This article relates to the Mari language spoken in Russia. For the language spoken in New Guinea see Mari language (New Guinea)

The Mari language (Mari: марий йылме, Russian: марийский язык), spoken by more than 600,000 people, belongs to the Finno-Ugric branch of the Uralic language family. Russian ( transliteration:,) is the most geographically widespread language of Eurasia, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages Finno-Ugric (ˌfɪnoʊˈjuːgɹɪk is a grouping of languages in the Uralic language family comprising Finnish, Estonian, Hungarian and The Uralic languages (jʊˈrælɨk constitute a language family of 39 Languages spoken by approximately 20 million people It is spoken primarily in the Mari Republic (Mari: Марий Эл ‘Mari Land’, Russian: Марийская республика) of the Russian Federation as well as in the area along the Vyatka river basin and eastwards to the Urals. Mari El Republic (Респу́блика Мари́й Эл Mari: Марий Эл Республик is a federal subject and republic of Russia Russian ( transliteration:,) is the most geographically widespread language of Eurasia, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages Russia (Россия Rossiya) or the Russian Federation ( Rossiyskaya Federatsiya) is a transcontinental Country extending The Vyatka River (Вя́тка Нократ|Noqrat Виче Viče, Ватка Vatka) is a River in Kirov Oblast and the Republic Riphean redirects here For the time period see Riphean stage The Ural Mountains (Ура́льские го́ры Uralskiye Mari speakers, known as the Mari are found also in the Tatarstan, Udmurtia, and Perm regions. The Mari are a Volga-Finnic people who have traditionally lived along the Volga and Kama rivers in Russia Republic of Tatarstan (Респу́блика Татарста́н Татарстан Республикасы|Tatarstan Respublikası is a federal subject of the Russian Udmurt Republic (Удму́ртская респу́блика Удмурт Республика or Udmurtia (ru Удму́ртия is a federal subject of Perm (Пермь pʲɛrmʲ is a city and administrative center of Perm Krai, Russia.

Mari today has a unified standard form with two variants (Hill vs. Meadow or Western and Eastern, with the Eastern variant prevailing in everyday usage), using a modified version of the Cyrillic alphabet, and is the titular and official language of its republic, alongside Russian. The Cyrillic alphabet (səˈrɪlɪk also called azbuka, from the old name of the first two letters is actually a family of Alphabets, subsets of which are used by Russian ( transliteration:,) is the most geographically widespread language of Eurasia, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages The use of two "variants," as opposed to two "languages," has been hotly debated: on the one hand, Maris recognize the unity of the ethnic group; on the other hand, the structural differences between Hill and Meadow Mari are at least as substantial, if not more so, than those found in the successor languages to what used to be called Serbo-Croatian.

Ethnonym and glottonym

The Mari language and people were known as "Cheremis" (Russian: черемисы, черемисский язык, in mediæval texts the variant forms черемись, сармыс, цармис are also found; Tatar: Çirmeş / Чирмеш; Chuvash: Çармăс) before the Russian Revolution. Russian ( transliteration:,) is the most geographically widespread language of Eurasia, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages The Tatar language (,, Татар теле, Татарча) is a Turkic Language spoken by the Tatars. Chuvash (Chuvash Чӑвашла Čăvašla, ʨəʋaʂˈla also known as Chăvash, Chuwash, Chovash, Chavash, Çuvaş See also Russian Revolution (1905 The Russian Revolution of 1916 refers to a series of popular revolutions in Russia, and the events surrounding them The term Mari comes from the Maris' self-designation марий (mari), which is thought to have been borrowed from the Indo-Aryan term *mar- (< PIE *mer-) 'man, mortal'. The Indo-Aryan languages (within the context of Indo-European studies also Indic) are a branch of the Indo-European language family

