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99-721: The Archipelago Sea ( Finnish : Saaristomeri , Swedish : Skärgårdshavet ) is a part of the Baltic Sea between the Gulf of Bothnia , the Gulf of Finland and the Sea of Åland , within Finnish territorial waters . By some definitions it contains the largest archipelago in the world by the number of islands , estimated at around 50,000, although many of the islands are very small and tightly clustered. The larger islands are inhabited and connected by ferries and bridges. Åland , including

198-819: A "j", e.g. vesj [vesʲ] "water", cf. standard vesi [vesi] . The first known written account in Helsinki slang is from the 1890 short story Hellaassa by young Santeri Ivalo (words that do not exist in, or deviate from, the standard spoken Finnish of its time are in bold): Kun minä eilen illalla palasin labbiksesta , tapasin Aasiksen kohdalla Supiksen , ja niin me laskeusimme tänne Espikselle , jossa oli mahoton hyvä piikis . Mutta me mentiin Studikselle suoraan Hudista tapaamaan, ja jäimme sinne pariksi tunniksi, kunnes ajoimme Kaisikseen . There are two main registers of Finnish used throughout

297-612: A Latin-script alphabet derived from the Swedish alphabet, and is phonemic to a great extent. Vowel length and consonant length are distinguished, and there are a range of diphthongs , although vowel harmony limits which diphthongs are possible. Finnish belongs to the Finnic branch of the Uralic language family ; as such, it is one of the few European languages that is not Indo-European . The Finnic branch also includes Estonian and

396-473: A considerable influence upon the spoken word, because illiteracy is nonexistent and many Finns are avid readers. In fact, it is still not entirely uncommon to meet people who "talk book-ish" ( puhuvat kirjakieltä ); it may have connotations of pedantry, exaggeration, moderation, weaseling or sarcasm (somewhat like heavy use of Latinate words in English, or more old-fashioned or "pedantic" constructions: compare

495-460: A few minority languages spoken around the Baltic Sea and in Russia's Republic of Karelia . The closest relative of Finnish is either Ingrian , or depending on the definition, Karelian . Finnic languages form a dialect continuum, where for instance Finnish and Estonian are not separated by any single isogloss that would separate dialects considered "Finnish" from those considered "Estonian", despite

594-422: A few tens of meters in diameter. Many plants have altered phenotypes due to the environment. For example, junipers on small islands grow only to a height less than 0.5 metres (1.6 feet), but can cover several square meters. In contrast to the terrestrial and coastal ecosystems of the islands, the sea itself has a relatively low biodiversity . The reason for this is the brackish nature of the water. The salinity

693-430: A haven for seabirds . Species include mute swan , black guillemot , great crested grebe and numerous species of gulls . Recently great cormorants have spread to the archipelago and their numbers are increasing. This not necessarily viewed as a good thing by nature lovers, since great cormorants live in dense colonies which will eventually poison surrounding plant life by their excrement . The greatest threat to

792-460: A language of administration, journalism, literature, and science in Finland, along with Swedish. In 1853 Daniel Europaeus published the first Swedish-Finnish dictionary, and between 1866 and 1880 Elias Lönnrot compiled the first Finnish-Swedish dictionary. In the same period, Antero Warelius conducted ethnographic research and, among other topics, he documented the geographic distribution of

891-475: A more systematic writing system. Along the way, Finnish lost several fricative consonants in a process of sound change . The sounds [ð] and [θ(ː)] disappeared from the language, surviving only in a small rural region in Western Finland. In the standard language, however, the effect of the lost sounds is thus: Modern Finnish punctuation, along with that of Swedish, uses the colon (:) to separate

990-445: A north–south split as well as an east–west split. The northern dialects of Proto-Finnic, from which Finnish developed, lacked the mid vowel [ ɤ ] . This vowel was found only in the southern dialects, which developed into Estonian , Livonian , and Votian . The northern variants used third person singular pronoun hän instead of southern tämä (Est. tema ). While the eastern dialects of Proto-Finnic (which developed in

1089-466: A radically different environment. Smaller islands are devoid of trees, but still harbour a rich plantlife. The environment is sunny, has a relatively long growing season and is fertilised by guano . On the other hand, nearly constant wind and thin or non-existent soil limit plant growth. The very low salinity of the Baltic Sea makes splashes of seawater more benign for plant life. While most of

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1188-400: A roughly triangular area with the cities of Mariehamn , Uusikaupunki , and Hanko at the corners. The archipelago can be divided into inner and outer archipelagos, with the outer archipelago consisting mainly of smaller, uninhabited islands. The total surface area is 8,300 square kilometres (3,205 square miles), of which 2,000 square kilometres (772 square miles) is land. The archipelago has

