Finno-Ugric language family. Finno-Ugric peoples

The Komi language is part of the Finno-Ugric language family, and with the closest Udmurt language it forms the Perm group of Finno-Ugric languages. In total, the Finno-Ugric family includes 16 languages, which in ancient times developed from a single base language: Hungarian, Mansi, Khanty (Ugric group of languages); Komi, Udmurt (Perm group); Mari, Mordovian languages ​​- Erzya and Moksha: Baltic - Finnish languages ​​- Finnish, Karelian, Izhorian, Vepsian, Votic, Estonian, Livonian languages. A special place in the Finno-Ugric family of languages ​​is occupied by the Sami language, which is very different from other related languages.

Finno-Ugric languages ​​and Samoyed languages ​​form the Uralic family of languages. The Amodian languages ​​include Nenets, Enets, Nganasan, Selkup, and Kamasin languages. Peoples speaking Samoyed languages ​​live in Western Siberia, except for the Nenets, who also live in northern Europe.

Hungarians moved to the territory surrounded by the Carpathians more than a thousand years ago. The self-name of the Hungarians Modyor has been known since the 5th century. n. e. Writing in the Hungarian language appeared at the end of the 12th century, and the Hungarians have a rich literature. The total number of Hungarians is about 17 million people. In addition to Hungary, they live in Czechoslovakia, Romania, Austria, Ukraine, Yugoslavia.

Mansi (Voguls) live in the Khanty-Mansiysk district of the Tyumen region. In Russian chronicles, they, together with the Khanty, were called Yugra. The Mansi use a written language based on Russian graphics and have their own schools. The total number of Mansi is over 7,000 people, but only half of them consider Mansi their native language.

The Khanty (Ostyaks) live on the Yamal Peninsula, lower and middle Ob. Writing in the Khanty language appeared in the 30s of our century, but the dialects of the Khanty language are so different that communication between representatives of different dialects is often difficult. Many lexical borrowings from the Komi language penetrated into the Khanty and Mansi languages

The Baltic-Finnish languages ​​and peoples are so close that speakers of these languages ​​can communicate with each other without a translator. Among the languages ​​of the Baltic-Finnish group, the most widespread is Finnish, it is spoken by about 5 million people, the self-name of the Finns is Suomi. In addition to Finland, Finns also live in the Leningrad region of Russia. Writing arose in the 16th century, and in 1870 the period of the modern Finnish language began. The epic "Kalevala" is written in Finnish, and a rich original literature has been created. About 77 thousand Finns live in Russia.

Estonians live on the eastern coast of the Baltic Sea; the number of Estonians in 1989 was 1,027,255 people. Writing existed from the 16th century to the 19th century. Two literary languages ​​developed: southern and northern Estonian. In the 19th century these literary languages ​​became closer based on the Central Estonian dialects.

Karelians live in Karelia and the Tver region of Russia. There are 138,429 Karelians (1989), a little more than half speak their native language. The Karelian language consists of many dialects. In Karelia, Karelians study and use the Finnish literary language. The most ancient monuments of Karelian writing date back to the 13th century; in Finno-Ugric languages, this is the second oldest written language (after Hungarian).

Izhora is an unwritten language and is spoken by about 1,500 people. Izhorians live on the southeastern coast of the Gulf of Finland, on the river. Izhora, a tributary of the Neva. Although the Izhorians call themselves Karelians, in science it is customary to distinguish an independent Izhorian language.

Vepsians live on the territory of three administrative-territorial units: Vologda, Leningrad regions of Russia, Karelia. In the 30s there were about 30,000 Vepsians, in 1970 there were 8,300 people. Due to the strong influence of the Russian language, the Vepsian language is noticeably different from other Baltic-Finnish languages.

The Votic language is on the verge of extinction, because there are no more than 30 people who speak this language. Vod lives in several villages located between northeastern part Estonia and Leningrad region. The Votic language is unwritten.

The Livs live in several seaside fishing villages in northern Latvia. Their number has sharply decreased over the course of history due to the devastation during World War II. Now the number of Livonian speakers is only about 150 people. Writing has been developing since the 19th century, but currently the Livonians are switching to the Latvian language.

The Sami language forms a separate group of Finno-Ugric languages, since there are many specific features in its grammar and vocabulary. The Sami live in the northern regions of Norway, Sweden, Finland and the Kola Peninsula in Russia. There are only about 40 thousand people, including about 2000 in Russia. The Sami language has much in common with the Baltic-Finnish languages. Sami writing develops on the basis of different dialects in Latin and Russian graphic systems.

