Mari language
Mari | |
---|---|
марий йылме marij jəlme | |
Region | Russian Federation: autonomous republics Mari El, Bashkortostan, Tatarstan, Udmurtia; oblasti Nizhny Novgorod, Kirov, Sverdlovsk, Orenburg; Perm Krai |
Ethnicity | 548,000 Mari people (2010 census)[1] |
Native speakers | 510,000 (2012)[1] |
Uralic
| |
Standard forms | |
Official status | |
Official language in | Mari El (Russia) |
Language codes | |
ISO 639-2 |
chm |
ISO 639-3 |
chm – inclusive codeIndividual codes: mhr – Meadow Mari (Eastern Mari) mrj – Hill Mari (Western Mari) |
Glottolog |
mari1278 [2] |
The Mari language (Mari: марий йылме, marij jəlme; Russian: марийский язык, mariyskiy yazyk), spoken by approximately 400,000 people, belongs to the Uralic language family. It is spoken primarily in the Mari Republic (Mari: Марий Эл, Marii El, i.e., 'Mari land') of the Russian Federation as well as in the area along the Vyatka river basin and eastwards to the Urals. Mari speakers, known as the Mari are found also in the Tatarstan, Udmurtia, and Perm regions.
Mari is the titular and official language of its republic, alongside Russian.
The Mari language today has a unified standard form with two variants Hill Mari and Meadow Mari, using a modified version of Cyrillic script, as well as several dialects close to Meadow Mari: Eastern (Ural) dialects (spoken by Maris in Bashkortostan, Sverdlovsk Oblast and Udmurtia), and Northwestern dialect (spoken in Novgorod Oblast and parts of Kirov Oblast).
The use of two "variants", as opposed to two "languages", has been debated: Maris recognize the unity of the ethnic group, and the two forms are very close, but distinct enough to cause some problems with communication.
Ethnonym and glottonym
The Mari language and people were known as "Cheremis" (Russian: черемисы, черемисский язык, cheremisy, cheremisskiy yazyk). In medieval texts the variant forms Sarmys and Tsarmys are also found, as well as Tatar: Cyrillic Чирмеш, Latin Çirmeş; and Chuvash: Ҫармӑс, Şarmăs before the Russian Revolution. The term Mari comes from the Maris' autonym марий (mari), which is thought to have been borrowed from the Indo-Aryan term *maryá- 'man', literally 'mortal, one who is bound to die' ( < PIE *mer- 'to die').
Sociolinguistic situation
Most Maris live in rural areas with slightly more than a quarter living in cities. In the republican capital, Yoshkar-Ola, the percentage of Maris is just over 23 percent. At the end of the 1980s (per the 1989 census) Maris numbered 670,868, of whom 80% (542,160) claimed Mari as their first language and 18.8% did not speak Mari. In the Mari Republic, 11.6% claimed Mari was not their first language. In a survey by the Mari Research Institute more than 3/4 of Maris survey considered Mari language to be the most crucial marker of ethnic identity, followed by traditional culture (61%) and common historical past (22%), religion (16%), character and mentality (15%) and appearance (11%) (see Glukhov and Glukhov for details). A gradual downward trend towards assimilation to Russian has been noted for the Communist period: the 1926 census indicated more than 99% of Maris considered Mari their first language, declining to less than 81% in 1989. Some qualitative evidence of a reversal in recent years has been noted.
There was no state support for Mari language in Imperial Russia, and with the exception of some enthusiasts and numerous ecclesiastical texts by the Russian Orthodox Church, there was almost no education in Mari language. After the October Revolution, there was a period of support of all lesser national cultures in the Soviet Union, but eventually Russification returned. While the development of Mari literary language continued, still, only elementary-school education was available in Mari in the Soviet period, with this policy ending in village schools in the 1970–1980s. The period of glasnost and perestroika in the 1990s opened opportunities for a revival of efforts expand the use of Mari in education and the public sphere. In the 1990s, the Mari language, alongside Russian, was proclaimed in the republican constitution to be an official language of Mari El. By the beginning of the 21st century, Mari language and literature was taught in 226 schools. At the History and Philology Department of the Mari State University and the Krupskaya Teachers' Training Institute (Yoshkar-Ola), more than half of the subjects are taught in Mari.
