Northern Mansi language

The Northern Mansi language (ма̄ньси ла̄тыӈ, ) is a Uralic language spoken in Russia in the Khanty–Mansi Autonomous Okrug and Sverdlovsk Oblast. It's one of 4 Mansi languages and the only one still in use.

Northern Mansi has strong Russian, Komi, Nenets, and Northern Khanty influence, and it's the literary Mansi language. There is no accusative case; that is, both the nominative and accusative roles are unmarked on the noun. and have been backed to  and.

This article is focusing on the Severnaya Sosva dialect of Northern Mansi as that is considered the literary language.

Alphabet
The highlighted letters, and Г with the value, are used only in names and loanwords. The allophones /ɕ/ and /sʲ/ are written with the letter Щ or the digraph СЬ respectively.

Dialects
Dialects are named after the rivers their speakers originally lived next to. Mutual intelligibility between dialects can vary.
 *  Sosva/Severnaya Sosva (Next to the Northern Sosva river)
 *  Sygva (Next to the Sygva river)
 *  Upper Lozva (Next to the upper part of the Lozva river)
 * Ob (Near or next to the Khanty-Mansi part of the Ob river, sub-dialectal differentiation to upper, middle, lower Ob dialect)

Differences
The main difference between dialects is phonetic, grammar is usually universal across the Northern language, though vocabulary differences also occur.

Sosva dialect
Which could be considered the literary dialect of Northern Mansi, has several differentiating features:
 * The infinitive verb ending is, -ӈкве
 * It uses сь for the [ɕ] sound in its written form.

Upper Lozva dialect
It is the second most used dialect of Northern Mansi, after the Sosva dialect, its features consist of:
 * The infinitive verb ending is, -ӈкв
 * It uses щ for the [ɕ] sound in its written form.
 * The [ɣ] sound changes to [j], in writing it is also changed from г to й

Ob dialect
It Doesn't have any official written record in Cyrillic writing, but its phonetic features include:
 * The absence of the [kʷ] sound, subsidized with a [k] sound

Examples

 * Sosva: "Ханисьтан хум ханисьтаӈкве ха̄сыс, ханисьтахтын ня̄врам ханисьтахтуӈкве ат таӈхыс." — "A teacher could teach, but a student couldn’t study."
 * Upper Lozva: "А̄йирищум иӈ ма̄нь, но̄х-яныймаӈкв ат паты" - "My daughter is still small, she won't grow up."

Consonants
The inventory presented here is a maximal collection of segments found across the Mansi varieties. Some remarks:
 * 1) /ɕ/ is an allophone of /sʲ/.
 * 2) The voiceless velar fricatives /x/, /xʷ/ are only found in the Northern group and the Lower Konda dialect of the Eastern group, resulting from spirantization of *k, *kʷ adjacent to original back vowels.
 * 3) According to Honti, a contrast between *w and *ɣʷ can be reconstructed, but this does not surface in any of the attested varieties.
 * 4) The labialization contrast among the velars dates back to Proto-Mansi, but was in several varieties strengthened by labialization of velars adjacent to rounded vowels. In particular, Proto-Mansi *yK → Core Mansi *æKʷ (a form of transphonologization).

Vowels
Northern Mansi has a largely symmetric system of 8 vowels, though lacking short ** and having a very rare long :

Remarks:
 * 1) ы/и /i/ has a velar allophone [ɨ] before г /ɣ/ and after х /x/.
 * 2) Long [iː] occurs as a rare and archaic phonetic variant of /eː/, cf. э̄ти ~ ӣти (‘in the evening, evenings’)
 * 3) Long /eː/ and /oː/ can be pronounced as diphthongs [e͜ɛ] and [o͜ɔ].
 * 4) у /u/ is found in unstressed (“non-first”) syllables before в /w/, in the infinitive suffix -ункве /uŋkʷe/ and in obscured compound words.
 * 5) Reduced /ə/ becomes labialized [ə̹] or [ɞ̯] before bilabial consonants м /m/ and п /p/.

Grammar
Northern Mansi is an agglutinating, subject–object–verb (SOV) language.