Modern Finno-Ugric languages ​​have diverged so much from each other that at first glance they seem completely unrelated to each other. However, a deeper study of the sound composition, grammar and vocabulary shows that these languages ​​have many common features that prove the former common origin of the Finno-Ugric languages ​​from one ancient parent language.

Turkic languages

Turkic languages ​​belong to the Altaic language family. Turkic languages: about 30 languages, and with dead languages ​​and local varieties, the status of which as languages ​​is not always indisputable, more than 50; the largest are Turkish, Azerbaijani, Uzbek, Kazakh, Uyghur, Tatar; the total number of speakers of Turkic languages ​​is about 120 million people. The center of the Turkic range is Central Asia, from where, in the course of historical migrations, they also spread, on the one hand, to southern Russia, the Caucasus and Asia Minor, and on the other, to the northeast, to eastern Siberia up to Yakutia. The comparative historical study of Altai languages ​​began in the 19th century. Nevertheless, there is no generally accepted reconstruction of the Altaic proto-language; one of the reasons is the intensive contacts of the Altaic languages ​​and numerous mutual borrowings, which complicate the use of standard comparative methods.

And others were not successful, although some scientists believe that some similar features of a systemic nature indicate the existence of a Nostratic proto-language (see Nostratic languages), genetically uniting Uralic (Finno-Ugric and Samoyed), Indo-European, Altaic, Dravidian, Yukaghir and other languages.

Ugh. I. distributed in an area whose extreme borders are the Ob basin in the east, the northern part of Norway in the north, the territory of Hungary in the west and the northern part of Yugoslavia in the south. Toponymy and hydronymy indicate more extensive areas of distribution of individual Finno-Ugric peoples in the past: Karelians lived in territories reaching the Northern Dvina, where individual Komi settlements also reached; traces of Mordovian settlements, reflected in toponymy, are in the Gorky, Penza and Ryazan regions; the territory occupied by the Ob-Ugric peoples and the Sami was more extensive.

As a result of research by E. N. Setälä, J. Sinnei, E. Beke, D. R. Fokosh-Fuchs, M. Zhirai, V. Steinitz, L. Kettunen, B. Collinder, E. Itkonen, D. V. Bubrikh , V.I. Lytkin and others, the main contours of the phonetic and grammatical structure of the Finno-Ugric proto-language were determined. The vowels of the first syllable included phonemes: palatal (front row) a, e, ü, i, velar (back row) a, o, u. It is possible that there was also a velar vowel e̮. Among the middle and high vowels listed were the long vowels ē, ī, ō, ū (presumably e̮). Beyond the first syllable there could only be short vowels - three non-labialized vowels: α, ä, e (possibly also e̮). There was vowel harmony (see Synharmonism). The composition of consonants is described: č̣, č′ (ć), δ, δ′, j, k, l, l′, m, n̥, ń, ŋ, p, r, s, ś, š, t, w. Voiced consonants, as well as δ and ŋ, did not occur at the beginning of the word. In Finno-Ugric studies, there are two theories about the composition of the original vowel system. According to Steinitz, vowels were divided into 2 groups: vowels of full formation - a, ɔ (open o̮), o, u, i̮, ä, e, i; reduced vowels - ŏ, ĕ, ö, presumably (ä). Scientists of the Finnish school (Itkonen), on the contrary, believe that the vowels of the Finno-Ugric proto-language were long and short. Proto-Finnish-Ugric vocalism was, in their opinion, identical to Baltic-Finnish vocalism.

The degree of similarity between languages ​​belonging to the same group varies. The Sami language, with its numerous dialects, gravitates towards the Baltic-Finnish languages, although it is not included in this branch. The difference between the languages ​​of the Volga branch is quite large. The Hungarian language is very different from its related Ob-Ugric languages. Understanding between speakers of the Udmurt language and the Komi language is excluded. Some dialects of the Khanty language are related to each other more like related languages ​​than as dialects.

