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The Savo dialect of Finnish is the largest dialect of the Finnish language. It is an Eastern dialect, developed from the original Karelian dialect of Finnish settlers, and is spoken in the region of Savo and around the area in Kainuu, in Ostrobothnia, in middle Finland, in northern Finnish Karelia and also by Ingrian Finnish people. It is rather different from standard (Western) Finnish for several reasons.

• It has re-developed palatalized consonants from consonant + i, which is denoted by digraphs with a 'j', e.g. /kotʲ/, /moottorʲ/ (standard Finnish , ).
• Some long vowels and diphthongs have shifted with respect to the standard language; thus, where the standard language has a diphthong, Savo may have a long vowel, and vice versa. Some examples:

• The generic gemination affects word-medial simple consonants before a short initial syllable. A native Savonian doesn't say he speaks savoa, he says he speaks savvoo.
• The combined effect of the three features above is referred to as "crooked chin" (viäräleuka cf. standard vääräleuka). Whereas standard Finnish has a "declarative" rhythm, Savo has an "expressive" rhythm. The different way of producing speech is noticeable even if the speaker speaks perfect standard Finnish.
• The glottal stop replaces word-final 'n'.
• All syllable-initial consonants except the last one (which contacts the nucleic vowel) are systematically and completely removed in loans, e.g. traktori as raktorj.
• An epenthetic vowel vowel is found where a syllable coda of L, H or N contacts the syllable onset consonant of the next syllable, e.g. vanaha. This vowel is identical in quality to the preceding vowel.

It is also a particularly creative variety of Finnish. Although standard and known elsewhere, the usage of verb compounds is particularly prevalent in Savo Finnish and a prolific source of creative expressions. The first verb is in the infinitive and indicates the action, and the second verb is declined and indicates the manner. For example, seistä toljotat "you stand there gawking" consists of words meaning "to-stand you-gawk".

The simple phonological modifications from standard Finnish to Savo dialect are regular, i.e. the differences can be described as variants and do not necessitate translation. Here is an example of text transformed using regular expressions from standard to Savo Finnish:

• Hyväntahtoinen aurinko katseli heitä. Se ei missään tapauksessa ollut heille vihainen. Kenties tunsi jonkinlaista myötätuntoa heitä kohtaan. Aika velikultia.
• Hyväntahtoene' aarinko kahtelj heetä. Se ee missään tappaaksessa ollu heelle vihhaenen. Kenties tunsj jonkinlaesta myötätuntoo heetä kohtaan. Aeka veljkultija.

Verjnuarmu is a band — the first and only one — playing melodic death metal in the Savo dialect. Described by "combines the very beautiful dialect of Savo with the heavy doomsday music" (yhistää mussiikissaan savon ylen kaaniin murteen raskaaseen tuomijopäevän soetantaan).

• Tavvoo savvoo

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