Moksha language
| Moksha | |
|---|---|
| мокшень кяль / mokšeny käl | |
| Native to | Russia |
| Region | European Russia |
| Ethnicity | Mokshas |
|
Native speakers
|
390,000 (together with Erzya) (2010 census) |
| Cyrillic | |
| Official status | |
|
Official language in
|
Mordovia (Russia) |
| Regulated by | Mordovian Research Institute of Language, Literature, History and Economics |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-2 | |
| ISO 639-3 | |
| Glottolog | moks1248 |
The Moksha language (Moshka: мокшень кяль mokšeny käl) is a member of the Mordvinic branch of the Uralic languages, with around 130,000 native speakers. Moksha is the majority language in the western part of Mordovia. Its closest relative is the Erzya language, with which it is not mutually intelligible. Moksha is also considered to be closely related to the extinct Meshcherian and Muromian languages.
Moksha is one of the three official languages in Mordovia (the others being Erzya and Russian). The right to one's own language is guaranteed by the Constitution of the Mordovia Republic. The republican law of Mordovia N 19-3 issued in 1998 declares Moksha one of its state languages and regulates its usage in various spheres: in state bodies such as Mordovian Parliament, official documents and seals, education, mass-media, information about goods, geographical names, road signs. However, the actual usage of Moksha and Erzya is rather limited.
The first few Moksha schools were devised in the 19th century by Russian Christian missionaries. Since 1973 Moksha language was allowed to be used as language of instruction in first 3 grades of elementary school in rural areas and as a subject on a voluntary basis. The medium in universities of Mordovia is Russian, but the philological faculties of Mordovian State University and Mordovian State Pedagogical Institute offer a teacher course of Moksha. Mordovian State University also provides a course of Moksha for other humanitarian and some technical specialities. According to the annual statistics of the Russian Ministry of Education in 2014-2015 year there were 48 Moksha-medium schools (all in rural areas) where 644 students were taught, and 202 schools (152 in rural areas) where Moksha was studied as a subject by 15,783 students (5,412 in rural areas). Since 2010, study of Moksha in schools of Mordovia is not compulsory, but can be chosen only by parents.
The Moksha languages is divided into three dialects:
The dialects may be divided with another principle depending on their vowel system:
The standard literary Moksha language is based on the central group with ä (particularly the dialect of Krasnoslobodsk).
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Wikipedia