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<P align="justify"> Related language … <P align="justify"> Related languages are those for which it is possible to posit a common ancestor ([[Proto-language|proto-language]]). The Saami languages and the Baltic-Finnic languages, which include Finnish, can be traced back to a common Finnic-Saami proto-language, which is called [[Early proto-finnic|Early Proto-Finnic]].</P>
<P align="justify"> The Saami languages are closely related. Their differentiation from one another is still partly under way, which can be clearly seen from the fact that the boundaries between them are not sharp, and it is still perfectly possible for the speakers of neighbouring languages to understand one another. The Saami language continuum is an extensive one, and the present situation clearly shows how in the past languages became differentiated to produce large language families.</P>
<P align="justify"> The Saami languages and the Baltic-Finnic languages belong to the Finno-Ugric family of languages. Other members of this family are the Samoyedic languages (Nenets, Enets, Nganasan and Selkup), Morvin (Erzya and Moksha), Mari, the Permic languages (Komi-Zyryan, Komi-Permyak and Urdmurt), Hungarian, Khanty and Mansi. All these languages can be traced back to a common source in the same way that the Saami languages can be traced back to [[Proto-Saami|Proto-Saami]] ,or the Baltic-Finnic languages and the Saami languages to [[Early proto-finnic|Early Proto-Finnic]]. The reconstruction of Proto-Finno-Urgric is considerably more difficult than that of [[Early proto-finnic|Early Proto-Finnic]], and it takes place at a much more abstract level. In many respects the Saami languages are closer in their structure and grammatical features to the posited Finno-Ugric parent language than Finnish is, for example. The dual number is an instance of an ancient Finno-Ugric feature that has been preserved in the northern areas of the language family (in the Samoyedic languages and in Khanty and Mansi as well as in the Saami languages) but which has left only the faintest traces in other languages of the family (such as Finnish and Hungarian). The Saami case system in its functions and overall structure also resembles that of Proto-Finno-Ugric.</P> [[Tiedosto:ugrkiel2.jpg|thumb|600px|The Finno-Ugric languages]]<BR><BR>inno-Ugric languages]]<BR><BR> +
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