Mari language


The Mari language, spoken by approximately 400,000 people, belongs to the Uralic language family. It is spoken primarily in the Mari Republic 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, Bashkortostan, Udmurtia, and Perm regions.
Mari is the titular and official language of its republic, alongside Russian.
The Mari language today has two standard forms: Hill Mari and Meadow Mari. The latter is predominant and spans the continuum Meadow Mari to Eastern Mari from the Republic into the Ural dialects of Bashkortostan, Sverdlovsk Oblast and Udmurtia), whereas the former, Hill Mari, shares a stronger affiliation with the Northwestern dialect. Both language forms use modified versions of Cyrillic script. For the non-native, Hill Mari, or Western Mari, can be recognized by its use of the special letters "ӓ" and "ӹ" in addition to the mutual letters "ӱ" and "ӧ", while Eastern and Meadow Mari utilize a special letter "ҥ".
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". In medieval texts the variant forms Sarmys and Tsarmys are also found, as well as Çirmeş; and Ҫармӑс, Śarmăs before the Russian Revolution. The term Mari comes from the Maris' autonym марий.

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 Maris numbered 670,868, of whom 80% 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 three quarters of Maris surveyed considered Mari language to be the most crucial marker of ethnic identity, followed by traditional culture and common historical past, religion, character and mentality and appearance . 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, 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 the Mari macrolanguage is divided into four main dialects:
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. Northwestern 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.

Phonology

Vowels

  1. Only in Hill Mari
The schwa and its fronted counterpart are usually transcribed in Finno-Ugric transcription as ə̑ and ə respectively. The former has sometimes been transcribed in IPA as, but phonetically the vowel is most strongly distinguished by its short duration and reduced quality. Descriptions vary on the degree of backness and labialization.
The mid vowels,, have more reduced allophones,, at the end of a word.

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 гыч ; or му́ро дене .

Consonants

Consonants are shown in Cyrillic, Latin, and the :
  1. Only in Russian loanwords, in Hill Mari also onomatopoeia and Chuvashian loanwords.
  2. Palatalisation is marked in different ways. A following a palatalised consonant is written as, and following a palatalised consonant is written as. 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.
  3. The modified Cyrillic letter for the velar nasal combines the Cyrillic letter with and, where the rightmost post of Н is conflated with the vertical post of :. 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 becomes кӱтӱ́штӧ ; if the stressed vowel is unrounded, then the suffix will contain an unrounded vowel: ки́д becomes ки́дыште. If the stressed vowel is back, then the suffix will end in a back vowel: агу́р becomes агу́рышто.

Declension

Like other Uralic languages, Mari is an agglutinating language. It lacks grammatical gender, and does not use articles.

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.
Case NameSuffixQuestion WordsExample Example
Nominative-кӧ, мо йоча ял
Genitive-нкӧн, мон йочан ялын
Dative-ланкӧлан, молан йочалан яллан
Accusative-мкӧм, мом йочам ялым
Comitative-гекӧге, моге йочаге ялге
Comparative-лакӧла, мола йочала ялла
Inessive-ште/што/штӧкушто -ялыште
Illative-шке/шко/шкӧ, -ш1кушко/куш -ялышке/ялыш
Lative-ш/еш/эшкушан -ялеш

  1. 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.
Every grammatical person in Mari has its own possessive suffix.
PersonSuffixExample
--шӱргӧ
First-person singular-ем/эмшӱргем
Second-person singular-ет/этшӱргет
Third-person singular-же/жо/жӧ/ше/шо/шӧшӱргыжӧ
First-person plural-нашӱргына
Second-person plural-дашӱргыда
Third-person singular-шт/ыштшӱргышт

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 '', 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.
CaseSingularExamplePlural
NominativePпӧртем – 'my house 'пӧртем-влак – 'my houses '
GenitiveP → Cпӧртемын – 'of my house'пӧртем-влакын – 'of my houses'
AccusativeP → Cпӧртемым – 'my house 'пӧртем-влакым – 'my houses '
ComitativeP → Cпӧртемге – 'with my house'пӧртем-влакге – 'with my houses'
DativeP → C, C → Pпӧртемлан, пӧртланем – 'to my houses'пӧртем-влаклан – 'to my houses'
ComparativeP → C, C → Pпӧртемла, пӧртлам – 'like my house'пӧртем-влакла – 'like my houses'
InessiveC → Pпӧртыштем – 'in my house'пӧрт-влакыштем – 'in my houses'
IllativeC → Pпӧртышкем – 'into my house'пӧрт-влакышкем – 'into my houses'
LativeC → Pпӧртешем – '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

happens with adjectives and adverbs. The comparative is formed with the suffix -рак. The superlative is formed by adding the word эн in front.
ComparativeSuperlative
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 for verbs in the first declination, and in -ем 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.
The first preterite is used to express observed, recent actions.
The second preterite is used for actions that are in the more-distant past.
Additional tenses can be formed through periphrasis.
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, 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, much as it is in Finnish and Estonian.
PersonIndicative presentImperative presentDesiderative presentIndicative first preterite
First-person singularом -ынем шым
Second-person singularот ит ынет шыч
Third-person singularогеш / ок ынже ынеж ыш
First-person pluralогына / она -ынена ышна
Second-person pluralогыда / ода ида ынеда ышда
Third-person pluralогыт ынышт ынешт ышт

