Moksha language

Moksha (мокшень кяль, mokšeň käľ, pronounced [ˡmɔkʃənʲ kʲælʲ]) is a Mordvinic language of the Uralic family, with around 130,000 native speakers in 2010. Moksha is the majority language in the western part of Mordovia.^[3] Its closest relative is the Erzya language, with which it is not mutually intelligible. Moksha is also possibly closely related to the extinct Meshcherian and Muromian languages.^[4]

Moksha
Mokshan^[1]
мокшень кяль pronounced [/'mɔkʃənʲ kælʲ/]
Native to	Russia
Region	European Russia
Ethnicity	253,000 Mokshas (2010 census)
Native speakers	300,000 claimed to speak "Mordvin" while 20,000 claimed to speak "Moksha Mordvin" (2020 census)^[2]
Language family	Uralic Mordvinic Moksha
Writing system	Cyrillic
Official status
Official language in	Mordovia (Russia)
Regulated by	Mordovian Research Institute of Language, Literature, History and Economics
Language codes
ISO 639-2	mdf
ISO 639-3	mdf
Glottolog	moks1248
ELP	Moksha
Moksha is classified as Definitely Endangered by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger
This article contains IPA phonetic symbols. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Unicode characters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA.

History

Cherapkin's Inscription

Main article: Mordovka

There is very little historical evidence of the use of Moksha from the distant past. One notable exception are inscriptions on so-called mordovka silver coins issued under Golden Horde rulers around the14th century. The evidence of usage of the language (written with the Cyrillic script) comes from the 16th century.^[5][6]

 

Zaikovskiy's picture of the mordovka type A

Inscription (Old Moksha)	moΛи АНСи ОкАн пЄΛКи
Transcription	moli ansi okan pelki
Interpretation (Moksha)	Моли аньцек окань пяли
Translation	Goes only for half gold

Indo-Iranian Influence

Indo-Iranian forms
D–V
Indo-Iranian form	Declining stem	Meaning	Moksha derivatives
داس	Persian: dâs	"sickle"	тарваз /'tɑrvɑs/ "sickle"^[7]
𐬠𐬀𐬖𐬀	Avestan: baγa	"God"	паваз /'pɑvɑs/ "God"^[8]
ऊधर्	Sanskrit: ū́dhar	"udder"	одар /'odɑr/ "udder" ^[9]
वज्र	Sanskrit: vajra	"God's weapon"	узерь /'uzʲərʲ/ "axe" ^[10]

Sociolinguistics

Dialects

 

  Moksha

The Moksha language is divided into three dialects:

• Central group (M-I)
• Western group (M-II)
• South-Eastern group (M-III)

The dialects may be divided with another principle depending on their vowel system:

• ä-dialect: Proto-Moksha *ä /æ/ is retained: śeĺmä /sʲelʲmæ/ "eye", t́äĺmä /tʲælʲmæ/ "broom", ĺäj /lʲæj/ "river".
• e-dialect: Proto-Moksha *ä is raised and merged with *e: śeĺme /sʲelʲme/ "eye", t́eĺme /tʲelʲme/ "broom", ĺej /lʲej/ "river".
• i-dialect: Proto-Moksha *ä is raised to /e/, while Proto-Moksha *e is raised to /i/ and merged with *i: śiĺme /sʲilʲme/ "eye", t́eĺme /tʲelʲme/ "broom", ĺej /lʲej/ "river".

The standard literary Moksha language is based on the central group with ä (particularly the dialect of Krasnoslobodsk).

Official status

Moksha is one of the three official languages in Mordovia (the others being Erzya and Russian). The right to one's own language is guaranteed by the Constitution of the Mordovia Republic.^[11] The republican law of Mordovia N 19-3 issued in 1998^[12] declares Moksha one of its state languages and regulates its usage in various spheres: in state bodies such as Mordovian Parliament, official documents and seals, education, mass-media, information about goods, geographical names, road signs. However, the actual usage of Moksha and Erzya is rather limited.

Use in literature

Before 1917 about 100 books and pamphlets mostly of religious character were published. More than 200 manuscripts including at least 50 wordlists were not printed. In the 19th century the Russian Orthodox Missionary Society in Kazan published Moksha primers and elementary textbooks of the Russian language for the Mokshas. Among them were two fascicles with samples of Moksha folk poetry. The great native scholar Makar Evsevyev collected Moksha folk songs published in one volume in 1897. Early in the Soviet period, social and political literature predominated among published works. Printing of Moksha language books was all done in Moscow until the establishment of the Mordvinian national district in 1928. Official conferences in 1928 and 1935 decreed the northwest dialect to be the basis for the literary language.

