Permic

The Permic languages are a branch of Uralic languages spoken in west-central Russia. The family is divided to Udmurt and Komi; the Permyak dialect of Komi is sometimes also included as a separate language.

Vowels

Note: /ɤ/ here is actually a mid vowel, from the [ɤ̈] ~ [ɘ] ~ [ɵ] ballpark.

A schematic reconstruction of the proto-Permic vowel system:

• Stable vowels: *i *ɨ *uu *e *ɤ *a
  • Regular origins: *u *ü_a > *ɨ; *ü_ə *i > *i; *a *ë_a *ëCCə *o_a > *uu; ??; *ëCə > *ɤ; ??
    • Presumably: y > ʉ / _a, then u > ʉ, finally y ʉ > i ɨ.
  • Length in *uu is not assumed; this is to mark that unlike the vowel denoted *u (perhaps [ʊ]?), it is not subject to unrounding in Udmurt.
• Derounding (short?) vowels: *ö *o *u > Udmurt /o o ɨ/ > Komi /e ɤ u/
  • Origins largely irregular, but *ä > *o may be regular
  • (There does not seem to be an *ü > **/i/ ~ **/ü/.)
• A series of (long?) vowels close in Udmurt but mid in Komi: *oo *ɤɤ > U. /u ɨ/ ~ K. /o ɤ/
  • *oo actually may be split in two vowels, depending on Komi-Yazva (/o/ or /u/) and dialectal Udmurt (/u/ or /ʉ/) reflexes.
  • If from *e, expected *o becomes /a/ in Komi, when an older (non-surviving) intervocalic *t follos (ma sa tar va važ za). Could be simply due to an open syllable?
  • Regular origins: *e *aĆ > *oo; *oCCə > *ɤɤ
  • In Komi, initial cases acquire a preceding /v/. (? *wolka, *woča)
• A series of (long?) vowels open in Udmurt but mid in Komi: *aa *åå > U. /a a/ ~ K. /ɤ o/
  • Regular origins: *äl > *aal (via *o?), *ko_a > *kwåå (*kačkə-, *kota, *kolo, korwa, *kośkə), *#a_ə > *#åå
• The vowels reconstructed here as "long" seem to result mostly from PU *open vowels, those reconstructed as "short" mostly from PU *close vowels.

Conditional developments

• Udmurt *o > a / [-alv]_l (*kälä-tä- *kälü *käwd₁ə *pälä *śälä- *wäd₁ä > kalt- kaĺi kal pal ćal- val; but *tälwä *täwðə > tol dol)
• Komi *oo > a / _. (*metə *wetə *setə *sEtə *tetɜrɜ *wetəšä > ma va sa za tar važ)
  • contrast *śAta > *śoo > śo
• Komi proper (*ɤɤ, *ɤ >) *ɤ > o / *w_, *kʷ_ (*oksə- #owŋə *owd₁əm *koksɜ *koktɜ *kolɜ- *kowsə > vos- vom von kos kot kol- koz; possibly *koskə- > kos-)
  • but retained in Permyak, Yazva
• Komi *ɨ > i / #ć_ (*ćilV > ; U ćɨrɨ, Ma carä ~ ćir; common also non-initially)
• Udmurt (*uu, *oo >) u > ɨ / _ĺ. (*kaðʲa- *koðʲV- *koðʲka *kujV-lV- *ńeljä #ćOlćV #EðʲV- > kɨĺ- kɨĺ- kɨĺ kɨĺĺɨ- ńɨĺ ćɨĺćo ɨĺ)
  • but NB bisyllabic *moðʲa *tuðʲkajm > mu.ĺɨ tu.ĺɨm

Awaiting explanation

K → ↓ U	i	e	ɨ	ɤ	a	u	o
i	(*i)	/i/ ~ /(j)e/ (*śäŋkə, *läppa, *wü/äðəm, *jelma) (*ee? "marrow" also U. /-ijɨ-/)	*ńëlə, *künčə, *jürä
e		(*e)		*pära, *säppä, *kärta, *läśa, *käna, *käća - all ä-stems		*kixə-ma, *mińä, *kiśka-
ɨ		#wäśkä, *lämə, *mäćV - might be a split from *ɨ or *ɤɤ	(*ɨ)	(*ɤɤ)		(*u)	*läktə-, #mäjäkä, #saala, *wotta-
ɤ	*kiwə	#pÄĺkä	*nôla, *jäŋə	(*ɤ)		*purnV	*kAl-, *oksə-
a		#kälü, *orja, #pićlä (*ää?)		(*aa)	(*a)		(*åå)
u		*satVr	*to, *sülə, *käpsa, *jowə, *liiwa	*śüćV, *süd₂än	(*oo.)	(*uu)	(*oo)
o	*wiića-, *wita	(*ö)		(*o)	*čokV-

• /ä/ ~ /o/ (*täjə) (does /ä/ even exist in Udmurt?? would be *åå otherwise)
• /wi/ ~ /uji/ (*kôlmə - from *uujV?)