Sociolinguistic situation

Most Maris live in rural areas with slightly more than a quarter living in cities. In the republican capital, Yoshkar-Ola, the percentage of Maris is just over 23%. Yoshkar-Ola ( Mari and Йошка́р-Ола́ is a city in Russia and is the capital of the Mari El Republic. At the end of the 1980s (per the 1989 census) Maris numbered 670,868, of whom 80% (542,160) claimed Mari as their first language and 18. The 1980s was the decade spanning from January 1 1980 to December 31 1989. 8% did not speak Mari. In the Mari Republic, 11. 6% claimed Mari was not their first language. In a survey by the Mari Research Institute more than 3/4 of Maris survey considered Mari language to be the most crucial marker of ethnic identity, followed by traditional culture (61%) and common historical past (22%), religion (16%), character and mentality (15%) and appearance (11%) (see Glukhov and Glukhov for details). A gradual downward trend towards assimilation to Russian has been noted for the Communist period: the 1926 census indicated more than 99% of Maris considered Mari their first language, declining to less than 81% in 1989. Some qualitative evidence of a reversal in recent years has been noted.

There was no state support for Mari language in Imperial Russia, and with the exception of some enthusiasts and numerous ecclesiastical texts by the Russian Orthodox Church, there was almost no education in Mari language. The Russian Empire ( Pre-reform Russian: Pоссійская Имперія Modern Russian: Российская Империя translit: Rossiyskaya See also Eastern Orthodox Church Structure and organization The Slavic Orthodox Church is organized in a hierarchical structure After the October Revolution, there was a period of support of all lesser national cultures in the Soviet Union, but eventually Russification returned. The October Revolution (Октябрьская революция Oktyabrskaya revolyutsiya) also known as the Soviet Revolution The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR was a constitutionally Socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991 Russification (in Russian: русификация rusifikátsiya)is an adoption of the Russian language or some other Russian attribute (whether voluntarily While the development of Mari literary language continued, still, only elementary-school education was available in Mari in the Soviet period, with this policy ending in village schools in the 1970–1980s. This article is about the Decade 1970-1979 For the Year 1970 see 1970. The 1980s was the decade spanning from January 1 1980 to December 31 1989. The period of glasnost and perestroika in the 1990s opened opportunities for a revival of efforts expand the use of Mari in education and the public sphere. (Гла́сность)is literally defined as publicity and sometimes figuratively interpreted as "tipping a vase to let someone see into the vase but not the bottom of the vase" (Перестройка) is the Russian term (now used in English for the economic reforms introduced in June 1987 by the Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev The 1990s collectively refers to the years between and including 1990 and 1999 In the 1990s, the Mari language, alongside Russian, was proclaimed in the republican constitution to be an official language of Mari El. By the beginning of the 21st century, Mari language and literature was taught in 226 schools. The 21st century is the current century of the Christian Era or Common Era in accordance with the Gregorian calendar. At the History and Philology Department of the Mari State University and the Krupskaya Teachers' Training Institute (Yoshkar-Ola), more than half of the subjects are taught in Mari.

Dialects

Traditionally there are two macrodialects of Mari: Hill Mari, spoken on the upper bank of the Volga River, near Kozmodemyansk, and Meadow Mari on the lowland bank in and around the republican capital, Yoshkar-Ola. Kozmodemyansk (Козьмодемья́нск Hill Цӹкмӓ Cÿkmä; Meadow Mari Чыкма Čykma; Chuvash: Чикме Cikme; Finnish Yoshkar-Ola ( Mari and Йошка́р-Ола́ is a city in Russia and is the capital of the Mari El Republic. Today linguists distinguish four dialects: Hill (right-bank of the Volga and part of the left bank), Meadow (at the confluence of the Kokshaga and Volga rivers), Eastern (east of the Vyatka), and North-Western. Some Mari also speak the Turkic language, Tatar. The Turkic languages constitute a Language family of some thirty languages spoken by Turkic peoples across a vast area from Eastern Europe and the The Tatar language (,, Татар теле, Татарча) is a Turkic Language spoken by the Tatars. Russian and Tatar have strongly influenced Mari, especially Meadow Mari.

Orthography

The Mari alphabet in a primer from 1887

Draft version of the Latin alphabet from 1930

Meadow Mari Alphabet

Hill Mari Alphabet

Grammar

Like other Uralic languages, Mari is an agglutinating language. The Uralic languages (jʊˈrælɨk constitute a language family of 39 Languages spoken by approximately 20 million people An agglutinative language is a Language that uses Agglutination extensively most Words are formed by joining Morphemes together It lacks grammatical gender, and does not use articles.

