Morphonological Features in the Paradigm of the Main Declension in the Suzgar Type of Moksha Dialects in the Ruzaevsky Area

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Introduction

The Mordvin languages ​​have attracted the attention of scholars for a long time. The study of the dialects of the Mordvin languages ​​in general and the dialectal features of the Moksha language in particular was first started by foreign researchers¹ in the late 19th – early 20th centuries and was taken up by Russian linguists: D. V. Bubrikh, A. A. Shakhmatov, B. A. Serebrennikov,

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¹ Ahlqvist A. Versuh einer Mokscha-Mordvinischen Grammatik. Saint Petersburg: Commissionäre der Kai- serlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften, 1861. 214 pp.; Paasonen H. Mordwinische Lautlehre. Akademishe Abhandlung. Helsingfors, 1893. Mordwinische Lautlehre. MSFOu XXII. Helsingfors: Société Finno-Ougrienne, 1903. 123 p.; Paasonen H. Mordwinische Volksdichtung. Helsinki: Suomalais-ugrilainen Seura, 1938–1981. B. I – 1938 (509 s); B. II – 1939 (574 s); B. III – 1941 (343 s); B. IV – 1947 (897 s); B. V – 1977 (525 s.); B.VI – 1977 (236 s.); B. VII – 1980 (471 s.); B. VIII – 1981 (499 s.); Ravila P. Ein Beiträg zur Geschichte der Vokalharmonie im Mordwinischen // Nyelvtudományi közlemények, L. Budapest : Magyar Tudományos Akadémia Nyelvtudományi Intézetének, 1936. köt. 50.pp. 381–385; Steinitz W. Geschichte des finnisch-ugrischen Vokalismus, Series B, Linguistica 2. Stockholm: Acta Instituti Hungarici Universitatis Homiensis, 1944. 144 rubles; Itkonen E. Zur Frage nach der Entwicklung des Vokalismus der ersten Selbe in den Finnisch-Ugrischen Sprachen, uschenie im Mordvinischen // Finnisch-Ugrische Forschungen. Helsinki, 1946. Vol. XXIX, Heft 1–3. Pp. 222–337.

 

4. P. Feoktistov² and others, in the middle of the 20th century continued with the research of young scientists³ of the linguistics department of the Mordovian Research Institute of Language, Literature, History and Economics under the Council of Ministers of the MASSR. In recent years, comprehensive works on Moksha dialects have been presented by G. S. Ivanova, M. Z. Levina, N. F. Kukushkina, I. Ya. Zhebratkina, N. V. Ivanova4.

Ruzaevsky district is located in the central part of the Republic of Mordovia. A. P. Feoktistov in his work "Mordovian Dialects", presenting a dialect classification of the Moksha language, attributed the dialects of the Ruzaevsky District of the Mordovian ASSR (in particular, the villages of Levzha (l'evži), Perkhlyai (pǝR'l'ej), Suzgar'e (suzg'er'g'e), Trusklyai (turksl'ej), Pushkino (puškina), etc.) to the Krasnoslobodsko-Sindrovsko-Shaigovsko-Levzhinskaya subgroup of dialects of the central dialect, taking into account, among other things, the territorial principle of demarcation.

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² Bubrikh D. V. Instructions and program for collecting material for a dialectological atlas of the Mordov (Erzya and Moksha) languages. Saransk: Mordgiz, 1935. 46 p.; Bubrikh D.V. Historical grammar of the Erzya language. Saransk: Mordov. book publishing house, 1953. 270 pp.; Mordovian ethnographic collection / Compiled by A. A. Shakhmatov. St. Petersburg: Printing house of the Imperial Academy of Sciences, 1910. 848 pp.; Serebrennikov B. A. Historical morphology of Mordovian languages. M.: Nauka, 1967. 262 pp.; Feoktistov A.P. Mordovian languages ​​and their dialects // Questions of the ethnic history of the Mordovian people. M.: Publishing House of the USSR Academy of Sciences, 1960. T. LХIII. Vol. 1. pp. 63–83;

³ Devaev S.Z. Middle Vad dialect of the Moksha-Mordovian language // Essays on Mordovian dialects. Saransk: Mordov. book publishing house, 1963. Vol. 2. Pp. 261–433; Babushkina R. V. Temyashevsky dialect of the Moksha-Mordvin language // Essays on the Mordvin dialects. Saransk: Mordov. book publishing house, 1966. Vol. 4. Pp. 16–226; Lipatov S. I. Rybkinsk-Mamolaevsky dialects of the Moksha-Mordvin language: author's abstract. diss. … Cand. of Philological Sciences. Tartu, 1972. 24 p.; Chudayeva O. I. Old Pshenevsky dialect of the Moksha-Mordvin language // Essays on the Mordvin dialects. Saransk: Mordov. book publishing house, 1963. Vol. 3. Pp. 27–49. 4 Ivanova G. S. The vowel system in the dialects of the Moksha language in historical light. Saransk: Publishing house of the Mordov. University, 2006. 176 p.; Levina M. Z. Mokshen' dialectology. Saransk: Publishing house of the Mordov. University, 2014. 176 p.; Kukushkina N. F. Phonetics of the Moksha dialects (in the linguogeographic aspect): author's abstract. diss. ... candidate of philological sciences. Saransk, 2012. 21 p.; Zhebratkina I. Ya. Glushkovo-Aleksov dialects in the system of the Moksha dialects: author's abstract. diss. ... candidate of philological sciences. Saransk, 2013. 19 p.; Ivanova N. V. Transitional dialect of the Moksha language (phonetics, inflection): author's abstract. dis. ... candidate of philological sciences. Saransk, 2022. 25 p.

 

"The subgroup under consideration (as, incidentally, the Temnikov-Atyurev and Rybkinsk-Mamolaev) historically became the core of the formation of the Moksha written literary language ..."⁵. However, a more detailed study of the dialectal features of the Moksha dialects of the Ruzaevsky area reveals their relative heterogeneity, both at the phonetic and morphological levels [1].