1287-555: A separate taxonomic " Finno-Samic " node is controversial. The Defense Language Institute in Monterey, California , United States, classifies Finnish as a level III language (of four levels) in terms of learning difficulty for native English speakers. Finnish is spoken by about five million people, most of whom reside in Finland. There are also notable Finnish-speaking minorities in Sweden, Norway, Russia, Estonia, Brazil, Canada, and

1386-440: A total amount of Finnish-speakers roughly between 7,200 and 15,600. In the latest census , around 1000 people in Russia claimed to speak Finnish natively; however, a larger amount of 14,000 claimed to be able to speak Finnish in total. There are also forms of Finnish spoken by diasporas outside Europe, such as American Finnish , spoken by Finnish Americans , and Siberian Finnish , spoken by Siberian Finns . Today, Finnish

1485-486: A very large number of islands. The exact number depends on the definition of the term "island", as the size of the patches of dry land in the area varies from small rocks peeking out of the water to large islands with several villages or even small towns. The number of the larger islands of over 1 square kilometre (0.4 sq mi) within the Archipelago Sea (in provinces of Åland Isles and Southwest Finland )

1584-636: Is 257, whilst the number of smaller isles of over 0.5 hectares (1.2 acres) is about 17,700. If the number of smallest uninhabitable rocks and skerries is accounted, 50,000 is probably a good estimate. In comparison, the number of islands in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago is 36,563. Indonesia has 17,508 islands, according to the Indonesian Naval Hydro-Oceanographic Office. The Philippines has 7,107 islands. The islands began emerging from

1683-491: Is a Finnic language of the Uralic language family, spoken by the majority of the population in Finland and by ethnic Finns outside of Finland. Finnish is one of the two official languages of Finland, alongside Swedish . In Sweden , both Finnish and Meänkieli (which has significant mutual intelligibility with Finnish ) are official minority languages . Kven , which like Meänkieli is mutually intelligible with Finnish,

1782-508: Is abbreviation of word-final vowels, and in many respects they resemble Estonian. The Tavastian dialects ( hämäläismurteet ) are spoken in Tavastia . They are closest to the standard language, but feature some slight vowel changes, such as the opening of diphthong-final vowels ( tie → tiä , miekka → miakka , kuolisi → kualis ), the change of d to l (mostly obsolete) or trilled r (widespread, nowadays disappearance of d

1881-474: Is an autonomous region of Denmark but is not part of the EU. However, the membership was accepted in both referendums. [REDACTED] Archipelago Trail travel guide from Wikivoyage 60°18′N 21°00′E  /  60.3°N 21°E  / 60.3; 21 Finnish language Finnish ( endonym : suomi [ˈsuo̯mi] or suomen kieli [ˈsuo̯meŋ ˈkie̯li] )

1980-470: Is approximately 125 km (78 mi). The ring road is usually traveled by car or by bicycle. Most of the ferries along the road are free, but ferries between Houtskär and Iniö charge a small fee. It is possible to cover the Ring Road in one day by car, but usually travellers spend at least one night along the way. Approximately 20 000 tourist travel the Ring Road every year. The main tourist season

2079-525: Is from June to August. The principal tourist attraction is scenery and nature along the way, but significant sights also include the Louhisaari manor and several medieval churches. The culture of the archipelago resembles that of the Swedish-speaking coastal areas of Finland. Many features of typically Finnish culture, such as the popularity of sauna , have become ingrained in the culture of

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2178-649: Is made hazardous by the labyrinthine archipelago, varying depth and numerous skerries . For this reason the islands are dotted with lighthouses of varying sizes and navigational marks. Maritime pilot services are maintained by the state. The most inhabited islands in the eastern archipelago in Southwest Finland are connected by the Archipelago Ring Road. There are approximately 160 to 190 kilometres (99–118 miles) of public roads and 30 to 50 kilometres (19–31 miles) of waterways along

2277-609: Is one of two official languages of Finland (the other being Swedish), and has been an official language of the European Union since 1995. However, the Finnish language did not have an official status in the country during the period of Swedish rule , which ended in 1809. After the establishment of the Grand Duchy of Finland , and against the backdrop of the Fennoman movement , the language obtained its official status in

2376-532: Is only 0.6% in the Archipelago. The salinity has also varied greatly during the past, making it difficult for species to adapt. However, the great number of individuals indicates a favourable environment. Typical fish species are the Baltic herring, pike, white-fish, perch and flounder. The area is home to many species which are not found elsewhere in Finland. Harbour porpoise is one example of such species. It

