#uralangs

Okay, so I don’t know what you already know about Finnish, maybe you’ve seen the claims that it’s the most difficult language to learn, listen to Finnish rock/metal, heard that Tolkien used Finnish as an inspiration for Quenya (one of the Elvish languages) or just have seen the memes about the length of Finnish words.

Now, based on the chats I’ve had with people learning Finnish I can promise you that it isn’t as daunting as people like to claim. It’s a bit weird and a lot different if your language background is English or really, any Indo-European languages. (NB: Finnish and Swedish aren’t similar as they are from different language families, Swedish has influenced the word order in Finnish and given us some loans, but that’s all, Estonian and Karelian are probably the most similar languages (oh yea and also meänkieli))

But here’s some basics about Finnish without getting too much into the building blocks of the language:

The Finnish language is spoken in Finland as a native language by 4.9 million people and as a second language[1] by 0.5 million people additionally there are estimates of 0,5 to 0,7 million people speaking the language outside of Finland.

The most important distinction when considering the Finnish language is the distinction between the so called written (kirjakieli) and spoken (puhekieli) Finnish, it isn’t that there’s a clear difference in how Finns speak and write – the need to draw a distinction between the two arises from the need to separate formal and standardized (written/kirjakieli) from informal and dialectal (spoken/puhekieli). This is because the formal version of Finnish has been mostly artificially created – with major developments in the 16th and 19th centuries, while the informal version is simply many a different dialects wearing a blue-and-white trench coat.

Now, just a bit abt the memes because I get that their ridiculousness is lost on people who don’t know the language:

- epäjärjestelmällistyttämättömyydelläänsäkäänköhän

- lentokonesuihkuturbiinimoottoriapumekaanikkoaliupseerioppilas

- juoksentelisinkohan

- riiuuyöaie/hääyöaie

- hyppytyynytyydytys

Okay, so yea daunting, right? Especially the two first ones are nigh nonsensical even to a native once you start beaking them down, like no one has energy to deal w/ compounds that long. The second two are a bit shorter and make sense, but along w/ the rest of them, “just because the language can do this” words, they don’t really get used as anything but entertainment.

THE LAST ONE THO????? It has never made sense to me? I don’t know who came up with it but like looking at it and even with knowing it’s supposed meaning, I still don’t get it and you shouldn’t trust it.

Okay, so yea gonna share w/ you also the secret abt those long-ass word lists of how many forms a single word in Finnish can take, bc like seriously, it’s just like yea no.

Okay, so we have fifteen cases, all nominals can take them.

Wait, nominals?

Yea, so Nouns, Pronouns, Adjectives and Numerals.

They all basically function the same when it comes to inflections.

(we are gonna just dismiss the fact that there are special verb types that can take cases as well as some particles have some inflections but those don’t matter rn)

Now, yea, only fifteen cases but a single word can have a million forms???

That’s because there’re case-independent suffixes and clitics that can be added into the end of any word, but they have mostly a fixed meaning so like piling each of them x15 xwhatever number of other things you can add on is just making the agglutinativity seem more daunting rather than showing off all the forms of the word “dog”.

Karelian is a Baltic Finnic language with roughly 50,000 fluent speakers in Russia and 5,000 in Finland. Its closest related languages are Finnish, Ludic, Veps, Ingrian, Votic, Estonian, and Livonian. Modern Karelian developed from Proto-Karelian, which in turn developed from Proto-Baltic-Finnic, the common ancestor of all Baltic Finnic languages.

Karelians are indigenous to the areas surrounding Lake Ladoga, however Karelians have experienced two significant waves of migration. In the 1600s, Sweden-Finland’s area of influence spread to Karelia, causing a portion of the Karelian population to flee east, some migrating all the way to Tver where they live to this day. Also notably during WWII, war zones spreading to Karelia forced many to evacuate their homes and seek refuge in Finland. Border Karelia and the Karelian Isthmus were annexed by Russia in 1940, which led to the relocated Karelians staying in Finland more permanently.

In the Karelian Republic of Russia, Karelian has the official status of a minority language. In Finland it has been officially recognized as a non-regional minority language since 2009, which in practice is just a formality.

