Finno-Ugric languages

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Finno-Ugric
Finno-Ugrian
Geographic
distribution		Eastern, Central and Northern Europe, North Asia
Linguistic classificationUralic
  • Finno-Ugric
Subdivisions
ISO 639-2 / 5fiu
GlottologNone
The Finno-Ugric languages

Finno-Ugric (/ˌfɪnoʊˈjuːɡrɪk/ or /ˌfɪnoʊˈuːɡrɪk/)[a][1] is a traditional grouping of all languages in the Uralic language family except the Samoyedic languages. Its formerly commonly accepted status as a subfamily of Uralic is based on criteria formulated in the 19th century and is criticized by some contemporary linguists such as Tapani Salminen and Ante Aikio.[2][3] The three most spoken Uralic languages, Hungarian, Finnish, and Estonian, are all included in Finno-Ugric.

The term Finno-Ugric, which originally referred to the entire family, is sometimes used as a synonym for the term Uralic, which includes the Samoyedic languages, as commonly happens when a language family is expanded with further discoveries.[4][5][6] Before the 20th century, the language family might be referred to as Finnish, Ugric, Finno-Hungarian or with a variety of other names.[7] The name Finno-Ugric came in general use in the late 19th or early 20th century.[8][9]

Status

The validity of Finno-Ugric as a phylogenic grouping is under challenge,[10][11] with some linguists maintaining that the Finno-Permic languages are as distinct from the Ugric languages as they are from the Samoyedic languages spoken in Siberia, or even that none of the Finno-Ugric, Finno-Permic, or Ugric branches has been established. Received opinion is that the easternmost (and last discovered) Samoyed had separated first and the branching into Ugric and Finno-Permic took place later, but this reconstruction does not have strong support in the linguistic data.[citation needed]

Origins

Attempts at

Proto-Uralic, suggesting that Finno-Ugric might not be a historical grouping but a geographical one, with Samoyedic being distinct by lexical borrowing rather than actually being historically divergent. It has been proposed that the area in which Proto-Finno-Ugric was spoken reached between the Baltic Sea and the Ural Mountains.[12]

Traditionally, the main set of evidence for the genetic proposal of Proto-Finno-Ugric has come from vocabulary. A large amount of vocabulary (e.g. the numerals "one", "three", "four" and "six"; the body-part terms "hand", "head") is only reconstructed up to the Proto-Finno-Ugric level, and only words with a Samoyedic equivalent have been reconstructed for Proto-Uralic. That methodology has been criticised, as no coherent explanation other than inheritance has been presented for the origin of most of the Finno-Ugric vocabulary (though a small number has been explained as old loanwords from

Proto-Indo-European
or its immediate successors).

The Samoyedic group has undergone a longer period of independent development, and its divergent vocabulary could be caused by mechanisms of replacement such as language contact. (The Finno-Ugric group is usually dated to approximately 4,000 years ago, the Samoyedic a little over 2,000.) Proponents of the traditional binary division note, however, that the invocation of extensive contact influence on vocabulary is at odds with the grammatical conservatism of Samoyedic.

The consonant *š (voiceless postalveolar fricative, [ʃ]) has not been conclusively shown to occur in the traditional Proto-Uralic lexicon, but it is attested in some of the Proto-Finno-Ugric material. Another feature attested in the Finno-Ugric vocabulary is that *i now behaves as a neutral vowel with respect to front-back vowel harmony, and thus there are roots such as *niwa- "to remove the hair from hides".[13]

Regular sound changes proposed for this stage are few and remain open to interpretation. Sammallahti (1988)[13] proposes five, following Janhunen's (1981) reconstruction of Proto-Finno-Permic:

  • Compensatory lengthening: development of long vowels from the cluster of vowel plus a particular syllable-final element, of unknown quality, symbolized by *x
    • Long open *aa and *ää are then raised to mid *oo and *ee respectively.
      • E.g. *ńäxli- → *ńääli- → *ńeeli- "to swallow" (→ Finnish niele-, Hungarian nyel etc.)
  • Raising of short *o to *u in open syllables before a subsequent *i
  • Shortening of long vowels in closed syllables and before a subsequent open vowel *a, *ä, predating the raising of *ää and *ee
    • E.g. *ńäxl+mä → *ńäälmä → *ńälmä "tongue" (→ Northern Sámi njalbmi, Hungarian nyelv, etc.)