The analysis of the dialect material we collected showed that the Suzgarev dialects of the Ruzaevka area represent an eking type of dialects of the Moksha language and are territorially located in a multilingual environment: along with other dialects of the central dialect, they are adjacent to the iking dialects of the Insar dialect and the Penza region in the south, and to the Erzya in the east.

The concept of "morphonology", which was accepted ambiguously by the scientific community⁷, was first introduced into scientific circulation by N. S. Trubetskoy⁶. In modern Russian linguistics, morphonology is an independent tier, occupying an intermediate position between phonology and morphology.

It should be noted that until now, the issues of morphonology that occur in the Moksha dialect area, as well as in the Moksha dialects of the Ruzaevsky district, have not been considered as a subject of special research, which explains the relevance of our work. In our study, we pursue the goal of describing the morphonological features of the paradigm of the main declension in the Moksha dialects of the Suzgarevsky type.

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⁵ Feoktistov A. P. Dialects of Mordovian languages ​​// H. Paasonens Mordwinisches Worterbuch. Helsinki: Suomalais-ugrilainen seura, 1990. Vol. 1. P. 78.

⁶ Trubetskoy N. S. Some considerations regarding morphonology // Prague linguistic circle. Moscow: Progress, 1967. P. 115.

⁷ Reformatsky A. A. Once again about the status of morphonology, its boundaries and tasks // Phonological studies. M.: Izd-vo "Nauka", 1975. P. 98.

 

The main task is to identify morphological features in the considered dialects during agglutination of inflectional affixes,

which, in turn, presupposes the definition of phonetic processes acting on the morphemic seam during mutual adaptation of phonemes related to different morphemes, as well as their influence on the variation of noun stems in different case forms. As comparative material, dialect data from the neighboring, Levzhinsky type of Moksha dialects and, if necessary, the Erzya language were used.

 

Literature Review

Of the two Mordvin languages ​​(Moksha and Erzya), the problems of morphophonology are better covered in the Erzya language. Thus, in the works of D. V. Tsygankin⁸ a description is given of morphological phenomena in the field of nominal and verbal inflection, as well as the morphology of forms of the category of definiteness [2], which find various parallels in the Erzya dialect area, where the author first used the term "morphonology" in relation to the analysis of the inflectional nominal paradigm. M. D. Imaykina describes the fusion processes that arise at the junction of the word stem and case suffixes⁹. I. N. Ryabov, N. A. Agafonova, G. V. Ryabova consider the features in the system of the category of possessiveness in the mixed Erzya-Moksha dialects of the Kochkurovsky district of the Republic of Mordovia [3].

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⁸ Tsygankin D. V. Morphonological Features of Dialectal Inflection (Basic Declension) // Morphological Issues of the Erzya and Moksha Dialects (Inflection and Word Formation). Saransk, 1977. Pp. 60–75; Tsygankin D. V. Mordvin Languages ​​through the Eyes of a Linguist. Saransk: Krasny Oktyabr, 2000. 316 p.;

⁹ Imaikina M. D. Neen’ shkan’ erzyan’ keles’. Phonetics. Saransk: Publishing House of the Mordov. University, 2008. 326 p.

 

Morphonological alternations of vowels and consonants are presented quite consistently in the work of G. I. Ermushkin, “Areal Studies of the Eastern Finno-Ugric Languages ​​(Erzya-Mordvin language), where a separate description is given isoglossic phenomena in root and suffix morphemes ¹⁰.However, D. V. Bubrich was the first to draw attention to the alternation of stems in the Erzya language, where he, using the example of the paradigm of the main declension, comes to the conclusion about different morphological types of the same word¹¹.

A voluminous study of the morphology of noun forms in the ng- dialects of the Erzya language is presented in the dissertation work of A. M. Kharitonova, where the author analyzed the morphological processes occurring in the inflectional paradigms of nouns in five dialectal bushes that retained the Finno-Ugric consonant ng, united by common phonemic and morphological features. In particular, among the morphophonological phenomena the following stand out: "alternation of stem sounds, truncation of the inflectional stem, superposition of combining morphemes, interfixation, growth of the inflectional stem, morphophonological processes in affixal morphs, motivated combinations of consonants. All these phenomena lead to mutual adaptation of combining morphemes" ¹².

The issues of morphophonology of nominal inflection in the dialects of the Moksha language in general, and in the dialects of the Ruzayevka area in particular, have remained outside the field of view of scientists until now. Although, it should be noted that in a number of works on the Moksha language in connection with the study of individual problems of phonetics and morphology, morphophonological modifications in word forms were also reflected.

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¹⁰ Ermushkin G. I. Areal studies of the eastern Finno-Ugric languages ​​(Erzya-Mordvin language). M.: Nauka, 1984. 140 p.

¹¹ Bubrikh D. V. Historical grammar of the Erzya language. Saransk: Mordov. book publishing house, 1953. 270 p.

¹² Kharitonova A. M. Morphonology of noun forms (ng-type dialects of the Erzya language): author's abstract. dis. ... cand. philological sciences. Saransk, 1998. Page 14.

 

Thus, the morphology of nominal suffix word formation in the Moksha language is considered in a separate chapter of the dissertation research of L. I. Koknaeva¹³, the morphology of Moksha verb word formation – in the works of S. I. Moskina14, the development of the historical basis in the Moksha dialects under the influence of various kinds of phonetic processes that led to the formation of consonant complexes at the junction of the root and suffix morpheme - in the studies of G. S. Ivanova [4], M. V. Mosin, N. M. Mosina [5].

It should be noted that in modern Finno-Ugric studies, due to the large amount of accumulated dialect material on the Finno-Ugric languages ​​and the development of computer technologies, the study of dialects is moving to a new level, where, along with traditional methods [6–9], much attention is paid to isogloss and dialectometric methods [10–12], which make it possible to conduct multi-level dialect classifications of any language with the possibility of digitalizing dialect data. A modern approach to the study of Moksha dialects is presented in a monographic work by Moscow dialectologists15. The inflectional potential of a noun in agglutinative languages ​​using the material of the dialects of the Moksha language is considered in the work of G. S. Ivanova, I. Ya. Zhebratkina [14]. Archaic and innovative phenomena in the case paradigms of the Erzya dialects are described in the work of D. V. Tsygankin, N. A. Agafonova, I. N. Ryabov [15]. ______________

¹³ Koknaeva L. I. Nominal word formation in the Moksha language (morphological method of formation): author's abstract. dis. ... candidate of philological sciences. Saransk, 1995. 20 p.

