Editing Erzya language (section)

== Phonology ==

=== Consonants ===
The following table lists the consonant phonemes of Erzya together with their [[Cyrillic script|Cyrillic]] equivalents.<ref name=Saarinen>{{cite web |last=Saarinen |first=Sirkka |title=Erzya e-learning course |url=https://www.infuse.finnougristik.uni-muenchen.de/e-learning/mordvin/o3_erzya.pdf |publisher=Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München |access-date=2019-03-05}}</ref>

{|class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
|-
! colspan="2" rowspan="2" |
! rowspan="2" | [[Labial consonant|Labial]]
! colspan="2" | [[Alveolar consonant|Alveolar]]
! rowspan="2" | [[Postalveolar consonant|(Palato-]])[[Postalveolar consonant|<br />alveolar]]
! rowspan="2" | [[Velar consonant|Velar]]
|-
! <small>plain</small>
! <small>[[Palatalization (phonetics)|pal.]]</small>
|-
! colspan="2" | [[Nasal consonant|Nasal]]
| {{IPAslink|m}} м
| {{IPAslink|n}} н 
| {{IPAslink|nʲ}} нь
|
| {{IPAslink|ŋ}} н
|-
! rowspan="2" | [[Plosive]]
! <small>[[voicelessness|voiceless]]</small>
| {{IPAslink|p}} п
| {{IPAslink|t}} т
| {{IPAslink|tʲ}} ть
|
| {{IPAslink|k}} к
|-
! <small>[[Voice (phonetics)|voiced]]</small>
| {{IPAslink|b}} б
| {{IPAslink|d}} д
| {{IPAslink|dʲ}} дь
|
| {{IPAslink|ɡ}} г
|-
! colspan="2" | [[Affricate]]
|
| {{IPAslink|t͡s}} ц
| {{IPAslink|t͡sʲ}} ць
| {{IPAslink|t͡ʃ}} ч
|
|-
! rowspan="2" | [[Fricative]]
! <small>voiceless</small>
| ({{IPAslink|f}} ф)
| {{IPAslink|s}} с
| {{IPAslink|sʲ}} сь
| {{IPAslink|ʃ}} ш
| ({{IPAslink|x}} х)
|-
! <small>voiced</small>
| {{IPAslink|v}} в
| {{IPAslink|z}} з
| {{IPAslink|zʲ}} зь
| {{IPAslink|ʒ}} ж
|
|-
! colspan="2" | [[Trill consonant|Trill]]
|
| {{IPAslink|r}} р
| {{IPAslink|rʲ}} рь
|
|
|-
! colspan="2" | [[Approximant]]
|
| {{IPAslink|l}} л
| {{IPAslink|lʲ}} ль
| {{IPAslink|j}} й
|
|}

[[Palatalization (phonetics)|Palatalization]] is widespread in Erzya, but is contrastive only for the alveolar consonants. The labial and velar consonants have palatalized [[allophone]]s before the front vowels {{IPA|/i/}}, {{IPA|/e/}}. The pairs {{IPA|/t/}} – {{IPA|/tʲ/}}, {{IPA|/d/}} – {{IPA|/dʲ/}} and {{IPA|/n/}} – {{IPA|/nʲ/}} also often alternate depending on a following or preceding back vs. front vowel. E.g. the 1st person singular [[possessive suffix]] has [[allomorph]]s such as {{IPA|/-enʲ/}} and {{IPA|/-on/}}. The palatalized consonants can natively occur also in a back vowel environment, e.g. the genitive suffix {{IPA|/-nʲ/}}, providing [[minimal pair]]s such as {{lang|myv|кудон}} {{IPA|/kudon/}} 'my house' – {{lang|myv|кудонь}} {{IPA|/kudonʲ/}} '(a) house's'. Non-palatalized {{IPA|/t/}}, {{IPA|/d/}}, {{IPA|/n/}} in a front vowel environment are limited to recent Russian loans such as {{lang|myv|кит}} {{IPA|/kit/}} 'whale'.<ref name="Rueter">{{cite book |last=Rueter |first=Jack |title=Adnominal Person in the Morphological System of Erzya |publisher=Suomalais-Ugrilainen Seura |year=2010 |series=Suomalais-Ugrilaisen Seuran Toimituksia 261 |place=Helsinki}}
</ref>

Note on romanized transcription: in Uralic studies, the members of the palatalized series are usually spelled as {{angbr|ń}}, {{angbr|ť}}, {{angbr|ď}}, {{angbr|ć}}, {{angbr|ś}}, {{angbr|ź}}, {{angbr|ŕ}}, {{angbr|ľ}}, while the postalveolar sounds are spelled {{angbr|č}}, {{angbr|š}}, {{angbr|ž}} (see [[Uralic Phonetic Alphabet]]).

