Mari

My ad hoc reconstruction of Mari vocalism (note: read literature):

• *e *i *o *u *ü *ö = branches agree
  • Hill Mari /ä/ ← *e / _{ŋ, r}_
• reduced high vowels: *ɪ *ʏ *ʊ = Hill (Western) Mari /ə ə ɤ/, Meadow (Eastern) Mari /i y u/
• reduced mid vowels: *ə *ɤ = Hill Mari /ə ɤ/, Meadow Mari /ɤ o/ (no front rounded member?)
  • NB: /ə ɤ/ are more accurately [ə̟ ə̠], or perhaps [e̽ o̽].
• *a *oo = in Hill Mari /a o/, Meadow Mari /o u/
  • /a/ also exists sporadically in Meadow Mari.

The vowel inventories are:

• Me /a e i o u ü ö/
• Hi /a e i o u ü ö ä ə ɤ/
• NW dialects also /ʊ ʏ/

Etymology notes

The development *e_i → *ə appears to be limited to loanwords (so not common inheritance after all?):

• *əšte- "to be in time" ← *ešti-; in Permic may be a BF loan
• *ləštaš "leaf" ← *lešti ← IE
• *šəm "7" ← #śejćimi ← IE? NB irregular medial loss (but could be secondary haplology)

(more frequent in *e_ä-roots, but note *rəwəž "fox" ← *repä ← II)

Eth-loss (from *ð, *ðʲi?):

• *om "sleep" ← *oðama
• *šüm "hart" ← *šêðäm(i)
• *weem "marrow" ← *wiðim(i)
• *kooe- "to weave" ← *kuða-
• *šüj "coal" ← *śüđʲi
• *u "new" ← *wuðʲi

Eth-retention (from *ðʲ? when bisyllabic?)

• *mooðə "berry" ← ? *meðʲV
• *šooðə- "curse" ← *śoðʲa
• *šoðə "lung" ~ K. šɤĺ (or ~ S. *sōvtē?)
• *koða- "to disappear" ← *kaðʲa-
• *kʊðaša- ← *koðʲV-

Eth-lateralization:

• *kəl ← *käwði

T-loss:

• *müj ← *mêti

T-lenition:

• *jaða- ← *jëta-
• *lööðə ← *rita
• *nuðə ← *nato
• *kuðə ← *kota
• *laðə ← *latu
• *šʏðəkš ← *sitoks (West only, *ð/*ðʲ also poss.)
• *piðə- ← *pitV-
• *wiðe- ← *wetä- "pull"
• *wüðe- ← *wetä- "sow"
• *šüðər ~ P *zoo "axle"
• *šüðə "100" ← IE
• *waðar "udder" ← IE (independantly of FMo *uTar)

T-retention (final, all nouns):

• *pat ← *pata
• *wat ← *wata
• *kit ← *käti
• *wʏt ← *wêti
• *jʏt ← *jEti
• *kut ← *kuxti
• *kot ← *kotwa (or -ðʲw-?)
• rot ← *rotV