Estonian is an Uralic language spoken by approximately 1,1 million people in mainly in Estonia but also in Sweden, the US and Finland. It is an official language of Estonia and the EU. Estonian belongs to the South-Finnic group of the Finnic branch of Uralic languages. Thus, Estonian is rather closely related to languages such as Finnish and Karelian and more distantly related to for example Hungarian and Mari. Estonian itself can be divided into two main dialect groups - northern and southern dialects. By some the two are even considered to be different languages. In addition, there is also Northeastern coastal Estonian, which has very few speakers left.

The oldest texts written in Estonian date back to the 13th century, the first book published in Estonian date back to mid 1520’s. Similarly to for example Finnish and Mari, the essential reason for the creation of written language was spreading Christianity. The Estonian literary tradition began in the early 19th century as the ideas of The Enlightenment spread across Europe. Around those times the language was heavily reformed and developed. A major figure in the birth of native Estonian literature was Kristjan Jaak Peterson whose birthday is nowadays celebrated as Mother Tongue Day in Estonia. Ever since Estonia became independent in 1918, Estonian has been a state language and was one even during the Soviet era, though at that time alongside Russian.

Estonian is an agglutinative language while also being relatively fusional compared to for example Finnish and Hungarian, which are noticeably more purely agglutinative. In Estonian there are 14 cases, which might sound scary but we can promise you it’s not that bad! The language that has affected Estonian the most is German, but also Russian and Finnish have had an effect on the language. An interesting part of the language’s history is the end of the 19th century when a lot of vocabulary was artificially created and integrated into the language.

Each example word has a link to it's pronunciaton (Forvo)

Hungarian uses a modified version of the Latin alphabet, every letter represents one sound, there are very few exceptions to this. In Hungarian, it is really common that two letters represent a single sound. These two (or even three) letter combinations are counted as a single letter of the Hungarian alphabet.

a [ɒ] - alma ['ɒlmɒ] - apple

á [a:] - álom [’a:lom] - dream

b [b] - bér [’be:r] - wage

c [t͡s] - cica [ˈt͡sit͡sɒ] - cat

cs [t͡ʃ] - csillag [ˈt͡ʃilːɒɡ] - star

d [d] - denevér [ˈdɛnɛveːr] - bat

dz [d͡z] - edző [ˈɛd͡zːø:] - coach, trainer As you see this word is pronounced a bit differently than it is written. The completely phonetic version would be “eddző”. These things happen in Hungarian, although they aren’t frequent.

dzs [d͡ʒ] - bandzsa [ˈbɒnd͡ʒɒ] - cross-eyed

e [ɛ] - egér [ˈɛɡeːr] - mouse 

é [e:] - ér [e:r] - vein, rill

f [f] - fa [ˈfɒ] - tree

g [g] - gömb [ˈɡømb] - sphere

gy [ɟ] - gyár [ˈɟaːr] - factory

h [h] - hó [’ho:] - snow

i [i] - idő [ˈidøː] - time, weather

í [i:] - ín [’i:n] - sinew

j [j] - jó [’jo:] - good

k [k] - keksz [ˈkɛks] - biscuit

l [l] - ló [’lo:] - horse

ly [j] - lyuk [’juk] - hole This one is pronounced exactly the same as j. This is probably the most tricky part of Hungarian spelling. You simply have to learn which one to use in a specific word.

m [m] - méz [’me:z] - honey 

n [n] - nő [ˈnøː] - woman, female

ny [ɲ] - nyúl [ˈɲuːl] - rabbit, bunny 

o [o] - orr [’or:] - nose 

ó [o:] - óra [ˈoːrɒ] - watch, clock, hour

ö [ø] - öv [’øv] - belt

ő [øː] - őr [’øːr] - guard

p [p] - pék [’pe:k] - baker

r [r] - róka [ˈroːkɒ] - fox 

s [ʃ] - sárga [ˈʃaːrɡɒ] - yellow 

sz [s] - szél [’se:l] - wind

t [t] - tó [’to:] - lake, pond 

ty [c] - tyúk [’cu:k] - hen, chicken 

u [u] - utca [ˈut͡sːɒ] - street

ú [u:] - úr [’u:r] - Sir, lord

ü [y] - ükapa [ˈykɒpɒ]- great-great-grandfather

ű [y:] - gyűrű [ˈɟyːryː]- ring

v [v] - víz [’vi:z] - water

z [z] - zöld [ˈzøld] - green

zs [ʒ] - zsálya [ˈʒaːjɒ] - sage

*Note1: Every Hungarian vowel is fully and separately pronounced, which means that there are no diphthongs