Ugh. I. reveal many features that indicate the commonality of their origin: common layers of vocabulary, material similarity of inflectional and word-formative formatives, the presence of possessive suffixes, a significant number of suffixes expressing the repetition or instantaneity of an action, etc. At the same time, some modern phraseology . I. are very unique. Among the people with pronounced agglutinating languages ​​(Perm, Mordovian languages, Mari), there are languages ​​with highly developed elements of inflection, especially the Sami language and, to a certain extent, Baltic-Finnish, there are Various types stress is varied and on the first, last and penultimate syllables. There are languages ​​that are distinguished by their richness of vowels and diphthongs, such as Finnish; Other languages ​​have many different types of consonants and few diphthongs, such as Permian. The total number of cases ranges from 3 (Khanty language) to 20 or more (Hungarian language). The systems of past tenses are typologically different. In the Finnish and Estonian languages, the system of past tenses is the same type as the system of past tenses in the Latvian language (some scientists incorrectly believe that it is with the corresponding system in the Germanic languages), while in the Mari and Permian languages ​​it resembles the Tatar and Chuvash system. The Mordovian languages ​​have a complex system of moods, while other languages ​​mainly represent the conditional mood. Negation of a verb in a series of F.‑u. I. is expressed by forms of a specifically negative verb, but there are languages ​​where negation of the verb is expressed by negative particles (Ugric and Estonian languages).

Big differences are observed in the syntax. In the Baltic-Finnish, Sami, Hungarian, Mordovian and Komi-Zyrian languages ​​there is a strong influence of Indo-European languages ​​- Swedish, German and Russian, especially in the methods of constructing complex subordinate clauses, while in the Ob-Ugric and partly in the Udmurt and Mari languages, some archaic ones are preserved features that typologically bring the syntax of these languages ​​closer to the syntax of the Turkic languages.

• Languages ​​of the Peoples of the USSR, vol. 3, M., 1966;
• Fundamentals of Finno-Ugric linguistics, c. 1-3, M., 1974-76;
• Hajdu P., Ural languages ​​and peoples, trans. from Hungary, M., 1985;
• Collinder B., Comparative grammar of the Uralic languages, Stockh., 1960;
• Haidú P., Finnugor népék és nyelvek, Budapest, 1962;
• Decsy Gy., Einführung in die finnisch-ugrische Sprachwissenschaft, Wiesbaden, 1965.

B. A. Serebrennikov.

All Finno-Ugric languages ​​are represented in the USSR and the absolute majority of peoples who speak these languages ​​live. The exceptions are the Finns, Hungarians and Sami, the bulk of whom are settled outside Soviet Union. Apart from the Khanty and Mansi, who live in Western Siberia, all other Finno-Ugric peoples of the USSR live in the European part of the country. Their languages ​​are divided into the following branches: 1) Baltic-Finnish, consisting of two groups - northern (Finnish, Izhorian, Karelian and Vepsian languages) and southern (Estonian, Votic and Livonian); 2) Sami - Sami language; 3) Mordovian - Erzya and Moksha languages; 4) Mari - Mari language; 5) Perm - Udmurt and Komi languages; 7) Ob-Ugric-Khanty and Mansi languages; 8) Hungarian-Hungarian language. The Ob-Ugric and Hungarian branches are usually combined into the Ugric group, the remaining branches into the Finnish group.

There is a significant difference between the Finno-Ugric languages ​​of different branches, about the same as there is between the languages ​​of individual branches of the Indo-European family of languages ​​- for example, French and German. On the other hand, the proximity of languages ​​belonging to the same branch to each other is approximately the same as what we observe in the languages ​​of the same branch of the Indo-European language family, for example, in Russian and Polish. The Samoyed languages ​​are genetically related to the Finno-Ugric languages, together with which they form the Uralic family of languages.

Finno-Ugric languages ​​have a number of common features in grammar, phonetics and vocabulary, going back to a single source - the Finno-Ugric language-base, which was spoken by the most ancient Finno-Ugric tribes.

Most scientists consider Eastern Europe, the region of the middle reaches of the Volga and Kama, the region lying between the Volga bend and the Ural ridge, to be the original homeland of the Finno-Ugrians.

The people who spoke a Finno-Ugric language lived for thousands of years in this territory in the vicinity of the Indo-Iranian peoples located to the south of the Finno-Ugric peoples. The Indo-Iranians had a significant influence on the Finno-Ugric language. Some borrowings penetrated into the common Finno-Ugric language from the pre-Indo-Iranian language (for example, the name of a pig: Udm. Pars, Finnish. porsas\ honey: Komi Zha, Finnish. mesi), the other* part, of later origin, came from the common Indo-Iranian language (for example, words denoting with a hundred;: udm. syu, mord, syado, Finnish. sata, Hung. szaz etc., with horn) - udm. Sur, Mar. jiur, mord, syuro, Finnish. sarvi, Hung. szarv) etc.

The Finno-Ugric language was probably divided into territorial dialects. In the process of settling over a vast territory of Eastern Europe speakers of individual dialects began to gradually separate from the main mass of Finno-Ugric peoples and lose contact with the latter; as a result, their dialects developed into independent languages.