Sammallahti (1988) further reconstructs sound changes *oo, *ee → *a, *ä (merging with original *a, *ä) for the development from Proto-Finno-Ugric to Proto-Ugric. Similar sound laws are required for other languages as well. Thus, the origin and raising of long vowels may actually belong at a later stage,

Proto-Samoyedic *jom).[14]

Janhunen (2007, 2009)

derivational
innovations in Finno-Ugric, including *ńoma "hare" → *ńoma-la, (vs. Samoyedic *ńomå), *pexli "side" → *peel-ka → *pelka "thumb", though involving Proto-Uralic derivational elements.

Structural features

Main article: Uralic languages § Typology

The Finno-Ugric group is not typologically distinct from Uralic as a whole: the most widespread structural features among the group all extend to the Samoyedic languages as well.

Classification models

Main article: Uralic languages § Classification

Modern linguistic research has shown that Volgaic languages is a geographical classification rather than a linguistic one, because the

Mari languages
.

The relation of the Finno-Permic and the Ugric groups is adjudged remote by some scholars. On the other hand, with a projected time depth of only 3,000 to 4,000 years, the traditionally accepted Finno-Ugric grouping would be far younger than many major families such as

Urheimat
, most of what has been said about it is speculation.

Some linguists criticizing the Finno-Ugric genetic proposal, especially Angela Marcantonio,

Ural–Altaic hypothesis, within which they believe Finno-Permic may be as distant from Ugric as from Turkic. However, this approach has been rejected by nearly all other specialists in Uralic linguistics.[19][20][21][22][23][24]

Common vocabulary

Loanwords

One argument in favor of the Finno-Ugric grouping has come from loanwords. Several loans from the Indo-European languages are present in most or all of the Finno-Ugric languages, while being absent from Samoyedic.[citation needed]

According to Häkkinen (1983) the alleged Proto-Finno-Ugric loanwords are disproportionally well-represented in Hungarian and the Permic languages, and disproportionally poorly represented in the Ob-Ugric languages; hence it is possible that such words have been acquired by the languages only after the initial dissolution of the Uralic family into individual dialects, and that the scarcity of loanwords in Samoyedic results from its peripheric location.[25]

Numbers

The

number systems
among the Finno-Ugric languages are particularly distinct from the Samoyedic languages: only the numerals "2", "5", and "7" have cognates in Samoyedic, while also the numerals, "1", "3", "4", "6", "10" are shared by all or most Finno-Ugric languages.

Below are the numbers 1 to 10 in several Finno-Ugric languages. Forms in italic do not descend from the reconstructed forms.

Number Baltic Finnic Sámi Mordvinic
Mari
 Permic Ugric Proto-
Finno-
Ugric
Finnish Estonian Võro Livonian Northern Sámi Inari Sámi Erzya Moksha Meadow Mari
Komi-Zyrian
Mansi
 Khanty Hungarian
1 yksi
gen. yhden, part. yhtä 		üks
gen. ühe, part. üht(e) 		ütś ikš okta ohtâ vejke fkä ik/ikyt/iktyt/ikte öťi akwa i egy[26] *ükte
2 kaksi
gen. kahden, part. kahta 		kaks
gen. kahe, part. kaht(e) 		katś kakš guokte kyeh´ti kavto kaftə kok/kokyt/koktyt kyk kitig kat kettő/két *kakta
3 kolme kolm kolm kuolm golbma kulmâ kolmo kolmə kum/kumyt kuim xūrum xołəm három, harm- *kolme
4 neljä neli nelli nēļa njeallje nelji ńiľe ńiľä nyl/nylyt ńoľ ńila ńał négy *neljä
5 viisi viis viiś vīž vihtta vittâ veƭe veťä vič/vizyt vit at wet öt *viite
6 kuusi kuus kuuś kūž guhtta kuttâ koto kotə kud/kudyt kvajt xōt xot hat *kuute
7 seitsemän seitse säidse seis čieža čiččâm śiśem śiśäm šym/šymyt śiźim sāt łapət hét śäjććemä
8 kahdeksan kaheksa katõsa kōdõks gávcci käävci kavkso kafksə kandaš/kandaše kökjamys ńololow niwł nyolc N/A
9 yhdeksän üheksa ütesä īdõks ovcci oovce vejkse veçksə indeš/indeše ökmys ontolow jarťaŋ kilenc N/A
10 kymmenen kümme kümme kim logi love kemeń keməń lu das low jaŋ tíz luka/kümmen

The number '2' descends in Ugric from a front-vocalic variant *kektä.