2475-746: Is popular) and the personal pronouns ( me: meitin ('we: our'), te: teitin ('you: your') and he: heitin ('they: their')). The South Ostrobothnian dialects ( eteläpohjalaismurteet ) are spoken in Southern Ostrobothnia . Their most notable feature is the pronunciation of "d" as a tapped or even fully trilled /r/ . The Central and North Ostrobothnian dialects ( keski- ja pohjoispohjalaismurteet ) are spoken in Central and Northern Ostrobothnia . The Lapland dialects ( lappilaismurteet ) are spoken in Lapland . The dialects spoken in

2574-629: Is spoken in the Norwegian counties of Troms and Finnmark by a minority of Finnish descent. Finnish is typologically agglutinative and uses almost exclusively suffixal affixation . Nouns , adjectives , pronouns , numerals and verbs are inflected depending on their role in the sentence . Sentences are normally formed with subject–verb–object word order, although the extensive use of inflection allows them to be ordered differently. Word order variations are often reserved for differences in information structure . Finnish orthography uses

2673-491: Is the only cetacean which is regularly sighted in the northern part of the Baltic Sea. The current population in the entire Baltic is estimated at 600 individuals, down from estimated 10 to 20 thousand a century ago. Another example is white-tailed eagle , which has a significant breeding population in the Archipelago Sea. Rare or endangered bird and mammal species found in the archipelago also include Caspian tern , greater scaup , grey seal and ringed seal . The islands are

2772-548: Is the Åva Intrusion in the municipality of Brändö , which is visible in satellite photos and high-resolution maps. The other similar formation is in Fjälskär, between the main islands of Houtskär and Iniö . The islands are divided between the region of Southwest Finland and the autonomous region of Åland. The border between the regions runs roughly along Skiftet (Kihti in Finnish), a relatively open sea area. Together with

2871-504: The Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland , and this proportion is even higher in the archipelago, as the area doesn't have an orthodox or catholic parish. The culinary culture of the archipelago resembles continental Finnish cuisine . Naturally, there is a greater emphasis on fish, particularly baltic herring , salmon and rainbow trout . The island are also famous for traditional dark bread distinguished by

2970-615: The Finnish Diet of 1863. Finnish also enjoys the status of an official minority language in Sweden . Under the Nordic Language Convention , citizens of the Nordic countries speaking Finnish have the opportunity to use their native language when interacting with official bodies in other Nordic countries without being liable to any interpretation or translation costs. However, concerns have been expressed about

3069-614: The Parliament of Finland . The president of Finland has, in theory, right to veto the laws passed by the Åland regional parliament. The eastern part of the archipelago is defended by the Archipelago Sea Naval Command , which has its main base in Turku . The defence is based largely on naval mines and coastal artillery . Both are effective in the archipelago, where the dense clusters of islands severely limit

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3168-532: The Ural Mountains region and/or the bend of the middle Volga . The strong case for Proto-Uralic is supported by common vocabulary with regularities in sound correspondences, as well as by the fact that the Uralic languages have many similarities in structure and grammar. Despite having overlapping geographical distributions, Finnic languages and Sami languages are not closely related, and the hypothesis of

3267-494: The demographics in the archipelago is the number of twins . The tendency for non-identical twin births is partly hereditary , and the necessary genes are prevalent in the archipelago. In the 18th and 19th centuries the proportion of twin births was greater than anywhere in Europe, and enormously higher than in continental Finland . The reason for this was fishing. Fish is an excellent source of protein and unsaturated fat . It

3366-465: The stem of a word and its grammatical ending in some cases, for example after acronyms , as in EU:ssa 'in the EU'. (This contrasts with some other alphabetic writing systems, which would use other symbols, such as e.g. apostrophe, hyphen.) Since suffixes play a prominent role in the language, this use of the colon is quite common. In the 19th century Johan Vilhelm Snellman and others began to stress

3465-549: The 12th and 13th centuries Sweden established its control of the Archipelago Sea. At the same time Christianity started to spread to Finland, starting from the archipelago and the adjacent coastal area. The islands occupy a strategic position, guarding the approaches to Stockholm, Turku and the entire Gulf of Bothnia. Therefore, they were fortified by the Swedish empire during the Middle Ages. A royal postal route used to go via

3564-442: The 20th century the population went into decline again, especially on smaller islands, due to rapid urbanization. Many smaller islands became completely uninhabited. During the recent decades increasing number of summer residences in the archipelago have revitalized some areas. Many Finns have summer residences on the islands in the area, known for its natural beauty. Due to this the population of many islands can double or more during

3663-573: The Archipelago Sea belong to the cooperation area of the Archipelago National Park and there are many small nature conservation areas, where landing is prohibited in spring and summer. The islands began rising from the water 10,000 years ago. At that stage the Danish straits were closed and the current Baltic Sea was the fresh-water Lake Ancylus . The water around the islands turned from fresh to brackish around 7600 years ago as