Article
One way to express a noun's definiteness in a sentence is with articles, and Northern Mansi uses two articles. The Indefinite is derived from the demonstrative pronominal word ань ('now'), the definite is derived from the number аква/акв ('one'); ань ('the'), акв ('a/an'). They both are used before the defined word. And if their adverbial and numeral meanings are to be expressed; ань always stands before the verb or a word with a similar function and is usually stressed, акв behaves the same and is always stressed.

It's worth noting that the Northern Mansi newspaper, Luima Seripos (Лӯима̄ сэ̄рипос), doesn't use the before-mentioned words as articles.

Definiteness (determination) can also be expressed by the third (less often second) person singular possession marker, or in case of direct objects, using transitive conjugation. E.g. а̄мп (’dog’) → а̄мпе (’his/her/its dog’, ’the dog’); ха̄п (’boat’) → ха̄п на̄лув-нарыгтас (’he/she pushed a boat in the water’) ≠ ха̄п на̄лув-нарыгтастэ (’he/she pushed the boat in the water’).

Nouns
There is no grammatical gender. Mansi distinguishes between singular, dual and plural number. Six grammatical cases exist. Possession is expressed using possessive suffixes, for example -ум, which means "my".

Grammatical cases, declining
There are 5 ways the case suffix can change.


 * {| class=wikitable

!case||sing.||dual||plural !nom. puːt||пӯтыг puːtɪɣ||пӯтыт puːtət !loc. puːtt||пӯтыгт puːtɪɣt||пӯтытт puːtətt !lat. puːtn||пӯтыгн puːtɪɣn||пӯтытн puːtətn !abl. puːtnəl||пӯтыгныл puːtɪɣnəl||пӯтытныл puːtətnəl !trans. puːtɪɣ||-||- !instr. puːtəl||пӯтыгтыл puːtɪɣtəl||пӯтытыл puːtətəl
 * + If the word last letter is a consonant; Example with: пӯт /puːt/ (cauldron)
 * пӯт
 * пӯтт
 * пӯтн
 * пӯтныл
 * пӯтыг
 * пӯтыл
 * }


 * {| class=wikitable

!case||sing.||dual||plural !nom. eːkʷa||э̄кваг eːkʷaɣ||э̄кват eːkʷat !loc. eːkʷat||э̄квагт eːkʷaɣt||э̄кватт eːkʷatt !lat. eːkʷan||э̄квагн eːkʷaɣn||э̄кватн eːkʷatn !abl. eːkʷanəl||э̄квагныл eːkʷaɣnəl||э̄кватныл eːkʷatnəl !trans. eːkʷaɣ||-||- !instr. eːkʷal||э̄квагтыл eːkʷaɣtəl||э̄кватыл eːkʷatəl
 * +If the word last letter is a vowel; Example with: э̄ква /eːkʷa/ (wife)
 * э̄ква
 * э̄кват
 * э̄кван
 * э̄кваныл
 * э̄кваг
 * э̄квал
 * }


 * {| class=wikitable

!case||sing.||dual||plural !nom. saːli||са̄лыйиг saːlijiɣ||са̄лыт eːkʷat !loc. saːlit||са̄лыйигт saːlijiɣt||са̄лытт saːlitt !lat. saːlin||са̄лыйигн saːlijiɣn||са̄лытн saːlitn !abl. saːlinəl||са̄лыйигныл saːlijiɣnəl||са̄лытныл saːlitnəl !trans. saːlijiɣ||-||- !instr. saːlil||са̄лыйигтыл saːlijiɣtəl||са̄лытыл saːlitəl
 * + If the word has a vowel (ы, и) as the last letter; Example with: са̄лы /saːli/ (deer)
 * са̄лы
 * са̄лыт
 * са̄лын
 * са̄лыныл
 * са̄лыйиг
 * са̄лыл
 * }