Phonology

Vowels

1. Only in Hill Mari

Word prosody and vowel harmony

Stress is not phonemic in Mari, but a dynamic stress system is exhibited phonetically, the stressed syllable being higher in pitch and amplitude and greater in length than an unstressed syllable. The close front unrounded vowel is a type of Vowel sound used in many spoken Languages The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents The close front rounded vowel is a type of Vowel sound used in some spoken Languages The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents The close back unrounded vowel is a type of Vowel sound used in some spoken Languages The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents The close back rounded vowel is a type of Vowel sound used in some spoken Languages The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents Close-mid front unrounded vowel The close-mid front unrounded vowel is a type of Vowel sound used in some spoken Languages The symbol in the The close-mid front rounded vowel is a type of Vowel sound used in some spoken Languages The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents The mid central vowel is a type of Vowel sound used in some spoken Languages The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound The close-mid back rounded vowel is a type of Vowel sound used in some spoken Languages The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents The open back unrounded vowel is a type of Vowel sound used in some spoken Languages The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet Generally, there is one prominent syllable per word and prominence may be found in any syllable of the word. Post- and prefixes behave as clitics, i. In Linguistics, a clitic is a grammatically independent and phonologically dependent Word. e. , they do not have their own stress. For example, пӧ́рт (house) гыч (out of) → [ˈpørt ɣəʧ]; му́ро (song) дене (with) → [ˈmuro ðene].

As in other Uralic languages, Mari displays vowel harmony, including harmony of both round/unround and front/back. Vowel harmony is a type of long-distance ( see below) assimilatory phonological process involving Vowels in some languages If the stressed vowel in the word is rounded, then the suffix will contain a rounded vowel: кӱтӱ́ (herd) → кӱтӱ́штӧ (in the herd); if the stressed vowel is unrounded, then the suffix will contain an unrounded vowel: ки́д (hand) → ки́дыште (in the hand). In Phonetics, vowel roundedness refers to the amount of rounding in the Lips during the articulation of a Vowel. If the stressed vowel is back, then the suffix will end in a back vowel: агу́р (whirlpool) → агу́рышто 'in the whirlpool' (Зорина, Крылова, Якимова 1990: 9).

Consonants

Consonants are shown in Cyrillic, Latin, and the IPA:

1. Only in Hill Mari and in loan words. Labials are consonants articulated either with both lips ( bilabial articulation or with the lower lip and the upper teeth ( labiodental articulation In Linguistics, a dental consonant or dental is a Consonant that is articulated with the tongue against the upper teeth such as /t/ /d/ /n/ and Alveolar consonants are articulated with the tongue against or close to the superior Alveolar ridge, which is called that because it contains the alveoli (the sockets Postalveolar consonants are Consonants articulated with the tongue near or touching the back of the Alveolar ridge, placing them a bit further back in the Palatal consonants are Consonants articulated with the body of the tongue raised against the Hard palate (the middle part of the roof of the mouth A stop, plosive, or occlusive is a Consonant sound produced by stopping the airflow in the Vocal tract. The voiceless bilabial plosive is a type of Consonantal sound used in many spoken Languages The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet The voiceless alveolar plosive is a type of Consonantal sound used in many spoken Languages The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet The voiceless velar plosive is a type of Consonantal sound used in many spoken Languages The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet The voiced bilabial plosive is a type of Consonantal sound used in some spoken Languages The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that The voiced alveolar plosive is a type of Consonantal sound used in some spoken Languages The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that The voiced velar plosive is a type of Consonantal sound used in some spoken Languages The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that Fricatives are Consonants produced by forcing air through a narrow channel made by placing two articulators close together The voiceless labiodental fricative is a type of Consonantal sound used in some spoken Languages The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet The voiceless alveolar fricatives are Consonantal sounds The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents these sounds depends on whether a The voiceless palato-alveolar fricative or domed postalveolar fricative ( IPA) is a type of Consonantal sound used in some spoken Languages The voiceless velar fricative, informally known as the hard ch, is a type of Consonantal sound used in some spoken Languages The symbol in the The voiced bilabial fricative is a type of Consonantal sound used in some spoken Languages The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet The voiced dental non-sibilant fricative is a type of Consonantal sound used in some spoken Languages The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet The voiced alveolar fricatives are Consonantal sounds The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents these sounds depends on whether a Sibilant The voiced palato-alveolar fricative or domed postalveolar fricative is a type of Consonantal sound used in some spoken Languages The symbol The voiced velar fricative is a type of Consonantal sound used in various spoken Languages The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet Affricate Consonants begin as stops (most often an alveolar, such as or) but release as a fricative (such as or or occasionally into The voiceless alveolar affricate is a type of Consonantal sound used in some spoken Languages The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet The voiceless palato-alveolar affricate or domed postalveolar affricate is a type of Consonantal sound used in some spoken Languages It is A nasal consonant (also called nasal stop or nasal continuant) is produced with a lowered velum in the mouth allowing air to escape freely through the The bilabial nasal is a type of Consonantal sound used in almost all spoken Languages The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this The alveolar nasal is a type of Consonantal sound used in numerous spoken Languages The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents The palatal nasal is a type of Consonant, used in some spoken Languages The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this The velar nasal is a type of Consonantal sound used in some spoken Languages The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents Laterals are "L"-like Consonants pronounced with an occlusion made somewhere along the axis of the tongue while air from the lungs escapes at one side or both The alveolar lateral approximant is a type of Consonantal sound used in some spoken Languages The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents The palatal lateral approximant is a type of Consonantal sound used in some spoken Languages The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet Rhotic consonants, or "R"-like sounds are non-lateral Liquid consonants This class of sounds is difficult to characterise phonetically though most of them share The alveolar trill is a type of Consonantal sound used in some spoken Languages The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents dental The alveolar tap or flap is a type of Consonantal sound used in some spoken Languages The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that Approximants are speech sounds ( Phonemes) that could be regarded as intermediate between Vowels and typical Consonants In the articulation of approximants The palatal approximant is a type of Consonantal sound used in many spoken Languages The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents
2. Palatalisation is marked in different ways. A у following a palatalised consonant is written as ю, an а following a palatalised consonant is written as я. If the vowel following a palatalised consonant is an е or an и, palatalisation is not marked at all. In other cases, the soft sign ь is used to mark palatalisation. The soft sign (Ь ь is a symbol in the Cyrillic alphabet. In the Old Slavic language, it represented a short -like vowel but in modern Slavic Cyrillic writing
3. In Russian loan words, б/д/г are pronounced as b/d/ɡ. The voiced bilabial plosive is a type of Consonantal sound used in some spoken Languages The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that The voiced alveolar plosive is a type of Consonantal sound used in some spoken Languages The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that The voiced velar plosive is a type of Consonantal sound used in some spoken Languages The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that Some speakers pronounce them as such in general, due to Russian influence on the language.
4. The modified Cyrillic letter for the velar nasal (ŋ) combines the Cyrillic letter Н н with and Г г, where the rightmost post of Н is conflated with the vertical post of Г: Ҥ, ҥ. While Hill Mari has the sound too, the character is only used in Meadow Mari.

Declension

Case

Meadow Mari has 9 productive cases, of which 3 are locative cases. In Linguistics, productivity is the degree to which Native speakers use a particular grammatical process especially in Word formation. In Linguistics, declension (or declination) is the occurrence of Inflection in Nouns Pronouns and Adjectives indicating Locative (also called the seventh case) is a Grammatical case which indicates a location The usage of these is restricted to inanimate objects.

Many cases, aside from their basic function, are used in other situations, such as in expressions of time.

• Nominative

The nominative case is used for subjects, predicatives and for other grammatical functions. The nominative case is a Grammatical case for a Noun, which generally marks the subject of a Verb, as opposed to its object or other

• Genitive

The genitive case is used for possessive constructions. In Grammar, the genitive case or possessive case (also called the second case) is the case that marks a Noun as modifying another

• Dative

The accusative is the indirect object's case. The dative case is a Grammatical case generally used to indicate the Noun to whom something is given

• Accusative

The accusative is the direct object's case. The accusative case ( abbreviated ACC) of a Noun is the Grammatical case used to mark the Direct object of a Transitive

• Comitative

The comitative is used as when a subject or an object can be split up into parts, or in adverbials expressing the involvement of an object in an action. The comitative case, also known as the associative case, is a Grammatical case that denotes companionship and is used where English would use "in company with"

• Comparative

The comparative is used to express the likeness to something. The comparative case is a grammatical case used in the Mari language to mark a likeness to something

• Inessive

The inessive used to state where something is. Inessive case (from Latin inesse "to be in or at" is a locative Grammatical case.