The numbers '9' and '8' in Finnic through Mari are considered to be derived from the numbers '1' and '2' as '10–1' and '10–2'. One reconstruction is *yk+teksa and *kak+teksa, respectively, where *teksa cf. deka is an Indo-European loan; the difference between /t/ and /d/ is not phonemic, unlike in Indo-European. Another analysis is *ykt-e-ksa, *kakt-e-ksa, with *e being the negative verb.

Finno-Ugric Swadesh lists

100-word Swadesh lists for certain Finno-Ugric languages can be compared and contrasted at the Rosetta Project website: Finnish, Estonian, Hungarian, and Erzya.

Speakers

The four largest

ethnic groups that speak Finno-Ugric languages are the Hungarians (14.5 million), Finns (6.5 million), Estonians (1.1 million), and Mordvins (0.85 million). Majorities of three (the Hungarians, Finns, and Estonians) inhabit their respective nation states in Europe, i.e. Hungary, Finland, and Estonia, while a large minority of Mordvins inhabit the federal Mordovian Republic within Russia (Russian Federation).[27]

The indigenous area of the

Fennoscandian Peninsula. Some other peoples that speak Finno-Ugric languages have been assigned autonomous republics within Russia. These are the Karelians (Republic of Karelia), Komi (Komi Republic), Udmurts (Udmurt Republic) and Mari (Mari El Republic). The Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug was set up for the Khanty and Mansi of Russia. A once-autonomous Komi-Permyak Okrug was set up for a region of high Komi habitation outside the Komi Republic.[citation needed
]

Some of the ethnicities speaking Finno-Ugric languages are:[citation needed]

International Finno-Ugric societies

Proposed flag of the Finno-Ugric-speaking peoples.

In the Finno-Ugric countries of Finland, Estonia and Hungary that find themselves surrounded by speakers of unrelated tongues, language origins and language history have long been relevant to national identity. In 1992, the 1st World Congress of Finno-Ugric Peoples was organized in Syktyvkar in the Komi Republic in Russia, the 2nd World Congress in 1996 in Budapest in Hungary, the 3rd Congress in 2000 in Helsinki in Finland, the 4th Congress in 2004 in Tallinn in Estonia, the 5th Congress in 2008 in Khanty-Mansiysk in Russia, the 6th Congress in 2012 in Siófok in Hungary,[28][29][30][31] the 7th Congress in 2016 in Lahti in Finland,[32] and the 8th Congress in 2021 in Tartu in Estonia.[33] The members of the Finno-Ugric Peoples' Consultative Committee include: the Erzyas, Estonians, Finns, Hungarians, Ingrian Finns, Ingrians, Karelians, Khants, Komis, Mansis, Maris, Mokshas, Nenetses, Permian Komis, Saamis, Tver Karelians, Udmurts, Vepsians; Observers: Livonians, Setos.[34][35]

In 2007, the 1st Festival of the Finno-Ugric Peoples was hosted by President Vladimir Putin of Russia, and visited by Finnish President, Tarja Halonen, and Hungarian Prime Minister, Ferenc Gyurcsány.[36][37]

The International Finno-Ugric Students' Conference (IFUSCO) is organised annually by students of Finno-Ugric languages to bring together people from all over the world who are interested in the languages and cultures. The first conference was held in 1984 in Göttingen in Germany. IFUSCO features presentations and workshops on topics such as linguistics, ethnography, history and more.[38][39]

The

Finno-Ugric peoples, held every five years.[40][41] The first congress was organized in 1960 in Budapest, the last congress took place in 2022 in Vienna,[42] the next congress is planned to be held in Tartu, Estonia in 2025.[43]

