Veps language

Veps language
vepsän kel’
Spoken in	Russia
Region	Republic of Karelia Ingria Vologda Oblast Veps National Volost
Ethnicity	Veps
Native speakers	6,360  (1989 census)
Language family	Uralic Finnic Veps language
Writing system	Latin (Vepsian alphabet)
Official status
Official language in	recognised as minority language in: Republic of Karelia
Regulated by	No official regulation
Language codes
ISO 639-3	vep

The Veps language (also known as Vepsian, natively as vepsän kel’, vepsän keli, or vepsä), spoken by the Vepsians (also known as Veps), belongs to the Finnic group of the Uralic languages. Closely related to Finnish and Karelian, Veps is also written using Latin script.

According to Soviet statistics, 12 500 people were self-designated ethnic Veps at the end of 1989.

According to the location of the people, the language is divided into three main dialects: Northern Veps (at Lake Onega to the south of Petrozavodsk, to the north of the river Svir, including the former Veps National Volost), Central Veps (in the Saint Petersburg region and Vologda Oblast), and Southern Veps (in the Saint Petersburg region). The Northern dialect seems the most distinct of the three; however, it is still possible for speakers of one dialect group to understand those of another. Speakers of the Northern dialect call themselves “Ludi” (lüdikad), or lüdilaižed.

Grammar

Veps is an agglutinating language.

Nouns

A Soviet textbook for native speakers of Veps printed in the 1930s.

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	nado (sister-in-law)	nadod
Genitive	nadon	nadoid'en or nadoiden
Accusative	nadon, nado (in some cases)	nadod
Partitive	nadod	nadoid
Translative	nadoks	nadoikš
Abessive	nadota	nadoita
Comitative	nadonke	nadoidenke
Inessive	nados	nadoiš
Elative	nadospäi	nadoišpäi
Illative	nadoho	nadoihe
Adessive	nadol	nadoil
Ablative	nadolpäi	nadoilpäi
Allative	nadole	nadoile
Essive-Instructive	nadon	nadoin
Prolative	nadodme	nadoidme
Approximative I	nadonno	nadoidenno
Approximative II	nadonnoks	nadoidennoks
Egressive	nadonnopäi	nadoidennopäi
Terminative I	mechasai 'till the forest'	mecoihesai 'till the forests'
Terminative II	nadolesai	nadoilesai
Terminative III	noressai 'from young days'
Additive I	mechapäi 'in the direction of the forest'	mecoihepäi 'in the direction of the forests'
Additive II	nadolepäi	nadoilepäi

Personal pronouns

The personal pronouns are of Finno-Ugric origin:

Veps	English
minä	I
sinä	you
hän	he/she/it
mö	we
tö	you (plural)
hö	they

Numbers

Number	Veps
1	üks'
2	kaks'
3	koume
4	nell'
5	viž
6	kuz'
7	seičeme
8	kahesa
9	ühesa
10	kümne
11	üks'toštkümne
12	kaks'toštkümne
20	kaks'kümne
34	koumekümne nell'
100	sada
1000	tuha

Writing system

The modern Vepsian alphabet is a Latin-based alphabet. It consists of a total of twenty-nine characters: twenty-three are from the basic modern Latin alphabet, five are derived from basic Latin letters by the addition of diacritical marks, and the final character is the apostrophe, which signifies palatalization of the preceding sound.

Majuscule Forms (also called uppercase or capital letters)

A

B

C

Č

D

E

F

G

H

I

J

K

L

M

N

O

P

R

S

Š

Z

Ž

T

U

V

Ü

Ä

Ö

'

Minuscule Forms (also called lowercase or small letters)

a

b

c

č

d

e

f

g

h

i

j

k

l

m

n

o

p

r

s

š

z

ž

t

u

v

ü

ä

ö

'

Language example

Road sign in Shyoltozero in Russian and Veps.

Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights:

Kaik mehed sünduba joudajin i kohtaižin, ühtejiččin ičeze arvokahudes i oiktusiš. Heile om anttud mel’ i huiktusentund i heile tariž kožuda toine toiženke kut vel’l’kundad.

(English version: All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood).

See also

• The Rjurik Lonin Veps Ethnographic Museum in Šoutar’v (Shyoltozero)

External links

• Ethnologue report for Veps
• The Peoples of the Red Book: THE VEPS
• St.Petersburg Veps society
• St.Petersburg Veps society forum