Dialects
The principal division between Mari varieties is the West and the East. According to the Soviet linguist Kovedyaeva (1976:9-15, 1993:163-164) the Mari macrolanguage is divided into four main dialects:
- Hill Mari, spoken mainly on the right upper bank of the Volga River around Kozmodemyansk (hence the name), but also on the left bank and in the mouth of Vetluga.
- North-Western Mari
- Meadow Mari, spoken on the left Volgan bank on the central and eastern plain ("meadow") of Mari El around the republican capital, Yoshkar-Ola.
- Eastern Mari is scattered to the east of Mari El from Vyatka through Kama to Ufa.
Each main dialect is divided into their own smaller local subdialects. Only Hill and Meadow Mari have their own literary written standard varieties, based on the dialects of Kozmodemyansk and Yoshkar-Ola respectively.
Eastern and Meadow Mari are often united as a Meadow-Eastern supra-dialect. North-Western Mari is transitional between the Hill and Meadow dialects, and its phonology and morphology are closer to Hill Mari.
Orthography
Mari is mostly written with the Cyrillic script.
Grammar
Like other Uralic languages, Mari is an agglutinating language. It lacks grammatical gender, and does not use articles.
Phonology
Vowels
Front | Central | Back | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
unrounded | rounded | unrounded | unrounded | rounded | |
Close | /i/ и/i |
/y/ ӱ/ü |
/u/ у/u | ||
Mid | /e/ е/e |
/ø/ ӧ/ö |
/ə/1 ӹ/ı |
/ɤ/ ы/ə |
/o/ о/o |
Open | /æ/1 ä/ä |
/ɑ/ а/a |
- Only in Hill Mari
Word prosody
Stress is not phonemic in Mari, but a dynamic stress system is exhibited phonetically, the stressed syllable being higher in pitch and amplitude and greater in length than an unstressed syllable. Generally, there is one prominent syllable per word and prominence may be found in any syllable of the word. Post- and prefixes behave as clitics, i.e., they do not have their own stress. For example, пӧ́рт (pört, "house") гыч (gəč, "out of") ([ˈpørt ɣɤt͡ʃ]); or му́ро (muro, "song") дене (dene, "with") ([ˈmuro ðene]).
Consonants
Consonants are shown in Cyrillic, Latin, and the IPA:
Labial | Dental | Alveolar | Post- alveolar |
Palatal | Velar | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
plain | palatalized | |||||||
Nasal | /m/ м/m |
/n/ н/n |
/ɲ/ н(ь)/n(’)2 |
/ŋ/ ҥ4/ŋ | ||||
Plosive | voiceless | /p/ п/p |
/t/ т/t |
/tʲ/1 т(ь)/t'2 |
/k/ к/k | |||
voiced | (/b/ б/b)3 |
(/d/ д/d)3 |
(/ɡ/ г/g)3 | |||||
Affricate | /ts/1 ц/c |
/tʃ/ ч/č |
||||||
Fricative | voiceless | /f/1 ф/f |
/s/ с/s |
/ʃ/ ш/š |
/x/1 х/h | |||
voiced | /β/ в/v3 |
/ð/ д/d3 |
/z/ з/z |
/ʒ/ ж/ž |
/ɣ/ г/g3 | |||
Rhotic | /r/ (or /ɾ/) р/r |
|||||||
Approximant | central | /j/ й/j |
||||||
lateral | /l/ л/l |
/ʎ/ л(ь)/l(’)2 |
- Only in Russian loanwords, in Hill Mari also onomatopoeia and Chuvashian loanwords.
- Palatalisation is marked in different ways. A ⟨у⟩ following a palatalised consonant is written as ⟨ю⟩, and ⟨а⟩ following a palatalised consonant is written as ⟨я⟩. If the vowel following a palatalised consonant is an е or an и, palatalisation is not marked at all. In other cases, the soft sign ь is used to mark palatalisation.