About 2.5 thousand years BC. e. (and perhaps earlier) the eastern branch of the Finno-Ugric languages ​​separated, which subsequently served as the basis for the formation of peoples speaking Ugric languages, i.e., Hungarian, Khanty and Mansi; the languages ​​of that part of the tribes that remained after the separation of the Ugrians formed a linguistic unity for a long time (the so-called Baltic-Finnish-Permian unity).

In the 1st millennium BC. e. The Perm branch emerged, which included the languages ​​of the common ancestors of the Komi and Udmurts. Later, probably long before our era, the other two branches emerged: the Baltic-Finnish and the Volga.

Peoples speaking Finno-Ugric languages ​​have had contact with neighboring peoples throughout their history. This is indicated by numerous borrowings, both in general throughout the entire language family and in individual branches and languages. For example, in the Baltic-Finnish language, there are Baltic borrowings that penetrated in the last centuries BC. e.; the second layer consists of ancient Germanic borrowings, which began to penetrate into the Baltic-Finnish languages ​​at the turn of our era, and the third layer is ancient Slavic borrowings (V-VIII centuries AD), which appeared after the collapse of the Baltic-Finnish language - basics.

The Udmurt, Komi and Mari languages ​​adopted a certain number of both ancient Chuvash (VII-XIII centuries) and later in origin words of the Chuvash language.

The Mari, Udmurt and Mordovian languages ​​were strongly influenced by the Tatar language, whose speakers appeared in the Volga region in the 13th century. n. e. The Mordovians and Mari came into contact with the eastern groups of the ancient Balts.

The Karelians and Vepsians, who once lived in close proximity to the Komi (X-XV centuries AD), had a noticeable influence on the Komi language and, finally, all East Finnish languages ​​were strongly influenced by Eastern Slavs, especially the Russians, with whom they have lived side by side for a number of centuries. Sometimes there was a change of languages. For example, the Sami originally spoke one of the Samoyed languages. They adopted Finno-Ugric speech from their southern neighbors no later than the common Baltic-Finnish era.

The languages ​​of the Finno-Ugric peoples continued to develop during the period of their isolated life. As a result, they diverged from each other so much that they retained in their language only a small layer from the Finno-Ugric language in the form of common grammatical features, words of common origin and sound correspondences.

So, for example, the characteristic archaic short consonant affricates s, s' have been preserved to one degree or another in all Finno-Ugric languages: in some to a greater extent (for example, in Permian), and in others to a lesser extent (for example, in Baltic -Finnish and Ob-Ugric). At the same time, the palatal consonants s’, V, p’ completely disappeared in the Baltic-Finnish languages ​​and were completely preserved in the Permian languages. Long consonants (kk,tt and pp), which were found in the Finno-Ugric proto-language, in the middle of the word were preserved only in the Baltic-Finnish and Sami languages.

Thanks to numerous changes in consonants that occurred in different Finno-Ugric languages ​​in various directions, the consonant systems of modern languages ​​have become significantly different from each other. If some consonants have been preserved unchanged (for example, sonorants), then the other part of the sounds in modern Finno-Ugric languages ​​is presented in the form of natural sound correspondences. So, for example, the word 'mouse' sounds in Finnish hiire, Hung. egir, muzzle, sheer (sejer), udm. Shir.

In the area of ​​vowel sounds in Finno-Ugric languages, the situation is even more complicated. The ancient vowel system is best preserved in the Baltic-Finnish and Sami languages, but in other languages ​​great changes have occurred: in the Mordovian, Mari and Permian languages, for example, the distinction between long and short vowels has been lost; middle vowels were formed (Komi $, e, a); in Mari, Moksha-Mordovian and in some dialects of the Udmurt language there was a reduction of the voice x (d, §, etc.); in the Mordovian dialects and in most dialects of the Permian languages, the labialized front vowel (th) disappeared, etc.

The characteristic limited use of labialized vowels in the non-first syllable is observed not only in modern Baltic-Finnish, but also in some other Finno-Ugric languages ​​(for example, in Udmurt and Komi). Currently, in the Finno-Ugric languages, labialized and long (where available) vowels are also found in the non-first syllable, but in them these categories of vowels appeared later, as a result of the independent development of the sound system of these languages.

The vocalism of the first and non-first syllables is directly related to the law of vowel harmony, which is expressed in the agreement of the vowels of suffixal syllables with the vowels of the word base: if the base has a front vowel, then a front vowel appears in the suffixes (Finnish. kddessd with in hand 5); the back vowel of the base corresponds to the back vowel in the suffixal syllable (Finnish. sanassa s in word 5). Vowel harmony is characteristic of all Finno-Ugric languages, with the exception of Udmurt, Komi and Sami languages.