¹⁴ Moskina S. I. Comparative word formation and morphophonological descriptions of derivative verb structures in the Moksha and Erzya languages. Saransk, 2008. 114 p.; Moskina S. I. Morphology of the Moksha verb co-formation. Saransk, 2006. 100 p.

¹⁵ Elements of the Moksha language in typological illumination / Ed. S. Yu. Toldova (responsible editor), M. A. Kholodilova (responsible editor), S. G. Tatevosov, E. V. Kashkin, A. A. Kozlov, L. S. Kozlov, A. V. Kukhto, M. Privizentseva, I. A. Stenin. - M.: Buki Vedi, 2018. 1014 p.

Materials and methods

In our study, we used dialect material collected by us during dialectological expeditions and special trips to the villages of Suzgarye, Palaevka, Levzha, Kulikovka of the Ruzaevsky district of the Republic of Mordovia in the period from 2018 to 2024, as well as rich dialect material of the vocabulary cabinet (MC) of the Department of Mordvin languages, collected over several decades during dialectological practices. In the process of working with informants to collect dialect data, the “Questionnaire for collecting information on the dialects of the Mordvin (Moksha and Erzya) languages” by V. D. Obyedkin (1960)¹⁶, as well as the “Instructions and program for collecting material for the dialectological atlas of the Mordvin (Erzya and Moksha) languages” by D. V. Bubrikh (1935)¹⁷ were used. The analysis of dialect material was carried out using synchronic-descriptive, comparative-historical and structural research methods. The following were involved as informants: M. N. Mironova, born in 1974; N. N. Ambaeva, born in 1976; A. M. Diveeva, born in 1965; L. P. Kanaeva, born in 1966; G. P. Makarov, born in 1959. Results of the study and their discussion

In the main declension of the Moksha dialects of the Suzgarevsky type, as in the literary language, there are thirteen cases, it differs from the indicative and possessive declensions (in which there are three and ten cases, respectively) by the absence of formants of definiteness and possessiveness, in connection with which case affixes are attached directly to the word stem. In the Moksha language, especially in its individual dialects, case formants in the paradigm of the main declension are used in several variants.

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¹⁶ Obedkin V. D. Questionnaire for collecting information on the dialects of the Mordvin (Moksha and Erzya) languages. Saransk: Mord. book publishing house, 1960. 106 p.

¹⁷ Bubrikh D. V. Instructions and program for collecting material for the dialectological atlas of the Mordvin (Erzya and Moksha) languages. Saransk: Mordgiz, 1935. 46 p.

 

Agglutination of one or another allomorph depends on the quality of the final vowel or consonant of the root morpheme of the original word, and then on the morphemic seam, as a result of positional exchange, under the influence of various kinds of assimilative processes between adjacent phonetic units, in most cases, a transformation of the primary stem of the noun is observed. It should be noted that the word stems in the Moksha language are not of the same type. In the academic "Grammar of the Mordvin Languages" (1980), all nouns in the system of basic declension are divided into two types: "with a stem on the final vowel (vowel stem) and with a stem on the final consonant (consonant stem)"18. In turn, the vowel stems of a noun in the Suzgarevsky type of dialects can be divided into aovy and non-aovy and, unlike most dialects of the Moksha language, where there are two aovy stems: 1) stems ы ending in a low back vowel a; 2) stems ending in a low front vowel ä – in the Suzgarev dialects only the first occurs.

There are more non-a stems in the type of dialects under consideration compared to other dialects of this area, and they can end in the vowels е, u, i, ě [ǝ], ǎ [ǝ].

In the paradigm of the main declension before case formants, the vowels of the stems of a noun behave differently.

The vowel a is the most resistant to change common Mordvin vowel, the stems ending in a are equally well preserved in both Mordvin languages, among which there are words of both original origin and old borrowings, for example: jalga ‘friend’ < ob. md. *jalga; unža ‘bug, bug’ < ob. md. *unža; vаrmа ‘wind’ < ob. md. *vаrmа; lоpа ‘leaf’ < ob. md. *lоpа; surnа ‘face’ < ob. md. *surnа; аvа ‘woman’ < ob. md. *аvа.

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¹⁸ Grammar of the Mordvin languages ​​/ edited by D. V. Tsygankin. Saransk: Publishing house of the Mordvin University, 1980. Page 153.

 

In the dialects under consideration, the aov stem is traced in all case forms of the main declension: nom. jalga, gen. jalga-n', dat. jalga-n'd'i, abl. jalga-dǎ, ines. jalga-sǎ, el. jalga-stǎ, ill. jalga-s, lat. jalga-v, prol. jalga-va, trans. jalga-ks, comp. jalga-ška, abes. jalga-ftǝmǎ, caus. jalga-ηksǎ.

After the a-voice stem (as well as the voiced consonant of the original stem (except for the plosives d, d', b, g)) in the ablative of the main declension on the morphemic seam, the historical voiceless consonant of the affixal morpheme in the intervocalic position became voiced - *t < d, in connection with this, under the action of the law of vowel harmony, a variant with a voiced consonant and a reduced back vowel - -dǎ is added to the a-voice stem from four allomorphs (-dǎ, -d'ě, -tǎ, -t'ě < *ta): surnа-dǎ ‘from the muzzle’, аkа-dǎ ‘from the sister’, аvа-dǎ ‘from the woman’, varma-dǎ ‘from the wind’. In the prolative, to the ao stem of five allomorphs (-va, -ga, -ka, -gе, -kе), as in other dialects, a variant with a fricative consonant and a back vowel -va is added: paks'а-va ‘by the field’, pr'а-va ‘by the head’, oža-va ‘by the sleeve’, kǝrga-va ‘by the neck’. Stems with reduced vowels ě, ǎ (in the neighboring Levzhinsky dialect they correspond to the vowels ä, ǎ) are divided into two groups:

1) a reduced vowel at the end of the stem is preceded by a single consonant (except for the plosive k), a combination of two sonorants, or a combination of consonants with a fricative: (Szg. pil'ě ‘ear’, Lefz. pil'ä; Szg. vel'ě ‘village, village’, Lefz. vel'ä; Szg. t'išě ‘grass, hay’, Lefz. t'išä; Szg. s'el'mě ‘eye’, Lefz. s'el'mä; Szg. t'el'mě ‘broom’, Lefz. t'äl'mä; Szg. Kajmě ‘spade’, Lefz. kajmä; Szg., Lefz. vašǎ ‘foal’; Szg., Lefz. s'ulmǎ ‘knot’; Szg. s'oks'ě ‘autumn’, Lefz. s'oks'ä);

2) the reduced vowel at the end of the stem is preceded by a consonant combination, the second of which is a stop plosive (Szg. pil'gě ‘leg’, Lefz. pil'gä; Szg. čivgě ‘viburnum’, Lefz. čivg'ä; Szg., Lefz. pandǎ ‘mountain’; Szg. pan'd'ě ‘bed’, Lefz. pan'd'ä; Szg., Lefz. šaLkǎ ‘nose’).

In the first group, the primary basis on the reduced vowel is preserved throughout the entire paradigm: nom. s'ulmǎ, gen. s'ulmǝ-n', dat. s'ulmǝ-n'd'i, abl. s'ulmǝ-dǎ, ines. s'ulmǝ-sǎ, el. s'ulmǝ-stǎ, ill. s'ulmǝ-s, lat. s'ulmǝ-v, prol. s'ulmǝ-va, trans. s'ulmǝ-ks, comp. s'ulmǝ-ška, abes. s'ulmǝ-ftǝmǎ, caus. s'ulmǝ-ηksǎ.

In the second group of words, the reduced vowel is manifested as follows: in the forms of the nominative, genitive, dative, prolative, translative, comparative, causative before the sonorant consonants n', n, η, voiced noisy v, voiceless fricative š – it is preserved: a) čivgě, gen. čivgǝ-n', Dan. čivgǝ-n'd'i, prol. čivgǝ-va, trans. čivgǝ-ks, comp. čivgǝ-ška, caus. čivgǝ-ηksǎ; in the remaining forms before the plosive consonant of the affix t, as well as the fricatives s, s', f – it drops out, forming a truncated stem: b) abl. čivk-tǎ, ines. čivk-sǎ, El. čivk-stǎ, Ill. čivk-s, Abes. čivk-ftǝmǎ. [Informants: Ambaeva, Mironova, Diveeva, Makarov].

As a result of the loss of the reduced vowel, the truncated stem is also observed in the nominative plural before the front-lingual plosives t, t', which subsequently subjected the final plosive consonant of the truncated stem to regressive devoicing: čivgě – čivk-t; pil'gě – pil'k-t, pandǎ – pant-t, pan'd'ě - pan't'-t'. The dialect has a large group of words whose stem ends in the full-formation vowel e, which in the Levzhinsky type of dialects of the Ruzaevsky area corresponds to the vowel ä (Szg. al'e ‘man; father’, Lvzh. al'ä; Szg. val'me ‘window’, Lvzh. val'mä; Szg. š'š'et'e ‘maternal grandfather’, Lvzh. š'š'ät'ä, etc.).

In synchronic terms, the final vowel of the original stem retains its quality in some phonetic positions, while in others, alternation of e // a is observed (in the Levzhinsky type of dialects – ä // a). The vowel e is preserved before the palatalized consonant of the affixal morpheme in the genitive and dative forms, in the remaining case forms (ablative, inessive, elative, illative, lative, prolative, translative, comparative, abessive, causative, in the nominative plural) with positional less as a result of regressive contact accommodation before a hard paired consonant it alternates with the back vowel a, similarly to the Levzhin dialects, where accommodation concerns the low front vowel ä, compare: a) Gen. Szg. val'me-n', LvZh. val'mä-n'; Szg. š'š'et'e-n', LvZh. š'š'ät'ä-n'; Dan. Szg. val'me-n'd'i, LvZh. val'mä-n'd'i; Szg. š'š'et'e-n'd'i, LvZh. š'š'ät'ä-n'd'i, but b) Abl. Szg., LvZh. val'mа-dǎ; szg. š'š'et'a-dǎ, lvzh. š'š'ät'а-dǎ; ines. szg., lvzh. val'ma-sǎ; szg. š'š'et'a-sǎ, lvzh. š'š'ät'а-sǎ; email szg., lvzh. val'ma-stǎ; szg. š'š'et'a-stǎ lvzh. š'š'ät'а-stǎ; ill. szg., lvzh. val'ma-s; szg. š'š'et'a-s lvzh. š'š'ät'a-s; lat. szg., lvzh. val'ma-v; - ; prol. szg., lvzh. val'ma-va; szg. š'š'et'a-va, lvzh. š'š'ät'a-va; trance. szg., lvzh. val'ma-ks; szg. š'š'et'a-ks, lvzh. š'š'ät'a-ks; comp. szg., lvzh. val'ma-ška; szg. š'š'et'a-ška, lvzh. š'š'ät'a-ška; abes. szg., lvzh. val'ma-ftǝmǎ; szg. š'š'et'a-ftǝmǎ, lvzh. š'š'ät'а-ftǝmǎ; caus. Szg., Lvzh. val'mа-ηksǎ; Szg. š'š'et'а-ηksǎ, Lvzh. š'š'ät'а-ηksǎ; nom. Szg., Lvzh. val'mа-t; Szg. š'š'et'а-t, Lvzh. š'š'ät'а-t. [Informants: Ambaeva, Mironova, Diveeva, Kanaeva, Makarov].