3762-406: The Finnish cities of Turku and Helsinki to Åland and Sweden. During cold winters official ice roads are established between some islands. It is also common to drive on ice to islands lacking official ice roads. This greatly eases transportation, as it makes it possible to simply drive a car (or even a heavy van if ice is very thick, usually every few years) from the continent to the islands. On

3861-458: The Finnish dialects. The most important contributions to improving the status of Finnish were made by Elias Lönnrot . His impact on the development of modern vocabulary in Finnish was particularly significant. In addition to compiling the Kalevala , he acted as an arbiter in disputes about the development of standard Finnish between the proponents of western and eastern dialects, ensuring that

3960-419: The Ring Road. The city of Turku is usually considered the starting point of the road. The route goes through following municipalities, villages, islands and island groups: There is also a shorter version of the route, the so-called "Small Ring Road", which utilizes a ferry connection between Rymättylä (part of Naantali ) and Nagu , skipping numbers 4–11 in the list above. The length of the "Small Ring Road"

4059-593: The Russian Empire. During the Crimean war an Anglo-French force attacked and destroyed the Bomarsund castle . In the Åland convention of 1856 the Åland side of the archipelago was demilitarised . The Russians moved troops back into the area in 1916, and for the next 5 years there was either Russian or Finnish military presence in Åland. Finland gained its independence from Russia in 1917. Shortly after,

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4158-532: The Swedish speaking inhabitants of Åland , in the western part of the Archipelago , appealed to Sweden to annex the islands. The request received mixed support in Sweden, but led to the Åland crisis . The League of Nations was called in to resolve the situation, and in 1921 the League granted the sovereignty of the entire archipelago to Finland, despite the objections of the majority of Ålanders. However, Åland

4257-694: The United States. The majority of the population of Finland (90.37% as of 2010 ) speak Finnish as their first language . The remainder speak Swedish (5.42%), one of the Sámi languages (for example Northern , Inari , or Skolt ), or another language as their first language. Finnish is spoken as a second language in Estonia by about 167,000 people. The Finnic varities found in Norway's Finnmark (namely Kven ) and in northern Sweden (namely Meänkieli ) have

4356-474: The archipelago was cleared from Russian troops in May. The Swedish troops then used the islands as a staging area for the recapture of continental Finland. The archipelago remained in Swedish control until the end of the war, but in the subsequent Treaty of Fredrikshamn in 1809 Sweden was forced to cede the area along with rest of Finland. The Archipelago Sea became part of the autonomous Grand Duchy of Finland under

4455-468: The area is monolingually Finnish-speaking . Throughout its history the population of the Archipelago Sea has varied significantly. The population increased until the first half of the 16th century. After that the population went into decline as the carrying capacity of the environment was reached and wars and pestilence took their toll on the people. In the 19th century the population increased sharply as new, more efficient fishing methods were introduced. In

4554-768: The army. The archipelago is divided into 30 municipalities, grouped in the autonomous region of Åland and in the historical provinces of Varsinais-Suomi and Uusimaa . The municipalities in Åland tend to be quite small, with the municipality of Sottunga having only approximately 100 residents. Island municipalities in Varsinais-Suomi: Coastal municipalities in Varsinais-Suomi which also include some islands: Island municipalities in Åland: Coastal municipalities in Uusimaa which also include some islands: The archipelago continues further to

4653-408: The border and to cooperate for the common good of the border populations. The Association of European Border Regions sets the following criteria for the identification of Euroregions: It is difficult to associate one legal framework with the term "Euroregion", as they operate across country borders and vary widely in their particular forms. The naming convention for Euroregions is as varied as

4752-529: The border created between Sweden and Finland in 1809 when Russia annexed Finland. This caused the speakers of Meänkieli to be isolated from the developments of standard Finnish and instead be influenced by the Swedish language. However, it is still mutually integible with Finnish, and is thus sometimes considered a dialect of the Finnish language. The Kven language is spoken in Finnmark and Troms , in Norway. Its speakers are descendants of Finnish emigrants to

4851-510: The colloquial language) ei kö teillä ole e(i) ks teil(lä) oo "don't you (pl.) have (it)?" (compare eiks to standard Estonian confirmatory interrogative eks ) Euroregion Euroregions usually do not correspond to any legislative or governmental institution and do not have direct political power. Their work is limited to the competencies of the local and regional authorities which constitute them. They are usually arranged to promote common interests across

4950-404: The country. One is the "standard language" ( yleiskieli ), and the other is the " spoken language " ( puhekieli ). The standard language is used in formal situations like political speeches and newscasts. Its written form, the "book language" ( kirjakieli ), is used in nearly all written texts, not always excluding even the dialogue of common people in popular prose. The spoken language, on