The personal pronouns of the Mari language are as follows:

I - мый you (singular) - тый he/she/they(singular)/it - тудо we - ме you (plural) - те they (plural) - нуно

Note that Mari does not have gendered pronouns nor does it distinguish between human and non-human things. Thus, the pronoun тудо corresponds to the english pronouns “he”, “she”, singular “they” and “it”. Unlike a lot of languages, such as German and Hungarian, Mari does not have separate “formal” and “informal” pronouns, thus saving a learner from the fear of accidentally being rude by using the wrong pronoun.

Now, moving on to the demonstrative pronouns:

this - тиде that - тудо these - нине those - нуно

And finally, the interrogative pronouns:

who - кӧ what - мо

In Hungarian, verbs not only show agreement with their subjects but also carry information on the definiteness of their direct objects. Thus, there are two types of conjugations, definite (used when there is a definite object) and indefinite.(used when there is no definite object)

An object is indefinite if it is:

- a noun with no determiner → Hallasz. (‘You (can) hear’) - a noun with an indefinite article (egy; ‘a/an’) → Hallasz egy madarat. (‘You hear a bird’) - a noun with a numeral or indefinite determiner (all/some/no etc) → Hallasz bármit is? (‘Do you hear anything?’) - a first/second person pronoun stated or unstated → Hallasz engem. (‘You hear me’) - an indefinite pronoun (everything, anything, someone) Hallasz valamit. (‘You hear something’) - interrogative pronoun → Mit hallasz? (‘What do you hear?’) - relative pronouns → A hang, amit hallasz… (‘The voice that you hear...’)

A definite object is:

- a noun with a definite article → Hallod a madarakat. (‘You hear the birds’) - a noun with the determiners melyik, hányadik ‘which’, mindegyik ‘each’, noun can be omitted → Hallod mindegyik gyerek hangját. (‘You hear each kid’s voice’) - third person pronoun stated or unstated → Hallod (őt). (‘You hear her’) - demonstrative pronoun (ez/az ‘this/that’) → Hallod ezt a zajt? (‘Do you hear this noise?’) - the indefinite pronoun mind ‘all [of something]’→ Hallod mindet. (‘You hear all [the birds]’) - a subordinate clause → Hallod, ahogy tapsolok. (‘You hear (that) I’m clapping)

If there’s no explicit object, it is usually implied that the definite verb form refers to a third person singular pronoun. If an indefinite verb form requires an object, an indefinite object, “me”, you(sg) can be inferred, plural forms are explicit most of the time.

With the help of this, a speaker can refer to people without making them explicit. Usually a context clarifies if it is a third person or a non-third person pronoun.

Examples with definite objects:

Festi (“s/he is painting”) → meaning: s/he’s painting it (the picture) Mossa (“s/he is washing”) → meaning: s/he’s washing it (the shirt)

Examples with indefinite objects:

Fest (“s/he’s painting) → meaning: s/he’s painting something – object can be omitted, just like in English Mos (“she’s washing”) → meaning: s/he’s washing something Fut (“s/he’s running”) → it’s an intransitive verb, the meaning isn’t ambiguous

Conjugations of the verb ‘to read’ olvasni

Mari uses a modified version of the cyrillic alphabet. The alphabet presented here is that of Meadow Mari, but later on we’ll be introducing you also to the Hill Mari alphabet. From now on in this post, the term Mari will be used to refer to Meadow Mari for the sake of simplicity.

а б в г д е ё ж з и й к л м н ҥ о ӧ п р с т у ӱ ф х ц ч ш щ ъ ы ь э ю я

Now, let’s take a look at how those bois are pronounced. Much like many of its relatives, the language is rather phonetic so once you know the sound the letters make separately, you just need few extra rules to be able to pronounce pretty much any word correctly.

