]|country=[[Karelia]]}}

'''Karelian''' ({{IPAc-en|k|ə|ˈ|r|iː|l|ɪ|ə|n|,_|k|ə|ˈ|r|iː|l|j|ə|n}}; {{langx|olo|{{lang|krl|karjala, karjalan kieli}}|label=[[Karelian Proper language|Karelian Proper]] and [[Livvi-Karelian language|Livvi-Karelian]]}}; {{langx|lud|kard'al, kard'alan kiel'}}; {{langx|krl|kariela, karielan kieli|label=[[Tver Karelian dialect|Tver Karelian]]}}) is a [[Finnic language]] spoken mainly by the [[Karelians|Karelian people]] in the [[Russia]]n [[Republic of Karelia]]. Linguistically, Karelian is closely related to the [[Finnish language|Finnish]] dialects spoken in eastern [[Finland]], and some Finnish linguists have even classified Karelian as a dialect of Finnish, but nowadays it is widely considered a separate language. Karelian is not to be confused with the [[South Karelian dialects|Southeastern dialects]] of Finnish, sometimes referred to as {{lang|fi|karjalaismurteet}} ("Karelian dialects") in Finland.<ref name=krl2 /> In the Russian 2020–2021 census, around 9,000 people spoke Karelian natively, but around 14,000 said they were able to speak the language.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Росстат — Всероссийская перепись населения 2020 |url=https://rosstat.gov.ru/vpn_popul |access-date=2023-01-03 |website=rosstat.gov.ru}}</ref> There are around 11,000 speakers of Karelian in Finland,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Karjalan kielen käytöstä saatiin runsaasti tietoa |url=https://www.kotus.fi/kielitieto/kielipolitiikka/ajankohtaista_kielipolitiikasta/karjalan_kielen_kaytosta_saatiin_runsaasti_tietoa.40986.news |access-date=2024-06-26 |website=Kotimaisten kielten keskus |language=fi}}</ref> and around 30,000 people in Finland have at least some knowledge of Karelian.<ref name="Karjala">{{Cite web |title=Karjala |url=https://www.kotus.fi/kielitieto/kielet/karjala |access-date=2024-09-08 |website=Kotimaisten kielten keskus |language=fi}}</ref>

The Karelian language is a group of two [[supradialect]]s. The two supradialects are [[Karelian Proper language|Karelian Proper]] (which comprises [[Northern Karelian dialect|Northern Karelian]] and [[South Karelian dialect|South Karelian]] (including the [[Tver Karelian dialect|Tver enclave dialects]])) and [[Livvi-Karelian language|Olonets Karelian]] (Livvi Karelian). The [[Ludic language]] is sometimes considered one more dialect of Karelian, sometimes a separate language. There is no single [[standard language|standard]] Karelian language, so each writer writes in Karelian according to their own dialectal form. All variants are written with the [[Latin script|Latin]]-based [[Karelian alphabet]], though the [[Cyrillic script]] has been used in the past.

Based upon toponymic and historical evidence, a form of Karelian was also spoken among the extinct [[Bjarmaland|Bjarmians]] in the 15th century.<ref name=":0"/>