The verb улаш – to be – has its own negated forms.
Person
First-person singular – 'I am not'омыл
Second-person singular – 'You are not'отыл
Third-person singular – 'He/she/it is not'огыл
First-person plural – 'We are not'огынал / онал
Second-person plural – 'You are not'огыдал / одал
Third-person plural – 'They are not'огытыл

Example

In order to illustrate the conjugation in the respective moods and times, one verb of the first declination and one verb of the second declination will be used.
Person1st dec. pos.2nd dec. pos.
1st singularлектам мондем
2nd singularлектат мондет
3rd singularлектеш монда
1st pluralлектына мондена
2nd pluralлектыда мондеда
3rd pluralлектыт мондат

Person1st dec. neg.2nd dec. neg.
1st singularом лек2 ом мондо1
2nd singularот лек2 от мондо1
3rd singularогеш лек2 огеш мондо1
1st pluralогына лек2 огына мондо1
2nd pluralогыда лек2 огыда мондо1
3rd pluralогыт лек2 огыт мондо1

  1. Bold letters are subject to vowel harmony—they can be е/о/ӧ, depending on the preceding full vowel.
  2. 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.
Person1st dec. pos.2nd dec. pos.
1st singularлектым3 мондышым
2nd singularлектыч3 мондышыч
3rd singularлекте1, 3 мондыш
1st pluralлекна2 мондышна
2nd pluralлекда2 мондышда
3rd pluralлектыч3 мондышт

  1. Bold letters are subject to vowel harmony—they can be е/о/ӧ, depending on the preceding full vowel.
  2. 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.
  3. If the consonant prior to the ending can be palatalized—if it is л or н —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
Person1st dec. neg.2nd dec. neg.
1st singularшым лек2 шым мондо1
2nd singularшыч лек2 шыч мондо1
3rd singularыш лек2 ыш мондо1
1st pluralышна лек2 ышна мондо1
2nd pluralышда лек2 ышда мондо1
3rd pluralышт лек2 ышт мондо1

  1. Bold letters are subject to vowel harmony—they can be е/о/ӧ, depending on the preceding full vowel.
  2. 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.
Person1st dec. pos.2nd dec. pos.
1st singularлектынам монденам
2nd singularлектынат монденат
3rd singularлектын монден
1st pluralлектынна монденна
2nd pluralлектында монденда
3rd pluralлектыныт монденыт

Person1st dec. neg.2nd dec. neg.
1st singularлектын омыл монден омыл
2nd singularлектын отыл монден отыл
3rd singularлектын огылмонден огыл
1st pluralлектын огынал монден огынал
2nd pluralлектын огыдал монден огыдал
3rd pluralлектын огытыл монден огытыл

Person1st dec. pos.2nd dec. pos.
1st singular––
2nd singularлек3 мондо1
3rd singularлекше2 мондыжо1
1st pluralлектына мондена
2nd pluralлекса2 мондыза
3rd pluralлекытшт мондышт

  1. Bold letters are subject to vowel harmony—they can be е/о/ӧ, depending on the preceding full vowel.
  2. First-conjugation verb forms using the imperative second-person singular as their stem are subject to the same stem changes as the imperative.
  3. 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
Person1st dec. neg.2nd dec. neg.
1st singular--
2nd singularит лек2 ит мондо1
3rd singularынже лек2 ынже мондо1
1st pluralогына лек2 огына мондо1
2nd pluralида лек2 ида мондо1
3rd pluralынышт лек2 ынышт мондо1

  1. Bold letters are subject to vowel harmony—they can be е/о/ӧ, depending on the preceding full vowel.
  2. 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.
Person1st dec. pos.2nd dec. pos.
1st singularлекнем2 мондынем
2nd singularлекнет2 мондынет
3rd singularлекнеже2 мондынеже
1st pluralлекнена2 мондынена
2nd pluralлекнеда2 мондынеда
3rd pluralлекнешт2 мондынешт

  1. 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.
Person1st dec. neg.2nd dec. neg.
1st singularынем лек2 ынем мондо1
2nd singularынет лек2 ынет мондо1
3rd singularынеже лек2 ынеже мондо1
1st pluralынена лек2 ынена мондо1
2nd pluralынеда лек2 ынеда мондо1
3rd pluralынешт лек2 ынешт мондо1

  1. Bold letters are subject to vowel harmony—they can be е/о/ӧ, depending on the preceding full vowel.
  2. 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.
PersonPresent Present 1st preterite 1st preterite 2nd preterite 2nd preterite
1st sing.улам омыл ыльым шым лий улынам лийын омыл
2nd sing.улат отыл ыльыч шыч лий улынат лийын отыл
3rd sing.уло огыл ыле ыш лий улмаш лийын огыл
1st pl.улына огынал ыльна ышна лий улынна лийын огынал
2nd pl.улыда огыдал ыльда ышда лий улында лийын огыдал
3rd pl.улыт огытыл ыльыч ышт лий улыныт лийын огытыл

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:
There are five gerunds in Meadow Mari:
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.