Consonants

In Mari there are the following consonant sounds: (letter - example word with link to forvo (translation) - IPA - approximate sound)

б - ӱмбал (sour cream) - /b/ - the b in “big”

в -  вӱд (water) - /v~β/ - either the v in “vast” or the b in the spanish “libre”

г - туге (yes) - /g~ɣ/ - either the g in “give” or the g in the spanish “amigo”

ж - жап (time) - /ʒ/ - the si in “vision”

з - рвезе (boy) - /z/ - the z in “zoo”

й - йӱр (rain) - /j/ - the y in “yo-yo”

к - кол (fish) - /k/ - the ck in “thick”

л -  лум (snow) - /l/ - the l in “live”

м - муно (egg) - /m/ - the m in “move”

н - нимо (nothing) - /n/ - the n in “name”

ҥ - таҥ (friend) - /ŋ/ - the ng in “hang”

п - пырыс (cat) - /p/ - the p in “tape”

р - рис (rice) - /r/ - no equivalent in english, the rr in the spanish “perro”

с - сераш (to write) - /s/ - the s in “say”

т - теле (winter) - /t/ - the t in “put”

ф* - флаг (flag) - /f/ - the f in “find”

х* - характер (character) - /x/ - no equivalent in english, the russian х

ц* - центр (center) - /t͡s/ - the ts in “cats”

ч - чӱчӱ (uncle) - /t͡ɕ/ - no equivalent in english, somewhat similar to the ch in “choose”

ш - шочмо (monday)  - /ʃ/ - the sh in “ship”

щ* - щит (shield) - /ɕ/ - no equivalent in english, the russian щ

* Used only in Russian loanwords

Also note, that д, when followed by a consonant or in word-final position is pronounced as /t/.

Vowels

The Mari language contains the following vowel sounds: (letter - example word with link to forvo (translation) - IPA - approximate sound)

а - ача (father) - /a/ - like the a in “palm” but shorter

э - эр (morning) - /е/ - like the english e in “get”

и - икте (one) - /i/ - the ea in “easy” but shorter

o - мотор (beautiful) - /o/ - like the o in “door” but shorter

ӧ - мӧҥгӧ (home) - /ø/ - like the i in “bird” but shorter

у - уна (guest) - /u/ - the oo in “boot” but shorter

ӱ - ӱдыр (girl) - /y/ - no english equivalent, the german ü

ы - пырыс (cat) - /ɤ̘/ - like the final e in “heaven”

You might now be wondering why е, ё, ю and я weren’t covered. Well, the reason is that they don’t have their own sounds but instead basically have a й-sound before the vowel sound, like there is one before o in the english “yolk”. Thus, ё is й+о, ю is й+у and я is й+а. It is worth noting that ю and я palatalize preceding н and л, and that ё is only found in Russian loanwords and in native Mari words йо is used instead. While е basically is й+э, that’s not all there is to it. э is used only in the beginning of words and before vowels, otherwise /e/ is marked simply with е. Thus, миен is pronounced /mijem/ while толем is /tolem/ and not /toljem/.

In addition, there are two letters, ь and ъ, that have no sound value of their own, but are still essential for pronouncing Mari correctly. ь, the soft sign, is simple - it indicates that the previous letter is palatalized. ъ, the hard sign, is used only in compound words where the first word ends in a consonant and the second one starts with e, я, or ю where it separates the two parts of the compound. In case of е, it indicates a syllable break and thus, shows that the letter is pronounced as /je/ instead of /e/.

Stress

The stress in Mari doesn’t always fall on some set syllable, but that doesn’t mean it’d be in any way random or arbitrary. The stress falls on the last full vowel of the word, meaning vowels apart from ы, and е, о and ö in word-final position. If there are no full vowels in the word, the stress falls on the first vowel. Thus, the words пырыс (cat), теле (winter), олма (apple) and толет (you steal) have the following stresses (bolding indicating stressed vowel): пырыс, теле, олма and толет.