Use in education

The first few Moksha schools were devised in the 19th century by Russian Christian missionaries. Since 1973 Moksha language was allowed to be used as language of instruction in first 3 grades of elementary school in rural areas and as a subject on a voluntary basis.^[13] The medium in universities of Mordovia is Russian, but the philological faculties of Mordovian State University and Mordovian State Pedagogical Institute offer a teacher course of Moksha.^[14][15] Mordovian State University also provides a course of Moksha for other humanitarian and some technical specialities.^[15] According to the annual statistics of the Russian Ministry of Education in 2014-2015 year there were 48 Moksha-medium schools (all in rural areas) where 644 students were taught, and 202 schools (152 in rural areas) where Moksha was studied as a subject by 15,783 students (5,412 in rural areas).^[16] Since 2010, study of Moksha in schools of Mordovia is not compulsory, but can be chosen only by parents.^[17]

Revitalisation efforts in Mordovia

Policies regarding the revival of the Moksha and Erzya languages in Mordovia started in the late 1990s, when the Language, and Education Laws were accepted. From the early 2000s on, the policy goal has been to create a unified Mordvin standard language despite differences between Erzya and Moksha.^[18]

However, there have been no executive programmes for the implementation of the Language Law. Only about a third of Mordvin students had access to Mordvin language learning, the rest of whom are educated through Russian. Moksha has been used as the medium of instruction in some rural schools, but the number of students attending those schools is in rapid decline. In 2004, Mordovian authorities attempted to introduce compulsory study of the Mordvin/Moksha as one of the Republic's official languages, but this attempt failed in the aftermath of the 2007 education reform in Russia.

Phonology

Vowels

There are eight vowels with limited allophony and reduction of unstressed vowels. Moksha has lost the original Uralic system of vowel harmony but maintains consonant-vowel harmony (palatalized consonants go with front vowels, non-palatalized with non-front).

	Front	Central	Back
Close	i ⟨i⟩ ⟨и⟩	ɨ ⟨į⟩ ⟨ы⟩	u ⟨u⟩ ⟨у, ю⟩
Mid	e ⟨e⟩ ⟨е, э⟩	ə ⟨ə⟩ ⟨а, о, е⟩	o ⟨o⟩ ⟨о⟩
Open	æ ⟨ä⟩ ⟨я, э, е⟩		ɑ ⟨a⟩ ⟨а⟩

There are some restrictions for the occurrence of vowels within a word:^[19]

1. [ɨ] is an allophone of the phoneme /i/ after phonemically non-palatalized ("hard") consonants.^[20]
2. /e/ does not occur after non-palatalized consonants, only after their palatalized ("soft") counterparts.
3. /a/ and /æ/ do not fully contrast after phonemically palatalized or non-palatalized consonants.^{[clarification needed]}
   • Similar to /e/, /æ/ does not occur after non-palatalized consonants either, only after their palatalized counterparts.
   • After palatalized consonants, /æ/ occurs at the end of words, and when followed by another palatalized consonant.
   • /a/ after palatalized consonants occurs only before non-palatalized consonants, i.e. in the environment /CʲaC/.
4. The mid vowels' occurrence varies by the position within the word:
   • In native words, /e, o/ are rare in the second syllable, but common in borrowings from e.g. Russian.
   • /e, o/ are never found in the third and following syllables, where only /ə/ occurs.
   • /e/ at the end of words is only found in one-syllable words (e.g. ве /ve/ "night", пе /pe/ "end"). In longer words, word-final ⟨е⟩ always stands for /æ/ (e.g. веле /velʲæ/ "village", пильге /pilʲɡæ/ "foot, leg").^[21]

Unstressed /ɑ/ and /æ/ are slightly reduced and shortened [ɑ̆] and [æ̆] respectively.

Consonants

There are 33 consonants in Moksha.

