Moksha language
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Moksha мокшень кяль |
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|---|---|---|
| Spoken in: | Russia | |
| Total speakers: | ~500,000 | |
| Language family: | Uralic Finno-Ugric Finno-permic Finno-Volgaic Mordvinic Moksha |
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| Official status | ||
| Official language in: |  Mordovia (Russia) |
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| Regulated by: | no official regulation | |
| Language codes | ||
| ISO 639-1: | none | |
| ISO 639-2: | mdf | |
| ISO 639-3: | mdf | |
| Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. | ||
The Moksha language (Moksha), мокшень кяль (mokshanj kälj) is the language of Moksha spoken in the western part of the Republic of Mordovia and adjacent regions.
There are presently 6 distinct dialects of Moksha: Central, Western (or Zubu dialect), South-Western, Northern, South-Eastern and Southern. The number of speakers is around 500,000.
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[edit] Writing system
Mokshan logographic script is now obsolete writing system based on glyphs representing objects, concepts, activity, places or events. It was in use before Christianization and remained popular till the beginning of XX century.
Mokshan is currently using the Russian alphabet with spelling rules identical with that of Russian and as a consequence of that vowels e, ä, ə are not indicated in a consistent way. Latin alphabet for Moksha was officially approved by CIK VCKNA (General Executive Committee of All Union New Alphabet Central Committee) June, 25, 1932, but was never used.
The language belongs to the Mordvinic branch of Finno-Volgaic languages a sub-branch of the Finno-Ugric languages. It is related to the Erzya language, but is quite distinct in its phonetics, vocabulary and grammar. In Mordovia, Moksha is co-official with the Erzya language and Russian language.
- Latin alphabet (1930s): A/a, B/в, C/c, Ç/ç, D/d, Ə/ә, E/e, F/f, G/g, Y/y, I/i, J/j, K/k, L/l, M/m, N/n, O/o, P/p, R/r, S/s, Ş/ş, T/t, U/u, V/v, X/x, Z/z, ƶ, ь, rx, lh
- Modern Russian alphabet: А/а, Б/б, В/в, Г/г, Д/д, Е/е, Ё/ё, Ж/ж, З/з, И/и, Й/й, К/к, Л/л, М/м, Н/н, О/о, П/п, Р/р, С/с, Т/т, У/у, Ф/ф, Х/х, Ц/ц, Ч/ч, Ш/ш, Щ/щ, Ъ/ъ, Ы/ы, Ь/ь, Э/э, Ю/ю, Я/я
- Alternative Latin alphabet: Aa, Ää, Bb, Cc, Dd, Ee, Ff, Gg, Hh, Ii, Jj, Kk, Ll, Mm, Nn, Oo, Pp, Qq, Rr, Ss, Tt, Uu, Vv, Ww, Xx, Yy, Zz
Pronunciation of the Cyrillic alphabet
| Letter | Sound | |
|---|---|---|
| А а | [a] | |
| Б б | [b] | |
| В в | [v] | |
| Г г | [g] | |
| Д д | [d] | |
| Е е | [je] | |
| Ё ё | [jo] | |
| Ж ж | [ʒ] | |
| З з | [z] | |
| И и | [i] | |
| Й й | [j] | |
| К к | [k] | |
| Л л | [l] | |
| М м | [m] | |
| Н н | [n] | |
| О о | [o] | |
| П п | [p] | |
| Р р | [r] | |
| С с | [s] | |
| Т т | [t] | |
| У у | [u] | |
| Ф ф | [f] | |
| Х х | [h] | |
| Ц ц | [ts] | |
| Ч ч | [ʧ] | |
| Ш ш | [ʃ] | |
| Щ щ | [ʃʧ] | |
| Ъ ъ | hard sign | |
| Ы ы | [ï] | |
| Ь ь | soft sign | |
| Э э | [e] | |
| Ю ю | [ju] | |
| Я я | [ja], [jä] |
[edit] Literature
Before 1917 about 100 books and pamphlets mostly of religious character were published. More than 200 manuscripts including at least 50 wordlists were not printed. In 19th century the Russian Orthodox Missionary Society in Kazan published Mokshan primers and elementary textbooks of Russian language for Mokshas. Among them were two fascicles with samples of Mokshan folk poetry. The great native scholar Makar Evsevyev collected Moksha folk songs published in one volume in 1897. Under early Soviet rule dominated publishing of social and political literature. All books were being printed in Moscow till establishing Mordvinian national district in 1928. Language conferences in 1928 an 1935 made north-west Moksha dialect the base for literary language.
[edit] References
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This article does not cite any references or sources. (March 2008) Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed. |
- Cherapkin I.G. ‘Moksha-mordovsko – russkiy slovar’ Saransk, 1933
- Juhász Jenő. Moksa-Mordvin szójegyzék. Budapest, 1961
- Paasonen H. Mordwinisches worterbuch, Helsinki SU Seura, 1990-1998
- Yermushkin G.I. Arealnyye issledovaniya po vostochnym finno-ugorskim yazykam. (Areal research in East Fenno-Ugric languages). Moscow, 1984
- Aitov G. 'Novyy alfavit - velikaya revolutsiya na Vostoke. K mezhrayonnym i krayevoy konferentsii po voprosam novogo alfavita. Saratov, Nizhnevolzhskoye krayevoe izdatelstvo, 1932. 73 p. (Low Volga New Alphabet Committee under Kray Executive Committee Presidium).
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- [1] Mokshen Pravda newspaper
- [2] Moksha - English - Moksha online dictionary
- [3] News in Moksha
- [4] Mokshan folklore
- [5] Mokshan mythology
- [6] Linguistic links
- [7] Periodic table in Moksha language
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