Veps shows substantial dialectal variation, affecting both phonetics and grammatical features. Three main dialect areas can be distinguished, the northern, central and southern dialects.
Northern Northern Veps is spoken in the
Republic of Karelia along the coast of
Lake Onega south of
Petrozavodsk. It is also spoken in a few small villages in
Leningrad Oblast. Villages speaking Northern Veps include
Shyoltozero, , and , as well as the city of Petrozavodsk itself. Characteristics of Northern Veps are: • Diphthongs are either preserved in their historical form (), or the first component is raised ( > ). • Combinations of vowel +
l are usually preserved ( , , , , , , , rarely vocalized to diphthongs:
al >
au,
el,
il,
ül ,
öl >
üu and
ol >
uu . •
l,
n,
r are always palatalized before
e in a non-initial syllable. • Word-final consonants are not palatalized after
i, in for example the past indicative, the conditional and some case forms. • Long close vowels are retained, with
*üü often diphthongized to
üu ( > , contrast Southern and Central Veps ). •
j is
fortified to
dʹ word-initially, and medially after consonants ( > , > , > , > ). • The last consonant of the stem is lengthened in the third-person singular present indicative ( > > ), and stem-final
e becomes
o ( > ). • Only traces of vowel harmony are retained.
Central Central Veps dialects are rather distinct from each other compared to Northern and Southern Veps, which are relatively homogeneous. They are spoken around a long line stretching from
Tervenichi in the
Lodeinopolsky District of Leningrad Oblast to near
Lake Beloye. The largest locality speaking Central Veps dialects is
Vinnitsy. Characteristics of Central Veps are: • Diphthongs are usually modified ( > > ). • Combinations of vowel +
l are vocalized to diphthongs in Kuya and Pondala (
Belozersk), and usually preserved elsewhere (). •
al and
el are vocalized to
ou or
uu (
el may also become
üu) in the adessive and ablative case forms ( > > ). • Word-final consonants are palatalized after
i ( > > ). • In Kuya village, the vowel in the allative ending depends on the preceding stem vowel. After
i the ending is (), after
a it is () and after other vowels it is (). •
j is preserved in most dialects, mostly in the west ().
j is fortified to
dʹ in Kuya (). It is fortified to
gʹ in Pondala, Voylahta, Nemzha, and Shimozero (). •
Final obstruent devoicing in Kuya Veps ( > > ). • Unrounding of
ü and
ö in a few villages ( > > ). •
ä >
e in Shimozero ( > ). • Vowel harmony is weakly preserved, most prominently in the eastern and south-western areas.
Southern Southern Veps is spoken in the
Boksitogorsky District of Leningrad Oblast, including the villages of
Radogoshcha and . Characteristics of Southern Veps are: • Diphthongs are monophthongized to long vowels, especially in non-initial syllables ( > > ). • Combinations of vowel +
l are usually preserved. •
al and
el are vocalized to
aa and
oo in the adessive and ablative case forms ( > > ). •
l and
n are palatalized before
e in non-initial syllables when followed by a case ending or person-and-number ending.
r is not palatalized. • Word-final consonants are palatalized after
i, in for example the past indicative, the conditional and some case forms. •
j is preserved (, ). • Unrounding of front rounded vowels,
ü >
i ( > ) and
ö >
e. • The ending of the third-person singular past indicative is usually dropped, leaving palatalization of the preceding consonant ( > > > ). • Vowel harmony is preserved well (). ==Phonology==