• Illative

The illative is used to state where something is going. Illative case in the Finno-Ugric languages Illative (from Latin illatus "brought in" is in the Finnish language, Estonian language

• Lative

The lative is used to express, into what something is going. Lative is a case which indicates motion to a location It corresponds to the English prepositions "to" and "into"

1. The illative has a short form, equivalent to the long form in meaning.

If a locative statement was to be made about an animate object, postpositions would be used.

Additionally, terms denoting family members have Vocative forms. The vocative case is the case used for a Noun identifying the person (animal object etc These are, however, not created with a specific paradigm, and only exist in a few pre-defined cases.

Hill Mari has these cases, plus the Caritative case, which is used to form adverbials stating without the involvement or influence of what an action happens. In Linguistics, abessive (abbreviated ABESS, from Latin abesse "to be distant" caritive and privative (abbreviated In Grammar an adverbial is a word (an Adverb) or a group of words (an adverbial Phrase or an adverbial Clause) that modifies or tells us something

Number

Though Mari is an agglutinative language, it does not have an own morpheme to signify plurality. In Morpheme-based morphology, a morpheme is the smallest linguistic unit that has semantic meaning. Plural is a Grammatical number, typically referring to more than one of the Referent in the real world There are three particles, which are attached to the end of words with a hyphen, used to signify future.

• -влак (-vlak) - Standard plural form.
• -шамыч (-šaməč) - Alternative standard plural, used in many dialects. There is no difference in meaning between these two
• -мыт (mət) - Sociative plural. Used to signify a group of people - the members of a family, a person and his family and friends.

Possessive Suffixes

Every grammatical person in Mari has its own possessive suffix. In Linguistics, a possessive suffix is a suffix attached to a noun to indicate its possessor, much in the manner of Possessive adjectives Possessive

Additional Suffixes

Additional particles, falling into none of the categories above, can be added to the very end of a word, giving it some additional meaning. For example, the suffix -ат (-at), means 'also' or 'too'.

Arrangement of Suffixes

The arrangement of suffixes varies from case to case. While the case suffixes are after the possessive suffixes in the genitive and the accusative, the opposite is the case for the locative cases. In the dative, both arrangements are possible.

There are many other arrangements in the plural - the position of the plural particle is flexible. The arrangement here is one commonly used possibility.

Comparison

Comparison happens with adjectives and adverbs. Adjective#Comparison of adjectives|Comparative Comparison, in Grammar, is a property of Adjectives and Adverbs in most Languages it describes The comparative is formed with the suffix -рак (-rak). In Grammar, the comparative is the form of an Adjective or Adverb which denotes the degree or grade by which a person thing or other entity has a property The superlative is formed by adding the word эн (en) in front. In Grammar the superlative of an Adjective or Adverb is the greatest form of adjective or adverb which indicates that something has some feature

Conjugation

Morphologically, conjugation follows three tenses and three moods in Meadow Mari. Grammatical tense is a temporal linguistic quality expressing the time at during or over which a state or action denoted by a verb occurs Grammatical mood is one of a set of distinctive Verb forms that are used to signal modality.

Conjugation Classes

In Meadow Mari, words can conjugate according to two conjugation classes. These differ from each other in all forms but the infinitive. Unfortunately, the infinitive is the form denoted in dictionaries and word lists. It is, thus, necessary to either mark verb infinitives by their conjugation class in word lists, or to include a form in which the conjugation class is visible - usually, the first person singular present, which ends in -ам (or -ям) for verbs in the first declination, and in -ем (or -эм) for second declination verbs.

Tense

The three tenses of Mari verbs are:

• Present

The present tense is used for present and future actions, for states of being and for habitual actions, among others. Present Tense is the first Sagittarius album released in 1968 by Columbia Records.