Most modern linguists are inclined to believe that in the proto-language the stress was necessarily on the first syllable and that the previous place of stress was preserved in the Baltic-Finnish languages, Sami, Hungarian and Mansi, excluding the southern dialects; the peculiarities of stress in the remaining Finno-Ugric languages ​​(Perm, Mordovian, Mari and Khanty), where it is not associated with the first syllable, in their opinion, are explained by the separate development of these languages ​​- the influence of Turkic languages ​​(for example, in South Mansi and Udmurt, in which it usually rests on the last syllable), changes in the vowel system, etc. However, it is equally acceptable to assume that in the most ancient base language stress was not lexically fixed, but more or less free.

The Finno-Ugric proto-language was characterized by a two-syllable stem of the word, ending with a short vowel sound e or less often a-a. It is well preserved in Finnish. In other languages, major changes have occurred in the stem of the word due to the loss of final vowels and under the influence of other factors (for example, Finnish. vere-, Sami, varra, Mord, Ver, Mar., Vur, Hung. vir, Komi and Udm. vir with blood>).

In modern Finno-Ugric languages, a word begins with one consonant or (less often) with one vowel sound. A cluster of consonants or vowels at the beginning of a word is usually found in borrowed and figurative words.

Ancient case indicators have been preserved in almost all modern Finno-Ugric languages: in some in the form of case endings, in others - as part of complex case forms, in others - as part of adverbs and postpositions. Most modern Finno-Ugric languages ​​are multi-case (Hungarian has 21 cases, Finnish -15, Komi -16, Udmurt -15, Mordovian -12, etc.). In polycase languages, a number of case endings arose either from postpositions and ancient case endings, or from a combination of different primary case affixes.

The ancient dual number was preserved only in the Mansi, Khanty and Sami languages.

The Finno-Ugric language-base belonged entirely to agglutative languages. Meanwhile in modern languages Along with agglutination, there are already some features of an inflectional nature.

Let us also note the following features of the Finno-Ugric languages. In almost all modern Finno-Ugric languages: a) there is one type of declension and one type of conjugation; only in certain languages ​​(for example, Mari and Udmurt) apparently two types of conjugation were developed later; b) the present and future tenses of the verb do not differ from each other in their form (compare Komi Gizha with writing and writing 5); c) the presence of a special negative verb, which changes in the same way as other verbs (cf. mar. om lud s don’t read 5, ot lud s don’t read 5, ogegi lud s doesn’t read 5, etc.); in the Hungarian language the conjugated forms of the negative verb have been lost; d) word formation and inflection are carried out, as a rule, with the help of suffixes; prefixes found in some modern languages ​​are new; e) the adjective-definition precedes the word being defined and does not agree with it (mord, od kudo with new house 5, od kudoso with in new house 5, od kudot with new houses 5, etc.); The exception is the Baltic-Finnish languages, in which there is agreement between the adjective-definition and the word being defined (cf. Finnish. uudessa kirjassa s in the new book 5, uudesta kirjasta c from the new book 5).

Currently, there is writing in Hungarian, Estonian, Mordovian (Erzyan and Moksha), Mari (meadow-eastern and mountain dialects), Udmurt and Komi (Komi-Zyryan and Komi-Permyak dialects).

The spoken Estonian language is divided into three dialects: Coastal, North Estonian and South Estonian. Coastal dialects are common in the coastal strip along the Gulf of Finland, especially in its eastern part.

The largest group of Estonian dialects is the North Estonian dialect. It is distributed in northern and central Estonia, over a vast territory stretching from the Baltic Sea to Lake Peipsi. On the basis of the northern dialect (mainly the Central Northern dialect of this dialect), the modern Estonian literary language developed.

The South Estonian dialect is divided into three dialects: Western, Tartu and Võru.

Writing in Estonian appeared in the 16th century. The first printed book was published in 1535. In the XVI-XVIII centuries. literature was published in two dialects: South Estonian and North Estonian. The literary language was under strong German influence. In the 19th century in the process of forming the Estonian nation, a transition was made from two literary languages ​​to a single one with its simultaneous democratization. Enormous merit in the development of the national literary language belongs to the educational writer F. R. Kreutzwald. Currently, individual dialects of the Estonian language, under the influence of school, print, and radio, have become noticeably closer and are developing under the strong influence of the literary language.