	Labial		Dental				Post- alveolar		Palatal		Velar
			plain		palat.
Nasal		m ⟨м⟩		n ⟨н⟩		nʲ ⟨нь⟩
Stop	p ⟨п⟩	b ⟨б⟩	t ⟨т⟩	d ⟨д⟩	tʲ ⟨ть⟩	dʲ ⟨дь⟩					k ⟨к⟩	ɡ ⟨г⟩
Affricate			ts ⟨ц⟩		tsʲ ⟨ць⟩		tɕ ⟨ч⟩
Fricative	f ⟨ф⟩	v ⟨в⟩	s ⟨с⟩	z ⟨з⟩	sʲ ⟨сь⟩	zʲ ⟨зь⟩	ʂ~ʃ ⟨ш⟩	ʐ~ʒ ⟨ж⟩	ç ⟨йх⟩		x ⟨х⟩
Approximant			l̥ ⟨лх⟩	l ⟨л⟩	l̥ʲ ⟨льх⟩	lʲ ⟨ль⟩				j ⟨й⟩
Trill			r̥ ⟨рх⟩	r ⟨р⟩	r̥ʲ ⟨рьх⟩	rʲ ⟨рь⟩

/ç/ is realized as a sibilant [ɕ] before the plural suffix /-t⁽ʲ⁾/ in south-east dialects.^[22]

Palatalization, characteristic of Uralic languages, is contrastive only for dental consonants, which can be either "soft" or " hard". In Moksha Cyrillic alphabet the palatalization is designated like in Russian: either by a "soft sign" ⟨ь⟩ after a "soft" consonant or by writing "soft" vowels ⟨е, ё, и, ю, я⟩ after a "soft" consonant. In scientific transliteration the acute accent or apostrophe are used.

All other consonants have palatalized allophones before the front vowels /æ, i, e/ as well. The alveolo-palatal affricate /tɕ/ lacks non-palatalized counterpart, while postalveolar fricatives /ʂ~ʃ, ʐ~ʒ/ lack palatalized counterparts.

Devoicing

Unusually for a Uralic language, there is also a series of voiceless liquid consonants: /l̥ , l̥ʲ, r̥ , r̥ʲ/ ⟨ʀ, ʀ́, ʟ, ʟ́⟩. These have arisen from Proto-Mordvinic consonant clusters of a sonorant followed by a voiceless stop or affricate: *p, *t, *tʲ, *ts⁽ʲ⁾, *k.

Before certain inflectional and derivational endings, devoicing continues to exist as a phonological process in Moksha. This affects all other voiced consonants as well, including the nasal consonants and semivowels. No voiceless nasals are however found in Moksha: the devoicing of nasals produces voiceless oral stops. Altogether the following devoicing processes apply:

Plain	b	m	d	n	dʲ	nʲ	ɡ	l	lʲ	r	rʲ	v	z	zʲ	ʒ	j
Devoiced	p		t		tʲ		k	l̥	l̥ʲ	r̥	r̥ʲ	f	s	sʲ	ʃ	ç

For example, before the nominative plural /-t⁽ʲ⁾/:

• кал /kal/ "fish" – калхт /kal̥t/ "fish"
• лем /lʲem/ "name" – лепть /lʲeptʲ/ "names"
• марь /marʲ/ "apple" – марьхть /mar̥ʲtʲ/ "apples"

Devoicing is, however, morphological rather than phonological, due to the loss of earlier voiceless stops from some consonant clusters, and due to the creation of new consonant clusters of voiced liquid + voiceless stop. Compare the following oppositions:

• калне /kalnʲæ/ "little fish" – калхне /kal̥nʲæ/ (< *kal-tʲ-nʲæ) "these fish"
• марьне /marʲnʲæ/ "my apples" – марьхне /mar̥ʲnʲæ/ ( < *marʲ-tʲ-nʲæ) "these apples"
• кундайне /kunˈdajnʲæ/ "I caught it" – кундайхне /kunˈdaçnʲæ/ ( < *kunˈdaj-tʲ-nʲæ) "these catchers"

Stress

Non-high vowels are inherently longer than high vowels /i, u, ə/ and tend to draw the stress. If a high vowel appears in the first syllable which follow the syllable with non-high vowels (especially /a/ and /æ/), then the stress moves to that second or third syllable. If all the vowels of a word are either non-high or high, then the stress falls on the first syllable.^[23]

Stressed vowels are longer than unstressed ones in the same position like in Russian. Unstressed vowels undergo some degree of vowel reduction.

Writing systems

Main article: Mordvinic alphabets

 

Moksha Cyrillic alphabet 1924–1927

Moksha has been written using Cyrillic with spelling rules identical to those of Russian since the 18th century. As a consequence of that, the vowels /e, ɛ, ə/ are not differentiated in a straightforward way.^[24] However, they can be (more or less) predicted from Moksha phonotactics. The 1993 spelling reform defines that /ə/ in the first (either stressed or unstressed) syllable must be written with the "hard" sign ⟨ъ⟩ (e.g. мъ́рдсемс mə́rdśəms "to return", formerly мрдсемс). The version of the Moksha Cyrillic alphabet used in 1924-1927 had several extra letters, either digraphs or single letters with diacritics.^[25] Although the use of the Latin script for Moksha was officially approved by the CIK VCKNA (General Executive Committee of the All Union New Alphabet Central Committee) on June 25, 1932, it was never implemented.