- In Russian loanwords and after nasals, /b d ɡ/ are voiced stops. Word-finally and before a consonant, there is free variation between voiced fricatives ([β ð ɣ]) and voiceless stops [p t k].
- The modified Cyrillic letter for the velar nasal (ŋ) combines the Cyrillic letter ⟨Н н⟩ with and ⟨Г г⟩, where the rightmost post of Н is conflated with the vertical post of ⟨Г⟩: ⟨Ҥ, ҥ⟩. Although Hill Mari has this sound too, this character is only used in Meadow Mari.
Phonological processes
Like several other Uralic languages, Mari has vowel harmony. In addition to front/back harmony, Mari also features round/unround harmony. If the stressed vowel in the word is rounded, then the suffix will contain a rounded vowel: for example, кӱтӱ́ (kütü, 'herd') becomes кӱтӱ́штӧ (kütüštö, 'in the herd'); if the stressed vowel is unrounded, then the suffix will contain an unrounded vowel: ки́д (kid, 'hand') becomes ки́дыште (kidəšte, 'in the hand'). If the stressed vowel is back, then the suffix will end in a back vowel: агу́р (agur, 'whirlpool') becomes агу́рышто (agurəšto, 'in the whirlpool'). [3]
Declension
Case
Meadow Mari has 9 productive cases, of which 3 are locative cases. The usage of the latter ones is restricted to inanimate objects.
Many cases, aside from their basic function, are used in other situations, such as in expressions of time.
- Nominative, used for subjects, predicatives and for other grammatical functions.
- Genitive, is used for possessive constructions.
- Dative, the indirect object's case.
- Accusative, the direct object's case.
- Comitative, used when a subject or an object can be split up into parts, or in adverbials expressing the involvement of an object in an action.
- Comparative, used to express the likeness to something.
- Inessive, used to state where something is.
- Illative, used to state where something is going.
- Lative, used to express into what something is going.
Case Name | Suffix | Question Words | Example (animate) | Example (inanimate) |
---|---|---|---|---|
Nominative | - | кӧ, мо (who, what) | йоча (a child; subject) | ял (a village; subject) |
Genitive | -(ы)н | кӧн, мон (whose, what's) | йочан (of a child) | ялын (of a village) |
Dative | -лан | кӧлан, молан (to whom, to what/why) | йочалан (to a child) | яллан (to a village) |
Accusative | -(ы)м | кӧм, мом (whom, what) | йочам (a child; object) | ялым (a village; object) |
Comitative | -ге | кӧге, моге (with whom, with what) | йочаге (with a child) | ялге (with a village) |
Comparative | -ла | кӧла, мола (like who, like what) | йочала (like a child) | ялла (like a village) |
Inessive | -(ы)ште/(ы)што/(ы)штӧ | кушто (where) | - | ялыште (in a village) |
Illative | -(ы)шке/(ы)шко/(ы)шкӧ, -(ы)ш1 | кушко/куш (where to) | - | ялышке/ялыш (to a village) |
Lative | -ш/еш/эш | кушан (where to) | - | ялеш (into a village) |
- The illative has a short form, equivalent to the long form in meaning.
If a locative statement was to be made about an animate object, postpositions would be used.
Additionally, terms denoting family members have vocative forms. These are, however, not created with a specific paradigm, and only exist in a few pre-defined cases.
Hill Mari has these cases, plus the abessive case, which is used to form adverbials stating without the involvement or influence of which an action happens.
Number
Mari, though an agglutinative language, does not have a separate morpheme to signify plurality. There are three particles, which are attached to the end of words with a hyphen, used to signify plural.
- -влак (-vlak) – Standard plural form.
- -шамыч (-šaməč) – Alternative standard plural, used in many dialects. There is no difference in meaning between these two
- -мыт (mət) – Sociative plural. Used to signify a group of people: the members of a family, a person and his family and friends.
Possessive suffixes
Every grammatical person in Mari has its own possessive suffix.
