Karelian dialect studies were first introduced
in the Soviet Union in the 1930s at the Institute of Language,
Literature and History (Petroskoi) on the initiative of Dmitri
Bubrich. The institute was founded in 1930. Dialect material
was collected and the results were represented on dialect maps.
After WW II many Karelians have been able to study their own
native dialect at the Institute of Language, Literature and History
of the Karelian Research Centre at the Academy of Sciences of
Russia, as well as in two local universities – Petroskoi
State University (founded in 1940) and Karelian Pedagogical University
(founded in 1931). Most of Karelian specialists owe their professional
education to Petroskoi State University. In September 1990 a
Chair of the Karelian and Vepsian language was founded there,
while since 1992 an analogous chair also functions at the Pedagogical
University. The object of the Finnic studies in Karelia are Karelian
dialects and the revitalisation of Karelian and Vepsian standard
languages, as well as Vepsian and Ingrian dialects. In 1990s
a number of monographs and grammars concerning Karelian and Vepsian
have been published.
