Permic languages

Last updated
Permic
Ethnicity Permians
Geographic
distribution
foothills of the Ural Mountains in Russia
Linguistic classification Uralic
  • Permic
Subdivisions
Glottolog perm1256
5-Permic-branch.png
Distribution of the Permic languages at the beginning of the 20th century [1] [2]

The Permic or Permian languages are a branch of the Uralic language family. They are spoken in several regions to the west of the Ural Mountains within the Russian Federation. The total number of speakers is around 950,000, of which around 550,000 speak the most widely spoken language, Udmurt. Like other Uralic languages, the Permic languages are primarily agglutinative and have a rich system of grammatical cases. Unlike many others, they do not have vowel harmony. [3]

Contents

The earliest Permic language to be preserved in writing was Old Permic or Old Zyryan, in the 14th century. [3]

Classification

The extant Permic languages are:

The Permic languages have traditionally been classified as Finno-Permic languages, along with the Finnic, Saami, Mordvin, and Mari languages. The Finno-Permic and Ugric languages together made up the Finno-Ugric family. However, this taxonomy has more recently been called into question, and the relationship of the Permic languages to other Uralic languages remains uncertain. [4]

History

The word Permian can be traced back philologically to the Russian word Perem (Перемь) or Perm (Пермь) which is found in medieval Russian chronicles. [5] The word was initially used to designate certain territories, including the lower reaches of the Dvina River, as well as the area bounded by the Pechora, Vychegda and Kama rivers in the north, west and south, and the Urals in the east, which was incorporated into the Russian state in the late 15th century. [5] The word Permian was then used to designate the non-Russian peoples who lived in there, which mostly included the Zyrians, and the Russians later began using the appellation Zyrian. [5] From the 19th century, the word Permian was used in scholarly writing to designate the Zyrians and the Udmurts. [5]

Phonology

Proto-Uralic word roots have been subject to particularly heavy reduction in the Permic languages.

A peculiarity of Permic is the occurrence of the voiced consonants such as *b, *g word-initially even in inherited vocabulary, apparently a development from original PU voiceless consonants.

The Proto-Permic consonant inventory is reconstructed as: [6] [7] [8]

Labial Alveolar Palatal Velar
Nasal m n ɲ ŋ
Plosive voiceless p t c k
voiced b d ɟ ɡ
Affricate voiceless t͡ʃ t͡ɕ
voiced d͡ʒ d͡ʑ
Fricative voiceless s , ʃ ɕ
voiced z , ʒ ʑ
Approximant w , ʋ l j , ʎ
Trill r

This inventory is retained nearly unchanged in the modern-day Permic languages.

Komi has merged original *w into /ʋ/ and undergone a word-final a change *l/ʋ/~/w/ in many dialects, while Udmurt has changed word-initially *r/d͡ʒ/ or /d͡ʑ/. is retained only in some Udmurt dialects; in other Permic varieties it has become /m/ next to back vowels, /n/ next to central vowels, /ɲ/ next to front vowels.

In later Russian loanwords, the consonants /fxt͡s/ may 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.[ clarification needed ] An exceptional[ clarification needed ] word is the numeral "six", *kwatʲ, which in Komi is the only native word root with an initial cluster. [9]

Literary Komi and literary Udmurt both possess a seven-vowel system /iɯueəoa/. 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 /iɯu/ in literary Udmurt and literary Komi-Zyryan, the other in correspondences of Udmurt /eɯu/ to Komi /eəo/ (but /iʉu/ in the Komi-Yazva language). Proposed distinguishing factors for these include length (*u,*uː), tenseness (*ʊ,*u) and height (*u,*o). [10]

Here is the vowel table used in Wiktionary:

Proto-Permic vowels
FrontCentralBack
unroundedroundedunroundedroundedunroundedrounded
Closeiüu
Close-Mideöȯo
Mid
Open-Midɛɔ̈ɔ̇ɔ
Openäaå
Vowel correspondences in Permic languages (word-initial syllable)
Proto-PermicOld KomiKomi-ZyrianKomi-PermyakKomi-YazvaUdmurtFinnicnotes
*a𐍐ааaа*a, *ä
𐍐ааaу*a
𐍩ӧӧӧе*ä, *e, *iDialectally, Udmurt *ä > ӧ
𐍩оооу*ä, *e, *i, *ö, *ü
*o𐍞ооуу*a, *ë, *i, *o, *uUdmurt *wo- > ва-

