Komi language

The Komi language (in Komi: коми кыв, transliteration: komi kyv [komi kɨv]) is a Finno-Permic language spoken by the Komi peoples in the northeastern European part of Russia. Komi is one of the two members of the Permic subgroup of the Finno-Ugric branch. The other Permic language is Udmurt, to which Komi is closely related.

Of the several dialects found within Komi, two major dialects are recognized, although the differences are not great: Komi-Zyrian, the largest group, serves as the literary basis within the Komi Republic; and Komi-Yazva, spoken by a small, isolated group of Komi to the north-west of Perm Krai and south of the Komi Republic. Permyak (also called Komi-Permyak) is spoken in Komi-Permyak Okrug, where it has literary status.

Komi-Zyrian

Komi-Zyrian, (Коми Кыв - Komi Kyv) or simply Komi, Zyrian or Zyryan, is spoken by the Komi-Zyrians' ethnic group in Komi Republic and some other parts of Russia. It is disputed whether Zyrian is a separate language or a dialect of Komi, because of its affinity to Komi-Permyak language. In 1994, Komi-Zyrian had about 285,000 speakers.

It was written in the form of Old Permic language for liturgical purposes as early as the 14th century in the Old Permic script. Said alphabet was replaced by the Cyrillic script in 17th century. A tradition of secular works of literature in the modern form of the language dates back to the 19th century.

Dialects

Komi-Zyrian has ten dialects: Prisyktyvkarsky, Lower Vychegdan, Central Vychegdan, Luzsko-letsky, Upper Sysolan, Upper Vychegdan, Pechoran, Izhemsky, Vymsky, and Udorsky. Prisyktyvkarsky is spoken in the region of Syktyvkar and forms the model for the generic standard dialect of the language. Dialects are divided based primarily on their use of the v and l phonemes:^[1]

• Original *l remains unchanged in upper Vychegdan and Pechoran dialects (also in most dialects of Komi-Permyak).
• *l has syllable-finally changed to /v/ in central dialects, and this is also the representation of standard literary Komi (for example, older *kɨl → /kɨv/ "tongue").
• In northern dialects, the process has continued with complete vocalization of syllable-final *l, resulting in long vowels.

The change has been dated to the 17th century. It is not seen in the oldest Komi texts from the 14th century, nor in loanwords from Komi to Khanty, dated to the 16th; but it has fully occurred before loanwords from Russian entered the language in the 18th century, as /l/ remains unchanged in these.

Some dialects are further distinguished based on the palatalized alveolars /dʲ tʲ/, which have unpacked in syllable-final position as clusters /jd jt/.^[1]

Writing system

The first writing system, the Old Permic script, was invented in the 14th century by the missionary Stepan Khrap, apparently of a Komi mother in Veliky Ustyug. The alphabet shows some similarity to medieval Greek and Cyrillic. In the 16th century this alphabet was replaced by the Russian alphabet with certain modifications for affricates. In the 1920s, the language was written in Molodtsov alphabet, also derived from Cyrillic. In the 1930s it was switched to Latin. Since the 1940s the Komi alphabet uses the Russian letters plus the additional letters І, і and Ӧ, ӧ.

Letters particular to the Molodtsov alphabet include ԁ, ԃ, ԅ, ԇ, ԉ, ԋ, ԍ, ԏ, most of which represent palatalized consonants.

Grammar

For a closer presentation, see Komi grammar

Komi has seven vowels, upper i, ʉ, u, mid e, ə, o and low a. It has 17 cases, with a rich inventory of local cases. Like other Uralic languages, Komi has no gender. Verbs agree with subjects in person and number (sg/pl). Negation is expressed with an auxiliary verb, which is inflected for person, number and tense.

Notes

1. ^ ^{a b} Bartens 2000, p. 47-49

Bibliography

• Bartens, Raija (2000) (in Finnish). Permiläisten kielten rakenne ja kehitys. Helsinki: Suomalais-Ugrilainen Seura. ISBN 952-5150-55-0. 
• Fed'un'ova, G.V. Önija komi kyv ('The Modern Komi Language'). Morfologia/Das’töma filologijasa kandidat G.V.Fed'un'ova kipod ulyn. Syktyvkar: Komi n’ebög ledzanin, 2000. 544 pp. ISBN 5-7555-0689-2.

External links

• Finno-Ugric Electronic Library by the Finno-Ugric Information Center in Syktyvkar, Komi Republic (interface in Russian and English, texts in Mari, Komi, Udmurt, Erzya and Moksha languages): http://library.finugor.ru/
• Komi-Russian dictionary