 * {| class=wikitable

!case||sing.||dual||plural !nom. ɕaːnʲ||ся̄ньыг ɕaːnʲɪɣ||ся̄ньыт ɕaːnʲət !loc. ɕaːnʲt||ся̄ньыгт ɕaːnʲɪɣt||ся̄ньытт ɕaːnʲətt !lat. ɕaːnʲn||ся̄ньыгн ɕaːnʲɪɣn||ся̄ньытн ɕaːnʲətn !abl. ɕaːnʲnəl||ся̄ньыгныл ɕaːnʲɪɣnəl||ся̄ньытныл ɕaːnʲətnəl !trans. ɕaːnʲiɣ||-||- !instr. ɕaːnʲil||ся̄ньыгтыл ɕaːnʲɪɣtəl||ся̄ньытыл ɕaːnʲətəl
 * + If the word last letter is a palatalized con.; Example with: ся̄нь /ɕaːnʲ/ (mother)
 * ся̄нь
 * ся̄ньт
 * ся̄ньн
 * ся̄ньныл
 * ся̄ниг
 * ся̄нил
 * }


 * {| class=wikitable

!case||sing.||dual||plural !nom. sasɪɣ||сасгыг sasɣɪɣ||сасгыт sasɣət !loc. sasɪɣt||сасгыгт sasɣɪɣt||сасгытт sasɣətt !lat. sasɪɣn||сасгыгн sasɣɪɣn||сасгытн sasɣətn !abl. sasɪɣnəl||сасгыгныл sasɣɪɣnəl||сасгытныл sasɣətnəl !trans. sasɣɪɣ||-||- !instr. sasɣəl||сасгыгтыл sasɣɪɣtəl||сасгытыл sasɣətəl
 * + If the word has a syncopating stem; Example with: сасыг /sasɪɣ/ (uncle)
 * сасыг
 * сасыгт
 * сасыгн
 * сасыгныл
 * сасгыг
 * сасгыл
 * }

Missing cases can be expressed using postpositions, such as халныл (χalnəl, 'of, out of'), саит (sait, 'after, behind'), etc.

Possession
Possession is expressed with possessive suffixes, and the suffix change is determined by the last letter of a word. There are 5 ways that the suffixes can change:


 * {| class=wikitable

!possessor||single||double ||multiple !1st person sing. puːtɞ̯m||пӯтагум puːtaɣɞ̯m||пӯтанум puːtanɞ̯m !2nd person sing. puːtən ||пӯтагын puːtaɣən||пӯтан puːtan !3rd person sing. puːte||пӯтаге puːtaɣe||пӯтанэ puːtane !1st person dual puːtmeːn||пӯтагаме̄н puːtaɣameːn||пӯтанаме̄н puːtanameːn !2nd person dual puːtiːn||пӯтагы̄н puːtaɣiːn||пӯтаны̄н puːtaniːn !3rd person dual puːteː||пӯтаге̄н puːtaɣeː||пӯтанэ̄н puːtaneː !1st person plu. puːtuw||пӯтагув puːtaɣuw||пӯтанув puːtanuw !2nd person plu. puːtiːn||пӯтагы̄н puːtaɣiːn||пӯтаны̄н puːtaniːn !3rd person plu. puːtanəl||пӯтага̄ныл puːtanəl||пӯта̄ныл puːtanəl
 * + If the word has a consonant as the last letter; Example with: пӯт /puːt/ (cauldron)
 * пӯтум
 * пӯтын
 * пӯтэ
 * пӯтме̄н
 * пӯты̄н
 * пӯтэ̄
 * пӯтув
 * пӯты̄н
 * пӯтаныл
 * }