Regarding the antiquity of the vowel е, we are of the opinion that in the dialects of the Suzgarevsky type it is secondary, and appeared as a result of the narrowing of the common Okshan ä in a weak position, and the position of the end of the word and the position between the palatal and palatalized consonants are just that. This is indirectly confirmed by dialectal correspondences in the work of H. Paasonen “Mordwinische Lautlehre”, where part of the material was collected in the territory of the hiccupping dialect of the Moksha language, bordering on the Suzgar dialects, where instead of e, ä is used everywhere in such words as al'gä ‘older brother’, al'ä ‘man, peasant’, at'ä ‘grandfather’, t'äd'ä ‘mother’¹⁹ and others, whereas at present in the area of ​​distribution of the hiccupping dialect, in all corresponding positions, instead of ä, e is used: al'gе, al'е, at'е, t'ed'e / t'er'e [1]. At the same time, the common Mordvin origin of the vowel ä in the Levzhinsky-type dialects also raises doubts in our opinion, since in the Erzya language the Moksha ä corresponds to the back vowel a, the archaism of which is confirmed by the alternation of ä // a on the morphemic seam in a strong position,

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¹⁹ Paasonen H. Mordwinische Lautlehre. MSFOu XXII. Helsingfors: Société Finno-Ougrienne, 1903. Pp. 35; 37; 85.

 

for example: Szg. kul'ě, Lvzh. kul'ä, E. kul'a "news" // Szg., Lvzh., E. kul'a-t "news"; Szg. kon'ě, Lvzh. kon'ä, E. kon'a ‘forehead’ // Szg., Lvzh., Erzya kon'a-t ‘foreheads’; Szg. pac'ě, Lvzh. pac'ä, Erzya pac'a ‘wing’ // Szg., Lvzh., Erzya pac'a-t ‘wings’.

Our point of view is also supported by nouns that came from other languages, at the end of which, according to the laws of the Moksha language, instead of the original a the vowel ä developed – in the Levzhinsky type of dialects, e – in the Suzgarevsky type of dialects, however, before the hard consonant of the affix in both types of dialects a appears, and in the Erzya language a retains its quality in all forms, for example, Szg. kapl'ě, Lvzh. kapl'ä, Erzya. kapl'a ‘drop’// SZG, LvF, E. kapl'a-t ‘drops’; SZG van'ě, LvF van'ä, E. van'a ‘Vanya’ // SZG, LvF, E. van'a-t ‘Vani’; SZG koz'ě, LvF koz'ä, E. koz'a ‘rich man’// SZG, LvF, E. koz'a-t ‘rich men’, cf.: Tatar khuzha, Bashkir khozha ‘owner, possessor’, Chuv. khosa (< Persian kodzha), and also in Marian osa, khoza.

The stems for the vowels u and i in the dialects under consideration are truncated; at one time they originated from common Mordvin diphthongal combinations. Nouns with a stem ending in u form a small group of words, the final u in them goes back to the combination *uv: karu (< *karuv) ‘fly’, kelu (< *keluv) ‘birch’, todu (< *toduv) ‘pillow’, kulu (< *kuluv) ‘ash’, kuc'u (< *kuc'u) ‘spoon’, šudǝžu (< *šudǝžuv) ‘burdock’, šukštǝru (< *šukštǝruv) ‘currant’ and some others; a larger group of nouns with a stem on the front vowel i, going back to the combinations *ij (*îj), cf.: s'el'i (< *s'el'ij) ‘aspen’, mac'i (< *mac'ij) ‘goose’, ješî < *ješîj ‘well’, il'i (< *il'ij) ‘rod’, s'ed'i (< *s'ed'ij) ‘heart’, in'ǝz'i (< *in'ǝz'ij) ‘raspberry’, suvǝz'i (< *suvǝz'ij) ‘wood grouse’, etc., to them are added substantivized adjectives and present participles, such as s'er'i (< *s'er'ij) ‘tall’, keli (< *kelij) ‘wide’, *vanî (< *vanîj) ‘looking’, mol'i (< *mol'ij) ‘walking’, etc., which are historically derivative.

In the paradigm of the basic declension in the type of dialects under consideration, the full diphthongal base is restored in the form of the genitive, dative, causative, translative before the interfixal vowel, which, in turn, also contributes to its lengthening, for example: nom. kelu – gen. keluv-ǝ-n', dat. keluv-ǝ-n'd'i, caus. keluv-ǝ-ηksǎ, trans. keluv-ǝ-ks; nom. suvǝz'i – gen. suvǝz'ij-ǝ-n', dat. suvǝz'ij-ǝ-n'd'i, caus. suvǝz'ij-ǝ-ηksǎ, trans. suvǝz'ij-ǝ-ks. [Informants: Ambaeva, Mironova].

It should be noted that a similar phenomenon is observed in other declensions. For example, in the possessive declension

the historical base with a diphthongal combination is restored before the interfixal vowel that arose on the morphemic seam between the base and the affix of possessiveness in the series “Mon’”, “Son’”, “Min’”, “Tin’” and in the plural form of the series “Ton’”. In addition to the nominative, the diphthongal combination occurs in the same case forms as in the basic declension, while in the “Sin” series a truncated base appears, for example: keluv-ǝ-z'ě ‘my birch’, keluv-ǝ-n'ě ‘my birches’, keluf-n'ě ‘your birch’, keluv-ǝ-с ‘his birch’, keluv-ǝ-nʒǎ ‘his birches’, keluv-ǝ-n'kě ‘our birches’, as well as: keluv-ǝ-z'ǝn', keluv-ǝ-z't'i, etc., but kelu-c'ě ‘your birch’, kelu-snǎ ‘their birches’. [MSK]. In the plural form of the main declension, the common Mordvin diphthongal combinations of the end of the stem *uv, *ij(îj) are preserved in the dialects under consideration, however, the consonants v, j, when placed before the voiceless consonants t, t' of the affix, like all voiced consonants, undergo regressive devoicing – v → f, j → J, for example: kelu < *keluv → keluf-t ‘birch – birches’, suvǝz'i < *suvǝz'ij → suvǝz'iJ-t' ‘wood grouse – wood grouse’. In the demonstrative declension the process went even further: the full base appears in the entire plural paradigm before the “hidden” formant t in the suffix of demonstrative plurality, which itself dropped out, but before dropping out it devoiced the consonant from the diphthongal combination – *ij (îj) > iJ (îJ); *uv > uf: todu ‘pillow’ – toduf-n'ě < *toduf-t'n'ě, toduf-n'ǝn' < *toduf-t'n'ǝn', toduf-n'ǝn'd'i < *toduf-t'n'ǝn'd'i; s'ed'i ‘heart’ – s'ed'iJ-n'ě < *s'ed'iJ-t'-n'ě, s'ed'iJ-n'ǝn' < *s'ed'iJ-t'-n'ǝn', s'ed'iJ-'n'ǝ-n'd'i < *s'ed'iJ-t'-n'ǝ-n'd'i. [MSK].