 

Moksha Latin alphabet 1932

From letters to sounds

Cyr	Аа	Бб	Вв	Гг	Дд	Ее				Ёё		Жж	Зз	Ии	Йй	Кк	Лл	Мм	Нн	Оо
IPA	a	b	v	ɡ	d	ʲe,	je,	ʲɛ,	ʲə	ʲo,	jo	ʒ	z	i	j	k	l	m	n	o,	ə
ScTr	a	b	v	g	d	ˊe,	je,	ˊä,	ˊə	ˊo,	jo	ž	z	i	j	k	l	m	n	o,	ə
Cyr	Пп	Рр	Сс	Тт	Уу	Фф	Хх	Цц	Чч	Шш	Щщ	Ъъ	Ыы	Ьь	Ээ		Юю		Яя
IPA	p	r	s	t	u	f	x	ts	tɕ	ʃ	ɕtɕ	ə	ɨ	ʲ	e,	ɛ	ʲu,	ju	ʲa,	æ,	ja
ScTr	p	r	s	t	u	f	χ	c	č	š	šč	ə	i͔	ˊ	e,	ä	ˊu,	ju	ˊa,	ˊä,	ja

From sounds to letters

IPA	a	ʲa	ja	ɛ	ʲɛ		b	v	ɡ	d	dʲ	e	ʲe	je	ʲə	ʲo	jo	ʒ	z	zʲ	i	ɨ	j	k	l	lʲ	l̥	l̥ʲ
Cyr	а	я	я	э	я,	е	б	в	г	д	дь	э	е	е	е	ё	ё	ж	з	зь	и	ы	й	к	л	ль	лх	льх
ScTr	a	ˊa	ja	ä	ˊä		b	v	g	d	d́	e	ˊe	je	ˊə	ˊo	jo	ž	z	ź	i	i͔	j	k	l	ľ	ʟ	ʟ́
IPA	m	n	o	p	r	rʲ	r̥	r̥ʲ	s	sʲ	t	tʲ	u	ʲu	ju	f	x	ts	tsʲ	tɕ	ʃ	ɕtɕ	ə
Cyr	м	н	о	п	р	рь	рх	рьх	с	сь	т	ть	у	ю	ю	ф	х	ц	ць	ч	ш	щ	о,	ъ,*	a,*	и*
ScTr	m	n	o	p	r	ŕ	ʀ	ʀ́	s	ś	t	t́	u	ˊu	ju	f	χ	c	ć	č	š	šč	ə

Grammar

Morphosyntax

Like other Uralic languages, Moksha is an agglutinating language with elaborate systems of case-marking and conjugation, postpositions, no grammatical gender, and no articles.^[26]

Case

Moksha has 13 productive cases, many of which are primarily locative cases. Locative cases in Moksha express ideas that Indo-European languages such as English normally code by prepositions (in, at, toward, on, etc.).

However, also similarly to Indo-European prepositions, many of the uses of locative cases convey ideas other than simple motion or location. These include such expressions of time (e.g. on the table/Monday, in Europe/a few hours, by the river/the end of the summer, etc. ), purpose (to China/keep things simple), or beneficiary relations. Some of the functions of Moksha cases are listed below:

• Nominative, used for subjects, predicatives and for other grammatical functions.
• Genitive, used to code possession.
• Allative, used to express the motion onto a point.
• Elative, used to code motion out of a place.
• Inessive, used to code a stationary state, in a place.
• Ablative, used to code motion away from a point or a point of origin.
• Illative, used to code motion into a place.
• Translative, used to express a change into a state.
• Prolative, used to express the idea of "by way" or "via" an action or instrument.
• Lative, used to code motion towards a place.

There is controversy about the status of the three remaining cases in Moksha. Some researchers see the following three cases as borderline derivational affixes.

• Comparative, used to express a likeness to something.
• Caritive (or abessive), used to code the absence of something.
• Causal, used to express that an entity is the cause of something else.

