Komi language
Encyclopedia
The Komi language is a Finno-Permic
language spoken by the Komi peoples
in the northeastern Europe
an 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.
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 alphabet
in 17th century. A tradition of secular works of literature in the modern form of the language dates back to the 19th century.
, 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:
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/.
, 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 it uses the Russian alphabet plus the additional letters І, і and .
Komi alphabet (Коми анбур)
Letters particular to the Molodtsov alphabet
include , most of which represent palatalized consonants.
Finno-Permic languages
The Finno-Permic languages are a traditional but disputed ,group of the Uralic languages that comprises the Baltic-Finnic languages, Sami languages, Mordvinic languages, Mari language, Permic languages, and likely a number of extinct languages...
language spoken by the Komi peoples
Komi peoples
The Komi people is an ethnic group whose homeland is in the north-east of European Russia around the basins of the Vychegda, Pechora and Kama rivers. They mostly live in the Komi Republic, Perm Krai, Murmansk Oblast, Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug, and Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug in the Russian...
in the northeastern Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
an part of Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
. Komi is one of the two members of the Permic
Permic languages
Permic languages are a branch of the Uralic language family. They are spoken in the foothills of the Ural Mountains of Russia.* Komi** Komi-Permyak** Komi-Yodzyak ** Komi-Zyryan...
subgroup of the Finno-Ugric
Finno-Ugric languages
Finno-Ugric , Finno-Ugrian or Fenno-Ugric is a traditional group of languages in the Uralic language family that comprises the Finno-Permic and Ugric language families....
branch. The other Permic language is Udmurt
Udmurt language
Udmurt is an Uralic language, part of the Permic subgroup, spoken by the Udmurt natives of the Russian constituent republic of Udmurtia, where it is coofficial with Russian. It is written in the Cyrillic script with five additional characters. Together with Komi and Komi-Permyak languages, it...
, 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
Komi Republic
The Komi Republic is a federal subject of Russia .-Geography:The republic is situated to the west of the Ural mountains, in the north-east of the East European Plain...
; and Komi-Yazva, spoken by a small, isolated group of Komi to the north-west of Perm Krai
Perm Krai
Perm Krai is a federal subject of Russia that came into existence on December 1, 2005 as a result of the 2004 referendum on the merger of Perm Oblast and Komi-Permyak Autonomous Okrug. The city of Perm became the administrative center of the new federal subject...
and south of the Komi Republic
Komi Republic
The Komi Republic is a federal subject of Russia .-Geography:The republic is situated to the west of the Ural mountains, in the north-east of the East European Plain...
. Permyak
Komi-Permyak language
Komi-Permyak language is one of two regional varieties of the pluricentrical Komi language, the other variety being Komi-Zyrian.Komi is a Uralic language closely related to Udmurt....
(also called Komi-Permyak) is spoken in Komi-Permyak Okrug
Komi-Permyak Okrug
Komi-Permyak Okrug , or Permyakia is a territory with special status within Perm Krai, Russia. Population: It was a federal subject of Russia until December 1, 2005. It was called Komi-Permyak Autonomous Okrug at that time.-History:Komi-Permyak Autonomous Okrug was established on February...
, 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 RepublicKomi Republic
The Komi Republic is a federal subject of Russia .-Geography:The republic is situated to the west of the Ural mountains, in the north-east of the East European Plain...
and some other parts of Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
. It is disputed whether Zyrian is a separate language or a dialect of Komi, because of its affinity to Komi-Permyak language
Komi-Permyak language
Komi-Permyak language is one of two regional varieties of the pluricentrical Komi language, the other variety being Komi-Zyrian.Komi is a Uralic language closely related to Udmurt....
. 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
Old Permic script
The Old Permic script, sometimes called Abur or Anbur, is an original ancient Permic writing system.-History:The alphabet was introduced by a Russian missionary, Stepan Khrap, also known as Saint Stephen of Perm in 1372. The name Abur is derived from the names of the first two characters: An and Bur...
. Said alphabet was replaced by the Cyrillic alphabet
Cyrillic alphabet
The Cyrillic script or azbuka is an alphabetic writing system developed in the First Bulgarian Empire during the 10th century AD at the Preslav Literary School...
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 VychegdanVychegda River
Vychegda is a river in the European part of Russia, tributary to the Northern Dvina. Its length is about . Its source is approximately west of the northern Ural Mountains. It flows roughly in western direction, through Komi Republic and Arkhangelsk Oblast. The largest city along the Vychegda is...