The Mordovian literary languages, Erzya and Moksha, mainly serve the Mordovian population of the Mordovian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. They were formed after October revolution. On the territory of the Mordovian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, Moksha dialects are united into three dialect groups: northern, southwestern and southeastern. The northern dialects of the Mordovian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic are widespread in the northwestern regions: Temnikovsky, Krasnoslobodsky and some others. The southwestern dialects are in the territory of Zubovo-Polyansky, Shiringushsky, Torbeevsky and some other regions. The southeastern group of dialects (otherwise known as Insar) is distributed on the territory of the Insarsky, Ruzaevsky, and partly Staroshaigovsky districts of the Mordovian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. One of the northern Moksha dialects is adopted as the basis for the Moksha-Mordovian literary language. The Erzya-Mordovian literary language is based on dialects spoken mainly in the Ardatov region of the Mordovian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic.

Mordovian literary languages ​​are close and differ from each other in much the same way as Ukrainian differs from Belarusian. The Moksha literary language is characterized by the presence of a front vowel a and a reduced vowel d, as well as voiceless consonants l x, p x, l X, /?ъ x, y x. These sounds are absent in the Erzya literary language. There is also a well-known difference in vocabulary and grammar.

The Mari language has three dialects: meadow, eastern and mountainous, on the basis of which two literary languages ​​were formed - meadow-eastern and mountainous. The Meadow dialect mainly covers the territory of the Mari Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic and adjacent areas of the Kirov region. The southern border runs along the river. Volga, western - along the Bolshaya Kokshaga, Mamoksha and Yaranka rivers, eastern - along the line of the Mariets plant, Mosara, Mari Kitnya, Izi Morko and further to the last Mari settlements.

The eastern dialect is widespread in the territory of the Tatar, Udmurt and Bashkir ASSR, Sverdlovsk and Perm regions, as well as in the southeastern part of the Kirov region. The eastern dialect is quite close to the meadow dialect, so representatives of these dialects use a single literary language.

The mountain dialect exists only in the area of ​​Sanchursk, Yaransk (Kirov region), Kilemar (Mari Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic) and nearby territories. In this dialect, two dialects are distinguished: southern (Kozmodemyansky) and northern (Iranian). The literary language is based on the southern dialect. Currently, the Mari are striving to move to a single meadow-eastern literary language, which is used by 80% of the population.

The main difference between the three dialects is expressed mainly in phonetics, for example, in the eastern dialect there is a phoneme a, in the mountain dialect there is a phoneme a and a reduced front vowel y, in the meadow there are no these sounds. The mountain dialect differs from the meadow and eastern dialects much more than the latter from each other. This difference is expressed not only in phonetics, but also in grammar and vocabulary, for example, form plural in mountain dialect it is formed using a special suffix -ela; There are several hundred words of the main vocabulary that are incomprehensible to representatives of other dialects.

The Mari had a written language even before the revolution, starting in the 18th century, but they did not have a developed literary language: small literature with predominantly religious content was published in different dialects and had different graphics and spelling.

The Udmurt language is divided into three dialects: northern, southern and southwestern.

The dialect of the Besermians, a small group living in the northwestern part of the Udmurt Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic among the Udmurts who speak a northern dialect, is somewhat special. It is noticeably different from other dialects of the Udmurt language. There is reason to believe that the Besermyan dialect is the awakened language of some Turkic people. The majority of Udmurts speak northern and southern dialects.

The difference between the adverbs of the Udmurt language is expressed both in vocabulary and in grammar and phonetics. The northern dialect is characterized by the following phenomena: the use of many words before a bilabial at the beginning w (vaz instead of az with early 5 other dialects); in many dialects of this dialect there is a middle vowel in instead of ы of other dialects (shvr instead of gayr with mouse 5); special vocabulary: chachcha S forest\ zdk big 5, etc. The southern dialect is characterized by the presence of a special nasal consonant g] (ng): bag], ‘face 5; special vocabulary: nylpi with children\atay with father 5 idr. The southwestern dialect is characterized by the presence of front-middle series b, y, close to German b, y; at the beginning of the word db instead of y in other dialects (dad instead of yb s ice 5); in affricates з, х the plosive element is very weak; specific words: aldar with liar\ tenke with ruble; and etc.

Writing in the Udmurt language appeared in the 18th century, but before the revolution, unified norms of the literary language did not take shape.

The dialectal basis of the Udmurt literary language, which developed over a number of decades in various dialect environments, is currently not entirely clear. In its grammatical structure and phonetics, it is closer to the dialects of central Udmurtia and contains elements of other dialects both in vocabulary and grammar (for example, along with valyosta, the form of southern dialects valyesyz ‘horses 5’ is allowed).