Case function	Case Name^[26]	Suffix	Vowel stem		Plain consonant stem		Palatalized consonant stem
			[ˈmodɑ]	land	[kut]	house	[velʲ]	town
Grammatical	Nominative	-Ø	[ˈmodɑ]	a land	[kud]	a house	[ˈvelʲæ]	a town
	Genitive	[nʲ]	[ˈmodɑnʲ]	of a land, a land's	[ˈkudʲənʲ]	of a house, a house's	[ˈvelʲənʲ]	of a town, a town's
Locative	Allative	[nʲdʲi]	[ˈmodɑnʲdʲi]	onto a land	[ˈkudənʲdʲi]	onto a house	[ˈvelʲənʲdʲi]	onto a town
	Elative	[stɑ]	[ˈmodɑstɑ]	out of a land	[kutˈstɑ]	out of a house	[ˈvelʲəstɑ]	out of a town
	Inessive	[sɑ]	[ˈmodɑsɑ]	in a land	[kutˈsɑ]	in a house	[ˈvelʲəsɑ]	in a town
	Ablative	[dɑ, tɑ]	[ˈmodɑdɑ]	from a land	[kutˈtɑ]	from the house	[ˈvelʲədɑ]	from the town
	Illative	[s]	[ˈmodɑs]	into a land	[kuts]	into a house	[ˈvelʲəs]	into a town
	Prolative	[vɑ, ɡɑ]	[ˈmodɑvɑ]	through/alongside a land	[kudˈɡɑ]	through/alongside a house	[ˈvelʲəvɑ]	through/alongside a town
	Lative	[v, u, i]	[ˈmodɑv]	towards a land	[ˈkudu]	towards a house	[ˈvelʲi]	towards a town
Other	Translative	[ks]	[ˈmodɑks]	becoming/as a land	[ˈkudəks]	becoming/as a house	[ˈvelʲəks]	becoming a town, as a town
	Comparative	[ʃkɑ]	[ˈmodɑʃkɑ]	size of a land, land size	[kudəʃˈkɑ]	size of a house, house size	[ˈvelʲəʃkɑ]	size of a town, town size
	Caritive	[ftəmɑ]	[ˈmodɑftəmɑ]	without a land, landless	[kutftəˈmɑ]	without a house, houseless	[ˈvelʲəftəma]	without a town, townless
	Causal	[ŋksɑ]	[ˈmodɑŋksɑ]	because of a land	[kudəŋkˈsɑ]	because of a house	[ˈvelʲəŋksɑ]	because of a town

Relationships between locative cases

As in other Uralic languages, locative cases in Moksha can be classified according to three criteria: the spatial position (interior, surface, or exterior), the motion status (stationary or moving), and within the latter, the direction of the movement (approaching or departing). The table below shows these relationships schematically:

Schematic Summary of Locative Cases

Spatial Position	Motion Status
	Stationary	Moving
		Approaching	Departing
Interior	inessive (in) [-sɑ]	illative (into) [-s]	elative (out of) [stɑ]
Surface	N/A	allative (onto) [nʲdʲi]	ablative (from) [dɑ, tɑ]
Exterior	prolative (by) [vɑ, gɑ]	lative (towards) [v, u, i]	N/A

Pronouns

Personal pronouns^[26]

Case	Singular			Plural
	First	Second	Third	First	Second	Third
nominative	[mon]	[ton]	[son]	[minʲ]	[tʲinʲ]	[sʲinʲ]
genitive	[monʲ]	[tonʲ]	[sonʲ]
allative	[monʲdʲəjnʲæ, tʲejnæ]	[ˈtonʲdʲəjtʲ, tʲəjtʲ]	[ˈsonʲdʲəjzɑ, ˈtʲejnzɑ]	[minʲdʲəjnʲek]	[tinʲdʲəjnʲtʲ]	[sʲinʲdʲəst]
ablative	[ˈmonʲdʲədən]	[ˈtonʲdʲədət]	[ˈsonʲdʲədənzɑ]	[minʲdʲənk]	[minʲdʲədent]	[sʲinʲdʲədəst]

Common expressions (Moksha–Russian–English)