Population genetics

The linguistic reconstruction of the Finno-Ugric language family has led to the postulation that the ancient Proto-Finno-Ugric people were ethnically related, and that even the modern Finno-Ugric-speaking peoples are ethnically related.[44] Such hypotheses are based on the assumption that heredity can be traced through linguistic relatedness,[45] although it must be kept in mind that language shift and ethnic admixture, a relatively frequent and common occurrence both in recorded history and most likely also in prehistory, confuses the picture and there is no straightforward relationship, if at all, between linguistic and genetic affiliation. Still, the premise that the speakers of the ancient proto-language were ethnically homogeneous is generally accepted.[17]

Modern genetic studies have shown that the Y-chromosome

haplogroup NO
(haplogroup O being the most common Y-chromosome haplogroup in Southeast Asia).

A study of the Finno-Ugric-speaking peoples of northern Eurasia (i.e., excluding the Hungarians), carried out between 2002 and 2008 in the Department of Forensic Medicine at the

Boreal and Arctic North Eurasia.[48]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Variants of the name include Finno-Ugrian, Fenno-Ugric, Fenno-Ugrian, and Ugro-Finnic.

References

  1. ^ Collins English Dictionary – Complete & Unabridged 11th Edition. Retrieved 4 September 2012 from website: http://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/Finno-Ugric Archived 11 June 2012 at the Wayback Machine
  2. ^ Tapani Salminen, "The rise of the Finno-Ugric language family." In Carpelan, Parpola, & Koskikallio (eds.), Early contacts between Uralic and Indo-European: linguistic and archaeological considerations. Mémoires de la Société Finno-Ougrienne 242; Helsinki 2001. 385–396.[1] Archived 30 August 2017 at the Wayback Machine
  3. ^ Aikio, Ante (2019). "Proto-Uralic". In Bakró-Nagy, Marianne; Laakso, Johanna; Skribnik, Elena (eds.). Oxford Guide to the Uralic Languages. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. pp. 1–4. Archived from the original on 10 December 2021. Retrieved 18 May 2020.
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  7. ^ Sommer, Łukasz (1 January 2023). "Conceptualizing language kinship or How Finnocentric is Finno-Ugricity?". Academia.edu.
  8. ^ Décsy, Guyla (1965). Einführung in die finnisch-ugrische Sprachwissenschaft (in German). Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz. p. 1.
  9. ISBN 978-963-463-213-9
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  10. ^ Salminen, Tapani (2002): Problems in the taxonomy of the Uralic languages in the light of modern comparative studies Archived 13 January 2019 at the Wayback Machine; the clade has also been abandoned by Ethnologue.
  11. ISBN 9780198767664. Archived
    from the original on 10 December 2021. Retrieved 18 May 2020.
  12. ISBN 978-0-262-53267-9
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  13. ^
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  14. ^ a b Häkkinen, Jaakko 2009: Kantauralin ajoitus ja paikannus: perustelut puntarissa. – Suomalais-Ugrilaisen Seuran Aikakauskirja 92. http://www.sgr.fi/susa/92/hakkinen.pdf Archived 14 October 2017 at the Wayback Machine
  15. ^ Aikio, Ante (2012), "On Finnic long vowels, Samoyed vowel sequences, and Proto-Uralic *x", Suomalais-Ugrilaisen Seuran Toimituksia, 264,
    ISSN 0355-0230
  16. ISSN 0355-0230, archived
    (PDF) from the original on 15 October 2013, retrieved 5 May 2010
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  21. ^ Georg, Stefan (2004). "Marcantonio, Angela: The Uralic Language Family. Facts, Myths and Statistics". Book review. Finnisch-Ugrische Mitteilungen. 26/27: 155–168.
  22. ^ Kallio, Petri (2004). "The Uralic Language Family: Facts, Myths and Statistics. Angela Marcantonio". Book review. Anthropological Linguistics. 46: 486–490.