 * {| class=wikitable

!possessor||single||double ||multiple !1st person sing. eːkʷam||э̄квагум eːkʷaɣɞ̯m||э̄кванум eːkʷanɞ̯m !2nd person sing. eːkʷan ||э̄квагын eːkʷaɣən||э̄кван eːkʷan !3rd person sing. eːkʷate||э̄кваге eːkʷaɣe||э̄кванэ eːkʷane !1st person dual eːkʷameːn||э̄квагаме̄н eːkʷaɣameːn||э̄кванаме̄н eːkʷanameːn !2nd person dual eːkʷan||э̄квагы̄н eːkʷaɣiːn||э̄кваны̄н eːkʷaniːn !3rd person dual eːkʷateːn||э̄кваге̄н eːkʷaɣeː||э̄кванэ̄н eːkʷaneː !1st person plu. eːkʷaw||э̄квагув eːkʷaɣuw||э̄кванув eːkʷanuw !2nd person plu. eːkʷan||э̄квагы̄н eːkʷaɣiːn||э̄кваны̄н eːkʷaniːn !3rd person plu. eːkʷanəl||э̄кваганыл eːkʷanəl||э̄квананыл eːkʷanəl
 * + If the word has a vowel as the last letter; Example with: э̄ква /eːkʷa/ (wife, older woman)
 * э̄квам
 * э̄кван
 * э̄кватэ
 * э̄кваме̄н
 * э̄кван
 * э̄кватэ̄н
 * э̄квав
 * э̄кван
 * э̄кваныл
 * }


 * {| class=wikitable

!possessor||single||double ||multiple !1st person sing. saːlim||са̄лыягум saːlijaɣɞ̯m||са̄лыянум saːlijanɞ̯m !2nd person sing. saːlin ||са̄лыягын saːlijaɣən||са̄лыян saːlijan !3rd person sing. saːlite||са̄лыяге saːlijaɣe||са̄лыянэ saːlijane !1st person dual saːlimeːn||са̄лыягаме̄н saːlijaɣameːn||са̄лыянаме̄н saːlijanameːn !2nd person dual saːlin||са̄лыягы̄н saːlijaɣiːn||са̄лыяны̄н saːlijaniːn !3rd person dual saːliteː||са̄лыяге̄н saːlijaɣeː||са̄лыянэ̄н saːlijaneː !1st person plu. saːlijuw||са̄лыягув saːlijaɣuw||са̄лыянув saːlijanuw !2nd person plu. saːlin||са̄лыягы̄н saːlijaɣiːn||са̄лыяны̄н saːlijaniːn !3rd person plu. saːlijanəl||са̄лыяганыл saːlijaɣanəl||са̄лыянаныл saːlijananəl
 * + If the word has a vowel (ы, и) as the last letter; Example with: са̄лы /saːli/ (deer)
 * са̄лым
 * са̄лын
 * са̄лытэ
 * са̄лыме̄н
 * са̄лын
 * са̄лытэ̄н
 * са̄лыюв
 * са̄лын
 * са̄лыяныл
 * }


 * {| class=wikitable

!possessor||single||double ||multiple !1st person sing. ɕaːnʲɞ̯m||ся̄нягум ɕaːnʲaɣɞ̯m||ся̄нянум ɕaːnʲanɞ̯m !2nd person sing. ɕaːnʲən ||ся̄нягын ɕaːnʲaɣən||ся̄нян ɕaːnʲan !3rd person sing. ɕaːnʲe||ся̄няге ɕaːnʲaɣe||ся̄нянэ ɕaːnʲane !1st person dual ɕaːnʲameːn||ся̄нягаме̄н ɕaːnʲaɣameːn||ся̄нянаме̄н ɕaːnʲanameːn !2nd person dual ɕaːnʲiːn||ся̄нягы̄н ɕaːnʲaɣiːn||ся̄няны̄н ɕaːnʲaniːn !3rd person dual ɕaːnʲeː||ся̄няге̄н ɕaːnʲaɣeː||ся̄нянэ̄н ɕaːnʲaneː !1st person plu. ɕaːnʲuw||ся̄нягув ɕaːnʲaɣuw||ся̄нянув ɕaːnʲanuw !2nd person plu. ɕaːnʲiːn||ся̄нягы̄н ɕaːnʲaɣiːn||ся̄няны̄н ɕaːnʲaniːn !3rd person plu. ɕaːnʲanəl||ся̄няга̄ныл ɕaːnʲanəl||ся̄ня̄ныл ɕaːnʲanəl
 * + If the word has a palatalized consonant as the last letter; Example with: ся̄нь /ɕaːnʲ/ (mother)
 * ся̄нюм
 * ся̄нин
 * ся̄не
 * ся̄няме̄н
 * ся̄нӣн
 * ся̄не̄
 * ся̄нюв
 * ся̄нӣн
 * ся̄няныл
 * }