The consonant stems in the Suzgar'ev type of dialects in the paradigm of the basic declension have also undergone changes. In the dialects under consideration, as in the entire Moksha language, there are many nouns with a monosyllabic stem: lov ‘snow’, pej ‘tooth’, kov ‘moon; month’, vir' ‘forest’, kel' ‘language’, val ‘word’, s'er' ‘height’, sur ‘finger’, kež ‘anger’.

There is still no consensus in Finno-Ugric linguistics regarding the origin of such stems. Some researchers believe that the Proto-Finno-Ugric stems were disyllabic and ended in a vowel, while monosyllabic stems appeared as a result of syncopation of the historical vowel of the stem during the period of separate development of the Finno-Ugric languages²⁰. However, if we take into account that monosyllabic words are present in all Finno-Ugric languages, and in Mordvinic languages ​​this is a large group of words, then we can assume that words with a monosyllabic stem could also be present in the Proto-Finno-Ugric language. We are closer to the second point of view, which was once expressed by the researcher of the Mordvin languages, Professor D. V. Tsygankin ²¹.

In the dialects under consideration, in individual case forms of the main declension, as a result of interfixation, an elongation of the monosyllabic stem is observed, this occurs in the forms: genitive - valǝ-n', pejǝ-n', kovǝ-n', s'er'ǝ-n'; dative - valǝ-n'd'i, pejǝ-n'd'i, kovǝ-n'd'i, s'er'ǝ-n'd'i; causative - valǝ-ηksǎ, pejǝ-ηksǎ, kovǝ-ηksǎ, s'er'ǝ-ηksǎ; a small group of words also have an inessive form, for example: kas's' al'anc s'er'ǝ-sǎ ‘grew as tall as his father’, er'ams vir'ǝ-sǎ ‘live in the forest’, elative – l'is's' vir'ǝ-stǎ ‘came out of the forest’, illative – s'er'ǝ-s al'a-škanʒǎ ‘as tall as his father’, pačkǝd'ǝms vir'ǝ-s ‘reach the forest’, comparative – al'anc s'er'ǝ-ška ‘he is as tall as his father’, oc'u vir'ǝ-ška ‘as big as a forest (in size)’.

The stem is lengthened by an intercalary vowel before a sonorant consonant, less often – before a fricative.

 ________________

²⁰ Bartens R. Mordvin languages ​​and languages. Helsinki: Suomalais-Ugrilaiisen Seuran. 1999. 183 p.

²¹ Tsygankin D. V. Mordvin languages ​​through the eyes of a linguist. Saransk: Krasny Oktyabr, 2000. 316 p.

 

It should be noted that in the Suzgar dialects, as in the Moksha literary language, at the end of monosyllabic words (as opposed to disyllabic words), the voiced consonant retains its articulation, for example: kuz ‘fir tree’, vaz' ‘hat’, kež ‘anger, malice’, pej ‘tooth’, snav ‘pea’, kud ‘house’, s'ed' ‘bridge’, val ‘word’, jam ‘porridge’, jan ‘path’, ur ‘squirrel’, par' ‘tub; barrel’, pel' ‘stake’; while in disyllabic words, the voiced noisy consonants z, z', ž are voiced: saras ‘chicken’, kelas' ‘fox’, imǝš ‘berry; fruit; vegetable’. [Informants: Ambaeva, Mironova, Kanaeva]. Monosyllabic stems ending in a voiced consonant manifest themselves in different ways. Thus, if a plosive d, d' or b appears at the end of a stem, then in the ablative form, where there are variants only with hard consonants and a back reduced vowel (-dǎ / -tǎ), they add to themselves an allomorph not with a voiced consonant (-dǎ), like all other monosyllabic stems, but with a voiceless one – -tǎ, as if the stem ended in a voiceless consonant, from which t, ​​t' assimilate the preceding voiced consonant of the stem based on the sign of voicelessness, this phenomenon affects both native words and borrowings, for example: sud ‘bark; court’ – sut-tǎ, ked' ‘hand; leather’ – ket'-tǎ, strub ‘log house’ – strup-tǎ, and also koš ‘hut’ – koš-tǎ, flak ‘flag’ – flak-tǎ, but šov ‘fена’ – šov-dǎ; ur ‘squirrel’ – ur-dǎ; vaz' ‘hat’ – vaz'-dǎ, etc. [MSK].

Regressive assimilation by voicelessness on the part of the affixal consonant is also observed in the form of the abessive, which has only one variant -ftǝmǎ, which, in violation of the law of vowel harmony, is attached to both velar and palatal stems, in contrast to neighboring hiccupping dialects, where the law of vowel harmony during agglutination of variants of the case affix is ​​preserved: an allomorph with back vowels and velar consonants is attached to the velar stem, and an allomorph with front vowels and palatal and palatalized consonants is attached to the palatal stem, for example: ик. sut-ftǝmǎ, strup-ftǝmǎ, but kit'-ft'ǝmě, s'it'-ft'ǝmě, cf.: szg. sut-ftǝmǎ, strup-ftǝmǎ, kit'-ftǝmǎ, s'еt'-ftǝmǎ. [MSK].