The Komi language is divided into three dialects: Komi-Zyryan, Komi-Permyak and Komi-Yazva. On the basis of the first two of them, after the October Revolution, special literary languages ​​were formed, and the Komi-Yazvins do not have their own written language. The Komi-Zyryan dialect is divided into dialects: Nizhnevychegodsky, Prisyktyvkarsky, Verkhnevychegodsky, Srednesysolsky, Verkhnesysolsky, Luzsko-Letsky, Udora (Vashko-Mezensky), Izhemsky and Pechora. The Komi-Zyrian literary language is based on the Prisyktyvkar dialect.

The Komi-Permyak dialect consists of three main dialects: Kosinsky-Kama (northern), Invensky (southern) and Zyuzdinsky (in the upper reaches of the Kama, Kirov region). The first two dialects are common in the Komi-Permyak district of the Perm region. The northern dialect is characterized by the presence of the sound l, which is absent in the southern dialect (northern vol, southern vdv with horse 5, northern lok, southern vok^idi 5); The exception is the Nerdvinsky and Onkovsky dialects, which are geographically adjacent to the southern dialect, but have the sound l. The Komi-Permyak literary language, serving the national population of the Komi-Permyak district, is based on the Kudymkar-Inven dialect, but with the use of the sound l in the form in which it is used in the Komi-Zyryan literary language. Such moderate use of the consonant l was introduced into the literary language in order to bring together the two main Komi-Permyak dialects.

The difference between the Komi-Zyryan and Komi-Permyak languages ​​is insignificant; it is expressed in some phonetic differences.

The Komi-Yazva dialect is noticeably different from other dialects in its phonetics: it has front-mid vowels o, u, a wide back vowel e, a special stress system and a number of special words: mountain with voice 5, kesek with meat 5, code with well 5, vepnv S say 5, etc.

In the XIV century. missionary Stefan created writing in the ancient Komi language based on Greek and Slavic letters and translated some church books. Ancient Komi writing by the 17th century. was forgotten, replaced by Russian-based graphics. In the XVII-XX centuries. Before the October Revolution, there was some literature in the Komi language, but it was published in different dialects and did not have uniform spelling standards.

Thus, the Mordovians, Mari, Udmurts and Komi are infantile peoples; their literary languages ​​took shape only after the October Revolution. In the years Soviet power Quite a large literature has been created in these languages ​​and a tremendous amount of work has been done to standardize the language and scientifically study it. Currently, newspapers and magazines, textbooks for primary schools, is developing fiction all genres: poems, plays, novels, etc.

The Karelians, Vepsians, Vods, Livs, and Izhorians currently do not have a written language in their native language. Experiments to create writing in these languages ​​were carried out several times, but historically they were not consolidated. These were mainly translations of religious books and individual examples of literary creativity.

In the 30s, an attempt was made to create writing, textbooks and schools in the Karelian, Vepsian and Izhorian languages. This attempt played some role in the process of eradicating illiteracy. Karelians currently use Russian or Finnish (mainly the northern part of Karelia) literary languages, Vepsians - Russian, Vod - Russian or Estonian, Livonians - Latvian, Izhorians - Russian or Finnish.

The Karelian language, widespread in the Karelian ASSR, as well as in the Kalinin and Novgorod regions (where Karelians moved from the north in the 17th century), is divided into dialects: Karelian proper (northern part of the Karelian ASSR, Kalinin and Novgorod regions), Lyudikovsky (south -east Karelian ASSR) and Livvikovsky (southwest of the Karelian ASSR).

The Izhorian language is genetically closest to the Karelian language and the eastern dialects of the Finnish language. The main dialects are Soykinsky, Kheva, Lower Luga and Upper Luga.

Vepsians live surrounded by the Russian population in the Leningrad and Vologda regions and in Karelia on the shore of Lake Onega. The Onega group is territorially separated from the rest of the Vepsians. The following dialects of the Vepsian language are distinguished: South Vepsian, Middle Vepsian and Onega.

The Votic language is currently spoken by several dozen people, mainly old people, living in the Leningrad region, not far from the northern border with Estonia.

The Livonian language serves as a means of communication at home for only 400-500 people who are bilingual; Their second language is Latvian, which they use outside the home.