Moksha	Romanization	English
Да	Da	Yes
Пара	Pára	Good
Стане	Stáne	Right
Аф	Af	Not
Аш	Ash	No
Шумбра́т!	Shumbrát!	Hello! (addressing one person)
Шумбра́тада!	Shumbrátada!	Hello! (addressing more than one person)
Сюкпря!	Siuk priá!	Thanks! (lit.: Bow)
Ульхть шумбра́!	Ult shumbrá!	Bless you!
У́леда шумбра́т!	Úleda shumbrát!	Bless you (to many)!
Ванфтт пря́цень!	Vanft priátsen	Take care!
Ванфтк пря́цень!	Vanftk priátsen!	Be careful!
Ко́да э́рят?	Kóda ériat?	How do you do?
Ко́да те́фне?	Kóda téfne?	How are your things getting on?
Лац!	Lats!	Fine!
Це́бярьста!	Tsébiarsta!	Great!
Ня́емозонк!	Niáyemozonk!	Good bye! (lit.: See you later)
Ва́ндыс!	Vándis!	See you tomorrow!
Шумбра́ста па́чкодемс!	Shumbrásta páchkodems!	Have a good trip/flight!
Па́ра а́зан - ле́здоманкса! - се́мбонкса!	Pára ázan - lézdomanksa! - sémbonksa!	Thank you - for help/assistance! - for everything!
Аш ме́зенкса!	Ash mézenksa!	Not at all!
Про́стямак!	Prо́stiamak!	I'm sorry!
Про́стямасть!	Prо́stiamast!	I'm sorry (to many)!
Тят кяжия́кшне!	Tiát kiazhiyákshne!	I didn't mean to hurt you!
Ужя́ль!	Uzhiál!	It's a pity!
Ко́да тонь ле́мце?	Kóda ton lémtse?	What is your name?
Монь ле́мозе ...	Mon lémoze ...	My name is ...
Мъзя́ра тейть ки́зa?	Mziára téit kíza?	How old are you?
Мъзя́ра те́йнза ки́за?	Mziára téinza kíza?	How old is he (she)?
Те́йне ... ки́зот.	Téine ... kízot.	I'm ... years old.
Те́йнза ... ки́зот.	Téinza ... kízot.	He (she) is ... years old.
Мя́рьгат сува́мс?	Miárgat suváms?	May I come in?
Мя́рьгат о́замс?	Miárgat о́zams?	May I have a seat?
О́зак.	Ózak.	Take a seat.
О́зада.	Ózada.	Take a seat (to many).
Учт аф ла́мос.	Ucht af lámos.	Please wait a little.
Мярьк та́ргамс?	Miárk tárgams?	May I have a smoke?
Та́ргак.	Tárgak.	[You may] smoke.
Та́ргада.	Tárgada.	[You may] smoke (to many).
Аф, э́няльдян, тят та́рга.	Af, énialdian, tiát tárga.	Please, don't smoke.
Ко́рхтак аф ла́мода ся́да ка́йгиста (сяда валомня).	Kórtak af lámoda siáda káigista (siáda valо́mne).	Please speak a bit louder (lower).
Азк ни́нге весть.	Azk nínge vest.	Repeat one more time.
Га́йфтть те́йне.	Gáift téine.	Call me.
Га́йфтеда те́йне.	Gáifteda téine.	Call me (to many).
Га́йфтть те́йне ся́да ме́ле.	Gáift téine siáda méle.	Call me later.
Сува́к.	Suvák.	Come in.
Сува́да.	Suváda.	Come in (to many).
Ётак.	Yо́tak.	Enter.
Ётада.	Yо́tada.	Enter (to many).
Ша́чема ши́цень ма́рхта!	Sháchema shítsen márhta!	Happy Birthday!
А́рьсян тейть па́ваз!	Ársian téit pávaz!	I wish you happiness!
А́рьсян тейть о́цю сатфкст!	Ársian téit ótsiu satfkst!	I wish you great success!
Тонь шумбраши́цень и́нкса!	Ton shumbrashítsen ínksa!	Your health!
О́чижи ма́рхта	Óchizhi márta!	Happy Easter!
Од Ки́за ма́рхта!	Od Kíza márta!	Happy New Year!
Ро́штува ма́рхта!	Róshtuva márta!	Happy Christmas!
То́ньге ста́не!	Tónge stáne!	Same to you!