In all intra-local cases (inessive, elative, illative) at the morphemic seam there is a fusion of the root and suffixal morphemes as a result of affricatization of the final plosive consonant of the root (d, d') and the initial fricative consonant of the suffixal morpheme (s, s'), for example, in the inessive – ku[d + s]ǎ → ku[c]ǎ, in the elative – ku[d + s]tǎ → ku[c]tǎ, in the illative – ku[d + s] → ku[c]; in the inessive – ve[d'+ s]ǎ → ve[c]ǎ, in the elative – ve[d' + -s]tǎ → ve[c]tǎ, in the illative – ve[d' + s] → ve[c]. [Informants: Ambaeva, Mironova, Kanaeva]. The same fusion occurs in the comparative form during agglutination of an affixal morpheme with an initial sibilant -škǎ, where on the morphemic seam the proximity of the stop d, d' (root morpheme) and the sibilant š (affixal morpheme) produces a velar affricate č: ku[d + š]kǎ → ku[č]kǎ, ve[d'+š]kǎ → ve[č]kǎ.

In words ending in a voiced plosive consonant d, d' or b, before the translative morpheme -ks the stem is lengthened, for example: t'ijǝms kudǝ-ks ‘to turn into a house’, moli vid'ǝ-ks ‘to slander’. In borrowings from the Russian language, the voiceless consonant at the end of the word of the original language, both in monosyllabic and disyllabic words, on the contrary, is pronounced voiced, for example: brad ‘brother’, sǝvad ‘matchmaker’, kravad' ‘bed’, kr'oz ‘cross’, klaz ‘class’, etc. [Informants: Ambaeva, Mironova, Makarov].

During declension, the final voiced fricative consonants of the stems are preserved in the entire paradigm of the basic declension; stems on the plosives d, d', b behave in the same way as the original words ending in the same consonants.

The plural paradigm of the basic declension in the Moksha language consists of only one case - the nominative, with the marker -t / -t', which in words with back vowels and velar consonants appears in the hard version -t, and in words with front vowels and palatalized consonants - in the version -t'. In twelve oblique cases, the singular and plural are represented by one form, and differ contextually. A distinctive feature of the Moksha language is that in the plural form of the basic declension before the voiceless consonants t, t' of the affix, the voiced consonants of the end of the stem are all, without exception, devoiced under the influence of regressive contact assimilation. In the dialects under consideration, no deviations from this pattern are observed - the stem of the noun before the plural affix is ​​voiceless: b → p, v → f, d → t, d' → t', ž → š, z → s, z' → s', l → L, l' → L', r → R, r' → R, j → J; m → p, n → t, n' → t', for example: snav – snaf-t ‘pea, peas – peas’, klub – klup-t ‘club – clubs’, kud – kut-t ‘house – houses’, s'ed' – s'et'-t' ‘bridge – bridges’, kež – keš-t ‘anger, malice’, kuz – kus-t ‘fir-tree – fir-trees’, vaz' – vas'-t' ‘hat – hats’, etc. [MSK]. It was in this form on the morphemic seam during the period of independent development of the Moksha language that voiceless pairs of sonorant consonants l, l', r, r', j appeared, adding five phonemes to the phonological system of the language L, L', R, R, J: val – vaL-t ‘word – words’, mel' – meL'-t' ‘desire – desires’, pej – peJ-t' ‘tooth – teeth’, ur – uR-t ‘squirrel – squirrels’, par' – paR'-t' ‘tub; barrel – tubs; barrels’, which, when used only in the middle of a word, perform a meaning-distinguishing function: val-ně – vaL-ně ‘my words – these words; your words’, mel'-t' – meL'-t' ‘of this desire – desire’, pej-n'ǝn' – peJ-n'ǝn' ‘of my teeth – these teeth; your teeth’. Devoicing is observed even in stems ending in sonorant m, n, n', which, having no voiceless pairs, are replaced by articulatorily close voiceless consonants: m ~ p, n ~ t, n' ~ t', for example: š'š'am – š'š'ap-t ‘clothes’, jan – jat-t ‘path – paths’, ulman' – ulmat'-t' ‘sister-in-law (husband's sister) – sisters-in-law’. [Informants: Ambaeva, Mironova].

Conclusion

The analysis of the dialect material available to the authors made it possible to identify the morphophonological features of the Moksha dialects of the Suzgarevsky type. Our appeal to the dialects of the Ruzaevsky area was not accidental, since speakers of all three types of Moksha dialects - äkayuschie, ekayushchie and ikayuschie - live in close proximity on the territory of the Ruzaevsky district. The Suzgarevsky type occupies an intermediate position between the more archaic äkayuschie and less archaic ikayuschie dialects, since they have preserved some elements of the original language in their development.

thoric features, such as iotation at the beginning of a word or diphthong combinations before a sonorant, at the same time acquired new ones, which include the violation of the law of synharmonism during the agglutination of case affixes in the case forms of the ablative, prolative, abessive; the type of dialect under consideration, in comparison with the neighboring Levzhinsky, is more innovative in terms of the secondary nature of some phonemes, which is reflected in the lexical and grammatical morphemes.

In the Suzgarevsky type of dialects, in the area of ​​vowel stems, there is one aovy (in the Levzhinsky type of dialects there are two) and four non-aovy stems. In the paradigm of the main declension, the changes primarily affected the non-aovy stems (the original stem ends in the vowels e, i, u, ě, ǎ). The a-stem (ending in the vowel a) is represented by one variant – it is preserved in all forms: jalga – jalga-n', jalga-dǎ, jalga-t.

Stems with reduced vowels сзг. ě, ǎ // лвж. ä, ǎ can be divided into several groups, depending on the phonetic environment of the vowel: 1) after a single consonant, a combination of sonorants or a consonant with a fricative, two variants of stems are found: pil'ě-/pil'ǝ-; s'ulmǎ-/s'ulmǝ- – the vowel stem is preserved in all case forms; 2) after a combination of a consonant with a plosive (except d, d', t, t') – three variants of stems: čivgě-/čivgǝ-/čivk-; šaLkǎ-/šaLkǝ-/šaLk- – in the nominative, genitive, causative form before a sonorant affix the vowel is preserved; in the ablative, inessive, elative, illative, abessive form and in the nominative plural form before the plosives t, t' and also the fricatives s, f – ǝ it drops out, forming a truncated stem on a consonant, which itself is subsequently subject to regressive devoicing, for example: čivgě – čivgǝ-n' – čivgǝ-n'di – čivgǝ-ηksǎ; čivk-tǎ – čivk-sǎ – čivk-stǎ – čivk-ftǝmǎ – čivk-t; 3) for stems with a reduced vowel preceded by a consonant combination with a plosive d, d', t or t' - four variants, in addition to the variants pandǎ-/pandǝ-/pant-, there is another truncated variant - pan-, which appears in the form of an inessive, elative and illative as a result of affricatization of the final [d, d', t, t'] and the subsequent fricative [s] → [c] after the loss of the reduced vowel of the stem, which ultimately leads to its subsequent re-decomposition, for example: pandǎ - pandǝ + sǎ → pan[d + s]ǎ → pan + [c]ǎ.

