#mari language

Forming the plural

The most common way of forming a plural in Mari is just adding -влак to the end of a noun

пöрт house, пöрт-влак houses

Note that the hyphen is a part of the suffix and is always used to connect the suffix to the noun

There are two other plural suffixes that are used in dialectal or colloquial speech, -шамыч and -шач, which function in a way similar to  -влак.

пöрт-шамыч/пöрт-шач houses

There are also two plural suffixes that have rather specific meanings and are restricted in their use, ла and мыт, which are both added directly to the noun without a hyphen. ла can be used with inanimate nouns especially in combination with cases, while мыт can be used with names and nouns referring to people to create a sociative plural with a meaning along the lines of “the noun and those with them”.

Using the plural

The way plurals are used in Mari differs quite a lot from the way for example English or Finnish use them and often you actually don’t need a plural where you might want to put one. The rules for when to omit the plural suffix are as follows:

1. Predicative adjectives and nouns are in the singular.

ме туныктышо улына we are teachers

2. Attributes do not get a plural suffix even if they modify a noun that is in the plural.

изи пий-влак small dogs

3. Nouns are in the singular when they are preceded by a numeral.

ик поҥго one mushroom, кок поҥго two mushrooms

4. For objects that come in pairs by default, such as eyes or socks, the singular form of the noun refers to the pair. To refer to only one eye or one sock, пел, literally half, is added before the noun.

шинча eyes, пел шинча eye

What should also be considered is the way the plural suffix is used in combination with cases and possessive suffixes. Luckily, the rules are very simple.

1. Case suffixes are always after the plural suffix

пöртыштö in a/the house, пöрт-влакыште in (the) houses

As you can see, in some cases, such as inessive, the plural suffix causes a shift in the stress as well as affects the vowel harmony

2. Possessive suffixes can be either before or after the plural suffix

пöртем my house, пöртем-влак/пöрт-влакем my houses

I think that’s all for today, hope y’all found this helpful or interesting, and feel free to point out if something is wrong or otherwise weird!

Mari is a Finno-Ugric language spoken in the Mari Republic (Russian Federation by approximately 510 000 people

I will also add IPA (International Pronunciation Alphabet), listen to the sounds, that human languages use here.

❄️ теле, tele [’tele] - winter

🌱 шошо, šošo ['ʃoʃo] - spring

☀️ кеҥеж, keŋež [keŋ'eʒ] - summer 

🍂 шыже, šõže ['ʃɤʒe] - autumn, fall

жапсык, žapsõk ['ʒɑpsɤk] - season

Mari is a Finno-Ugric language spoken in the Mari Republic (Russian Federation) by approximately 510 000 people

0.  зеро (zero) - zero

1.  ик (ik) - one

2.  кок (kok) - two

3. кум (kum) - three

4. ныл (nõl) - four

5. вич (vič) - five

6. куд (kud) - six

7. шым (šõm) - seven

8. кандаш (kandaš) - eight

9. индеш (indeš) - nine

10. лу (lu) - ten

11. латик (latik) - eleven

12. латкок (latkok) - twelve

13. латкум (latkum) - thirteen

14. латныл (latnõl) - fourteen

15. латвич (latvič) - fifteen

16. латкуд (latkud) - sixteen

17. латшым (latšõm) - seventeen

18. латкандаш (latkandaš) - eighteen

19. латиндеш (latindeš) - nineteen

20. коло (kolo) - twenty

30. кумло (kumlo) - thirty

40. нылле (nõlle) - forty

50. витле (vitle) - fifty

60. кудло (kudlo) - sixty

70. шымле (šõmle) - seventy

80. кандашле (kandašle) - eighty

90. индешле (indešle) - ninety

100. шӱдӧ (šüdö) - hundred

1000. тӱжем (tüžem) - thousand

1/2. пел (pel) - half

Mari song "Lum veleš" (Snow Is Falling)

Singing Lyubov Kupsoltseva. Марийская песня "Лум велеш". Поёт Любовь Купсольцева. Марий муро. http://marisong.ru Текст/Lyrics: А лум велеш, пӧрдеш, модеш, Шыман кок тӱрвым шупшалеш, Шыман кок тӱрвым шупшалеш, Эре пырля лияш ӱжеш. A lum veles, pördes, modes, Syman kok türvym supsales, Syman kok türvym supsales, Ere pyrlia lijas üžes. Перевод/Translation: А снег идёт, кружится, играет, Нежно губы целует, Нежно губы целует, Зовёт всегда быть вместе. Snow is falling, whirling, playing, Softly kissing the lips, Softly kissing the lips, Calling to be for ever together.

The Mari language is a Uralic language spoken in Russia, in the Mari republic, Марий Эл (mari el). It is the fourth biggest language amongst the Uralic languages, as it has approximately 600 000 speakers. There are two significantly different main dialects: Meadow (Eastern) Mari and Hill (Western) Mari. Although the language faces some serious threats when it comes to its survival, Mari is definitely doing well compared to most of the other Uralic languages.

Meadow Mari alpabet.

Hill Mari alphabet.

Mari is an officially recognized language in the Mari republic, it is taught in more than 200 schools, and there is even a Mari national theatre founded in 1919 located in Yoshkar-Ola (Йошкар-Ола,) the main city of Mari El. However, both dialects are losing active speakers; those who use the language on daily basis, and thus are more likely to transmit it to the next generation than the more passive speakers. Especially young people and speakers who live in larger cities are less likely to use the language actively. Like many other Uralic peoples, the Mari people have faced and do still face oppression and discrimination for speaking their native language. The republic has had the same president, Leonid Markelov, for over twenty years now, and according to a Mari activist Vasili Pektejev, the position of Mari language has worsened the whole time Markelov, who is not Mari himself, has been in charge. Even the national theatre has “russified” after the beginning of the 21st century.

From time to time the Maris are called “the last pagans of Europe,” since most of them practice their own native religion despite of countless efforts to convert them to Christianity or simply stop the traditional practices, the former being carried out by missionaries and the latter by Soviet legislations that fortunately are not enforced anymore. The Mari priests themselves reject the pagan label and prefer the term traditional religion, as priest Vyacheslav Mamayev explains during an interview on Mari religion. Most of the Mari people are officially baptized, but they still continue practising the traditional religion, although some Orthodox Christian traditions might also be practised.

Generally speaking the Mari language is definitely in a better position than many other Uralic languages: both main dialects have a written form and texts available, the language is officially recognized and taught in schools, there are newspapers and radio programmes and tons of materials on both dialects, but there is still a lot of work to be done to preserve the language. Leonid Markelov will continue to make matters worse as long as he is in charge, and his regime doesn’t allow the opposition to have a voice. We should not settle for what we have, instead we should support Mari activists and fight for the survival of yet another beautiful Uralic language.