References

1. Moksha language at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022)  
2. "Итоги Всероссийской переписи населения 2020 года. Таблица 6. Население по родному языку" [Results of the All-Russian population census 2020. Table 6. population according to native language.]. rosstat.gov.ru. Retrieved 2023-01-03.
3. [1] Encyclopædia Britannica
4. Janse, Mark; Sijmen Tol; Vincent Hendriks (2000). Language Death and Language Maintenance. John Benjamins Publishing Company. p. A108. ISBN 978-90-272-4752-0.
5. Зайковский Б. В. «К вопросу о мордовках» Труды Нижне-Волжского областного научного общества краеведения. Вып. 36, часть 1. Саратов, 1929 г
6. Вячеслав Юрьевич Заварюхин. Памятники нумизматики и бонистики в региональном историко-культурном процессе, автореферат диссертации, 2006
7. Vershinin 2009, p. 431
8. Vershinin 2005, p. 307
9. Vershinin 2005, p. 307
10. Vershinin 2005
11. (in Russian) Статья 12. Конституция Республики Мордовия = Article 12. Constitution of the Republic of Mordovia
12. (in Russian) Закон «О государственных языках Республики Мордовия»
13. Isabelle T. Kreindler, The Mordvinians: A doomed Soviet nationality? | Cahiers du monde russe et soviétique. Vol. 26 N°1. Janvier-Mars 1985. pp. 43–62
14. (in Russian) Кафедра мокшанского языка 2015-06-12 at the Wayback Machine
15. (in Russian) Исполняется 15 лет со дня принятия Закона РМ «О государственных языках Республики Мордовия» 2015-06-14 at the Wayback Machine // Известия Мордовии. 12.04.2013.
16. . Archived from the original on 2018-08-09. Retrieved 2020-04-07.
17. (in Russian) Прокуратура борется с нарушением законодательства об образовании = The Prosecutor of Mordovia prevents violations against the educational law. 02 February 2010.
18. Zamyatin, Konstantin (2022-03-24), "Language policy in Russia: The Uralic languages", The Oxford Guide to the Uralic Languages, Oxford University Press, pp. 79–90, doi:10.1093/oso/9780198767664.003.0005, ISBN 978-0-19-876766-4, retrieved 2022-10-18
19. Feoktistov 1993, p. 182.
20. Feoktistov 1966, p. 200.
21. Feoktistov 1966, p. 200–201.
22. Feoktistov 1966, p. 220.
23. Raun 1988, p. 100.
24. Raun 1988, p. 97.
25. Omniglot.com page on the Moksha language
26. (in Finnish) Bartens, Raija (1999). Mordvalaiskielten rakenne ja kehitys. Helsinki: Suomalais-ugrilaisen Seura. ISBN 9525150224. OCLC 41513429.

Bibliography

• Aasmäe, Niina; Lippus, Pärtel; Pajusalu, Karl; Salveste, Nele; Zirnask, Tatjana; Viitso, Tiit-Rein (2013). Moksha prosody. Suomalais-Ugrilaisen Seuran toimituksia. Helsinki: Suomalais-Ugrilainen Seura. ISBN 978-952-5667-47-9. Retrieved 2014-07-24.
• Feoktistov, Aleksandr; Saarinen, Sirkka (2005). Mokšamordvan murteet [Dialects of Moksha Mordvin]. Suomalais-Ugrilaisen Seuran toimituksia (in Finnish). Helsinki: Suomalais-Ugrilainen Seura. ISBN 952-5150-86-0.
• Juhász, Jenő (1961). Moksa-Mordvin szójegyzék (in Hungarian). Budapest.
• Paasonen, Heikki (1990–1999). Kahla, Martti (ed.). Mordwinisches Wörterbuch. Helsinki.
• Raun, Alo (1988). "The Mordvin Language". In Sinor, Denis (ed.). The Uralic Languages: Description, History and Foreign Influences. pp. 96–110. ISBN 90-04-07741-3.
• Kuznetsov, Stefan (1912), Russkaya istoricheskaya geografiya. Mordva (in Russian), Book on Demand Ltd, ISBN 5518066848
• Belyakov, Andrey (2013-03-12), Invisible Men in Russian Army in 16th century. Russian Army During the Reign of Ivan the Terrible. Materials of Academic Discussion Dedicated To 455th Anniversary of Beginning of the Livonian War. Part I. Is.2 (in Russian), Saint-Petersburg
• Fedorov-Davydov G.A.; Tsirkin A.V. (1966), Novye dannye ob Ityakovskom gorodishche v Temnikovskom r-ne Mordovskoy ASSR [New Data on the Ityakovskoe Settlement in the Temnikov District of the Mordovian ASSR]. Issledovaniya po arkheologii i etnografii Mordovskoy ASSR: Trudy Mordovskogo IYaLIE [Studies in Archaeology and Ethnography of the Mordovian ASSR: Proceedings of the Mordovian Scientific-Research Institute of Language, Literature and History] Is. 30 (in Russian), Saransk
• Filjushkin, Alexander (2008). Ivan the Terrible: A Military History. Frontline Books. ISBN 978-1848325043.
• Geraklitov, Aleksandr (2011). Selected Works. Vol. 1. Mordovsky belyak (in Russian). Mordovia Republic Humanities Research Institute. ISBN 978-5-900029-78-8.
• Zaikovsky, Bogdan (1929), Back To Mordovkas' Problem (in Russian), Saratov: Nizhne-Volzhskaya Oblast scientific and historical society review
• Serebrenikov, B.A.; Feoktistov, A.P.; Polyakov, O.Y., eds. (1998) [First published 1998]. Moksha-Russian Dictionary (in Russian). Digora. ISBN 5-200-02012-3.
• Semenkovich, Vladimir (1913). Geloni and Mordva: Historical Geography Of Upper Don And Oka Materials and Research (in Russian). Yeltsin President Library.
• Orbelli, Iosif (1982). Folklore And Traditions of Moks (in Russian). Nauka.
• Popov, M.M. (2005), Seliksa Mordvas (PDF) (in Russian), Saransk: Republic of Mordovia Government Research Institute of Humanities
• Akhmetyanov, Rifkat (1981). Common Spiritual Culture Vocabulary Of Middle Volga Peoples (in Russian). Nauka.
• Setälä, Eemil; Smirnov, Ivan (1898). East Finns. Ivan Smirnov's Historical And Ethnographical Essays (in Russian). Sankt Peterburg: Yeltsin President Library.
• Melnikov, Pavel (1879). In The Mountains (in Russian).
• Stetsyuk, Valentin (2022). "Ancient Greeks And Italics In Ukraine And Russia".
• Fyodorova, Marina (1976). Slavs, Mordvins And Antes (in Russian). Voronezhg: Voronezh University Publishing.
• Palchan Israel (2018). The Khazar story: The Tail of Two Languages: Russian Hebrew and the Khazar story. ISBN 978-9789659081. Retrieved 2022-04-16.
• Belinsky, Vladimir (2007). Moxel Country (in Russian). Smolensk: Posokh. ISBN 978-966-7601-91-1.
• Mierow, Charles Christopher, ed. (1915), The Gothic History of Jordanes, Princeton, Univ. Press
• Minorsky, Vladimir (1952), The Alān Capital *Magas and the Mongol Campaign, Cambridge University Press, JSTOR 608675
• Minorsky, Vladimir; al-ʿĀlam, Ḥudūd (1952), Ḥudūd al-ʿĀlam. The regions of the world: a Persian geography, 372 A.H./982 A.D para 52. The Alān Capital *Magas and the Mongol Campaign, Cambridge University Press
• Fournet, Arnaud (2008), Le vocabulaire Mordve de Witsen. Une forme ancienne du dialecte Zubu-Mokša. Études finno-ougriennes, tome 40
• Beekes, R.S.P.; Beekfirst2=L.V. (2010). Etymological Dictionary of Greek. Vols. 1 & 2.