• First Preterite

The first preterite is used to express observed, recent actions. This article is about the grammatical term To see the article relating to Eschatology and the Book of Revelation, see Preterism.

• Second Preterite

The second preterite is used for actions which lie more distantly in the past. This article is about the grammatical term To see the article relating to Eschatology and the Book of Revelation, see Preterism.

Additional tenses can be formed through periphrasis. In Linguistics, periphrasis is a device by which a grammatical category or relationship is expressed by a Free morpheme (typically one or more Function

• First Periphrastic Imperfect
• Second Periphrastic Imperfect
• First Periphrastic Perfect
• Second Periphrastic Perfect

Mood

The moods are:

• Indicative

The indicative is used to express facts and positive beliefs. The imperfect tense, in the classical grammar of several Indo-European languages, denotes a Past tense with an Imperfective aspect. The imperfect tense, in the classical grammar of several Indo-European languages, denotes a Past tense with an Imperfective aspect. The perfect aspect is variously considered either an aspect or tense which calls a listener's attention to the consequences generated by an action rather than the The perfect aspect is variously considered either an aspect or tense which calls a listener's attention to the consequences generated by an action rather than the Grammatical mood is one of a set of distinctive Verb forms that are used to signal modality. All intentions that a particular language does not categorize as another mood are classified as indicative. It can be formed in all persons, in all times.

• Imperative

The imperative expresses direct commands, requests, and prohibitions. The imperative mood is a Grammatical mood that expresses direct commands or requests It only exists in the present tense, and exists in all persons but the first person singular.

• Desiderative

The desiderative is used to express desires. In Linguistics, a desiderative form is one that has the meaning of "wanting to X" It can be formed for all persons, in the present tense and in the two periphrastic imperfect tenses.

Negation

Negation in Mari uses a 'negative verb', much like Finnish does. Finnish ( or suomen kieli) is the language spoken by the majority of the population in Finland (92% As of 2006) and by ethnic Finns outside The negative verb is more versatile than the negative verb in Finnish (see Finnish grammar), existing in more grammatical tenses and moods. This article deals with the Grammar of the Finnish language. It is probably best to read the main article first It has its own form in the present indicative, imperative and desiderative, and in the first preterite indicative. Other negations are periphrastic.

The negation verb in its corresponding form is put in front of a the stem of the negated verb, which is equal to the second person singular of a verb, much as it is in Finnish and Estonian. Estonian (; ˈeːsti ˈkeːl is the official language of Estonia, spoken by about 1

The verb улаш (ulaš) - to be - has its own negated forms.

Word Forms

In order to illustrate the conjugation in the respective moods and times, one verb of the first declination (лекташ - to go) and one verb of the second declination (мондаш - to forget) will be used.

1. Bold letters are subject to Vowel harmony - they can be е/о/ӧ, depending on the preceding full vowel's properties. Vowel harmony is a type of long-distance ( see below) assimilatory phonological process involving Vowels in some languages
2. First conjugation verb forms using the imperative second person singular as their stem are subject to the same stem changes the imperative is subject to - see imperative second person singular.

1. Bold letters are subject to Vowel harmony -- they can be е/о/ӧ, depending on the preceding full vowel's properties. Vowel harmony is a type of long-distance ( see below) assimilatory phonological process involving Vowels in some languages
2. First conjugation verb forms using the imperative second person singular as their stem are subject to the same stem changes the imperative is subject to - see imperative second person singular.
3. If the consonant prior to the ending can be palatalized -- if it is a л(l) or an н(n) -- it is palatalized in this position. Note that palatalization is not marked if the vowel following a consonant is an е.
   колаш --> кольым, кольыч, кольо, колна, колда ,кольыч (to hear)

1. Bold letters are subject to Vowel harmony - they can be е/о/ӧ, depending on the preceding full vowel's properties. Vowel harmony is a type of long-distance ( see below) assimilatory phonological process involving Vowels in some languages
2. First conjugation verb forms using the imperative second person singular as their stem are subject to the same stem changes the imperative is subject to - see imperative second person singular.

