VolgaFinnic

Volga Finnic, or Volgo-Finnic, is a branch of the Finnic subgroup within the Uralic language family. It comprises the Mordvinic languages (Erzya and Moksha) and the Mari languages (Hill Mari and Meadow Mari). The branch is named for the Volga River region where these languages have traditionally been spoken.

Geographically, Volga Finnic languages are spoken mainly in the Volga basin and adjacent areas of Russia, including the Mordovia and Mari El republics. They have several hundred thousand speakers in total, with individual languages ranging from tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands. Both Mordvin and Mari languages are considered endangered to varying degrees, and communities maintain bilingualism with Russian; revitalization efforts and bilingual education exist in some areas.

Linguistically, Volga Finnic languages share core Finno-Ugric features, including agglutinative morphology and a system of cases. They show less extensive vowel harmony than some other Finnic languages, and Erzya and Moksha are not mutually intelligible. The Mari languages, Hill Mari and Meadow Mari, form two standard literary varieties with separate norms and vocabulary profiles.

History and orthography have been shaped by contact with Turkic and Slavic languages. In written form, Volga Finnic languages have used Cyrillic scripts since the 18th or 19th centuries; standard orthographies exist for both Mordvin languages and for both Mari languages, with ongoing development and regional education programs.