Person | Suffix | Example |
---|---|---|
- | - | шӱргӧ (face) |
First-person singular | -ем/эм | шӱргем (my face) |
Second-person singular | -ет/эт | шӱргет (your face) |
Third-person singular | -же/жо/жӧ/ше/шо/шӧ | шӱргыжӧ (his/her/its face) |
First-person plural | -на | шӱргына (our face) |
Second-person plural | -да | шӱргыда (your face) |
Third-person singular | -шт/ышт | шӱргышт (their face) |
Additional suffixes
Additional particles, falling into none of the categories above, can be added to the very end of a word, giving it some additional meaning. For example, the suffix -ат (-at), means 'also' or 'too'.
Arrangement of suffixes
The arrangement of suffixes varies from case to case. Although the case suffixes are after the possessive suffixes in the genitive and the accusative, the opposite is the case for the locative cases. In the dative, both arrangements are possible.
Case | Singular | Example | Plural |
---|---|---|---|
Nominative | P | пӧртем – 'my house (subject)' | пӧртем-влак – 'my houses (subject)' |
Genitive | P → C | пӧртемын – 'of my house' | пӧртем-влакын – 'of my houses' |
Accusative | пӧртемым – 'my house (object)' | пӧртем-влакым – 'my houses (object)' | |
Comitative | пӧртемге – 'with my house' | пӧртем-влакге – 'with my houses' | |
Dative | P → C, C → P | пӧртемлан, пӧртланем – 'to my houses' | пӧртем-влаклан – 'to my houses' |
Comparative | P → C, C → P | пӧртемла, пӧртлам – 'like my house' | пӧртем-влакла – 'like my houses' |
Inessive | C → P | пӧртыштем – 'in my house' | пӧрт-влакыштем – 'in my houses' |
Illative | пӧртышкем – 'into my house' | пӧрт-влакышкем – 'into my houses' | |
Lative | пӧртешем – 'into my house' | пӧрт-влакешем – 'into my houses' | |
There are many other arrangements in the plural—the position of the plural particle is flexible. The arrangement here is one commonly used possibility.
Comparison
Comparison happens with adjectives and adverbs. The comparative is formed with the suffix -рак (-rak). The superlative is formed by adding the word эн (en) in front.
Comparative | Superlative | |
---|---|---|
кугу – 'big' | кугурак – 'bigger' | эн кугу – 'biggest' |
Conjugation
Morphologically, conjugation follows three tenses and three moods in Meadow Mari.
Conjugation types
In Meadow Mari, words can conjugate according to two conjugation types. These differ from each other in all forms but the infinitive and the third-person plural of the imperative. Unfortunately, the infinitive is the form denoted in dictionaries and word lists. It is, thus, necessary to either mark verb infinitives by their conjugation type in word lists, or to include a form in which the conjugation type is visible—usually, the first-person singular present, which ends in -ам (or -ям) for verbs in the first declination, and in -ем (or -эм) for second-declination verbs.
Tense
The three tenses of Mari verbs are:
The present tense is used for present and future actions, for states of being and for habitual actions, among others.
- First preterite
The first preterite is used to express observed, recent actions.
- Second preterite
The second preterite is used for actions that are in the more-distant past.
Additional tenses can be formed through periphrasis.
- First periphrastic imperfect
- Second periphrastic imperfect
- First periphrastic perfect
- Second periphrastic perfect
Mood
The moods are:
The indicative is used to express facts and positive beliefs. All intentions that a particular language does not categorize as another mood are classified as indicative. It can be formed in all persons, in all times.
The imperative expresses direct commands, requests, and prohibitions. It only exists in the present tense, and exists in all persons but the first person singular.
The desiderative is used to express desires. It can be formed for all persons, in the present tense and in the two periphrastic imperfect.
Negation
Negation in Mari uses a 'negative verb', much like Finnish does. The negative verb is more versatile than the negative verb in Finnish (see Finnish grammar), existing in more grammatical tenses and moods. It has its own form in the present indicative, imperative and desiderative, and in the first preterite indicative. Other negations are periphrastic.
The negation verb in its corresponding form is put in front of the negated verb in its second-person singular (the stem-only form), much as it is in Finnish and Estonian.
