Savonian Dialects

The Savonian dialects (also called Savo Finnish) are forms of Finnish language spoken in Savonia and other parts of Eastern Finland. It belongs to the eastern Finnish dialects and it is divided to more specific dialect groups.

Savonian dialects are the most widely distributed dialects of Finnish. They are spoken in the Savonia region (Northern and Southern), but also in North Karelia, the main part 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 area of Savonian dialects consist one third of the whole area of Finland.