5049-478: The difference between saying "There's no children I'll leave it to" and "There are no children to whom I shall leave it"). More common is the intrusion of typically literary constructions into a colloquial discourse, as a kind of quote from written Finnish. It is quite common to hear book-like and polished speech on radio or TV, and the constant exposure to such language tends to lead to the adoption of such constructions even in everyday language. A prominent example of

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5148-410: The east in Uusimaa , but Hanko is traditionally seen as a dividing point between the Archipelago Sea and the Gulf of Finland . The number of permanent residents on the islands is roughly 60,000, with 27,000 of them living in Åland . Also outside Åland most of the area has been more or less monolingually Swedish-speaking, now officially bilingual with a Swedish -speaking majority. The northern part of

5247-497: The effect of postglacial rebound is smaller than – for example – in Kvarken (Finnish: Merenkurkku ) further north. The sea area is shallow, with a mean depth of 23 metres (75 ft). Most of the channels are not navigable for large ships. There are three crater-like formations in the archipelago. One of them, Lumparn in Åland , is a genuine impact crater . The two other formations are intrusions . The more prominent of these

5346-445: The effect of the standard language is the development of the consonant gradation form /ts   : ts/ as in metsä : metsän , as this pattern was originally (1940) found natively only in the dialects of the southern Karelian isthmus and Ingria . It has been reinforced by the spelling "ts" for the dental fricative [θː] , used earlier in some western dialects. The spelling and the pronunciation this encourages however approximate

5445-501: The environment is eutrophication caused mainly by agriculture and fish farms . This is a particular threat to the Baltic Sea , since it is very shallow and thus has much less potential to dilute effluent from human activities. Eutrophication has been partly brought under control in Finland, but the effects are masked by the general decline in the condition of the Baltic Sea. Many areas of the archipelago are protected from human activity by their sheer inaccessibility. The southern part of

5544-551: The formal. However, in signalling the former in writing, syncope and sandhi – especially internal – may occasionally amongst other characteristics be transcribed, e.g. menenpä → me(n)empä . This never occurs in the standard variety. he mene vät ne mene e "they go" loss of a number contrast on verbs in the 3rd person ( menee is 3rd person singular in the formal language) ( minä) o le n mä o o n "I am" or "I will be" and no pro-drop (i.e., personal pronouns are usually mandatory in

5643-459: The forms of the regions themselves. The most common local names for a Euroregion include euregio , euregion , euroregion , eurorégion , euroregión , euroregione , euro-região , ευρωπεριοχή , europaregion , euroregiune , grande région , еврорегион ( evroregion ), regio , conseil , or council . The cooperating regions usually have different (local) names in each participating country . The regions are listed in alphabetical order of

5742-446: The future status of Finnish in Sweden, for example, where reports produced for the Swedish government during 2017 show that minority language policies are not being respected, particularly for the 7% of Finns settled in the country. The Uralic family of languages, of which Finnish is a member, are hypothesized to derive from a single ancestor language termed Proto-Uralic , spoken sometime between 8,000 and 2,000 BCE (estimates vary) in

5841-461: The grammatical and phonological changes also include the most common pronouns and suffixes, which amount to frequent but modest differences. Some sound changes have been left out of the formal language. For example, irregular verbs have developed in the spoken language as a result of the elision of sonorants in some verbs of the Type III class (with subsequent vowel assimilation ), but only when

5940-635: The islands are rocky, some are actually extensions of the Salpausselkä ridge system, and thus composed of terminal moraine. Such islands include Örö and Jurmo . The flora and fauna in these islands is more diverse than in their rocky neighbours. The conditions can vary radically even within one small island, due to the features of the rock on which the islands are based. There may be small patches of fresh-water bogs , ponds of fresh water, ponds of brackish water , bushes, meadows , barren rocks, wind-beaten shores and sheltered coves on an island only

6039-462: The islands near the coast of Sweden the area forms a Euroregion . The main ports in the area are Turku on the continent, and Mariehamn on Åland. The Åland region is autonomous and demilitarized. It has its own regional parliament and has Swedish as its sole official language. The regional parliament has power over wide-ranging matters, including health services, education, environment, and postal services. Monetary and foreign policy are handled by

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6138-680: The islands. However, the climate is more favourable than in continental Finland and some islands, particularly Rymättylä , are famous in the nearby continental areas for producing the first new potatoes of the summer. The significance of tourism to the economy of the islands is constantly increasing. The islands are linked by bridges and ferries, and in case of Åland, a small airport. The ferries are divided into two categories: "road ferries" ( landsvägsfärja or simply färja in Swedish, lautta or lossi in Finnish) are free of charge and operate mostly on short routes between adjacent (large) islands. They are raft-like in construction and usually operated by

