Shoksha (, ) is an

ethnographic group An ethnographic group or ethnocultural group is a group that has cultural traits that make it stand out from the larger ethnic group it is a part of. In other words, members of an ethnographic group will also consider themselves to be members of a ...

Erzya people The Erzyas (also ''Erzyans'', ''Erzya people''; , ) are one of the Mordvin peoples. Famous people of Erzya descent * Purgaz * Syreś Boläeń, public figure, poet and translator, half-Erzya * Stepan Erzia, Russian sculptor * Nadezhda Kadysheva ...

. It is named after the village of in

Tengushevsky District Tengushevsky District (; , ''Teńgželeń ajmak''; , ''Teńgušbuje'') is an administrativeConstitution of the Republic of Mordovia, Article 63 and municipalLaw #123-Z district (raion), one of the twenty-two in the Republic of Mordovia, Russ ...

Mordovia Mordovia ( ),; Moksha language, Moksha and officially the Republic of Mordovia,; ; is a republics of Russia, republic of Russia, situated in Eastern Europe. Its capital city, capital is the types of inhabited localities in Russia, city of S ...

.Шаронов С. М., ''Шокша: Историко-этногрофический очерк'',

Saransk Saransk (, ); ; is the capital city of Mordovia, Russia, as well as its financial and economic centre. It is located in the Volga River, Volga drainage basin, basin at the confluence of the Saranka and Insar Rivers, about east of Moscow. Sar ...

, 2004, They live mostly in Mordovia, Tengushevsky District and

Torbeyevsky District Torbeyevsky District (; , ''Tarbejeń ajmak''; , ''Torbejbuje'') is an administrativeConstitution of the Republic of Mordovia, Article 63 and municipalLaw #127-Z district (raion), one of the twenty-two in the Republic of Mordovia, Russia. It ...

. The ethnonym is relatively recent.МОРДВА, ЭРЗЯ, МОКША — ИСТОРИЯ ЭТНОСА И ЭТНОНИМА
/ref> Shoksha live (or lived) in following settlements: *Tengushevsky District: Баево, Березняк, Вяжга, Дудниково, Коляево, Кураево, Малая Шокша, Мельсетьево, Мокшанка, Нароватово, Сакаево, Стандрово, Шелубей, Широмасово, Shoksha *Torbeyevsky District: Drakino, Кажлодка, Майский, Фёдоровка (depopulated), Якстере Теште (depopulated)

Language

The Shoksha speak the , a dialect of the

Erzya language The Erzya language (, , ), also Erzian or historically Arisa, is spoken by approximately 300,000 people in the northern, eastern and north-western parts of the Republic of Mordovia and adjacent regions of Nizhny Novgorod, Chuvashia, Penza, Sama ...

formed under the influence of the

Moksha language Moksha (, ) is a Mordvinic languages, Mordvinic language of the Uralic languages, Uralic family, spoken by Mokshas, with around 130,000 native speakers in 2010. Moksha is the majority language in the western part of Mordovia. Its closest relativ ...

, as for a long time Shokshas have been living with and surrounded by

Mokshas The Mokshas (also ''Mokshans'', ''Moksha people''; ) comprise a Mordvins, Mordvinian ethnic group belonging to the Volga Finns, Volgaic branch of the Finno-Ugric peoples. They live in Russia, mostly near the Volga and Moksha (river), Moksha river ...

. The language is unwritten and has a status of critically endangered.

References

{{Finno-Ugric peoples Erzyas Ethnic groups in Russia