In Russian

• Аитов Г. Новый алфавит – великая революция на Востоке. К межрайонным и краевой конференции по вопросам нового алфавита. — Саратов: Нижневолжское краевое издательство, 1932.
• Ермушкин Г. И. Ареальные исследования по восточным финно-угорским языкам = Areal research in East Fenno-Ugric languages. — М., 1984.
• Поляков О. Е. Учимся говорить по-мокшански. — Саранск: Мордовское книжное издательство, 1995.
• Феоктистов А. П. Мордовские языки // Языки народов СССР. — Т.3: Финно-угроские и самодийские языки — М., 1966. — С. 172–220.
• Феоктистов А. П. Мордовские языки // Основы финно-угорского языкознания. — М., 1975. — С. 248–345.
• Феоктистов А. П. Мордовские языки // Языки мира: уральские языки. — М., 1993. — С. 174–208.
• Cherapkin, Iosif (1933). Moksha-Mordvin - Russian Dictionary. Саранск.
• Vershinin, Valery (2009). Mordvinic (Erzya and Moksha languages) Etymological Dictionary (in Russian). Vol. 4. Yoshkar Ola.
• Vershinin, Valery (2005). Mordvinic (Erzya and Moksha languages) Etymological Dictionary (in Russian). Vol. 3. Yoshkar Ola.

In Moksha

• Девяткина, Татьяна (2002). Мокшэрзянь мифологиясь [Tatyana Devyatkina. Moksha-Erzya mythology] (in Moksha). Tartu: University of Tartu. ISBN 9985-867-24-6.
• Alyoshkin A. (1988). "Siyan Karks [Silver Belt]". Moksha (in Moksha). 6.

Footnotes

External links

•   Media related to Moksha language at Wikimedia Commons

 

Moksha edition of Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

• Mokshen Pravda newspaper
• (robust finite-state, open-source)
• Periodicals, texbooks and manuscripts in Moksha language in National Library of Finland