Mordvinic languages explained

Mordvinic
Region:	Southwestern and Southeastern Russia
Ethnicity:	Mordvins
Familycolor:	Uralic
Child1:	Erzya
Child2:	Moksha
Glotto:	mord1256
Glottorefname:	Mordvin
Map:	3-Mordvin.png
Mapcaption:	Mordvin languages at the beginning of the 20th century^[1] ^[2]
Ref:	^[3]
Date:	2021 census

The Mordvinic languages,^[4] also known as the Mordvin,^[5] Mordovian or Mordvinian languages (Russian: мордовские языки, mordovskiye yazyki),^[6] are a subgroup of the Uralic languages, comprising the closely related Erzya language and Moksha language, both spoken in Mordovia.^[7]

Previously considered a single "Mordvin language",^[8] it is now treated as a small language grouping.^[9] Due to differences in phonology, lexicon, and grammar, Erzya and Moksha are not mutually intelligible.^[10] The two Mordvinic languages also have separate literary forms. The Erzya literary language was created in 1922 and the Mokshan in 1923.^[11]

Phonological differences between the two languages include:^[8]

• Moksha retains a distinction between the vowels pronounced as //ɛ, e// while in Erzya, both have merged as pronounced as //e//.
• In unstressed syllables, Erzya features vowel harmony like many other Uralic languages, using pronounced as /[e]/ in front-vocalic words and pronounced as /[o]/ in back-vocalic words. Moksha has a simple schwa pronounced as /[ə]/ in their place.
• Word-initially, Erzya has a postalveolar affricate pronounced as //tʃ// corresponding to a fricative pronounced as //ʃ// in Moksha.
• Next to voiceless consonants, liquids pronounced as //r, rʲ, l, lʲ// and the semivowel pronounced as //j// are devoiced in Moksha to pronounced as /[r̥ r̥ʲ l̥ l̥ʲ ȷ̊]/.

The medieval Meshcherian language may have been Mordvinic or close to Mordvinic.

Classification

Traditionally, Uralicists grouped the Mordvinic and Mari languages together in the so-called Volgaic branch of the Uralic family; this view was however abandoned in the late 20th century.^[12] Instead, some Uralicists now prefer a rapid expansion model, with Mordvinic as one out of nine primary branches of Uralic; others propose a close relation between Mordvinic with the Finnic and Saamic branches of Uralic.^{[13] [14] [15]}

Notes and References

1. Rantanen . Timo . Tolvanen . Harri . Roose . Meeli . Ylikoski . Jussi . Vesakoski . Outi . 2022-06-08 . Best practices for spatial language data harmonization, sharing and map creation—A case study of Uralic . PLOS ONE . en . 17 . 6 . e0269648 . 10.1371/journal.pone.0269648. free . 35675367 . 9176854 . 2022PLoSO..1769648R .
2. Rantanen, Timo, Vesakoski, Outi, Ylikoski, Jussi, & Tolvanen, Harri. (2021). Geographical database of the Uralic languages (v1.0) [Data set]. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.4784188
3. Web site: Всероссийская перепись населения 2020 года . Whole of Russia Census 2020 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20230213173532/https://rosstat.gov.ru/storage/mediabank/Tom5_tab7_VPN-2020.xlsx . 13 February 2023 . Федеральная служба государственной статистики . ru.
4. Book: Bright, William . International Encyclopedia of Linguistics . 1992 . Oxford University Press . 978-0-19-505196-4.
5. https://books.google.com/books?q=%22Mordvin%20languages%22 Mordvin languages @ google books
6. Book: Dalby, Andrew . Dictionary of Languages . 1998 . Columbia University Press. registration . 429 . 9780231115681 . Erza. .
7. Book: Grenoble, Lenore . Language Policy in the Soviet Union . 2003 . Springer . 978-1-4020-1298-3. A80 .
8. Book: Raun, Alo . The Uralic languages: Description, history and foreign influences . Sinor, Denis. 1988 . BRILL . 978-90-04-07741-6. A96 .
9. Book: 2022 . Arja . Hamari . Rigina . Ajanki . Mordvin (Erzya and Moksha) . Marianne Bakró-Nagy . Marianne Bakró-Nagy. Johanna Laakso . Elena Skribnik . The Oxford Guide to the Uralic Languages . Oxford University Press . 392–431.
10. Феоктистов А. П. Мордовские языки. основы финно-угорского языкознания. Прибалтийско-финские, саамский и мордовские языки. М., 1975
11. Book: Wixman, Ronald . The Peoples of the USSR . 1984 . M.E. Sharpe . 978-0-87332-506-6. A137 .
12. Book: Abondolo, Daniel . 1988 . The Uralic Languages . London & New York . Routledge . 4 . [...] the idea, once widely-held, that there was a common Mordva-Mari protolanguage (so-called 'proto-Volgaic') is now out of favour..
13. Nichols . Johanna . 2021 . The Origin and Dispersal of Uralic: Distributional Typological View . Annual Review of Linguistics . 7 . 351–369 . 10.1146/annurev-linguistics-011619-030405. 234179048 .
14. Book: Saarikivi, Janne . 2022 . The divergence of Proto-Uralic and its offspring: A descendant reconstruction . Marianne Bakró-Nagy . Johanna Laakso . Elena Skribnik . The Oxford Guide to the Uralic Languages . Oxford University Press . 28–58.
15. Piispanen. Peter S.. Statistical Dating of Finno-Mordvinic Languages through Comparative Linguistics and Sound Laws. Fenno-Ugrica Suecana Nova Series. 15. 2016. 1–58.