6237-480: The islands. There are, however, several subtle differences. Maypoles are an essential part of the Midsummer festival in the archipelago but not in continental Finland. On the other hand, the continental Finnish Midsummer tradition of lighting bonfires has been introduced to the archipelago relatively recently. Based on the languages spoken the archipelago can be divided into three parts. The Åland archipelago in

6336-470: The language, which he based on Swedish, German, and Latin. The Finnish standard language still relies on his innovations with regard to spelling, though Agricola used less systematic spelling than is used today. Though Agricola's intention was that each phoneme (and allophone under qualitative consonant gradation ) should correspond to one letter, he failed to achieve this goal in various respects. For example, k , c , and q were all used for

6435-510: The largest islands of the region, forms an autonomous region within Finland. The rest of the islands are part of the region of Southwest Finland . The Archipelago Sea is a significant tourist destination. The Guardian ' s journalist Tristan Parker wrote an article praising the Turku Archipelago on July 29, 2021, mentioning that "nowhere has the gentle magic of the smaller islands – or their wildlife." The Archipelago Sea covers

6534-415: The main cultural and political centres. The standard language, however, has always been a consciously constructed medium for literature. It preserves grammatical patterns that have mostly vanished from the colloquial varieties and, as its main application is writing, it features complex syntactic patterns that are not easy to handle when used in speech. The colloquial language develops significantly faster, and

6633-563: The manoeuvrability of invading vessels. The autonomous region of Åland is demilitarised. The Finnish Defence Forces are not allowed to enter the territory of Åland in peacetime (in times of war the FDF has the duty of defending Åland due to international treaties starting from the Åland crisis which resulted in Finland securing possession of the islands while becoming obliged to protect the islands' neutrality), and its residents are exempt from military service, although they can volunteer to serve in

6732-411: The modern-day eastern Finnish dialects, Veps, Karelian, and Ingrian) formed genitive plural nouns via plural stems (e.g., eastern Finnish kalojen < * kaloi -ten ), the western dialects of Proto-Finnic (today's Estonian, Livonian and western Finnish varieties) used the non-plural stems (e.g., Est. kalade < * kala -ten ). Another defining characteristic of the east–west split

6831-624: The most part, the dialects operate on the same phonology and grammar. There are only marginal examples of sounds or grammatical constructions specific to some dialect and not found in standard Finnish. Two examples are the voiced dental fricative found in the Rauma dialect , and the Eastern exessive case . The Southwest Finnish dialects ( lounaissuomalaismurteet ) are spoken in Southwest Finland and Satakunta . Their typical feature

6930-419: The need to improve the status of Finnish. Ever since the days of Mikael Agricola, written Finnish had been used almost exclusively in religious contexts, but now Snellman's Hegelian nationalistic ideas of Finnish as a fully-fledged national language gained considerable support. Concerted efforts were made to improve the status of the language and to modernize it, and by the end of the century Finnish had become

7029-465: The northern islands in the 16th and 17th century. According to legend, the notorious pirates known as the Victual Brothers , who terrorized the Baltic Sea region in the Middle Ages, would have lit stray fires in the Archipelago Sea, which would have lured other ships to shore, looted the booty and possibly killed the ship's crew. This is apparently just a later story tradition. According to

7128-453: The original pronunciation, still reflected in e.g. Karelian /čč   : č/ ( meččä : mečän ). In the spoken language, a fusion of Western /tt   : tt/ ( mettä : mettän ) and Eastern /ht   : t/ ( mehtä : metän ) has resulted in /tt   : t/ ( mettä : metän ). Neither of these forms are identifiable as, or originate from, a specific dialect. The orthography of informal language follows that of

7227-405: The other hand, during spring and autumn there is a period of thaw ( menföre in Swedish, kelirikko in Finnish) when the ice is too weak even for walking, but too thick for boating. This can leave some islands lacking a pier for large ships isolated for days or weeks. Access is only by hydrocopter , hovercraft or helicopter . Many important shipping lanes cross the Archipelago Sea. Navigation

7326-616: The other hand, is the main variety of Finnish used in popular TV and radio shows and at workplaces, and may be preferred to a dialect in personal communication. Standard Finnish is prescribed by the Language Office of the Research Institute for the Languages of Finland and is the language used in official communication. The Dictionary of Contemporary Finnish ( Nykysuomen sanakirja 1951–61), with 201,000 entries,

7425-447: The phoneme / k / . Likewise, he alternated between dh and d to represent the allophonic [ ð ] (like th in English this ), between dh and z to represent / θː / (like th in thin , but longer in duration), and between gh and g to represent the allophonic [ ɣ ] . Agricola did not consistently represent vowel length in his orthography. Others revised Agricola's work later, striving for