  23. ^ Kulonen, Ulla-Maija (2004). "Myyttejä uralistiikasta. Angela Marcantonio. The Uralic Language Family: Facts, Myths and Statistics". Book review. Virittäjä (2/2004): 314–320.
  24. ^ Laakso, Johanna (2004). "Sprachwissenschaftliche Spiegelfechterei (Angela Marcantonio: The Uralic language family. Facts, myths and statistics)". Book review. Finnisch-ugrische Forschungen (in German). 58: 296–307.
  25. ISBN 951-642-445-7
    .
  26. ISBN 978-963-7094-01-9
    ., the Hungarian word for "one" is an internal development, i.e. it is not related to the Proto-Finno-Ugric *ükte
  27. ISSN 0090-5992
    .
  28. ^ "7th World Congress of the Finno-Ugric Peoples". World Congress of the Finno-Ugric Peoples. Archived from the original on 17 March 2019. Retrieved 15 July 2016.
  29. ^ "Statutes of the Consultative Committee of Finno-Ugrian peoples". Finno-Ugric Peoples' Consultative Committee. Archived from the original on 31 July 2020. Retrieved 13 July 2016.
  30. ^ "The Congress of the Finno-Ugric Peoples". Russia. Archived from the original on 6 August 2020. Retrieved 15 July 2016.
  31. ^ "Fenno-Ugria". Estonia. Archived from the original on 19 September 2016. Retrieved 15 July 2016.
  32. ^ "The VII (7th) World Congress of Finno-Ugric Peoples". Fenno-Ugria. Archived from the original on 17 August 2021. Retrieved 17 August 2021.
  33. ^ "The VIII(8th) World Congress of Finno-Ugric Peoples". Fenno-Ugria. Archived from the original on 11 July 2021. Retrieved 17 August 2021.
  34. ^ "Finno-Ugric Peoples' Consultative Committee, Members". World Congresses of the Finno-Ugric Peoples. Finno-Ugric Peoples' Consultative Committee. Archived from the original on 2 February 2017. Retrieved 15 July 2016.
  35. ^ "Suomalais-Ugrilainen Seura (in Finnish)". Finno-Ugrian Society (in English). Archived from the original on 3 March 2018. Retrieved 15 July 2016.
  36. ^ "International Festival of the Finno-Ugric Peoples". Press Release from the Kremlin in Russia. 19 July 2007. Archived from the original on 31 July 2020. Retrieved 15 July 2016.
  37. ^ "Press Statements by President Vladimir Putin, leaders of Finland and Hungary". Press Release from the Kremlin in Russia. 19 July 2007. Archived from the original on 31 July 2020. Retrieved 15 July 2016.
  38. ^ "IFUSCO comes back to "fatherland" from Syktyvkar". Archived from the original on 16 June 2018.
  39. ^ "IFUSCO XXXVII Prague 2022 | FAQ". ifusco2022.ff.cuni.cz/faq/. Archived from the original on 28 May 2023. Retrieved 28 May 2023.
  40. ^ Gulyás, Nikolett F.; Janurik, Boglárka; Mus, Nikolett; Tánczos, Orsolya (2011). "The 11th International Congress for Finno-Ugric Studies: Finno-Ugric Peoples and Languages in the 21st Century". Finno-Ugric Languages and Linguistics. 1 (1–2).
  41. ^ Georgieva, Ekaterina; Mus, Nikolett (2015). "The 12th International Congress for Finno-Ugric Studies". Finno-Ugric Languages and Linguistics. 4 (1–2).
  42. ^ "13th International Congress for Finno-Ugric Studies". The official site of Estonian Non-Profit Organisation Fenno-Ugria.
  43. ^ "Congressus XIV Internationalis Fenno-Ugristarum. August 2025, Tartu". The official site of 14th International Congress for Finno-Ugric Studies. Retrieved 12 March 2024.
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  45. ^ "Where do Finnish come from?". 19 November 2014. Archived from the original on 17 November 2010. Retrieved 22 March 2010.
  46. S2CID 19265287
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  47. ^ "Journals Home" (PDF).
  48. ^ Pimenoff, Ville (2008). "Living on the edge : Population genetics of Finno-Ugric-speaking humans in North Eurasia". University of Helsinki, Finland. Archived from the original on 19 March 2021. Retrieved 12 April 2019.PhD thesis

Further reading

External links
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