Permic languages
Encyclopedia
Permic languages are a branch of the Uralic
language family. They are spoken in the foothills of the Ural Mountains
of Russia
.
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 vowel
s, /n/ next to central vowels, /nʲ/ next to front vowel
s.
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.
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 vowel
s, 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).
In noun roots with certain final clusters, the second consonant surfaces only when followed with a vowel in inflected or derived forms :
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/.
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).
Uralic languages
The Uralic languages constitute a language family of some three dozen languages spoken by approximately 25 million people. The healthiest Uralic languages in terms of the number of native speakers are Hungarian, Finnish, Estonian, Mari and Udmurt...
language family. They are spoken in the foothills of the Ural Mountains
Ural Mountains
The Ural Mountains , or simply the Urals, are a mountain range that runs approximately from north to south through western Russia, from the coast of the Arctic Ocean to the Ural River and northwestern Kazakhstan. Their eastern side is usually considered the natural boundary between Europe and Asia...
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...
.
- KomiKomi languageThe Komi language 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...
- Komi-PermyakKomi-Permyak languageKomi-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....
- Komi-YodzyakKomi-Yodzyak languageYodz, Komi-Yodzyak , or Komi-Yazva is spoken mostly in Krasnovishersky District of Perm Krai in Russia, in the basin of the Yazva River. It is a Permic language closely related to Komi-Zyrian and Permyak...
(Yodzyak, Komi-Jazva) - Komi-ZyryanKomi-Zyrian languageKomi-Zyrian language, or simply Komi, Zyrian or Zyryan, is one of the two regional varieties of the pluricentrical Komi language, the other regional variety being Komi-Permyak....
(Komi, Komi-Zyrian, Zyrian)
- Komi-Permyak
- 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...
(Votyak)
Phonology
The Proto-Permic consonant inventory is reconstructed as:| Labial Labial consonant Labial consonants are consonants in which one or both lips are the active articulator. This precludes linguolabials, in which the tip of the tongue reaches for the posterior side of the upper lip and which are considered coronals... |
Alveolar Alveolar consonant Alveolar consonants are articulated with the tongue against or close to the superior alveolar ridge, which is called that because it contains the alveoli of the superior teeth... |
Post- alveolar Postalveolar consonant Postalveolar consonants are consonants articulated with the tongue near or touching the back of the alveolar ridge, further back in the mouth than the alveolar consonants, which are at the ridge itself, but not as far back as the hard palate... |
Palatal Palatal consonant Palatal consonants are consonants articulated with the body of the tongue raised against the hard palate... |
Velar Velar consonant Velars are consonants articulated with the back part of the tongue against the soft palate, the back part of the roof of the mouth, known also as the velum).... |
|||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plain | Pal. Palatalization In linguistics, palatalization , also palatization, may refer to two different processes by which a sound, usually a consonant, comes to be produced with the tongue in a position in the mouth near the palate.... |
||||||
| Plosives and affricates Affricate consonant Affricates are consonants that begin as stops but release as a fricative rather than directly into the following vowel.- Samples :... |
Voiceless Voice (phonetics) Voice or voicing is a term used in phonetics and phonology to characterize speech sounds, with sounds described as either voiceless or voiced. The term, however, is used to refer to two separate concepts. Voicing can refer to the articulatory process in which the vocal cords vibrate... |
p | t | tʲ | t͡ʃ | t͡ɕ | k |
| Voiced Voice (phonetics) Voice or voicing is a term used in phonetics and phonology to characterize speech sounds, with sounds described as either voiceless or voiced. The term, however, is used to refer to two separate concepts. Voicing can refer to the articulatory process in which the vocal cords vibrate... |
b | d | dʲ | d͡ʒ | d͡ʑ | ɡ | |
| Fricatives Fricative consonant Fricatives are consonants produced by forcing air through a narrow channel made by placing two articulators close together. These may be the lower lip against the upper teeth, in the case of ; the back of the tongue against the soft palate, in the case of German , the final consonant of Bach; or... |
Voiceless | s | sʲ | ʃ | |||
| Voiced | v | z | zʲ | ʒ | |||
| Nasals Nasal consonant A nasal consonant is a type of consonant produced with a lowered velum in the mouth, allowing air to escape freely through the nose. Examples of nasal consonants in English are and , in words such as nose and mouth.- Definition :... |
m | n | nʲ | ŋ | |||
| Approximants Approximant consonant Approximants are speech sounds that involve the articulators approaching each other but not narrowly enough or with enough articulatory precision to create turbulent airflow. Therefore, approximants fall between fricatives, which do produce a turbulent airstream, and vowels, which produce no... |
w | l | lʲ | j | |||
| Trill Trill consonant In phonetics, a trill is a consonantal sound produced by vibrations between the articulator and the place of articulation. Standard Spanish <rr> as in perro is an alveolar trill, while in Parisian French it is almost always uvular.... |
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 vowel
Back vowel
A back vowel is a type of vowel sound used in spoken languages. The defining characteristic of a back vowel is that the tongue is positioned as far back as possible in the mouth without creating a constriction that would be classified as a consonant. Back vowels are sometimes also called dark...
s, /n/ next to central vowels, /nʲ/ next to front vowel
Front vowel
A front vowel is a type of vowel sound used in some spoken languages. The defining characteristic of a front vowel is that the tongue is positioned as far in front as possible in the mouth without creating a constriction that would be classified as a consonant. Front vowels are sometimes also...
s.
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.
Literary Komi
Komi-Zyrian language
Komi-Zyrian language, or simply Komi, Zyrian or Zyryan, is one of the two regional varieties of the pluricentrical Komi language, the other regional variety being Komi-Permyak....
and literary 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...
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 vowel
Close vowel
A close vowel is a type of vowel sound used in many spoken languages. The defining characteristic of a close vowel is that the tongue is positioned as close as possible to the roof of the mouth without creating a constriction that would be classified as a consonant.This term is prescribed by the...
s, 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
Vowel length
In linguistics, vowel length is the perceived duration of a vowel sound. Often the chroneme, or the "longness", acts like a consonant, and may etymologically be one, such as in Australian English. While not distinctive in most dialects of English, vowel length is an important phonemic factor in...
/iː ʉː uː/ in the Komi-Yodzyak language
Komi-Yodzyak language
Yodz, Komi-Yodzyak , or Komi-Yazva is spoken mostly in Krasnovishersky District of Perm Krai in Russia, in the basin of the Yazva River. It is a Permic language closely related to Komi-Zyrian and Permyak...
). Proposed distinguishing factors for these include length (*u, *uː), tenseness
Tenseness
In phonology, tenseness is a particular vowel quality that is phonemically contrastive in many languages, including English. It has also occasionally been used to describe contrasts in consonants. Unlike most distinctive features, the feature [tense] can be interpreted only relatively, that is, in...
(*ʊ, *u) and height (*u, *o).
Morphophonology
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.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/.
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).
Links
- S. K. Belykh. Swadesh list for Permic languages