Note the trubbling amount of correspondences predominantly found as supposed sporadic developments from *ä (including *o.)

Standard Proto-Permic:

	Close #1			Close #2				Mid				Open
Proto-Permic (Sammallahti)	*ɪ	*ɪ̵	*ʏ, *ʊ	*i	*ʉ	*ɨ	*y, *u	*e	*ɤ	*ɵ	*o	*a
Proto-Permic (Itkonen)	*i	*ɨ	*u	*e	*ɵ		*o	*ɛ	*ʌ		*ɔ	*a
Komi	i	ɨ	u	e		ɤ	o	†ɛ > e	ɤ		†ɔ > o	a	ɤ	o	ɤ	e	u
Komi-Yazva	i	ɵ	u	iː		ɨː	uː	e	ɵ		o	a	?	?	?	?	?
Udmurt	i	ɨ	‡u	e	ɤ	ɨ	‡u	e		o	u	a			ɤ	o	ɨ
My Proto-P.	*i	*ɨ	*uu	*e1 (*ee?)		*ɤɤ	*oo1	*e2		*o	*oo2	*a	*aa	*åå	*ɤ	*ö	*u

† Distinct /ɛ ɔ/ are attested in Old Komi (/ɔ/ also dialectally).
‡ Sammallahti's *y *ʏ occur for words that in SW Udmurt have /ʉ/ in place of expected /u/.

Consonants

It appears that while *ð is generally lateralized, it is lost between vowels (AA, p.c.):

	*ð > ∅	*ð > *l
V_V	*ëðə > *wåå "year" *kuða(w)- > *kɨ(j)- "to weave" *wiðä- > *vij- "to kill" *wiðɜm(ə) > #veejəm "marrow"	*śVðäm(ə) > śu/ɤlem "heart" (maybe *śiwðäm?!)
w_V		#owðəm(ə) > *wɤlm > *wɤɤn(m-) "drape" *käwðə > *kol "rope" *täwðə > *dol "full" *sool "bark" ~ Mo. *sud (*sowðə?)
V_R		*aðma > *alm > *oon(m-) "sleep"
V_P	#läpðä > *loop "spleen"	*śo/ëðka > *śuulɨ "goldeneye"

Obstruent voicing

Permic is notorious within Uralic for contrasting, in the inherited lexicon, voicing in obstruents even initially. There is no accepted explanation for the origin of this contrast (outside of the change of initial *r > ? *dr > /dʐ/ in Udmurt), and some words even have voiced/voiceless variants.

In several cases, apparently a voiceless initial assimilates to a voiced medial:

• *künčə >> *kidž > *giž
• *kenta >> *kid > *gid
• *kënta >> *kVd > K. gɨd
• *kumpa >> *kɨb > *gɨb
• *pončə >> *pɤɤdž > *bɤɤž
• *sonta >> *suud > *zuud
• *sompa >> *sVb > K. zɨb
• *čeŋkə >> *čog > U. džog, žog

In Komi this is more common than in Udmurt:

• *pontə >> *pVd > U. pud~bud, K. bed
• *š/čamćə >> *šoodź > U. šudź, K. žodź
• *kansa >> *kooz > U. kuz, K. goz
• *puŋka >> *pVg > U. pog, K. bug

Sometimes this seems to be shared by Hungarian:

• *tOmpɜ- >> *tɨb- > *dɨb-; Hu. dob- ("to knock" ~ "to thro", could be onomatopoetic. Check Trc)

However, the change is far from fully general:

• *kunćə > *kɨdź "birch"
• *kunćə > *kudź "urine" (+ *kunćə-lə "ant")
• *tumtə- > *tod-
• *künta > *kɨd
• *čiŋka > *čög
• *pEntɜ > *pod
• *šoŋkɜ > *šoog
• *čêŋka > *čog
• *ś/ćäŋkɜ > *ćeeg
• *kunćɜ > *kVdź (> U. kidźi-ĺi, K. këdźɨl)
• *kamtə > K. kud
• *konćɜ > K. kadź (cf. *ko(n)ć-ka > K. kaćka)
• *sVŋśa- > K. sidź-
• *süntə- > K. sod-
• #šäŋtə > K. šogdi (bisyllabic? a derivativ?)
• *pinta > U. ped
• S *tōŋkē ~ *tuug
• BF *kään-tä- ~ *ködž- (bad; BF a causativ)
• Ma *kində ~ *kɨd
• Ma *pʊndaš ~ *pɨdəs
• ObU *ćumpəl ~ *ćib
• ObU *kïïnt ~ *kuud
• Kh *pänt ~ K. pad

(*goobɨ "mushroom" is a Slavic loan with a voiced initial to begin with.)

