Peräpohjola dialects

Peräpohjola dialects are forms of Finnish language spoken in Lapland in Finland, Sweden and Norway. The dialect group belongs to the Western Finnish dialects and it is divided to five more specific dialect groups.

Like the Northern Ostrobothnian (Oulu) dialects, Peräpohjola dialects are Western dialects that show features from Eastern dialects. For instance the reflex to standard -ts- in metsä is mettä according to a Western pattern, whereas the reflex of standard -d- is deletion, 'j', or 'v', as in Eastern dialects, e.g. vedän - vejän. Epenthetic vowels (tyhjä - tyhyjä) are not common although found in southern Tornio dialects. There are no vowel or diphthong changes, a Western/standard feature, but there is a general gemination of consonants in short initial syllables (e.g. standard makaa is makkaa), as in Oulu and Eastern dialects. Palatalization is absent, which is a very Western feature, since palatalization occurs even in the (Western) Oulu dialect.

A unique feature is that unstressed syllables in e.g. the illative case are preceded with an emphatic 'h', e.g. talhon vs. standard taloon, menhään vs. standard mennään. This is highly distinctive but very difficult for outsiders to imitate correctly. The pronouns are also distinct: mie (minä, "I") and sie (sinä, "you"(sg.)) are Eastern-like, while met and meän (me and meidän, "we" and "our(s)") and tet and teän (te and teidän, you (pl.) and your(s)(pl.)) are unique to Peräpohjola. Also, the reflex to the standard third-person verb suffix -vat ("they") is a simple -t, e.g. annoit vs antoivat.

Tornio dialects are spoken in the area surrounding Torne River in Finnish Peräpohjola (North Bothnia) and in Swedish side of the river (Norrbotten). In Finland Tornio dialects are spoken in the municipalities of Enontekiö, Kolari, Muonio, Pello and Ylitornio. In Sweden the dialect is spoken in Hedenäset, Jukkasjärvi, Junosuando, Karesuando, Karungi, Korpilombolo, Pajala, Tärendö, Vittangi and Övertorneå.

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