Savonian dialects

Savonian dialects
Native to	Finland
Language family	Uralic Finno-Ugric Finnic Northern Finnic Finnish Savonian dialects
Language codes
ISO 639-3	–
Glottolog	savo1254  Savo
The areas in which the Savonian dialects are traditionally spoken.

The Savonian dialects (also called Savo Finnish)^[1] (Finnish: Savolaismurteet) are forms of the Finnish language spoken in Savonia and other parts of Eastern Finland. Finnish dialects are grouped broadly into Eastern and Western varieties; Savonian dialects are of the Eastern variety.

Savonian dialects are the most widely distributed Finnish dialect group (setting aside the higher-level east/west split mentioned above). They are spoken in the Savonia region (in both North and South Savo), but also in North Karelia, parts of Päijät-Häme, Central Finland, Kainuu, Koillismaa district of Northern Ostrobothnia, the lake section between Southern and Central Ostrobothnia as far north as Evijärvi and in the municipalities of Pudasjärvi and the Southern part of Ranua in Lapland. Also the language spoken by forest settlers in Värmland and Norwegian Hedmark of Central Scandinavia belonged to the old Savonian dialects. The geographical area the Savonian dialects cover makes up one-third the area of Finland.

To speak Savonian is sometimes referred to as speaking with a "crooked chin" (viäräleuka, or vääräleuka in standard Finnish).