The Finno-Permic or Finno-Permian languages, sometimes just Finnic languages, are a proposed subdivision of the

Uralic languages The Uralic languages ( ), sometimes called the Uralian languages ( ), are spoken predominantly in Europe and North Asia. The Uralic languages with the most native speakers are Hungarian, Finnish, and Estonian. Other languages with speakers ab ...

which comprise the

Balto-Finnic languages Balto-Finnic may refer to: *Balto-Finnic peoples *Balto-Finnic languages {{dab Language and nationality disambiguation pages ...

Sámi languages The Sámi languages ( ), also rendered in English language, English as Sami and Saami, are a group of Uralic languages spoken by the Indigenous Sámi peoples in Northern Europe (in parts of northern Finland, Norway, Sweden, and extreme northwest ...

Mordvinic languages The Mordvinic languages, also known as the Mordvin, Mordovian or Mordvinian languages (, ''mordovskiye yazyki''), are a subgroup of the Uralic languages, comprising the closely related Erzya language and Moksha language, both spoken in Mordovia ...

Mari language The Mari language (, ; rus, марийский язык, p=mɐˈrʲijskʲɪj jɪˈzɨk), formerly known as the Cheremiss language, spoken by approximately 400,000 people, belongs to the Uralic languages, Uralic language family. It is spoken pr ...

Permic languages The Permic or Permian languages are a branch of the Uralic language family. They are spoken in several regions to the west of the Ural Mountains within the Russian Federation. The total number of speakers is around 950,000, of which around 550,0 ...

and likely a number of extinct languages. In the traditional taxonomy of the Uralic languages, Finno-Permic is estimated to have split from

Finno-Ugric Finno-Ugric () is a traditional linguistic grouping of all languages in the Uralic languages, Uralic language family except for the Samoyedic languages. Its once commonly accepted status as a subfamily of Uralic is based on criteria formulated in ...

around 3000–2500 BC, and branched into

and

Finno-Volgaic languages Finno-Volgaic or Fenno-Volgaic is a hypothetical branch of the Uralic languages that tries to group the Finnic languages, Sami languages, Mordvinic languages, and the Mari language. The hypothesis would have this language group branching from ...

around 2000 BC. Nowadays the validity of the group as a taxonomical entity is being questioned, and the interrelationships of its five branches are debated with little consensus. The term ''Finnic languages'' has often been used to designate all the Finno-Permic languages, with the term ''Balto-Finnic'' used to disambiguate the Finnic languages proper. However, in many works, ''Finnic'' refers to the Baltic-Finnic languages alone.

Subclassification

The subclassification of the Finno-Permic languages varies among scholars. During the 20th century, most classifications treated Permic vs Finno-Volgaic as the primary division. In the 21st century, Tapani Salminen rejected Finno-Permic and Finno-Volgaic entirely. Other classifications treat the five branches of Finno-Permic as follows.

Subclassification

See also

References

Further reading