Last Updated: 2020-07-15
COMPROMISED: conflation between /n/ and /ŋ/
Background
Language Family: Uralic / Finno-Ugric / Finno-Permic / Finno-Cheremisic / Finno-Mordvinic / Mordvinic
- Erzya, also known as Erzian or Mordvin, is spoken in Russia in the Republic of Mordovia and nearby regions. There are also communities of speakers in Armenia, Estonia, and Central Asia.
Phonology
Consonants
- Aasmäe (2014) implies that the alveolar consonants may reflect a more dental articulation (p. 10).
- There is some debate as to whether /ŋ/ is a distinct phoneme in Erzya or an allophone of /n/. Because Rueter (2010) provides examples of minimal pairs with /ŋ/ and /n/ (p. 58), I have decided to include it as a phoneme. However, because the same grapheme ⟨н⟩ is used to represent both /ŋ/ and /n/, and it is not apparent by context which sound the grapheme represents in a given instance, the language is compromised.
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Place of Articulation
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Manner of Articulation
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Labial
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Alveolar
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Postalveolar
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Palatal
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Velar
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Stops
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p b
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t tʲ d dʲ
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k ɡ
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Affricates
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ts tsʲ
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tʃ
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Fricatives
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f v
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s sʲ z zʲ
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ʃ ʒ
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x
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Nasals
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m
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n nʲ
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ŋ
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Trills
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r rʲ
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Approximants
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l lʲ
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j
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Note: For phonemes without diacritics that share a cell, those on the left are voiceless and those on the right are voiced. Phonemes with the diacritic (ʲ) are palatalized.
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Vowels
- Vowel length is not phonemic in Erzya (Aasmäe 2014, 10).
- Erzya does not have diphthongs (ibid.).
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Front
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Central
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Back
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High
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i
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u
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Mid
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e
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o
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Low
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a
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Alphabet
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Grapheme
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Phoneme
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Comment
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а
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/a/
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б
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/b/
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в
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/v/
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г
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/ɡ/
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д
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/d/
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е
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/je/
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marks palatalization of preceding consonant
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ё
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/jo/
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marks palatalization of preceding consonant
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ж
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/ʒ/
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з
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/z/
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и
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/ji/
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marks palatalization of preceding consonant
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й
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/j/
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к
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/k/
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л
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/l/
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м
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/m/
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н
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/n/; /ŋ/
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/n/: default in the rules
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о
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/o/
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п
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/p/
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р
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/r/
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с
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/s/
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т
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/t/
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у
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/u/
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ф
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/f/
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х
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/x/
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ц
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/ts/
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ч
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/tʃ/
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ш
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/ʃ/
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щ
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/ʃtʃ/
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ъ
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∅
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ы
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/i/
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ь
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/ʲ/
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marks palatalization of preceding consonant
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э
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/e/
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ю
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/ju/
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marks palatalization of preceding consonant
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я
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/ja/
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marks palatalization of preceding consonant
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Misc. Rules
- Vowel harmony is present in Erzya (Aasmäe 2014, 11).
- Consonants often palatalize when adjacent to other palatalized consonants (Aasmäe 2014, 12).
- The voiced stops and /z/ become voiceless at a morpheme boundaries if they precede a voiceless consonant (ibid.).
- Adding a suffix to a stem may cause a stem-final vowel to elide (Aasmäe 2014, 13).
- An epenthetic vowel may be inserted between two consonants at morpheme boundaries (ibid.).
References
Aasmäe, Niina. 2014. An Introductory Course to the Erzya Language. Edited by Tõnu Seilenthal.
Rueter, Jack. 2010. Adnominal Person in the Morphological System of Erzya. Helinski: Société Finno-Ougrienne.