1. Bold letters are subject to Vowel harmony - they can be е/о/ӧ, depending on the preceding full vowel's properties. Vowel harmony is a type of long-distance ( see below) assimilatory phonological process involving Vowels in some languages
2. First conjugation verb forms using the imperative second person singular as their stem are subject to the same stem changes the imperative is subject to.
3. In the first conjugation, the imperative second person singular is formed by removing the "-аш" ending from the infinitive. Four consonant combinations are not allowed at the end of an imperative, and are thus simplified -- one consonant is lost.
   "кт" --> "к", "нч" --> "ч", "чк" --> "ч", "шк" --> "ш"

1. Bold letters are subject to Vowel harmony - they can be е/о/ӧ, depending on the preceding full vowel's properties. Vowel harmony is a type of long-distance ( see below) assimilatory phonological process involving Vowels in some languages
2. First conjugation verb forms using the imperative second person singular as their stem are subject to the same stem changes the imperative is subject to - see imperative second person singular.

1. First conjugation verb forms using the imperative second person singular as their stem are subject to the same stem changes the imperative is subject to - see imperative second person singular.

1. Bold letters are subject to Vowel harmony - they can be е/о/ӧ, depending on the preceding full vowel's properties. Vowel harmony is a type of long-distance ( see below) assimilatory phonological process involving Vowels in some languages
2. First conjugation verb forms using the imperative second person singular as their stem are subject to the same stem changes the imperative is subject to - see imperative second person singular.

Infinitive Forms

Verbs have two infinitive forms - the standard infinitive, and the necessive infinitive, used when a person must do something. In Grammar, infinitive is the name for certain verb forms that exist in many languages The person needing to do something is put in the dative in such a situation.

Participles

There are four participles in Meadow Mari:

• Active Participle
• Passive Participle
• Negative Participle
• Future Participle

Gerunds

There are five gerunds in Meadow Mari:

• Affirmative Instructive Gerund
• Negative Instructive Gerund
• Gerund for Prior Actions I
• Gerund for Prior Actions II
• Gerund for Simultaneous Actions

Syntax

Word order in Mari is Subject Object Verb. In Linguistics, a participle (from Latin participium, a Calque of Greek μετοχη "partaking" is a derivative of a non-finite In Linguistics, “gerund” is a term used to refer to various non-finite verb forms in various languages As applied to English, In Linguistic typology, Subject Object Verb (SOV is the type of languages in which the subject, object, and Verb of a sentence appear or usually

Some common words and phrases

Note that the accent mark, which denotes the place of stress, is not used in actual Mari orthography.

• По́ро ке́че/Póro kéče - Good day
• Ку́гу та́у/Kúgu táu - Thank you (very much)
• ик, кок, кум, ныл, вич/ik, kok, kum, nəl, vič - one, two, three, four, five
• куд, шым, канда́ш, инде́ш, лу/kud, šəm, kandáš, indéš, lu - six, seven, eight, nine, ten
• мут/mut - word

