It is not known whether his first language was Finnish or Swedish; Pernå was mostly a Swedish-speaking district, but the language he used in his works indicates that he was a native speaker of Finnish.
目前還不清楚他的母語為芬蘭語或者瑞典語 ；佩尔诺主要是一個瑞典語區，但他在作品中使用的語言表明他是芬蘭語的母語者。