The stem with the vowel szg. е < ä // lvzh. ä, where е is a secondary vowel, ascending to the ob. mk. *ä < ob. md. *a, has two variants: val'me- / val'mа-. The vowel of the original stem e is preserved before the soft consonant of the affix in the genitive and dative forms, and in the ablative, inessive, elative, illative, lative, prolative, translative, comparative, abessive, causative, as well as in the nominative plural, under the influence of regressive contact accommodation on the part of the following hard consonant, it alternates with a (Сзг. е, Лвж. ä // а): val'me // val'mä – Лвж. Сзг. val'me-n', Лвж. val'mä-n', but Сзг., Лвж. val'mа-dǎ, val'mа-t; cf.:э. val'mа - val'mа-t. The correspondence between СЗГ. е, ЛВЖ. ä // а in the Erzya language of the back vowel а, confirms the archaism of the latter.

The stems for the vowels u, i (î) have three variants: kelu-/keluvǝ-/keluf-; s'el'i- / s'el'ijǝ- / s'el'iJ-; ješî- / ješîjǝ- / ješîJ-. In their original form they are truncated and go back to the common Mordvin diphthongal combinations *uv, *ij (*îj): karu < *karuv, s'el'i < *s'el'ij, ešî < *ešîj, which are restored in the form of the genitive, dative, causative, translative before the interfixal vowel, which in turn contributes to the lengthening of the historical stem in the position between the consonants of different morphemes: kelu – keluvǝ-n'; suvǝz'i – suvǝz'ijǝ-n'd'i. In the plural form, the consonants v, j have been preserved, however, like all voiced consonants, they have undergone regressive assimilation according to voicelessness – v → f, j → J: kelu → keluf-t, suvǝz'i → suvǝz'iJ-t'.

The consonant stems, depending on the quality of the initial consonant and the specific phonetic position, have the following variants: 1) val- / valǝ- / vaL-; 2) kud / kudǝ- / kut- / ku-; 3) saras- / sarazǝ- / saraz-; 4) loman'- / loman'ǝ- / lomat'-; 5) san- / sanǝ- / sat-; 6) acam- / acamǝ- / acap-. All consonants of the stem in the genitive, dative, causative before an affixal sonorant are lengthened as a result of interfixation: valǝ-n', pejǝ-n'd'i, kovǝ-ηksǎ. In stems with sonorant r, r', lengthening is also observed in the inessive, elative, illative, comparative before fricatives s, š: vir'ǝ-sǎ, vir'ǝ-stǎ, vir'ǝ-s, vir'ǝ-ška. Monosyllabic stems with a voiced consonant (kuz, vaz', kež, pej, etc.) retain the quality of the final consonant in all case forms (except for stems with d, d' and b), including the nominative singular. Final d, d', b, g undergo regressive devoicing in the ablative and abessive forms: sud – sut-tǎ, sut-ftǝmǎ; strub ‘log house’ – strup-tǎ, strup-ftǝmǎ. In intralocal cases, as well as in the comparative form, on the morphemic seam, as a result of affricatization, the fusion of the root d, d' with the affixal fricative (с, с'; š) and the re-decomposition of the base are observed: ku[d + s]ǎ → ku[c]ǎ, ku[d + š]kǎ = ku[č]kǎ. In the outcome д In compound words, the voiced noisy z, z', ž are devoiced: imǝš, but imǝžǝ-n'; kelas', but kelaz'ǝ-n'. In the plural, before the affixal t, t', all voiced consonants at the end of the stem are devoiced: b → p, v → f, d → t, d' → t', ž → š, z → s, z' → s', l → L, l' → L', r → R, r' → R, j → J; unpaired sonorants are replaced by the nearest voiceless consonants: m → p, n → t, n' → t': š'š'am – š'š'ap-t, jan – jat-t.

Thus, the article reveals and describes morphophonological features in the area of ​​the basic declension paradigm in the Suzgarevsky type of Moksha dialects of the Ruzaevsky area. The dialect material states the variation of the initial stem of the noun in different case forms depending on the quality of the auslaut phoneme, as well as its phonetic environment. Theoretical and practical material will enrich the existing knowledge of the dialects of the Moksha language. Further study of the dialectal features of the Moksha dialects using modern methods in the future will contribute to the creation of a cluster classification of the Moksha language.

About the authors

Galina S. Ivanova

National Research Mordovia State University

Email: galina17-05@yandex.ru
ORCID iD: 0000-0001-7717-543X
SPIN-code: 9672-5363
Scopus Author ID: 57212031483
ResearcherId: ААL-8845-2021

Dr.Sci. (Philol.), Professor, Department of the Mordovian Languages

Russian Federation, 68 Bolshevistskaya St., Saransk 430005

Lyubov P. Vodyasova

Mordovian State Pedagogical University named after M. E. Evseviev

Email: LVodjasova@yandex.ru
ORCID iD: 0000-0001-6767-6337
SPIN-code: 8388-6461

Dr.Sci. (Philol.), Professor, Department of the Native Language and Literature

Russian Federation, 11A Studencheskaya St., Saransk 430007

Natalja V. Ivanova

Admiral Senyavin Maritime Technical Academy

Author for correspondence.
Email: nataliva1990@mail.ru
ORCID iD: 0000-0001-6860-1003

Cand.Sci. (Philol.), Lecturer of the Department of the English Languages

Russian Federation, 189 Narodnogo Opolcheniya Prospect, St. Petersburg 198260

References

Supplementary files