 * {| class=wikitable

!possessor||single||double ||multiple !1st person sing. sasɣɞ̯m||сасгагум sasɣaɣɞ̯m||сасганум sasɣanɞ̯m !2nd person sing. sasɣən ||сасгагын sasɣaɣən||сасган sasɣan !3rd person sing. sasɣe||сасгаге sasɣaɣe||сасганэ sasɣane !1st person dual sasɪɣmeːn||сасгагаме̄н sasɣaɣameːn||сасганаме̄н sasɣanameːn !2nd person dual sasɣiːn||сасгагы̄н sasɣaɣiːn||сасганы̄н sasɣaniːn !3rd person dual sasɣeː||сасгаге̄н sasɣaɣeː||сасганэ̄н sasɣaneː !1st person plu. sasɣuw||сасгагув sasɣaɣuw||сасганув sasɣanuw !2nd person plu. sasɣiːn||сасгагы̄н sasɣaɣiːn||сасганы̄н sasɣaniːn !3rd person plu. sasɣanəl||сасгага̄ныл sasɣaɣaːnəl||сасга̄ныл sasɣanəl
 * + If the word has a syncopating stem; Example with: сасыг /sasɪɣ/ (uncle)
 * сасгум
 * сасгын
 * сасгэ
 * сасыгме̄н
 * сасгы̄н
 * сасгэ̄
 * сасгув
 * сасгы̄н
 * сасганыл
 * }

Verbs
Northern Mansi conjugation has three persons, three numbers, two tenses, and five moods. Active and passive voices exist.

There is no clear distinction between transitive and intransitive verbs.

The verb can conjugate in a Definite and Indefinite way which depends on if the sentence has an object, which the action depicted by the verb refers to directly.

Personal suffixes
Personal suffixes are attached after the verbal marker. The suffixes are the following:

Tenses
Tenses are formed with suffixes except for the future.

Present tense
The tense suffix precedes the personal suffix. The form of the present tense suffix depends on the character of the verbal stem, as well as moods. Tense conjugation is formed with the suffixes -эг, -э̄г, -и, -э, -э̄, -г, or -в. In the following examples, the tense suffix is in bold and the personal ending is in italic. The present tense suffix -э̄г is used if the following personal marker contains a consonant or a highly reduced vowel; the suffix -эг is used if the following personal marker has a stronger vowel, as it is the case in 2nd person dual and plural. 1st person dual has no tense marker but rather a ы between the verb stem and personal ending.

Verb stems that end in a vowel, have -г as verbal marker. Verb stems that end with the vowel у have -в as verbal marker.

3rd person dual has no personal ending. If the verbal stem ends in a vowel, the tense suffix becomes -ыг.

1st person plural personal ending is -в if the verbal stems ends in a consonant; the personal ending becomes -ув if the verbal stem ends in a vowel.

Past tense
The past tense suffix if the verb stem is monosylabalic is -ыс- and if the verb is polysyllabic it is -ас-:

3rd person dual in past tense has a -ы̄г personal ending.

The 1st person plural personal suffix turns into -ув.

Future "tense"
To represent the Future, the verb патуӈкве (not dissimilar to Hungarians use of the verb fogni) is used as an auxiliary verb conjugated in the Present Indicative:

Definiteness
Verbs can conjugate two ways to show agreement with the sentence's object.

Indefinite conjugation
In Indefinite verb conjugations, no object is present. Any suffix does not represent it.

Definite conjugation
In Definite verb conjugations there are three ways the verb can represent the direct object's number. The singular object is expressed with the -ыл- suffix which changes depending on the mood and tense. The dual object is expressed with the -ыяг- suffix which changes depending on the mood and tense. The plural object is expressed with the -ыян- suffix which changes depending on the mood and tense.

Moods
There are four moods: indicative, mirative, optative, imperative and conditional.

Indicative mood has no suffix. Imperative mood exists only in the second person. Optative and Imperative don't have tenses.

Mirative mood
Is a mood presented in the present indefinite by the -не suffix and by the -но in definite.