Person | Indicative present | Imperative present | Desiderative present | Indicative first preterite |
---|---|---|---|---|
First-person singular | ом (om) | - | ынем (ənem) | шым (šəm) |
Second-person singular | от (ot) | ит (it) | ынет (ənet) | шыч (səč) |
Third-person singular | огеш (ogeš) / ок (ok) | ынже (ənže) | ынеж(е) (ənež(e)) | ыш (əš) |
First-person plural | огына (ogəna) / она (ona) | - | ынена (ənena) | ышна (əšna) |
Second-person plural | огыда (ogəda) / ода (oda) | ида (ida) | ынеда (əneda) | ышда (əšda) |
Third-person plural | огыт (ogət) | ынышт (ənəšt) | ынешт (ənešt) | ышт (əšt) |
The verb улаш (ulaš) – to be – has its own negated forms.
Person | |
---|---|
First-person singular – 'I am not' | омыл (oməl) |
Second-person singular – 'You are not' | отыл (otəl) |
Third-person singular – 'He/she/it is not' | огыл (ogəl) |
First-person plural – 'We are not' | огынал (ogənal) / онал (onal) |
Second-person plural – 'You are not' | огыдал (ogədal) / одал (odal) |
Third-person plural – 'They are not' | огытыл (ogətəl) |
Example
In order to illustrate the conjugation in the respective moods and times, one verb of the first declination (лекташ – to go) and one verb of the second declination (мондаш – to forget) will be used.
Person | 1st dec. pos. | 2nd dec. pos. |
---|---|---|
1st singular | лектам (I go) | мондем (I forget) |
2nd singular | лектат (You go) | мондет (You forget) |
3rd singular | лектеш (He/she/it goes) | монда (He/she/it forgets) |
1st plural | лектына (We go) | мондена (We forget) |
2nd plural | лектыда (You go) | мондеда (You forget) |
3rd plural | лектыт (They go) | мондат (They forget) |
Person | 1st dec. neg. | 2nd dec. neg. |
---|---|---|
1st singular | ом лек2 (I don't go) | ом мондо1 (I don't forget) |
2nd singular | от лек2 (You don't go) | от мондо1 (You don't forget) |
3rd singular | огеш лек2 (He/she/it doesn't go) | огеш мондо1 (He/she/it doesn't forget) |
1st plural | огына лек2 (We don't go) | огына мондо1 (We don't forget) |
2nd plural | огыда лек2 (You don't go) | огыда мондо1 (You don't forget) |
3rd plural | огыт лек2 (They don't go) | огыт мондо1 (They don't forget) |
- Bold letters are subject to vowel harmony—they can be е/о/ӧ, depending on the preceding full vowel.
- First-conjugation verb forms using the imperative second-person singular as their stem are subject to the same stem changes as the imperative – see imperative second-person singular.
Person | 1st dec. pos. | 2nd dec. pos. |
---|---|---|
1st singular | лектым3 (I went) | мондышым (I forgot) |
2nd singular | лектыч3 (You went) | мондышыч (You forgot) |
3rd singular | лекте1, 3 (He/she/it went) | мондыш (He/she/it forgot) |
1st plural | лекна2 (We went) | мондышна (We forget) |
2nd plural | лекда2 (You went) | мондышда (You forgot) |
3rd plural | лектыч3 (They went) | мондышт (They forgot) |
- Bold letters are subject to vowel harmony—they can be е/о/ӧ, depending on the preceding full vowel.
- First-conjugation verb forms using the imperative second-person singular as their stem are subject to the same stem changes as the imperative – see imperative second-person singular.
- If the consonant prior to the ending can be palatalized—if it is л (l) or н (n)—it is palatalized in this position. Palatalization is not marked if the vowel following a consonant is an е.
