Finno-Ugric Languages

Finno-Ugric Languages, subfamily of the Uralic languages spoken in parts of northern Scandinavia, eastern Europe, and northwestern Asia. It is one of two such subfamilies, the other being the Samoyedic languages spoken in northwestern Siberia. The Finno-Ugric subfamily is usually divided into two large branches: Finnic (also called Finno-Permian) and Ugric. Finnic contains two major languages: the Finnish language, spoken in Finland, and the Estonian language, spoken in Estonia. Ugric contains the Hungarian language (also called Magyar), spoken in Hungary and by Hungarians living in neighboring countries.

The Finnic subfamily has several branches. The Balto-Finnic branch consists of Finnish, Estonian, and some comparatively minor languages of the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). Of these, Karelian, a close relative of Finnish, is spoken in the Russian republic of Karelia, where Finnish is used as a written language. Livonian, spoken in Latvia, is now nearly extinct (the Livonians were absorbed by the Latvians, and the term Livonian sometimes refers to one dialect of the non-Uralic Latvian language). Veps is spoken around Lake Onega in northwestern Russia, Ingrian to the west of Saint Petersburg on the coast of the Baltic Sea, and Votic to the west of Saint Petersburg near the Estonian border. Sometimes grouped together as the Volgaic branch, Mari (or Cheremis) and Mordvin, consisting of the Erzya and Moksha languages, are spoken in the western and middle regions of the Volga River. The Permic branch comprises Udmurt (or Votyak), Komi (Zyrian), and Komi-Permyak, which are spoken by small, widely scattered groups in a vast area extending over the northeastern European part of Russia. The Saami languages, spread thinly over the northern European region known as Saamiland, are also classified as Finnic languages. The Ugric branch contains (besides Hungarian) the Ob-Ugric languages, consisting of two minor languages, Khanty (Ostyak) and Mansi (Vogul); these are spoken in the Ob’ River valley of northwestern Siberia.

Frequently mentioned characteristic features of Finno-Ugric are vocalic or vowel harmony and consonant gradation—that is, alternation between two kinds of stem consonants. The linguistic type is agglutinative. Attempts to connect the Finno-Ugric subfamily with other language families, notably with the Turkic branch of the Altaic languages and the Indo-European languages, have produced evidence of similarities, but not enough to prove any connection conclusively. Early Finno-Ugric, the reconstructed ancient parent language, was enriched through contact with the Iranian language (see Persian Language). In later times, the Finnic languages added words from the German language and the Slavic language, particularly the Russian language. Hungarian was influenced by German, Italian, Latin, Slavic, and Turkish.