South Karelian dialect

South Karelian (South Karelian: Suvikarjala) is the most spoken of the two dialects of Karelian Proper, and it is spoken in the Republic of Karelia and in the Tver Oblast. South Karelian was also previously spoken in Border Karelia when it was part of Finland. Many speakers of the South Karelian dialect were evacuated from Finnish Karelia into other areas of Finland during the 20th century, where a number of speakers are still retained. South Karelian displays a higher degree of regional variation than any other Karelian dialect.

The Karelian enclave dialects such as Tikhvin, Valday and Tver Karelian are also derived from South Karelian.

South Karelian is mainly distinguished from North Karelian by containing the sounds b, d, g, z and ž, which are missing from the Northern dialect of Karelian proper.