колаш → кольым, кольыч, кольо, колна, колда, кольыч (to hear)
Person | 1st dec. neg. | 2nd dec. neg. |
---|---|---|
1st singular | шым лек2 (I didn't go) | шым мондо1 (I didn't forget) |
2nd singular | шыч лек2 (You didn't go) | шыч мондо1 (You didn't forget) |
3rd singular | ыш лек2 (He/she/it didn't go) | ыш мондо1 (He/she/it didn't forget) |
1st plural | ышна лек2 (We didn't go) | ышна мондо1 (We don't forget) |
2nd plural | ышда лек2 (You didn't go) | ышда мондо1 (You didn't forget) |
3rd plural | ышт лек2 (They didn't go) | ышт мондо1 (They didn't forget) |
- Bold letters are subject to vowel harmony—they can be е/о/ӧ, depending on the preceding full vowel.
- First-conjugation verb forms using the imperative second-person singular as their stem are subject to the same stem changes as the imperative – see imperative second-person singular.
Person | 1st dec. pos. | 2nd dec. pos. |
---|---|---|
1st singular | лектынам (I went) | монденам (I forgot) |
2nd singular | лектынат (You went) | монденат (You forgot) |
3rd singular | лектын (He/she/it went) | монден (He/she/it forgot) |
1st plural | лектынна (We went) | монденна (We forget) |
2nd plural | лектында (You went) | монденда (You forgot) |
3rd plural | лектыныт (They went) | монденыт (They forgot) |
Person | 1st dec. neg. | 2nd dec. neg. |
---|---|---|
1st singular | лектын омыл (I didn't go) | монден омыл (I didn't forget) |
2nd singular | лектын отыл (You didn't go) | монден отыл (You didn't forget) |
3rd singular | лектын огыл(He/she/it didn't go) | монден огыл(He/she/it didn't forget) |
1st plural | лектын огынал (We didn't go) | монден огынал (We don't forget) |
2nd plural | лектын огыдал (You didn't go) | монден огыдал (You didn't forget) |
3rd plural | лектын огытыл (They didn't go) | монден огытыл (They didn't forget) |
Person | 1st dec. pos. | 2nd dec. pos. |
---|---|---|
1st singular | – | – |
2nd singular | лек3 (Go!) | мондо1 (Forget!) |
3rd singular | лекше2 (He/She/It should go) | мондыжо1 (He/She/It should forget) |
1st plural | лектына (Let's go) | мондена (Let's forget) |
2nd plural | лекса2 (Go!) | мондыза (Forget!) |
3rd plural | лекытшт (They should go) | мондышт (They should forget) |
- Bold letters are subject to vowel harmony—they can be е/о/ӧ, depending on the preceding full vowel.
- First-conjugation verb forms using the imperative second-person singular as their stem are subject to the same stem changes as the imperative.
- In the first conjugation, the imperative second-person singular is formed by removing the -аш ending from the infinitive. Four consonant combinations are not allowed at the end of an imperative, and are thus simplified—one consonant is lost.
кт → к, нч → ч, чк → ч, шк → ш
Person | 1st dec. neg. | 2nd dec. neg. |
---|---|---|
1st singular | - | - |
2nd singular | ит лек2 (Don't go!) | ит мондо1 (Don't forget!) |
3rd singular | ынже лек2 (He/She/It shouldn't go) | ынже мондо1 (He/She/It shouldn't forget) |
1st plural | огына лек2 (Let's not go) | огына мондо1 (Let's not forget) |
2nd plural | ида лек2 (Don't go!) | ида мондо1 (Don't forget!) |
3rd plural | ынышт лек2 (They shouldn't go) | ынышт мондо1 (They shouldn't forget) |
- Bold letters are subject to vowel harmony—they can be е/о/ӧ, depending on the preceding full vowel.
- First-conjugation verb forms using the imperative second-person singular as their stem are subject to the same stem changes as the imperative – see imperative second-person singular.
Person | 1st dec. pos. | 2nd dec. pos. |
---|---|---|
1st singular | лекнем2 (I want to go) | мондынем (I want to forget) |
2nd singular | лекнет2 (You want to go) | мондынет (You want to forget) |
3rd singular | лекнеже2 (He/she/it wants to go) | мондынеже (He/she/it wants to forget) |
1st plural | лекнена2 (We want to go) | мондынена (We want to forget) |
2nd plural | лекнеда2 (You want to go) | мондынеда (You want to forget) |
3rd plural | лекнешт2 (They want to go) | мондынешт (They want to forget) |
- First-conjugation verb forms using the imperative second-person singular as their stem are subject to the same stem changes as the imperative – see imperative second-person singular.
