Finland has a strong tradition of dialect research, with roots dating back to the end of the 19th century. More recently, since the 1970s spoken Finnish has also been studied using sociolinguistic methods. Today, the variation of spoken Finnish is well known. However, prior to the publication of this book, this information was scattered across various studies and theses. The book brings together the key results of traditional dialect research and more recent sociolinguistic research and presents a concise overview of the present-day dialects of Finnish, their variation and change. The first chapter examines the cultural and social significance of dialect in Finnish society, where tolerance towards different varieties of spoken language has grown since the 1990s. Dialect and other colloquial language is often used, for example, in advertising and public signs. The key materials and archives in the field and the research methods used in the field are briefly presented. Traditional dialect research in Finland has largely relied on the neo-grammarian tradition, although other approaches have also been used. Research on dialect change initially relied on Labovian variationist sociolinguistics. Later, various interactional sociolinguistic and folk linguistic approaches became popular. The book focuses on phonological and morphological features, because their variation has been studied the most in Finnish dialect studies and sociolinguistics. Vocabulary and especially syntax have received less attention. The book first presents about twenty phonological and morphological features that distinguish dialect areas from each other. There is a wealth of sociolinguistic research concerning these features, and the information regarding their variation has been compiled here. These include, for example, the weak grade equivalents of t (e.g. sota : sodan ~ soran ~ soan ~ sovan ~ sojan ‘war’), the equivalents of standard Finnish ts (e.g. metsa ~ metta ~ mehta ~ messa (‘wood, forest’), various gemination phenomena (e.g. tekkee pro standard form tekee ‘s/he does’) and different variants of the inessive case ending (e.g. talossa, talosa, talos ‘in the house’). First there is always a description of the feature in old dialects and then an overview is represented of its sociolinguistic variation today. After the chapter introducing the main dialect features, there is an overview of the dialect areas. Finnish dialects have traditionally been divided into eastern and western dialects. In this book, the division is made into eastern, western and northern dialects according to the division presented by Heikki Paunonen (1991). This division corresponds better to the situation of contemporary dialects. The regional overview also introduces rare and even lost dialect features, such that the book can be used for learning to identify old dialect samples. The order of presentation of dialect features aims to be hierarchical: first the features that distinguish the three main groups are explained, then, for example, the features that unite all Savo dialects, and finally the features that distinguish subgroups are presented. In contrast to conventional presentations of Finnish dialects, the dialect of the Helsinki Metropolitan Area is also presented as its own dialect group. Illustrative maps are presented of the dialect areas. The last chapter of the book draws the reader’s attention to the fact that there is a lot of variation within the modern dialects of Finnish, and the differences between idiolects are large. Some speakers still speak a well-recognizable regional dialect, while others use only those features of colloquial speech that are known in every part of the country and that are sociolinguistically neutral. At the same time, new variation has arisen, resulting in forms in which dialectal features are combined with forms of the standard language. Forms from different dialects may also combine and produce forms that have not previously been found in a dialect. The book is intended especially for those studying Finnish at university. It aims to replace Martti Rapola’s classic textbook, Johdatus suomen murteisiin (‘An Introduction to Finnish Dialects’), which was first published in 1947 and has been reprinted several times. Suomen nykymurteet (‘The contemporay dialects of Finnish’) is a concise overview of Finnish dialects and their features, but it includes a rather extensive list of references. Based on this, readers can expand their knowledge of the phenomena described. The book is also well suited for anyone interested in Finnish dialects and their variation and change.

This book is included in DOAB.