There are sporadically also similar examples not from nasals.

With sibilants

• Kh *kaač ~ *goož (or < *keŋäč? via *keŋčä??)
• NKh *xiiš ~ *këëdžɨ > U. gɨdžɨ, K. kɨž
• Kh *toɬ ~ *dooz
• Smy *sisə ~ *kidźɨ > U. kidźɨ, K. giź

but not:

• *kaćɜ- > *koodź-
• #kAśɜ- > K. kaźal-
• #kośɜ > *kuuź
• #kowsə > #kwëëz
• *kusə- > *kɨzɨ-
• *ku(m?)śɜ > *kɨź
• *küsä > *kɨz
• *pečä > *poožɨm
• *pesä > *pooz
• *pEšä- > K. pëž-
• *pëśi > pë/ɨź
• *po(n?)ši- > *pooš-
• #pïča > *puuž
• *pućir- > *pɨdźɨrt-
• *puśVn > *pɨź
• OU *kaač- ~ K. kuž-
• OU pii/es- ~ K. po(d)ź-
• MS pi/äs ~ pɨ/idźes
• Kh *köćəp ~ *kadź (could be *kVnśɜ-pɜ)
• Ma *kaśkə ~ U. kuź
• Ma *kiźe- ~ *kedźɨt
• Ma *pʊš ~ *pɨž
• Mo *kužə ~ *kuuš
• Mo pe/ižä ~ *po/ež
• F paahta- ~ *pɤɤž-
• S *kācāt- ~ K kadž

With -Rd-

• ObU *pɛɛrt ~ bördɨ (← IE *bʰrdʰ-?, late loan? *pijrə-tä-?)
• Ms *kürtəɣ ~ *goorda

—Medial *Rd is itself irregular; also in:

• FV *ertä ~ *oord (← preII *erdʰ-, late loan?)
• S #šerta ~ Ma šərt ~ U šurd ~ H ördög (~ Ru. čert, H ~ Ir.?)
• F kaltea ~ *këld
• Ma *wu/#ʊrðe- ~ *vörd- (*wirä-tä- per vocalism?)

but not:

• *käl-tä- > *kaalt-
• *ćëël-ta- > *ćëlt-
• *ko/ërt ← II *kārt-
• Sm *poarttē ~ *pu/ërt
• Sm *kërtë- ~ *kort
• Mo *mirďɜ ~ *moort (← II *mr̥t-)
• Mo *nurdə ~ *noort
• Ma *šʏrtə ~ *šort
• Smy #jüru ~ *joort

With plain sonorants

(TODO: *k-, *p-R-)

• *tar > U, K. dorɨn
• *täwðə > *dol
• *tüŋə > *diŋ
• OU *ti/ään ~ *doon
• Ma *tʏr ~ *door
• Ma *tʊɣər ~ de/ëra

but not:

• *panə- > *pon-
• *pańa- > K. poń--
• *päŋə > *pooŋ
• *penä > K. *poon
• *penɜ > *poon-ɤĺ
• *peńə > U. puńɨ, K. pań
• *pid₂mətä > *peĺmɨt
• *pilwə > *pil(--)
• *piŋə > *piń
• *puna- > *pun-
• *tara- > K. taral-
• *tarna > *tuurɨn
• *tälwä > *tol
• *tërəka > *tuuri
• *tolwa > *tul
• *tOrkɜ > K. tor
• *tulka > *tɨlɨ
• *tulə > *tɨl
• *tuna- > *tuun-
• #tuwlə > *tɤl
• *türə > *tɨr
• OU *tolək ~ K. tɨl
• H tér- ~ *te/ër-
• Mo. *pińəmə ~ K. panol
• Er tarďe- ~ K. tural-
• F *tallat- ~ K. taĺ-
• F *tetri ~ U. tur, K. tar (← Baltic)
• Fi pelme ~ pe/ëńm