7524-746: The region in the 18th and 19th centuries. Kven is an official minority language in Norway. The Eastern dialects consist of the widespread Savonian dialects ( savolaismurteet ) spoken in Savo and nearby areas, and the South-Eastern dialects now spoken only in Finnish South Karelia . The South Karelian dialects ( eteläkarjalaismurteet ) were previously also spoken on the Karelian Isthmus and in Ingria . The Karelian Isthmus

7623-508: The road administration. The small ones are cable ferries ( kabelfärja in Swedish, lossi in Finnish), bigger ones do not use cables (and are called lautta in Finnish). The other ferries ( förbindelsefartyg in Swedish, yhteysalus in Finnish) are more ship-like in construction, are operated by the maritime administration and may charge a small fee. They operate on longer routes covering several smaller or more distant islands. There are also large commercially operated cruiseferries connecting

7722-691: The saline water from the North Sea penetrated further to the Baltic from the recently opened straits. The oldest archaeological finds in Dragsfjärd date back to ca. 4000 BC and represent the Pit-Comb Ware culture . During that period the outer archipelago was formed by the highest points of the main islands of Houtskär , Korpo and Nagu . Due to post-glacial rebound the entire archipelago has risen approximately 25 metres (82 feet) since, enlarging existing islands and creating many more. During

7821-450: The same tradition, the pirates were also joined by young adventurous men from coastal villages who did not see a future for themselves in their home region. In 1808 the War of Finland broke out between Sweden and Russia . In April Russian troops occupied the archipelago, including Åland. Soon after the local residents, enraged by the confiscation of ships, rebelled. Aided by troops from Sweden

7920-452: The sea shortly after the last ice age . Due to the post-glacial rebound the process is still going on, with new skerries and islands being slowly created and old ones enlarged or merged. The current rate of rebound is between 4 and 10 millimetres (¼" to ½") a year. Because the islands are made of mainly granite and gneiss , two very hard types of rock , erosion is significantly slower than rebound. However, due to its southern location,

8019-401: The second syllable of the word is short. The result is that some forms in the spoken language are shortened, e.g. tule-n → tuu-n ('I come'), while others remain identical to the standard language hän tulee "he comes", never * hän tuu ). However, the longer forms such as tule can be used in spoken language in other forms as well. The literary language certainly still exerts

8118-636: The status of official minority languages, and thus can be considered distinct languages from Finnish. However, since these languages are mutually intelligible , one may alternatively view them as dialects of the same language . No language census exists for Norway, neither for Kven, standard Finnish, or combined. As of 2023, 7,454 first- or second-generation immigrants from Finland were registered as having Norwegian residency, while as of 2021, 235 Finns were registered as foreigners studying at Norwegian higher education. Great Norwegian Encyclopedia estimates Kven speakers at 2,000-8,000. Altogether, this results in

8217-459: The summer. Although having a summer cottage in the archipelago is more common among the Swedish-speaking, the Swedish-speaking are a small minority on the mainland, and so most summer residents are Finnish-speaking, in contrast to the permanent residents. Kultaranta , the official summer residence of the president of Finland is on the island of Luonnonmaa in Naantali . An anomalous feature in

8316-405: The travel journal, the words are those of a Finnish bishop whose name is unknown. The erroneous use of gelen (Modern Finnish kielen ) in the accusative case, rather than kieltä in the partitive, and the lack of the conjunction mutta are typical of foreign speakers of Finnish even today. At the time, most priests in Finland spoke Swedish . During the Middle Ages, when Finland

8415-422: The two standard languages being not mutually intelligible. Finnish demonstrates an affiliation with other Uralic languages (such as Hungarian and Sami languages ) in several respects including: Several theories exist as to the geographic origin of Finnish and the other Uralic languages. The most widely held view is that they originated as a Proto-Uralic language somewhere in the boreal forest belt around

8514-498: The use of buttermilk , syrup , and malt among the ingredients. The main dish of the Christmas dinner is usually a northern pike , in contrast to the ham which is eaten in mainland Finland. Every Christmas the fishermen of Korpo deliver a pike for the president's table. The islands provide a unique and diverse environment for wildlife. The bigger islands resemble the coastal regions of continental Finland whereas skerries have

8613-499: The use of Finnish through parish clerk schools, the use of Swedish in church, and by having Swedish-speaking servants and maids move to Finnish-speaking areas. The first comprehensive writing system for Finnish was created by Mikael Agricola , a Finnish bishop, in the 16th century. He based his writing system on the western dialects . Agricola's ultimate plan was to translate the Bible , but first he had to develop an orthography for

