Editing Merya language (section)

== Classification ==
There is no general agreement on the relationship of Merya with its neighboring Uralic languages.

* A traditional account places Merya as a member of the [[Volga Finns|Volga-Finnic]] group, comprising also the [[Mordvinic languages|Mordvinic]] and [[Mari language|Mari]] languages.<ref name="Janse 2000 A108" /><ref>{{cite book|last=Wieczynski|first=Joseph|url=https://books.google.com/books?q=%22Merian+and+Muromian%2C+belong+to+the+so-called+Volga+branch+of+the+Finno-Ugric+languages%22&btnG=Search+Books|title=The Modern Encyclopedia of Russian and Soviet History|publisher=Academic International Press|year=1976|isbn=978-0-87569-064-3}}</ref> However, Volga Finnic is today considered obsolete.
* T. Semenov and [[Max Vasmer]] believed Merya to be a close relative of [[Mari language|Mari]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Меря - Меряния - Залесская Русь - Мерянский язык |url=http://www.merjamaa.ru/index/merjanskij_jazyk/0-10 |website=Merjamaa}}</ref> Vasmer saw that many Merya toponyms have [[Mari language|Mari]] parallels.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Матвеев |first1=А. К. |year=1997 |title=К проблеме расселения летописной мери |url=https://elar.urfu.ru/handle/10995/23523 |journal=Известия Уральского Государственного Университета. 1997. № 7}}</ref>
*One hypothesis classifies the Merya as a western branch of the [[Mari people]] rather than as a separate tribe. Their ethnonyms are basically identical, ''Merya'' being a [[Russian language|Russian]] transcription of the Mari self-designation, ''Мäрӹ (Märӛ)''.<ref>Petrov A., KUGARNYA, Marij kalykyn ertymgornyzho, #12 (850), 2006, March, the 24th.</ref> According to {{Ill|Stepan Kuznetsov (ethnographer)|lt=Stepan Kuznetsov|ru|Кузнецов, Стефан Кирович}}, the ethnonym ''Merya'' in toponyms becomes ''Mari'' moving to the east.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Анализ хорографических (топонимических) названий Мерянской земли - 19 Января 2011 - Меря - Меряния - Залесская Русь |url=https://www.merjamaa.ru/news/analiz_khorograficheskikh_toponimicheskikh_nazvanij_merjanskoj_zemli/2011-01-19-156 |access-date=2024-12-19 |website=www.merjamaa.ru}}</ref>
* [[Eugene Helimski]] supposed that the Merya language was part of a [[Finno-Samic languages|"northwest" group]] of Finno-Ugric, including also [[Finnic languages|Balto-Finnic]] and [[Sami languages|Sami]]. Helimski argued that even though there are [[Mari language|Mari]] parallels, they do not justify a close relationship with Mari and could be due to adjacency of the language areas.<ref name="Helimski">{{cite book |last=Helimski |first=Eugene |author-link=Eugene Helimski |url=http://www.helsinki.fi/venaja/nwrussia/eng/Conference/pdf/Helimski.pdf |title=The Slavicization of the Russian North (Slavica Helsingiensia 27) |publisher=Department of Slavonic and Baltic Languages and Literatures |year=2006 |isbn=978-952-10-2852-6 |editor-last=Nuorluoto |editor-first=Juhani |location=Helsinki |pages=109–127 |chapter=The «Northwestern» group of Finno-Ugric languages and its heritage in the place names and substratum vocabulary of the Russian North |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20170830213526/http://www.helsinki.fi/venaja/nwrussia/eng/Conference/pdf/Helimski.pdf |archive-date=August 30, 2017 |url-status=dead}}</ref>
* [[Gábor Bereczki]] supposed that the Merya language was a part of the Balto-Finnic group.<ref>{{cite book|last=Bereczki|first=Gábor|title=Contacts de languages et de cultures dans l'aire baltique / Contacts of Languages and Cultures in the Baltic Area|year=1996|editor1-last=Fernandez|editor1-first=M.M. Jocelyne|series=Uppsala Multiethnic Papers|pages=69–76|chapter=Le méria, une language balto-finnoise disparue|editor2-last=Raag|editor2-first=Raimo}}</ref>
*Mordvinian author [[Aleksandr Sharonov]] claimed that Merya is an [[Erzya language|Erzyan]] dialect; however this is not well supported.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://erzan.ru/news/narod-erzja-i-rus-v-fokuse-russkogo-neslavjanina-aleksandr-sharonov|title=Народ Эрзя и Русь: в фокусе русского неславянина. Александр Шаронов &#124; Эрзянь ки. Культурно-образовательный портал|access-date=2021-03-25|archive-date=2010-05-08|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100508145003/http://erzan.ru/news/narod-erzja-i-rus-v-fokuse-russkogo-neslavjanina-aleksandr-sharonov|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Rahkonen (2013)<ref name="Rahkonen" /> argues that the likewise unattested and unclassified-within-Uralic [[Muromian language]] was a close relative of Merya, perhaps even a dialect of Meryan.

A probable characteristic of the Merya language, which some researchers have noted, is the plural ''-k'', as in Hungarian, while most [[Uralic languages]] use ''-t'' for the plural.<ref name=":4" />