Person | 1st dec. neg. | 2nd dec. neg. |
---|---|---|
1st singular | ынем лек2 (I don't want to go) | ынем мондо1 (I don't want to forget) |
2nd singular | ынет лек2 (You don't want to go) | ынет мондо1 (You don't want to forget) |
3rd singular | ынеже лек2 (He/she/it doesn't want to go) | ынеже мондо1 (He/she/it doesn't want to forget) |
1st plural | ынена лек2 (We don't want to go) | ынена мондо1 (We don't want to forget) |
2nd plural | ынеда лек2 (You don't want to go) | ынеда мондо1 (You don't want to forget) |
3rd plural | ынешт лек2 (They don't want to go) | ынешт мондо1 (They don't want to forget) |
- Bold letters are subject to vowel harmony—they can be е/о/ӧ, depending on the preceding full vowel.
- First-conjugation verb forms using the imperative second-person singular as their stem are subject to the same stem changes as the imperative – see imperative second-person singular.
Person | Present (positive) | Present (negative) | 1st preterite (positive) | 1st preterite (negative) | 2nd preterite (positive) | 2nd preterite (negative) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1st sing. | улам (I am) | омыл (I am not) | ыльым (I was) | шым лий (I was not) | улынам (I was) | лийын омыл (I was not) |
2nd sing. | улат (You are) | отыл (You are not) | ыльыч (You were) | шыч лий (You were not) | улынат (You were) | лийын отыл (You were not) |
3rd sing. | уло (улеш) (He/she/it is) | огыл (He/she/it is not) | ыле (He/she/it was) | ыш лий (He/she/it was not) | улмаш(ын) (He/she/it was) | лийын огыл (He/she/it was not) |
1st pl. | улына (We are) | огынал (We are not) | ыльна (We were) | ышна лий (We were not) | улынна (We were) | лийын огынал (We were not) |
2nd pl. | улыда (You are) | огыдал (You are not) | ыльда (You were) | ышда лий (You were not) | улында (You were) | лийын огыдал (You were not) |
3rd pl. | улыт (They are) | огытыл (They are not) | ыльыч (They were) | ышт лий (They were not) | улыныт (They were) | лийын огытыл (They were not) |
Infinitive forms
Verbs have two infinitive forms: the standard infinitive and the necessive infinitive, used when a person must do something. The person needing to do something is put in the dative in such a situation.
Participles
There are four participles in Meadow Mari:
- Active participle
- Passive participle
- Negative participle
- Future participle
Gerunds
There are five gerunds in Meadow Mari:
- Affirmative instructive gerund
- Negative instructive gerund
- Gerund for prior actions I
- Gerund for prior actions II
- Gerund for simultaneous actions
Syntax
Word order in Mari is subject–object–verb.
Some common words and phrases
Note that the accent mark, which denotes the place of stress, is not used in actual Mari orthography.
