Northwestern Mari (''Маре йӹлмӹ'') is a

Uralic The Uralic languages (; sometimes called Uralian languages ) form a language family of 38 languages spoken by approximately 25million people, predominantly in Northern Eurasia. The Uralic languages with the most native speakers are Hungarian (w ...

language variety closely related to

Hill Mari Hill Mari or Western Mari (, ''Mary jÿlmÿ'') is a Uralic language closely related to Northwestern Mari and Meadow Mari. With the first of them Hill Mari joins a Western Mari group. Hill Mari is spoken in the Gornomariysky, Yurinsky and K ...

and

Meadow Mari Meadow Mari or Meadow-Eastern Mari or Eastern Mari is a standardised dialect of the Mari language used by about half a million people mostly in the European part of the Russian Federation. Meadow Mari, Hill Mari, and Russian are official langua ...

. With the first of them Northwestern Mari joins as a dialect group of Western Mari language. Northwestern Mari is the language of Northwestern Mari people, who live in Russia in the Yaransky, Tuzhinsky, Kiknursky, Sanchursky districts of

Kirov Oblast Kirov Oblast (russian: Ки́ровская о́бласть, ''Kirovskaya oblast'') is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast) in Eastern Europe. Its administrative center is the city of Kirov. Population: 1,341,312 ( 2010 Census). Geography Na ...

, Tonshayevsky, Sharangsky and Tonkinsky districts of

Nizhny Novgorod Oblast Nizhny Novgorod Oblast (russian: link=no, Нижегородская область, ''Nizhegorodskaya oblast''), is a federal subjects of Russia, federal subject of Russia (an oblast). Its administrative center is the types of inhabited localiti ...

and partly in Kilemarsky and Medvedevsky districts of

Mari El The Mari El Republic (russian: Респу́блика Мари́й Эл, ''Respublika Mariy El''; Meadow Mari: ; Hill Mari: ) is a republic of Russia. It is in the European Russia region of the country, along the northern bank of the Volga Rive ...

. It is written using the Northwestern Mari

Cyrillic script The Cyrillic script ( ), Slavonic script or the Slavic script, is a writing system used for various languages across Eurasia. It is the designated national script in various Slavic languages, Slavic, Turkic languages, Turkic, Mongolic languages, ...

, but doesn't have an official status in any subjects of

Russian Federation Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

. Northwestern Mari people have difficulties with both other literary languages. The first book in Northwestern Mari, ' (, Northwestern Mari primer) was printed in 1995, and the dialect thereby became the third literary standard.

Dialects

* Yaransk dialect – the largest by number of speakers and spread territory, Northwestern Mari standardized variety. ** Kiknur subdialect ** Tuzha subdialect ** Sanchursk subdialect * Sharanga dialect – the closest to

Марийцы. Историко-этнографические очерки.— Йошкар-Ола, 2013.— С. 137. * Tonshaevo dialect * Lipsha dialect

Alphabet

Bibliography

* Moisio A., Saarinen S. Tscheremissisches Wörterbuch / Lexica Societatis Fenno-Ugricae, XXXII. Helsinki, 2008. * Дмитриев С. Д., Дмитриева В. М., Тужаров Г. М. Маре букварь: (учебник для первого класса). Йошкар-Ола, 1995. * Иванов И Г., Тужаров Г. М. Северо-западное наречие марийского языка / Диалекты марийского языка. Вып. I. Йошкар-Ола, 1970. * Иванов И Г., Тужаров Г. М. Словарь северо-западного наречия марийского языка / Диалекты марийского языка. Вып. II. Йошкар-Ола, 1971. * Utyatin A. Tatar borrowings in Sharanga dialect // XXII Международная студенческая конференция по финно-угроведению. Тезисы докладов.- Йошкар-Ола, 2006. – С. 23.

References

External links

Pictures of Tonshaevo Mari people
Mari language Languages of Russia Culture of Mari El {{Uralic-lang-stub