The Sami (Lapp) language is divided into three dialects that are quite distant from each other (western, southern and eastern). In the Soviet Union, on the Kola Peninsula, there lives a small group of Sami who speak an eastern dialect (Lovozersky, Notozero and other dialects). Among the foreign Sami in Finland, Sweden and Norway (there are more than 30 thousand of them) since the 17th century. There is a written language, but it is of very limited use, and a small number of books and newspapers are currently published. In the 30s, an attempt was made to create a written language for the Sami of the USSR based on the Latin alphabet. Currently, the Sami of the Kola Peninsula use the Russian literary language.

Who are the Finno-Ugrians?

It is believed that the ancestral home of the Finno-Ugric peoples is located in the west of Ural mountains, in the region of Udmurtia, Perm, Mordovia and Mari El. By 3000 BC. e. The Baltic-Finnish subgroup moved west along the Baltic Sea coast. Around the same time, the Sami moved inland to the northeast, reaching the shores of the Atlantic Ocean. The Magyars (Hungarians) made the longest and most recent journey from the territory of the Ural Mountains to their real homeland in central Europe, only in 896 AD. e.

What is the age of the Finno-Ugric peoples?

The culture of pit-comb ceramics (The name was given by the method of decorating ceramic finds characteristic of this culture, which looks like imprints of combs.), which reached its peak in 4200 - 2000 BC. e. between the Urals and Baltic Sea, in general appears to be the oldest clear evidence of early Finno-Ugric communities. Settlements of this culture are always accompanied by burials of representatives of the Ural race, in the phenotype of which a mixture of Mongoloid and Caucasian elements is found.

But does the culture of pit-comb ceramics represent the beginning of the life of the Finno-Ugric people or is this distinctive pattern just a new artistic tradition among the already old Finno-Ugric civilization?

So far, archaeologists do not have an answer to this question. They discovered settlements in the area that date back to before the end of the last ice age, but so far scientists do not have sufficient evidence to suggest that these were settlements of Finno-Ugric or other peoples known to us. Since two or more peoples may live in the same territory, geographical information alone is not sufficient. In order to establish the identity of these settlements, it is necessary to show a certain connection, for example, similar artistic traditions, which are an indicator of a common culture. Since these early settlements are 10,000 years old, archaeologists simply do not have enough evidence to make any assumptions, so the origins of these settlements remain a mystery. What is the age of the Finno-Ugric peoples? At present it is impossible to give an exact answer to this question. We can only say that the Finno-Ugrians appeared in the west of the Ural Mountains between the end of the last Ice Age and 8000 - 4200 BC. e.

Let's look at this period of time in perspective:
Writing was invented by the Sumerians around 3800 BC. e.
The Egyptian pyramids were built in 2500 BC. e.
Stonehenge in England was built in 2200 BC. e.
The Celts, ancestors of the Irish and Scots, landed on the British Isles around 500 BC. e.
The English landed on the British Isles after 400 AD. e.
The Turks began moving into the territory of modern Turkey around 600 AD. e.

As a result, anthropologists call the Finno-Ugric peoples the oldest permanent inhabitants of Europe and the oldest surviving inhabitants of northeastern Europe.

However, it is no longer possible to separate the history of the Finno-Ugrians from the history of another people, the Indo-European Slavs.

By 600 AD e. the Slavs were divided into three branches: southern, western and eastern. A slow process of resettlement and resettlement began. In the 9th century, the Eastern Slavs formed a center in Kievan Rus and Novgorod. By the mid-16th century, with the conquest of the Kazan Khanate by Russia, almost all Finno-Ugric peoples, not counting the Sami, Finns, Estonians and Hungarians, came under the control of Rus'.

Today, the majority of Finno-Ugric people live on the territory of the Russian Federation, and their future is forever linked with their large Slavic neighbor.

Finno-Ugric languages

“Language diversity is an integral part of humanity's heritage. Each language embodies the unique cultural wisdom of a people. Thus, the loss of any language is a loss for all humanity.”
UNESCO, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization

Estonian philologist Mall Hellam found only one sentence understandable in the three most common Finno-Ugric languages: Hungarian, Finnish and Estonian. Live fish swims in the water

"Eleven hal úszkál a víz alatt." (Hungarian)
"Elävä kala ui veden alla." (Finnish)
"Elav kala ujub vee all." (Estonian)

To these languages ​​you can add Erzya “Ertstsya kaloso ukshny after all alga” (Erzya)

As part of the Finno-Ugric languages, they usually distinguish the following groups and languages:

Compare Finno-Ugric languages

As in any family, some members are more similar to each other, and some are only vaguely similar. But we are united by our common linguistic roots, this is what defines us as a family and creates the basis for discovering cultural, artistic and philosophical connections.

Counting in Finno-Ugric languages