- По́ро ке́че/Póro kéče – Good day
- Ку́гу та́у/Kúgu táu – Thank you (very much)
- ик, кок, кум, ныл, вич/ik, kok, kum, nəl, vič – one, two, three, four, five
- куд, шым, канда́ш, инде́ш, лу/kud, šəm, kandáš, indéš, lu – six, seven, eight, nine, ten
- мут/mut – word
Bibliography
- Alhoniemi, Alho (2010) [1985], Marin kielioppi (PDF) (in Finnish) (2nd ed.), Helsinki: Suomalais-Ugrilainen Seura, retrieved 2015-01-03 (Hill and Meadow);
- Alhoniemi, A., Marin kielen lukemisto sanastoineen, Helsinki, 1986 (Hill and Meadow);
- Beke О., Cseremisz nyelvtan, Budapest, 1911 (Hill and Meadow);
- Budenz J., Erdéi és hegyi cseremisz szótár, Pest, 1866 (Mari [Hill and Meadow], Hungarian, Latin);
- Castrén M. A., Elementa grammaticae tscheremissicae, Kuopio, 1845 (Hill);
- Glukhov, N. and V. Glukhov, "Mari Men and Women as Bearers of the Mari Language and Identity," Wiener elektronische Beiträge des Instituts für Finno-Ugristik, 2003. Available, along with other papers on Finno-Ugric languages and cultures* Ingemann, F. J. and T. A. Sebeok, An Eastern Cheremis Manual: Phonology, Grammar, Texts and Glossary (= American Council of Learned Societies, Research and Studies in Uralic and Altaic languages, project nos. 6 and 31), Bloomington, 1961 (Meadow);
- Klima, L. "The linguistic affinity of the Volgaic Finno-Ugrians and their ethnogenesis," 2004
- Lewy E., Tscheremissische Grammatik, Leipzig, 1922 (Meadow);
- Ramstedt G. J., Bergtscheremissische Sprachstudien, Helsinki, 1902 (Hill);
- Räsänen M., Die tschuwassischen Lehnwörter im Tscheremissischen, Helsinki, 1920;
- Räsänen M., Die tatarischen Lehnwörter im Tscheremissischen, Helsinki, 1923.
- Sebeok, T. A. and A. Raun. (eds.), The First Cheremis Grammar (1775): A Facsimile Edition, Chicago, 1956.
- Szilasi M., Cseremisz szótár, Budapest, 1901 (Mari [Hill and Meadow], Hungarian, German);
- Wichmann Y., Tscheremissische Texte mit Wörterverzeichnis und grammatikalischem Abriss, Helsingfors, 1923 (Hill and Meadow);
- Wiedemann F., Versuch einer Grammatik der tscheremissischen Sprache, Saint Petersburg, 1847 (Hill);
- Васильев В. М., Записки по грамматике народа мари, Kazan', 1918 (Hill and Meadow);
- Васильев В. М., Марий Мутэр, Moscow, 1929 (Hill and Meadow);
- Галкин, И. С., Историческая грамматика марийского языка, vol. I, II, Yoshkar-Ola, 1964, 1966;
- Галкин, И. С., "Происхождение и развитие марийского языка", Марийцы. Историко-этнографические очерки/Марий калык. Историй сынан этнографий очерк-влак, Yoshkar-Ola, 2005: 43-46.
- Зорина, З. Г., Г. С. Крылова, and Э. С. Якимова. Марийский язык для всех, ч. 1. Йошкар-Ола: Марийское книжное издательство, * Кармазин Г. Г., Материалы к изучению марийского языка, Krasnokokshajsk, 1925 (Meadow);
- Иванов И. Г., История марийского литературного языка, Yoshkar-Ola, 1975;
- Иванов И. Г., Марий диалектологий, Yoshkar-Ola, 1981;
- Кармазин Г. Г., Учебник марийского языка лугово-восточного наречия, Yoshkar-Ola, 1929 (Meadow);
- Коведяева Е. И. "Марийский язык", Основы финно-угорского языкознания. Т.3. Moscow, 1976: 3-96.
- Коведяева Е. И. "Марийский язык", Языки мира: Уральские языки. Moscow, 1993: 148-164.
- Коведяева Е. И. "Горномарийский вариант литературного марийского языка", Языки мира: Уральские языки. Moscow, 1993: 164-173.
- Шорин В. С., Маро-русский словарь горного наречия, Kazan', 1920 (Hill);
- Троицкий В. П., Черемисско-русский словарь, Kazan', 1894 (Hill and Meadow);
1990;
References
- 1 2 Mari at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
Meadow Mari (Eastern Mari) at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
Hill Mari (Western Mari) at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) - ↑ Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin; Bank, Sebastian, eds. (2016). "Mari". Glottolog 2.7. Jena: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.
- ↑ Зорина, Крылова, Якимова 1990: 9
External links
Hill Mari edition of Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia |
Meadow Mari edition of Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia |
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Mari language. |
- Electronic Resources on the Mari Language
- English-Language Mari Textbook
- Kimberli Mäkäräinen's Meadow Mari Grammar
- Meadow Mari morphology generator
- Online dictionaries on Mari language