| Permic | |
|---|---|
| Ethnicity: | Permians |
| Geographic distribution: |
foothills of the Ural Mountains in Russia |
| Linguistic classification: | Uralic
|
| Subdivisions: | |
Permic languages are a branch of the Uralic language family. They are spoken in the foothills of the Ural Mountains of Russia.
Contents |
The Proto-Permic consonant inventory is reconstructed as:[1]
| Labial | Alveolar | Post- alveolar |
Palatal | Velar | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plain | Pal. | ||||||
| Plosives and affricates |
Voiceless | p | t | tʲ | t͡ʃ | t͡ɕ | k |
| Voiced | b | d | dʲ | d͡ʒ | d͡ʑ | ɡ | |
| Fricatives | Voiceless | s | sʲ | ʃ | |||
| Voiced | v | z | zʲ | ʒ | |||
| Nasals | m | n | nʲ | ŋ | |||
| Approximants | w | l | lʲ | j | |||
| Trill | r | ||||||
This inventory is retained nearly unchanged in the modern-day Permic languages. Komi has merged original *w into /v/ and undergone a change *l → /v/ or /w/ in many dialects, while Udmurt has changed word-initially *r → /d͡ʒ/. *ŋ is retained only in some Udmurt dialects; elsewhere it has become /m/ next to back vowels, /n/ next to central vowels, /nʲ/ next to front vowels.
In later Russian loanwords, the consonants /f x t͡s/ can occur.
The consonant *w was marginal and occurred only word-initially or after a word-initial *k, generally traceable to diphthongization of the close back vowel of the 2nd series. An exceptional word is the numeral "six", *kwatʲ, which in Komi is the only native word root with an initial cluster.[2]
Literary Komi and literary Udmurt both possess a seven-vowel system /i ɨ u e ə o a/. These are however not related straightforwardly, and numerous additional vowels are required for Proto-Permic, perhaps as many as 15 altogether. The reconstruction of Proto-Permic vocalism and its development from Proto-Uralic has always been a puzzling topic, for which there are several models. There is general agreement on the existence of two series of close vowels, one of which results in modern /i ɨ u/ in literary Udmurt and literary Komi-Zyrian, the other in correspondences of Udmurt /e ɨ u/ to Komi /e ə o/ (but long /iː ʉː uː/ in the Komi-Yodzyak language). Proposed distinguishing factors for these include length (*u, *uː), tenseness (*ʊ, *u) and height (*u, *o).[3]
Noun roots in the Permic languages are predominantly monosyllabic and invariable with the canonical shape (C)VC. CV roots, such as Udmurt ву /vu/, Komi ва /va/ "water", and (C)VCC roots, such as Udmurt урт /urt/, Komi орт /ort/ "soul", exist as well. In Udmurt, there are furthermore a number of bisyllabic roots, mostly of the shape (C)VCɨ.[4]
In noun roots with certain final clusters, the second consonant surfaces only when followed with a vowel in inflected or derived forms :
| Full cluster | Shortens to | Example |
|---|---|---|
| -nm- | -n | сьин /sʲin/ "eye" |
| -pt- | -p | |
| -kt- | -k | кык /kɨk/ "2" |
| -sk- | -s | мус /mus/ "liver" |
| -ʃk- | -ʃ | мыш /mɨʃ/ "back" |
Udmurt has similar alternation for a number of other clusters of the shape voiced consonant+/m/, while Komi-Zyrian adds a number of clusters of the shape voiced consonant+/j/.[5]
The verb root for "to come": Udmurt лыкты- /lɨktɨ-/, Komi локты- /loktɨ-/ also shows alternation to plain /k/ in e.g. the imperative (in Udmurt only dialectally).[6]
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