Bibliography

• Alhoniemi, A. , Marin kielioppi, Helsinki, 1985 (Hill and Meadow);
• Alhoniemi, A. , Marin kielen lukemisto sanastoineen, Helsinki, 1986 (Hill and Meadow);
• Castrén M. A. , Elementa grammaticae tscheremissicae, Kuopio, 1845 (Hill);
• Wiedemann F. , Versuch einer Grammatik der tscheremissischen Sprache, Saint Petersburg, 1847 (Hill);
• Budenz J. , Erdéi és hegyi cseremisz szótár, Pest, 1866 (Mari [Hill and Meadow], Hungarian, Latin);
• Троицкий В. П. , Черемисско-русский словарь, Kazan', 1894 (Hill and Meadow);
• Szilasi M. , Cseremisz szótár, Budapest, 1901 (Mari [Hill and Meadow], Hungarian, German);
• Ramstedt G. J., Bergtscheremissische Sprachstudien, Helsinki, 1902 (Hill);
• Beke О. Gustaf John Ramstedt born in Ekenäs October 22, 1873, died in Helsinki November 25 1950, was a Finland-Swedish , Cseremisz nyelvtan, Budapest, 1911 (Hill and Meadow);
• Васильев В. М. , Записки по грамматике народа мари, Kazan', 1918 (Hill and Meadow);
• Шорин В. С. , Маро-русский словарь горного наречия, Kazan', 1920 (Hill);
• Кармазин Г. Г. , Материалы к изучению марийского языка, Krasnokokshajsk, 1925 (Meadow);
• Кармазин Г. Г. , Учебник марийского языка лугово-восточного наречия, Yoshkar-Ola, 1929 (Meadow);
• Васильев В. М. , Марий Мутэр, Мoscow, 1929 (Hill and Meadow);
• Räsänen M. , Die tschuwassischen Lehnwörter im Tscheremissischen, Helsinki, 1920;
• Lewy E. , Tscheremissische Grammatik, Leipzig, 1922 (Meadow);
• Wichmann Y. , Tscheremissische Texte mit Wörterverzeichnis und grammatikalischem Abriss, Helsingfors, 1923 (Hill and Meadow);
• Räsänen, Die tatarischen Lehnwörter im Tscheremissischen, Helsinki, 1923.
• Sebeok, T. A. and A. Raun. (eds. ), The First Cheremis Grammar (1775): A Facsimile Edition, Chicago, 1956.
• Ingemann, F. J. and T. A. Sebeok, An Eastern Cheremis Manual: Phonology, Grammar, Texts and Glossary (= American Council of Learned Societies, Research and Studies in Uralic and Altaic languages, project nos. 6 and 31), Bloomington, 1961 (Meadow);
• Галкин, И. С. , Историческая грамматика марийского языка, vol. I, II, Yoshkar-Ola, 1964, 1966;
• Иванов, И. Г. , История марийского литературного языка, Yoshkar-Ola, 1975;
• Иванов, И. Г. , Марий диалектологий, Yoshkar-Ola, 1981;
• Зорина, З. Г. , Г. С. Крылова, and Э. С. Якимова. Марийский язык для всех, ч. 1. Йошкар-Ола: Марийское книжное издательство, 1990;
• Коведяева, Е. И. "Марийский язык", Языки мира: Уральские языки. Moscow, 1993: 148-164.
• Коведяева, Е. И. "Горномарийский вариант литературного марийского языка", Языки мира: Уральские языки. Moscow, 1993: 164-173.
• Glukhov, N. and V. Glukhov, "Mari Men and Women as Bearers of the Mari Language and Identity," Wiener elektronische Beiträge des Instituts für Finno-Ugristik, 2003. Available, along with other papers on Finno-Ugric languages and cultures, at http://webfu.univie.ac.at/archiv.php
• Klima, L. "The linguistic affinity of the Volgaic Finno-Ugrians and their ethnogenesis," 2004: http://mek.oszk.hu/01700/01794/
• Галкин, И. С. , "Происхождение и развитие марийского языка", Марийцы. Историко-этнографические очерки/Марий калык. Историй сынан этнографий очерк-влак, Yoshkar-Ola, 2005: 43-46.

External links

Mari language and useful dictionaries:

• Kimberli Mäkäräinen's Meadow Mari Grammar at:http://www.uta.fi/~km56049/mari/indexmari.html
• A Meadow Mari-English-German-Estonian dictionary at: http://mari.finno-ugristik.at/dict.html
• Meadow Mari morphology generator at: http://mari.finno-ugristik.at/morph.html
• A short Meadow Mari-English word list at: http://www.uta.fi/~km56049/mari/mariengvocab.html
• Meadow Mari-Russian-Japanese dictionary at: http://www.kmatsum.info/mari/mardic/mar0Aa.html

• The Mari newspaper "Marij El"
• Mari El OnLine (Web portal in Russian and Mari) The интервью 'interview' link leads to wmv-format files with interviews in Mari language
• MariUver (in Mari, Estonian, English and Russian - covers news, politics, society, education, science, art and culture)
• Finno-Ugric Electronic Library by the Finno-Ugric Information Center in Syktyvkar, Komi Republic (interface in Russian and English, texts in Mari, Komi, Udmurt, Erzya and Moksha languages)
• Mari State University Department of Mari Languages (in Russian)
• Mari State University Department of Finno-Ugric Languages (in Russian)
• The Mari State Teacher’s Training Institute (MGPI)
• RFE/RL report on Mari language, Finno-Ugristics, and Russian politics