Komi is a member of the Uralic language family that spans from eastern Europe to western Siberia. More specific, it belongs to the Permic subgroup of the Finno-Ugric languages. It is thus related to languages such as Finnish, Estonian, and Hungarian. Its closest relative is Udmurt, another Permic language.
It is one of the official languages of the Komi Republic in northern Russia, near the northeastern edge of Europe. It currently has around 400,000 speakers. It has three main dialects (though they are frequently considered several languages nowadays): Zyrian, Permyak, and Yazva. The literary standard which I'm familiar with is Komi-Zyrian, specifically the dialect of the city of Syktyvkar.
Historically, the Komi people were one of the first nations to come under Russian rule (soon after the Karelians), where between the 12th and 14th centuries they became a tributary state of the Republic of Novgorod, and later Moscow.
Komi is also unique for its status as one of the oldest written Uralic languages; it rates third oldest attested, after Hungarian and Karelian (written in the Cyrillic script). However, it actually had developed its own native writing system, known as Abur (sample: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/c ... iption.jpg ). The modern language uses the Cyrillic script.
Lesson 1: Phonology and Spelling
Медводдза Урок: Фонетика да Гижанног
Medvoddźa Urok: Fońet'ika da Gižannog
Komi has a fairly straightforward phonology that's easy to learn. Its stress system is very regular and does not have much noticeable allophony.
Komi has seven vowels. Given below is the phonetic value, followed by the Cyrillic representation(s), and then the romanization I will be using in italics.
/a/ А, Я A
/e/ Э, Е E
/i/ І, И I
/o/ О, Ё O
/u/ У, Ю U
/@/ Ӧ Ö
/1/ Ы Y
The most distinctive feature of the consonant system is the series of palatalized consonants amongst the dentals and post-alveolar fricatives/affricates.
/p/ П P
/b/ Б B
/t/ Т T
/d/ Д D
/k/ К K
/g/ Г G
/m/ М M
/n/ Н N
/v/ В V
/s/ С S
/z/ З Z
/S/ Ш Š
/Z/ Ж Ž
/s\/ СЬ Ś
/z\/ ЗЬ Ź
/tS/ ТШ TŠ
/ts\/ Ч TŚ
/dZ/ ДЖ DŽ
/dz\/ ДЗ DŹ
/l/ Л L
/r/ Р R
/j/ Й J
/t_j/ ТЬ T'
/d_j/ ДЬ D'
/n_j/ НЬ Ń
/l_j/ ЛЬ L'
(Also /f/ Ф F and /x/ Х h, which are only found in loanwords)
As in Russian, each of the vowels have both iotated and uniotated forms. The iotated forms, when preceded by a consonant that has a palatalized equivalent (ie, /t d s z n/ > /t_j d_j s\ z\ n_j/), cause that consonant to palatalize. In the case of /a/, /o/, and /u/, this is straightforward: са sa /sa/, ся śa /s\a/; со so /so/, сё śo /s\o/; су su /su/, сю śu /s\u/.
With /e/ and /i/, this is a little different. After palatalized consonants, Е and И must be used: се śe /s\e/, си śi /s\i/. After non-palatalized consonants that can be palatalized, Э and І must be used: сэ se /se/, сі si /si/. After consonants that can't be palatalized, Е and И must nevertheless be used: ке ke /ke/, ки ki /ki/.
With /@/ and /1/, there is no iotated form, so the letter Ь must be stuck in between any palatalized consonant and the vowel: сӧ sö /s@/, сьӧ śö /s\@/; сы sy /s1/, сьы śy /s\1/.
At the end of a word or before a consonant, the letter Ь must be used to indicate the previous consonant is palatalized: порсь porś "pig" /pors\/.
/j/ before another consonant is represented with Й: квайт kvajt "six" /kvajt/. The sequences /ja je ji jo ju j@ j1/ are always represented with я е йи ё ю йӧ йы at the beginning of a word or intervocalically.
When /j/ follows any unpalatalized consonant (whether or not it has a palatalized counterpart), you must use the hard sign Ъ followed by the iotated vowel: съя sja /sja/, къя kja /kja/. When /j/ follows a palatalized consonant, the soft sign Ь is used followed by the iotated vowel: сья śja /s\ja/.
(All of the above oddities are the result of Russian spelling rules being applied, to some extent, on Komi, as well as some limitations of Cyrillic in not having distinct iotated variants of several vowels)
Most Russian words that entered the Komi language prior to the 20th century have been fully nativized and have a regular spelling, for example, явлӧг javlög "apple" (Russian jabloko), улича ulitśa "street" (Russian ulitsa). However, words that entered in the 20th century generally keep the Russian spelling, but nativize the pronunciation: любовь "love" (Russian /l_ju."bov_j/, Komi /"l_ju.bov/).
Komi consonants may exist in geminate form. Written vowels are always pronounced distinctly: шондіаӧсь "sunny (plural predicative form)" šondiaöś /"Son.di.a.@s\/, кык судтаа "two-storey (adj)" /"k1k "sud.ta.a/.
Stress always falls on the first syllable of a word.
Exercises:
Уджъяс:
Udžjas:
(Only relevant if you want to learn to use the Komi Cyrillic script; if you're working with the romanization, well, you'll have to wait for next lesson and some actual grammar to come along)
Transcribe the following Komi words, either into the romanization or phonemes.
- кык "two"
- тайӧ "this"
- сэні "there"
- нянь "bread"
- ним "name"
- нывъяс "girls"
- руаӧсь "foggy (pl. predicative)"
- кодйыны "to dig"
- медводдза "first"
- нёльӧд "fourth"
- каньяс "cats"
- чолӧм "hello!"
- аддзысьлытӧдз "goodbye!"