Mari (language)
| Mari (marij jəlme) | ||
|---|---|---|
|
Spoken in |
Russia | |
| speaker | approx. 400,000 | |
| Linguistic classification |
|
|
| Official status | ||
| Official language in |
 Republic of Mari El
|
|
| Language codes | ||
| ISO 639 -1 |
- |
|
| ISO 639 -2 |
chm |
|
| ISO 639-3 |
chm (Mari; macro language ) |
|
The Mari (Wiesenmari марий йылме marij jəlme or Bergmari мары йӹлмӹ marə jÿlmÿ ), also Tscheremissisch , part of the Volga-Finnish group of the Finno-Ugric languages , making it the Finnish , the Estonian and the Sami language related. Mari is spoken by the Mari people. The number of speakers is falling; it reached 451,000 in 2002 and is below 400,000 today.
Dialects and Mari written languages
There are four dialects, two of which have achieved written language status:
- south of the Volga the Kuryk-Mari ( кырык мары , Bergmari ) and
- north of the Volga the Olyk-Mari ( олык марий , Wiesenmari ).
Mari speakers live throughout the Volga-Urals region. Both written Mari languages have been official languages of the Mari El Republic, which is part of Russia , since 1995 . A modified Cyrillic alphabet has been used since 1938 .
Special features of the Mari
Mari is characterized by a large number of vowels (8–12 depending on the dialect) and the avoidance of consonant combinations. Grammatical relationships in Mari are mainly expressed by adding ( agglutination ) suffixes to the vowel harmony (velar-palatal and labial). Mari has nine cases .
Example using the word for 'book', кнага ( transcribed knaga ; borrowed from the Russian kniga ):
- Nominative : кнага knaga
- Genitive : кнаган knagan
- Dative : кнагалан knagalan
- Accusative : кнагам knagam
- Comparative : кнагала knagala
- Comitative : кнагаге knagage
- Inessive : кнагаште knagaschte
- Illative : кнагашке knagaschke
- Tively : кнагаш knagasch
The possessive pronouns are added to the noun as a suffix . The plural is expressed by the suffix -wlak. The form of the suffix depends on whether the stem ends in a vowel or a consonant .
| Singular: | Plural: | ||||
| Mari: | Transcription: | German: | Mari: | Transcription: | German: |
| кнагам | knagam | my book | кнага-влакем | knaga-wlakem | my books |
| кнагат | knagat | your book | кнага-влакет | knaga-wlaket | your books |
| кнагаже | knagasche | his / her book | кнага-влакше | knaga washing machine | his / her books |
| кнагана | knagana | our book | кнага-влакна | knaga-wlakna | our books |
| кнагада | knagada | your book | кнага-влакда | knaga-wlakda | your books |
| кнагашт | knagascht | her book | кнага-влакышт | knaga-wlakəscht | their books |
Web links
- MariUver - News, Politics, Society, Education, Science, Culture and Art (Mari, Estonian, English, Russian)
- Electronic resources
- The Mari Language - Website in English, Mari and Japanese
Individual evidence
- ↑ E. I. Kovedjaeva "Marijskij Jazyk", in: A. M. Prohorov (ed.): Lingvističeskij ėnciklopedičeskij slovar ' . Moskva: Sovjetskaja Ėnciklopedija 1990.