Editing Erzya language (section)

{{Short description|Uralic language spoken in Russia}}
{{Infobox language
| name             = Erzya
| nativename       = {{lang|myv|эрзянь кель}} {{transliteration|myv|eŕźań keĺ}}
| altname          = Erzyan
| states           = [[Russia]]
| region           = [[Mordovia]], [[Nizhny Novgorod Oblast|Nizhny Novgorod]], [[Chuvashia Republic|Chuvashia]], [[Ulyanovsk Oblast|Ulyanovsk]], [[Samara Oblast|Samara]], [[Penza Oblast|Penza]], [[Saratov Oblast|Saratov]], [[Orenburg Oblast|Orenburg]], [[Tatarstan]], [[Bashkortostan]]
| ethnicity        = 610,000 [[Erzyas]] (553,000 in Russia, 2010 census)
| speakers         = {{sigfig|46,241|2}}
| date             = 2020 census
| ref              = <ref>{{Cite web |title=Итоги Всероссийской переписи населения 2020 года. Таблица 6. Население по родному языку. |trans-title=Results of the All-Russian population census 2020. Table 6. population according to native language. |url=https://rosstat.gov.ru/vpn_popul |access-date=2023-01-03 |website=rosstat.gov.ru |archive-date=2020-01-24 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200124160257/http://rosstat.gov.ru/vpn_popul |url-status=dead }}</ref>
| familycolor      = Uralic
| fam2             = [[Mordvinic languages|Mordvinic]]
| nation           = {{flag|Mordovia}} (Russia)
| iso2             = myv
| iso3             = myv
| glotto           = erzy1239
| glottorefname    = Erzya
| script           = [[Cyrillic]]
| notice           = IPA
| map              = 3-Mordvin.png
| mapcaption       = Mordvin languages at the beginning of the 20th century<ref name=map1>{{Cite journal |last1=Rantanen |first1=Timo |last2=Tolvanen |first2=Harri |last3=Roose |first3=Meeli |last4=Ylikoski |first4=Jussi |last5=Vesakoski |first5=Outi |date=2022-06-08 |title=Best practices for spatial language data harmonization, sharing and map creation—A case study of Uralic |journal=PLOS ONE |language=en |volume=17 |issue=6 |pages=e0269648 |doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0269648|doi-access=free |pmid=35675367 |pmc=9176854 |bibcode=2022PLoSO..1769648R }}</ref><ref name=map2>Rantanen, Timo, Vesakoski, Outi, Ylikoski, Jussi, & Tolvanen, Harri. (2021). ''Geographical database of the Uralic languages'' (v1.0) [Data set]. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.4784188</ref>
| map2             = Lang Status 60-DE.svg
| mapcaption2      = {{center|{{small|Erzya is classified as Definitely Endangered by the [[UNESCO]] ''[[Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger]]'' (2010)}}}}
| pronunciation    = {{IPA|[ˈerʲzʲanʲ ˈkʲelʲ]}}
}}
[[File:Erzya Flag.svg|thumb|Erzya flag]]
The '''Erzya language''' ({{lang|myv|эрзянь кель}}, {{transliteration|myv|eŕźań keĺ}}, {{IPA|myv|ˈerʲzʲanʲ ˈkʲelʲ|pron}}), 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 Oblast|Nizhny Novgorod]], [[Chuvashia]], [[Penza Oblast|Penza]], [[Samara Oblast|Samara]], [[Saratov Oblast|Saratov]], [[Orenburg Oblast|Orenburg]], [[Ulyanovsk Oblast|Ulyanovsk]], [[Tatarstan]] and [[Bashkortostan]] in [[Russia]]. A [[diaspora]] can also be found in [[Armenia]] and [[Estonia]], as well as in [[Kazakhstan]] and other states of [[Central Asia]]. Erzya is currently written using [[Cyrillic script|Cyrillic]] with no modifications to the variant used by the Russian language. In Mordovia, Erzya is co-official with [[Moksha language|Moksha]] and Russian.

The language belongs to the [[Mordvinic languages|Mordvinic]] branch of the [[Uralic languages]]. Erzya is a language that is closely related to [[Moksha language|Moksha]] but has distinct phonetics, morphology and vocabulary.