8712-492: The vicinity of the Ural Mountains . Over time, Proto-Uralic split into various daughter languages , which themselves continued to change and diverge, yielding yet more descendants. One of these descendants is the reconstructed Proto-Finnic , from which the Finnic languages developed. Current models assume that three or more Proto-Finnic dialects evolved during the first millennium BCE. These dialects were defined geographically, and were distinguished from one another along

8811-406: The west is almost completely Swedish-speaking, the Åboland archipelago in the south is mostly Swedish-speaking and the northern archipelago is Finnish-speaking. Because Christianity spread to the islands before the mainland, the churches on the major islands tend to be relatively old; dating from the 13th, 14th and 15th centuries, with the oldest ones in Åland. More than 80% of Finns are members of

8910-626: The western dialects preferred by Agricola retained their preeminent role, while many originally dialect words from Eastern Finland were introduced to the standard language, thus enriching it considerably. The first novel written in Finnish (and by a Finnish speaker) was Seven Brothers ( Seitsemän veljestä ), published by Aleksis Kivi in 1870. The dialects of Finnish are divided into two distinct groups, Western and Eastern. The dialects are largely mutually intelligible and are distinguished from each other by changes in vowels, diphthongs and rhythm, as well as in preferred grammatical constructions. For

9009-403: The western parts of Lapland are recognizable by retention of old "h" sounds in positions where they have disappeared from other dialects. One form of speech related to Northern dialects, Meänkieli , which is spoken on the Swedish side of the border is recognized in Sweden as its own distinct language, having its own standardized language separate from Finnish. This form of speech developed from

9108-496: Was a prescriptive dictionary that defined official language. An additional volume for words of foreign origin ( Nykysuomen sivistyssanakirja , 30,000 entries) was published in 1991. An updated dictionary, The New Dictionary of Modern Finnish ( Kielitoimiston sanakirja ) was published in an electronic form in 2004 and in print in 2006. A descriptive grammar (the Large grammar of Finnish , Iso suomen kielioppi , 1,600 pages)

9207-403: Was also available even when crops failed. Hence having twins maximizes lifetime reproductive success. The islands generally enjoy a high standard of living comparable to that of continental Finland. Fishing and fish processing are major industries. The archipelago is well known for its Baltic herring and rainbow trout products. Agriculture is limited by the small size and rocky nature of

9306-470: Was evacuated by the Soviet Union later that year. Finnish troops remained in Åland until the end of the war in 1944. In 1995 Finland became a member of the European Union . The referendum on the membership was held separately in Åland, leading to the possibility of different outcomes. A rejection of the EU membership by the Ålanders would have created a situation similar to that of Greenland , which

9405-464: Was evacuated during World War II and refugees were resettled all over Finland. Most Ingrian Finns were deported to various interior areas of the Soviet Union. Palatalization , a common feature of Uralic languages, had been lost in the Finnic branch, but it has been reacquired by most of these languages, including Eastern Finnish, but not Western Finnish. In Finnish orthography, this is denoted with

9504-662: Was given a wide autonomy, and its demilitarised status was reaffirmed. In 1939 the Soviet Union attacked Finland in the Winter War . At the end of the war in 1940 Finland was forced to rent Hanko at the eastern extreme of the Archipelago Sea to Soviet Union as a military base. In 1941 the Continuation War broke out. Finland sent troops to Åland to guard against a possible Soviet invasion, which didn't materialize. The Finnish army also laid siege on Hanko, which

9603-545: Was published in 2004. There is also an etymological dictionary, Suomen sanojen alkuperä , published in 1992–2000, and a handbook of contemporary language ( Nykysuomen käsikirja ). Standard Finnish is used in official texts and is the form of language taught in schools. Its spoken form is used in political speech, newscasts, in courts, and in other formal situations. Nearly all publishing and printed works are in standard Finnish. The colloquial language has mostly developed naturally from earlier forms of Finnish, and spread from

9702-543: Was the use of the reflexive suffix -(t)te , used only in the eastern dialects. The birch bark letter 292 from the early 13th century is the first known document in any Finnic language . The first known written example of Finnish itself is found in a German travel journal dating back to c.  1450 : Mÿnna tachton gernast spuho sommen gelen Emÿna daÿda (Modern Finnish: " Minä tahdon kernaasti puhua suomen kielen, [mutta] en minä taida; " English: "I want to speak Finnish, [but] I am not able to"). According to

9801-562: Was under Swedish rule , Finnish was only spoken . At the time, the language of international commerce was Middle Low German , the language of administration Swedish , and religious ceremonies were held in Latin . This meant that Finnish speakers could use their mother tongue only in everyday life. Finnish was considered inferior to Swedish, and Finnish speakers were second-class members of society because they could not use their language in any official situations. There were even efforts to reduce

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