FINLAND

FINLAND / SUOMI.

Finnish language research and treatment, 1876-1976.
Map of Finland with dialect areas.
Stamp issued on 10.03.1976.
Face value: 0.80 Finnish markka.
Design: Eeva Oivo.
Printing: Offset lithography.
Print: 4,000,000 copies.
Size: 29 x 41 mm.

Catalogues
- AFA No. 791.
- LaPe Finland No. 783.
- Michel No. 784.
- Scott No. 585.
- StampWorld No. 797.
- Stanley Gibbons No. 901.
- Yvert et Tellier No. 748.

Finnish (suomi) or Finnish language (suomen kieli) is the official language, along with Swedish, in Finland. It is spoken by some 5.3 million people in the country and more than half a million abroad, and is the mother tongue of 91.9% of the country's population (2004 data). It is a Finno-Ugric language, a branch of the Uralic languages, like Estonian, Hungarian, Sámi, and some Permian and Mordovian languages of Russian Federation. The dialects of Finnish are divided into two main groups: those of the east (itämurteet) and those of the west (länsimurteet). The first philological studies on the Finnish language and its development date back to the 1860s, and the most important contributions were made by Johan Vilhelm Snellman, Antero Warelius and Elias Lönnrot. The first novel written in Finnish (and by a Finnish speaker) was Seitsemän veljestä (‘Seven Brothers’), published by Aleksis Kivi in 1870.