Mordvinic

Some reconstruction notes.

Development from Proto-Uralic

Changes shared with Samic in gray, those also shared with Finnic in green, and those with even wider distribution in orange.

• *V → *Vː / _x (both preconsonantal and prevocalic!)
  • *x → ∅ / _C
• *ë(ː) → *a(ː)
• *ü → *i; initially *wi-
  • and *ü → *u / _Cu? *śokś ~ BF *süksü "autumn", *lovca "milk" ~ BF *lüpsü "milking" (or ~ PU *lupsa "dew"?), *povo ~ BF *püvü ?? "hazelhen"
• Vowel height switch:
  1. *i *u → *ɪ *ʊ
  2. *Vː → *V
  3. *e *o → *i *u (assuming a long stage not required)
  4. *ɪ *ʊ → *e *o (but in Finnic clearly not by common inheritance, as *i *u remain)
  • Possibly including: *ɪː *ʊː → *iː *uː → *i *u (*wêxi- → *vij-)
  • Last two stages probably postdate vowel reduction (given loanwords like *kerda → *kirda)
• Stress shifts from *e / *o to a later-syllable *ä / *a
• Unstress'd *i → *ə (may be original)
• *mt → *nt
• *ć → *ś (clean merger, if PU *ć even existed; PMo *ć as in Mk oćä, seems to be secondary; but note *eś ~ itse, *śiśəm ~ seitsen, *veśə ~ P. vo/ać)
• Medial lenition, round 1 (all this when intervocalic or prenasal)
  • *pp *tt *čč *kk → *p *t *č *k (clear examples exist only for *pp)
  • *p *t *k → *b *d *g
  • *s *š *ś *x → *z *ž *ź *j
  • *č, however, remains strictly unvoiced
• *nź → ź? (Er. saźi- ~ P. *suudź-)
• *rs *šn → š (*kürsä *warsa *wešnä → *kši *vašə *višɜ)
  • or *ər → š? (Ir. *kārt → *kšńi, but cf. Av. *rt → <š>)
• Word-final *ə → ∅ after a single consonant, or velar + sibilant (*joŋs *käťks *mekš *piks *soks *sokś *suks, ? *vaks)
  • after this, unstress'd *ä *a → *ə too
  • secondarily *ə → ∅ / al_ (al kal pal sal val)
  • possibly also *ə → ∅ / {j w ŋ}_ ? (*čoŋ *toŋ *vej)
  • unclear: *marja → *maŕ
• *ðʲ → *lʲ / #_, _C (if these aren't loans from Permic; also in Mari)
• Palatalization redistribution
  • *t *d *n *l *r (but not *s!) → *ť *ď *ń *ŕ *ĺ before/after front vowels/*j
  • *ń → *n initially before back vowels (the *n/*ń contrast is completely lost initially)
  • Palatalization occurs also in some back-vocalic *i-stem verbs (*koĺgə- *kuĺə- *moĺə- *poŕə- *sańďə- *uĺə-, possibly *pańə- if ~ F. *pane- rather than *paina-)
  • Non-alveolar consonants are also palatalized before front vowels, but this remains allophonic.
• *j *w → ∅ /C_, *w → *v elsewhere
• Medial lenition, round 2 (intervocalic)
  • *b → *v (also r_V: *karvə *ku/orva- *tərva *u/eŕva)
  • *g → *v/*j (per vowel backness)
• But: *ð, *ðʲ → *d
• *kt *pt → *vt
• *k → *t / C_# (in the imperativ)

[…TBC…]

Development to the individual languages

Vowels:

• Erzya:
  • *ä → e
  • Dialectally, *e → ä (but *ä always → e!)
  • *a → o / _j. (ojdor ojmams ojme voj kojme, perhaps ĺom ~ Mk lajmä, bojar nojabŕa vojna ~ Mk bajar najabŕä vajna (< Ru боярин ноябрь война); but ajge- g/kajge- tajmaza, g/kajťan- < Ru гайтан.)
  • in later syllables e ə → e/o per harmony; some exceptions (piźol)
• Mokša:
  • *ə → ä/a / _# per harmony; ä also after palatals, a after nonpalatal *s/*z (or other alveolars)
  • *əj *əw → i u
  • *i *u → ə / initial pretonic

A possible final *-ə/-ä contrast does not seem reconstructible (will write *-ɜ), but should medially remain in Mk. (śäjäŕ)

Consonants:

• Erzya:
  • *š → č / #_ (dialectal)
  • *j → ∅ / _e (fed by *ä-raising; *je- previously didn't exist)
  • *nd → n / 3rd+ syllable
• Mokša:
  • *č → š / #_
  • *k → ∅ / F_š (jäšä käšə- ĺeš meš päšä ťišä äšťəŕ - but: šäkši), also sometimes #_šC (before nonpalatals? šna šta, but kšńi kšńit)
  • Devoicing: m n r l j v → p t r̥ l̥ ç f / _{p t c č k}. Dialectally ç → ɕ.
  • *s → ś / _F
  • n → ń / #_Vŕ (ńuŕa- ńuŕgə- ńuŕgamə-) (check other palatals?)
• *ŋ → j/v per harmony, except dialectally in Erzya

A development *pt → *ft → Erzya vt (sim. for *kt) may make better sense than a common voiced stage. (Coda /v/ is generally realized as [w].)

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

*kt notes

Ravila '33:

• Mk ĺiç/ɕťə- (Selišče, Pšenevo) ~ ĺifťə- "hervornehmen/-ziehen/-quellen/-sprudeln" (kausatiivi?)
• Mk ĺiçťəma (Gorodišče) "lähde"
• Mk śeɕťə- (Pš.) ~ Er. sevťnə- "sormeilla"
• Mk ťiçťəďə- (Čembar) ~ ťifťəďə- (Sel.) "ochutitjsja"
• ńäfťə- "näyttää", vifťə- "johdattaa" (*vêx-ta-), ĺifťə- "paeta" ← ĺijə- "lentää" (eikä ← *läkti-?)

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