, Central Vychegdan, Luzsko-letsky, Upper Sysolan
Sysola River
The Sysola River is located mainly in Northwestern Russia's Komi Republic, although its two branches have their sources in the Kirov Oblast, and the Perm Oblast. The Sysola is a tributary of the larger Vychegda River, which it meets in Syktyvkar....
, Upper Vychegdan, Pechoran
Pechora River
The Pechora River is a river in northwest Russia which flows north into the Arctic Ocean on the west side of the Ural Mountains. It lies mostly in the Komi Republic but the northernmost part crosses the Nenets Autonomous Okrug. It is 1,809 km long and its basin is 322,000 square kilometers...
, Izhemsky
Izhma River
Izhma is a river in the Komi Republic of Russia. It is a left tributary of the Pechora River. It is 531 km long, with a drainage basin of 31,000 km². 154 km from its mouth it has an average discharge of 203 m³/s...
, Vymsky
Vym River
The Vym River is a river in the Komi Republic, Russia. It is a tributary of the Vychegda River in the basin of Northern Dvina. Its length is 499 km, and its drainage basin 25,600 km². Average discharge is 196 m³/s....
, and Udorsky. Prisyktyvkarsky is spoken in the region of Syktyvkar
Syktyvkar
-Twin towns/sister cities:Syktyvkar is twinned with the following sister cities: Cullera, Spain Debrecen, Hungary Los Altos, United States Lovech, Bulgaria Taiyuan, China-External links:* * * *...
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:
- 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
Khanty language
Khanty or Xanty language, also known previously as the Ostyak language, is a language of the Khant peoples. It is spoken in Khanty-Mansi and Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous okrugs, as well as in Aleksandrovsky and Kargosoksky districts of Tomsk Oblast in Russia...
, 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
Unpacking
In historical linguistics and language contact, unpacking is the separation of the features of a segment into distinct segments.Perhaps the most common example of unpacking is the separation of nasal vowels into vowel plus nasal consonant when borrowed into languages which don't have nasal vowels...
in syllable-final position as clusters /jd jt/.
Writing system
The first writing systemWriting system
A writing system is a symbolic system used to represent elements or statements expressible in language.-General properties:Writing systems are distinguished from other possible symbolic communication systems in that the reader must usually understand something of the associated spoken language to...
, the Old Permic script
Old Permic script
The Old Permic script, sometimes called Abur or Anbur, is an original ancient Permic writing system.-History:The alphabet was introduced by a Russian missionary, Stepan Khrap, also known as Saint Stephen of Perm in 1372. The name Abur is derived from the names of the first two characters: An and Bur...
, was invented in the 14th century by the missionary Stepan Khrap
Stephen of Perm
Saint Stephen of Perm was a fourteenth century missionary credited with the conversion of the Komi Permyaks to Christianity and the establishment of the Bishopric of Perm'. Stephen also created the Old Permic script, which makes him the founding-father of Permian written tradition...
, apparently of a Komi mother in Veliky Ustyug
Veliky Ustyug
Veliky Ustyug is a town in the northeast of Vologda Oblast, Russia, located at the confluence of the Sukhona and Yug Rivers. Administratively, it is incorporated as a town of oblast significance . It also serves as the administrative center of Velikoustyugsky District, by which it is completely...
. The alphabet shows some similarity to medieval Greek
Greek alphabet
The Greek alphabet is the script that has been used to write the Greek language since at least 730 BC . The alphabet in its classical and modern form consists of 24 letters ordered in sequence from alpha to omega...
and Cyrillic. In the 16th century this alphabet was replaced by the Russian alphabet
Russian alphabet
The Russian alphabet is a form of the Cyrillic script, developed in the First Bulgarian Empire during the 10th century AD at the Preslav Literary School...
with certain modifications for affricates. In the 1920s, the language was written in Molodtsov alphabet
Molodtsov alphabet
In the 1920s, the Komi language was written with the Molodtsov alphabet, derived from the Cyrillic alphabet.The letters particular to the Molodtsov alphabet are:Ԁ Ԃ Ԅ Ԇ Ԉ Ԋ Ԍ Ԏ...
, also derived from Cyrillic. In the 1930s it was switched to Latin. Since the 1940s it uses the Russian alphabet plus the additional letters І, і and .
