Veps language

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The Veps language (also known as Vepsian), spoken by the Vepsians (also known as Veps), belongs to the Baltic-Finnic group of the Finno-Ugric languages.

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 river Syväri, including the former Veps Autonomous Rural district), 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

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'
Aditive I	mechapäi 'in the direction of the forest'	mecoihepäi 'in the direction of the forests'
Aditive 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

External links

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Last updated on Saturday January 12, 2008 at 13:35:38 PST (GMT -0800)
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