Karelian and language contacts

The group emerged during the research project On the borderline of Finnish and Karelian: perspectives on cognate languages and dialects (FINKA; https://www.uef.fi/en/web/finka), funded by the Academy of Finland in 2011 – 2014 and aimed at investigating the Border Karelian dialects. The work of the group continues in a new project, Migration and linguistic diversification: Karelian in Tver and Finland (KATVE; http://www.uef.fi/en/web/katve). During the time, the task of some group members has changed: Pekka Zaikov has been emeritus professor since 2014 and after that, Vesa Koivisto has been the professor of Karelian language and culture. Maria Kok defended her doctoral dissertation in 2016 and Milla Uusitupa in 2016. Laura Arantola (née Piironen), Ilja Moshnikov and Henna Massinen, who were compiling the Corpus of Border Karelia, have been doctoral students. Susanna Tavi is the latest doctoral student in the group. The research group has received funding from several sponsors, including the Academy of Finland, Kone Foundation, The Foundation for the Advancement of Karelian Culture and the University of Eastern Finland.

Research topics: Marjatta Palander: Perceptual Karelian; the eastern Finnish dialects; Vesa Koivisto: Derivative and inflectional forms of verbal lexemes in the dialects of Border Karelian and Tver Karelian; Hannele Forsberg: Syntax in the eastern Finnish dialects; Pekka Zaikov: Derivation (present participles) in Karelian; Helka Riionheimo: Perceptual Karelian; revitalizing Karelian by translating, translator training for Karelian; Maria Kok: Pronominal, possessive and emphatic reflexives in the Finnic languages, with special focus on Estonian, Vepsian and Tver Karelian; Milla Uusitupa: Referential structures in Karelian; Natalia Giloeva: The grammaticalization process of indefinite pronouns in Karelian; Henna Massinen: Primary and secondary gemination in the Border Karelian dialects; Susanna Tavi: The lexical development of Karelian – Corpus-based approach; Ilja Moshnikov: The variation of the active past participle in the Border Karelian dialects; Laura Arantola: The independent relative clauses in the Border Karelian dialects.