Beserman *wo- > ўа- Irregularly, Udmurt *o > ы/и Irregularly, Beserman *o > ө

𐍔ееео*ä, *e, *i (*ö, *ü)Next to palatals, Udmurt *ɛ > е

Irregularly, Udmurt *ɛ > e

*e𐍱ееио*ä, *e, *i (*ö, *ü)Next to palatals, Udmurt *e > е

Irregularly, Udmurt *e > e

*ɔ̇𐍩ӧӧӧо*ä mainlyBefore *l, Udmurt *ɔ̇ > а

Irregularly, Udmurt *ɔ̇ > а

𐍩ӧӧӱӧ*o, *u mainlyUdmurt unstressed *ȯ > ы

Beserman unstressed *ȯ > ө

*ɔ̈𐍩ӧӧӧӧ*ö, *üUdmurt unstressed *ɔ̈ > у

Irregularly, Komi *ɔ̈ > е

𐍞ооуу*ä, e, i, ö, üBeserman *ö > ө
*u̇𐍨ыыөы*u, *ü mainlyBeserman *u̇ > ө
*i𐍙ииии*i, *e mainly
*u𐍣уууу*a, *o mainlyIrregularly, Udmurt *u > ы/и

Irregularly, Beserman *u > ө

𐍣уууу*ä, *e *i, *ö, *üBeserman *ü > ө

Irregularly, Udmurt *u > ы/и

Vowel correspondences in Permic languages (non-initial syllable)
Proto-PermicOld KomiKomi-ZyrianKomi-PermyakKomi-YazvaUdmurtnotes
*a𐍐ааaа / о
𐍩ӧӧөе
*i𐍙 / 𐍨и / ыи / ыи / өи / ы / уdifferent realisations in

dialectal Udmurt

Morphophonology

Noun roots in the Permic languages are predominantly monosyllabic and invariable with the canonical shape (C)VC. CV roots, such as Udmurt ву /ʋu/, Komi and Permyak ва /ʋa/ '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)VCɯ. [11]

In noun roots with certain final clusters, the second consonant surfaces only when followed with a vowel in inflected or derived forms :

Full clusterShortens toExample
-nm--nсин /ɕin/ 'eye'
-pt--pшеп /ʃep/ 'ear of corn'
-kt--kкык /kɯk/ '2'
-sk--sмус /mus/ 'liver'
-ʃk-мыш /mɯʃ/ 'back'
-ɕk-юсь /juɕ/ 'swan'

Udmurt has similar alternation for a number of other clusters of the shape voiced consonant+/m/, while Komi-Zyryan adds a number of clusters of the shape voiced consonant+/j/. [12]

The verb root for 'to come': Udmurt лыкты- /lɯktɯ-/, Komi локты- /loktɯ-/ also shows alternation to plain /k/ in e.g. the imperative (in Udmurt only dialectally). [13]

Notes

  1. Rantanen, Timo; Tolvanen, Harri; Roose, Meeli; Ylikoski, Jussi; Vesakoski, Outi (2022-06-08). "Best practices for spatial language data harmonization, sharing and map creation—A case study of Uralic". PLOS ONE. 17 (6): e0269648. Bibcode:2022PLoSO..1769648R. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0269648 . PMC   9176854 . PMID   35675367.
  2. Rantanen, Timo, Vesakoski, Outi, Ylikoski, Jussi, & Tolvanen, Harri. (2021). Geographical database of the Uralic languages (v1.0) [Data set]. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.4784188
  3. 1 2 Scheucher, Bernhard. "The Permic Languages". LanguageServer - the Languages of the World. The University of Graz. Retrieved August 22, 2012.
  4. Kittilä, Seppo; Västi, Katja; Ylikoski, Jussi (2011). Case, Animacy and Semantic Roles. John Benjamins Publishing. p. 354. ISBN   9789027206800 . Retrieved 2012-08-23.
  5. 1 2 3 4 Riese2015, p. 249.
  6. Bartens 2000, p. 33.
  7. Csúcs 2005, pp. 101–102.
  8. Lytkin 1970, pp. 10–21.
  9. Bartens 2000, p. 51-52
  10. Bartens 2000, p. 55-56
  11. Bartens 2000, p. 66
  12. Bartens 2000, p. 69-71
  13. Bartens 2000, p. 178

Bibliography

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