{{IPAslink|f}} and {{IPAslink|x}} are loan phonemes from Russian.<ref name=Saarinen/> There is a phonemic contrast between {{IPAslink|n}} and {{IPAslink|ŋ}}, despite that they share the standard spelling ⟨н⟩. [[Minimal pair]]s include:
* {{IPA|/janɡa/}} "along the path", in which the alveolar {{IPA|/n/}} of the stem is retained before the prolative case ending {{IPA|/ɡa/}}, vs. {{IPA|/jaŋɡa/}}, the connegative form of the verb {{IPA|/jaŋɡams/}} "to break"
* {{IPA|/jonks/}} "good", subject or object complement in {{IPA|/ks/}} translative, vs. {{IPA|/joŋks/}} "direction; area". See Rueter 2010: 58.

[[File:Mordovians in Russia.png|thumb|Mordovians in European Russia]]

=== Vowels ===
Erzya has a simple five-vowel system.<ref name=Zaicz>{{cite book |last=Zaicz |first=Gábor |chapter=Mordva |year=1998 |title=The Uralic Languages |editor-last=Abondolo |editor-first=Daniel |pages=184–218 |location=London |publisher=Routledge}}</ref>

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center"
!
! [[Front vowel|Front]]
! [[Back vowel|Back]]
|-
! [[High vowel|High]]
| {{IPA link|i}}
| {{IPA link|u}}
|-
! [[Mid vowel|Mid]]
| {{IPA link|e}}
| {{IPA link|o}}
|-
! [[Low vowel|Low]]
|colspan="2"| {{IPA link|a}}
|}

The front vowels {{IPA|/i/}} and {{IPA|/e/}} have centralized variants {{IPAblink|ï}} and {{IPAblink|ë}} immediately following a plain alveolar consonant, e.g. {{transliteration|myv|siń}} {{IPA|[sïnʲ]}} "they", {{transliteration|myv|seń}} {{IPA|[sënʲ]}} "blue".

=== Vowel harmony ===
As in many other [[Uralic languages]], Erzya has [[vowel harmony]]. Most roots contain either [[front vowel]]s ({{IPA|/i/}}, {{IPA|/e/}}) or [[back vowel]]s ({{IPA|/u/}}, {{IPA|/o/}}). In addition, all suffixes with mid vowels have two forms: the form to be used is determined by the final syllable of the stem. The low vowel ({{IPA|/a/}}), found in the comparative case {{lang|myv|-шка}} ({{transliteration|myv|ška}}) "the size of" and the prolative {{lang|myv|-ка/-га/-ва}} ({{transliteration|myv|ka/ga/va}}) "spatial multipoint used with verbs of motion as well as position" is a back vowel and not subject to vowel harmony.

The rules of vowel harmony are as follows:

# If the final syllable of the word stem contains a front vowel, the front form of the suffix is used: {{lang|myv|веле}} ({{transliteration|myv|veĺe}}) "village", {{lang|myv|велесэ}} ({{transliteration|myv|veĺese}}) "in a village"
# If the final syllable of the word stem contains a back vowel, and it is followed by plain (non-palatalized) consonants, the back form of the suffix is used: {{lang|myv|кудо}} ({{transliteration|myv|kudo}}) "house", {{lang|myv|кудосо}} ({{transliteration|myv|kudoso}}) "in a house"

However, if the back vowel is followed by a palatalized consonant or palatal glide, vowel harmony is violated and the "front" form of the suffix is used: {{lang|myv|кальсэ}} ({{transliteration|myv|kaĺse}}) "with willow", {{lang|myv|ойсэ}} ({{transliteration|myv|ojse}}) "with butter". Likewise, if a front-vowel stem is followed by a low back vowel suffix, subsequent syllables will contain back harmony: {{lang|myv|велеванзо}} ({{transliteration|myv|veĺevanzo}}) "throughout its villages"

Thus the seeming violations of vowel harmony attested in stems, e.g. {{lang|myv|узере}} ({{transliteration|myv|uźere}}) "axe", {{lang|myv|суре}} ({{transliteration|myv|suŕe}}) "thread (string)", are actually due to the palatalized consonants {{IPA|/zʲ/}} and {{IPA|/rʲ/}}.

One exception to front-vowel harmony is observed in palatalized non-final {{IPA|/lʲ/}}, e.g. {{lang|myv|асфальтсо}} ({{transliteration|myv|asfaĺtso}}) "with asphalt".