Mordvinic

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Some reconstruction notes.

Development from Proto-Uralic

Fairly straightforward stuff here:

  • Vx → Vː
  • *ü → *i; initially *wi-
  • Non-open vowel switch:
    • *i *u → *ɪ *ʊ → *e *o
    • *e *o → *eː *oː → *iː *uː → *i *u
  • Unstress'd *i → *ə
  • Medial lenition, round 1 (all this when preceded by a voiced sound and not final)
    • *pp *tt *čč *kk → *p *t *č *k
    • *p *t *k → *b *d *g
    • *s *š *ś *x → *z *ž *ź *j
  • *ə → ∅ after a single consonant, or velar + sibilant
  • Palatalization redistribution
    • Initally, *ń *n merge as *n before back vowels, *ń before front vowels
    • Medially, *n *l *r (but not *s!) → *ń *ŕ *ĺ before/after front vowels
    • Random palatalizatio
  • Medial lenition, round 2 (intervocalic)
    • *b → *v
    • *g → *v/*j (per vowel backness)
  • But: *ð → *d

[…TBC…]

Development to the individual languages

Vowels:

  • Erzya *ä → e; *a → o / _j. (ojme voj kojme, perhaps ĺom ~ Mk lajmä; but kajge-); in later syllables e ə → e/o per harmony
  • Mokša *ə → ä/a / _# per harmony; ä also after palatals

Consonants:

  • Erzya *š → č / #_
  • Mokša *k → ∅ / F_š, m n r l j v → p t r̥ l̥ ç f / _{p t c č k}
  • ŋ → j/w per harmony, except dialectally in Erzya

On the correspondence PU *m → /v/

After PU *u

  • *lumi "sno" → *loŋ (!)
  • *kumV "cloud" → *kovol

Suffix exchange?

  • *śüðämi "hart" → *śeďeŋ

Versus BF *-u

  • *śëxmi(-w?) → *śëëmu → *śav (cf. BF *soomu)
  • *suv "fog" ~ BF *sumu ~ S. *somō
  • *ĺevəš "lime bast" ~ BF *lehmus ~ Ma. *nəməštə

Limited comparanda

  • Er. jav "joint" ~ BF *jama ~ S *jōmē
  • *šov "butt of knife" ~ BF *hamara ~ S *ši/ëmērē ← Gmc *hamaraz
  • *šovar "mortar" ~ BF *huumar ~ Ma. *šuer
  • *luv "gap" ~ FS *loma ~ Ma. *lu ~ B *loma
  • *toŋ (!) "kernel" ~ F. tuma ~ tuuma ~ E. tuum ~ Me. tum ~ Hi. toŋ
  • *kav "granary, barn" ~ K. kum "loft"

But not in:

  • Er. kumoka "fever" ~ BF *kuuma "hot"
  • *lamə "many" ~ BF *laama
  • *šamə "shape" ~ BF *haamo
  • *kuma → *koma, *juma- → *jumi-, *tOmmV → *tumə
  • *numələ *śumərdə- umaŕ *komər Er. umok
  • *ĺem *kämə
  • *ĺajmə *ĺäm *śimə-

Also *p ~ Mari *m

  • *karvə "fly" ~ BF *kärpä-, Ma. #ka/arme

cf. Hungarian:

  • kumi → hava-, hó