In the past tense it is represented by the -ам suffix, both in indefinite and definite.

Optative mood
The mood is represented by the -нӯв and -нув suffixes, determined by the vowel in the next suffix.

Imperative mood
It exists only in the second person, and in indefinite conjugation, it doesn't show any personal markers, and it is represented by the -эн and -э̄н suffixes.

Active/Passive voice
Verbs have active and passive voice. Active voice has no suffix; the suffix to express the passive is -ве-.

Verbal prefixes
Verbal prefixes are used to modify the meaning of the verb in both concrete and abstract ways.

э̄л – 'away'

юв – 'back'

хот – 'direction away from something and other nuances of action intensity'

Vocabulary
The vocabulary of the Mansi languages is distinguished by a fairly large number of forms for denoting concepts related to hunting, reindeer husbandry, fishing (the main traditional occupations of the Mansi). For example, there are about seven words are used to define different types of swamps. At the same time, the language almost lacks its socio-political vocabulary. To denote such concepts that appeared in the life of Mansi in the 20th century; compounding, derivation (rarely affixation), and or borrowings were used. For example, "hospital" can be described by a borrowing пӯльница and derivation пусмалтан кол literally "medicinal/curative house".

Words from extinct dialects could also be revitalized in the literary language

Kinship terms
Northern Mansi differentiates between relatives based on from which side of the family they came from and also their relative age, for example:

Siblings are similarly differentiated to Hungarian and other Uralic languages:

Example text
Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in Northern Mansi:
 * Ма̄ янытыл о̄лнэ мир пуссын аквхольт самын патэ̄гыт, аквте̄м вос о̄лэ̄гыт, аквте̄м нё̄тмил вос кинсэ̄гыт. Та̄н пуӈк о̄ньщēгыт, номсуӈкве ве̄рме̄гыт, э̄сырма о̄ньщэ̄гыт, халанылт ягпыгыӈыщ-яга̄гиӈыщ вос о̄лэ̄гыт.


 * Mā ânytyl ōlnè mir pussyn akvholʹt samyn patè̄gyt, akvtēm vos ōlè̄gyt, akvtēm në̄tmil vos kinsè̄gyt. Tān puňk ōnʹsēgyt, nomsuňkve vērmēgyt, è̄syrma ōnʹsʹè̄gyt, halanylt âgpygyňysʹ-âgāgiňysʹ vos ōlè̄gyt.

Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in English:
 * All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.

Whole and below ten numbers
Numbers 1 and 2 also have attributive forms: акв (1) and кит (2); compare with Hungarian két, Old Hungarian kit).

The ма̄нь and яныг before 7 and 100 are there to differentiate between the two if both are in the same number or sentence; meaning small and big respectively.

Numbers between twenty and ten
The Mansi numbering system is different in this range than after twenty.

Here, you form a number with the word хуйп (above, more than); Therefore, аквхуйплов means "one over/above ten", in a similar way to other Uralic languages.

Numbers above twenty
Numbering in this range uses the word нупыл (towards); Therefore, ва̄т нупыл аква means "Towards thirty with one".

Numbers above and beyond hundred
You just add the number after the biggest number;

Remarks

 * 1) This is the 3rd person possessive form of the word, possibly a way of conveying formality
 * 2) This is the 2nd person possessive form of the word, possibly a way of conveying familiarity

Media in Northern Mansi
Since 1989 Лӯимā сэ̄рипос (Lūimā sēripos) "Northern dawn" newspaper has been the only and most prominent Mansi media. As of 2024 "Listen to articles", most articles on the site of the newsagency, have their authors read the articles out loud, so people can not just read the news in their native language but listen to it as well. This initiative was taken as the UN declared 2022-2032 as the International Decade of Indigenous Languages.
 * "Scholars and linguists believe that the Khanty and Mansi languages are dying; we, in turn, are making attempts to preserve and promote our native languages. Thus, to learn languages, it will be convenient and interesting to listen to the live speech of native speakers"

said Галина Кондина (Galina Kondina) the head editor of the newsagency.

The Gospel of Mark in Northern Mansi is available online on Finugorbib site, audio recordings can also be found