Komi alphabet (Коми анбур)
| Uppercase | Lowercase | Transliteration | IPA | Letter name |
| A | a | a | [ɑ] | а |
| Б | б | b | [b] | бэ |
| В | в | v | [v] | вэ |
| Г | г | g | [g] | гэ |
| Д | д | d | [d]; as palatal, [ɟ] | дэ |
| Е | е | e | [je]; [ʲe], [e] after C except [t, ɟ, s, z, n, l] | е |
| Ë | ë | ë | [jo]; [ʲo]: [o] after [c, ɟ, ɕ, ʑ, ɲ, ʎ] | ё |
| Ж | ж | ž | [ʒ] | жэ |
| З | з | z | [z]; as palatal [ʑ] | зэ |
| И | и | i | [i], [ʲi] | небыд и "soft i" |
| I | i | ï | [i] after [t, d, s, z, n, l] | чорыд и "hard i" |
| Й | й | j | [j] | и краткöй |
| К | к | k | [k] | ка |
| Л | л | l | [ɫ]; as palatal [ʎ] | эл |
| М | м | m | [m] | эм |
| Н | н | n | [n]; as palatal [ɲ] | эн |
| О | о | o | [o] | o |
| Ö | ö | ö | [ə] | ö |
| П | п | p | [p] | пэ |
| Р | р | r | [r] | эр |
| С | с | s | [s]; as palatal [ɕ] | эс |
| Т | т | t | [t]; as palatal [c] | тэ |
| У | у | u | [u] | у |
| Ф | ф | f | [f] | эф |
| Х | х | x | [x] | ха |
| Ц | ц | c | [ts] | цэ |
| Ч | ч | č | [tɕ] | чэ |
| Ш | ш | š | [ʃ] | ша |
| Щ | щ | šč | [ɕ], [ɕː] | ща |
| Ъ | ъ | - | чорыд знак "hard sign" | |
| Ы | ы | y | [ɨ] | ы |
| Ь | ь | ' | [ʲ] | небыд знак "soft sign" |
| Э | э | è | [e] | э |
| Ю | ю | ju | [ju]; [ʲu], [u] after [c, ɟ, ɕ, ʑ, ɲ, ʎ] | ю |
| Я | я | ja | [jɑ]; [ʲa], [a] after [c, ɟ, ɕ, ʑ, ɲ, ʎ] | я |
Letters particular to the Molodtsov alphabet
Molodtsov alphabet
In the 1920s, the Komi language was written with the Molodtsov alphabet, derived from the Cyrillic alphabet.The letters particular to the Molodtsov alphabet are:Ԁ Ԃ Ԅ Ԇ Ԉ Ԋ Ԍ Ԏ...
include , most of which represent palatalized consonants.
| А а | Б б | В в | Г г | Д д | Е е | Ж ж | |||||
| И и | Ј ј | К к | Л л | М м | Н н | О о | П п | Р р | |||
| С с | Т т | У у | Ф ф | Х х | Ч ч | Ш ш | Щ щ | Ы ы |
External links
- Finno-Ugric Electronic Library by the Finno-Ugric Information Center in SyktyvkarSyktyvkar-Twin towns/sister cities:Syktyvkar is twinned with the following sister cities: Cullera, Spain Debrecen, Hungary Los Altos, United States Lovech, Bulgaria Taiyuan, China-External links:* * * *...
, Komi RepublicKomi RepublicThe Komi Republic is a federal subject of Russia .-Geography:The republic is situated to the west of the Ural mountains, in the north-east of the East European Plain...
(interface in Russian and English, texts in MariMari languageThe Mari language , spoken by more than 600,000 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...
, Komi, UdmurtUdmurt languageUdmurt is an Uralic language, part of the Permic subgroup, spoken by the Udmurt natives of the Russian constituent republic of Udmurtia, where it is coofficial with Russian. It is written in the Cyrillic script with five additional characters. Together with Komi and Komi-Permyak languages, it...
, ErzyaErzya languageThe Erzya language is spoken by about 500,000 people in the northern and eastern and north-western parts of the Republic of Mordovia and adjacent regions of Nizhniy Novgorod, Chuvashia, Penza, Samara, Saratov, Orenburg, Ulyanovsk, Tatarstan and Bashkortostan in Russia...
and MokshaMoksha languageThe Moksha language is a member of the Finno-Volgaic subdivision of the Uralic languages with about 500,000 native speakers. Moksha is the majority language in the western part of Mordovia....
languages): http://library.finugor.ru/ - Komi-Russian dictionary