Ludic | |
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Native to | Russia (Republic of Karelia) |
Region | Near northeastern shore of Lake Onega |
Native speakers
|
3,000 (2012) |
Latin (Karelian alphabet) | |
Official status | |
Official language in
|
recognised as minority language in: Republic of Karelia |
Language codes | |
ISO 639-3 |
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Glottolog | ludi1246 |
Ludic or Ludian or Ludic Karelian (Luudi, Lyydi, or lüüdi) is a Finnic language in the Uralic language family. It is transitional between Olonets Karelian language and Veps language. It originated as a northern dialect of Veps transformed under heavy Karelian influence. It is spoken by 3,000 Karelians in the Republic of Karelia in Russia, near the northwestern shore of Lake Onega, including a few children.
In the Finnish research tradition, Ludic has been considered, on historical grounds, a transitional dialect area between Karelian and Veps, while in the Russian research tradition it is, on ethnographic grounds, normally considered a dialect of Karelian. A status as an independent language has been proposed in recent times. Ludic is characterized by a specific mixture of Karelian-like traits (such as the diphthongization of the Proto-Finnic non-open long vowels: e.g. *pää > piä 'head', *soo > suo 'swamp', contrast Veps pä, so) and Veps-like traits (such as an almost complete loss of consonant gradation).
Ludic comprises three main dialect groups:
The strongest Karelian influence is found in Northern Ludic, while the Kuďäŕv dialect shares the most features with Veps.