Leo Oinas was born on April 24, 1926 in the village of Kikkeritsa, which is in the parish of Novasolka. (Map of the area. Map of parishes where Ingrian Finnish is spoken.)

He attended school in Finnish for two years and subsequently went to a Russian school. He was previously a forest worker. Today he earns a living with three cows, some poultry and a small vegetable garden, the products of which he sells at the market in Kingiseppi (Jamburg, Jaama). His wife Tamara is Ingrian. They both use their own mother tongues when they speak to each other, but they use Russian with the children. Leo Oinas speaks Finnish slowly and with some uncertainty. There are many Russian expressions in his speech, e.g. particles such as i, sto, hot. Some of his consonants have become voiced, which also points to the influence of Russian. His Finnish, however, reflects the old Ingrian Finnish savakko dialect and does not show features of standard Finnish.