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Ethnologue: Languages of the World
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Ethnologue > Web version > Country index > Europe > Finland > Finnish

Finnish

A language of Finland

ISO 639-3: fin

Population  4,700,000 in Finland (1993). 30,000 speakers of Tornedalen Finnish. Population total all countries: 5,009,390.
Region  Also in Canada, Estonia, Norway, Russian Federation (Europe), Sweden, United States.
Language map  Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden
Alternate names   Suomea, Suomi
Dialects  Southwestern Finnish, Häme (Tavast), South Pohjanmaa, Central and North Pohjanmaa, Peräpohja, Savo (Savolax), Southeastern Finnish (Finnish Karjala, Finnish Karelian). Southeastern dialects called ‘Karelian’ in colloquial Finnish are distinct from true Karelian [krl] (T. Salminen). Finnish is closely related to Karelian [krl] and Livvi [olo]. In the Russian Federation eastern dialects merge gradually into Karelian.
Classification  Uralic, Finnic
Language use  Official language. About 300,000 also use Swedish [swe].
Language development  Fully developed. Bible: 1642–1991.
Writing system  Latin script.
Comments  SVO. Christian.

Also spoken in:

Russian Federation (Europe)

Language name   Finnish
Population  34,100 in Russian Federation (2002 census). Ethnic population: 77,000 in the Russian Federation (1979 census).
Region  Ingria region, St. Petersburg area.
Language map  European Russia
Language use  Also use Russian.
Comments  Christian.
 

Sweden

Language name   Finnish
Population  200,000 in Sweden (1997 B. Winsa). 446,134 ‘Swedish-Finns’ in 1999, including those born in Finland and first generation born in Sweden, but not others, even if L1 is Finnish.
Language map 
Alternate names  Suomea, Suomi
Comments  1st to 3rd generation immigrants, apart from speakers of Tornedalen Finnish. Christian.