Merya language: Difference between revisions

Merya
Merya
Meryanic; Tecua
(unattested)
Native to	Russia
Region	Upper Volga
Ethnicity	Meryans
Extinct	at latest 18th century
Revival	2000s (reconstructed)
Language family	Uralic Finnic?/Mari? Merya; ;
Language codes
ISO 639-3	None (mis)
Linguist List	0tw
	Merya

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Merya or Meryanic (also Tecua^[1]) (Old East Slavic: мєр(ь)скъıї) is an extinct Finno-Ugric language, which was spoken by the Meryans.^[2]^[3] Merya began to be assimilated by East Slavs when their territory became incorporated into Kievan Rus' in the 10th century.^[4]^[5] However some Merya speakers might have even lived in the 18th century.^[6] There is also a theory that the word for "Moscow" originates from the Merya language.^[7] The Meryan language stretched to the western parts of Vologda Oblast and Moscow.^[8]

Classification

There is no general agreement on the relationship of Merya with its neighboring Uralic languages. It is sometimes left as unclassified within the western end of the family.^[1]

A traditional account places Merya as a member of the Volga-Finnic group, comprising also the Mordvinic and Mari languages.^[4]^[9] However, Volga Finnic is today considered obsolete.
T. Semenov and Max Vasmer believed Merya to be a close relative of Mari.^[10] Vasmer saw that many Merya toponyms have Mari parallels.^[11]
Eugene Helimski supposed that the Merya language was part of a "northwest" group of Finno-Ugric, including also Balto-Finnic and Sami. Helimski argued that even though there are Mari parallels, they do not justify a close relationship with Mari and could be due to adjacency of the language areas.^[3]
Gábor Bereczki supposed that the Merya language was a part of the Balto-Finnic group.^[12]
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 transcription of the Mari self-designation, Мäрӹ (Märӛ).^[13]
Mordvinian author Aleksandr Sharonov claimed that Merya is an Erzyan dialect, however this doesn't have much support.^[14]

Rahkonen (2013)^[8] 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, while most Uralic languages use -t for the plural.^[15]

Reconstruction

There have been attempts to re-construct Merya based on toponyms, onomastics and words in Russian dialects by O. B. Tkachenko, Arja Ahlqvist and A. K. Matveev among others. The first reconstructions were done in 1985 by O. B. Tkachenko. The latest book about Merya reconstructions was published in 2019.^[16]^[17]^[15] As an example: in Russian toponyms around where Merya was spoken, an ending -яхр (-jaxr) is regularly seen in names relating to lakes. This also resembles, but does not exactly match, the words for 'lake' in western Uralic languages, such as Finnish järvi, Northern Sami jávri, Erzya эрьке (eŕke), Meadow Mari ер (jer) (from a common proto-form *jäwrä). From these it can be inferred that -яхр likely continues the Meryan word for 'lake', which may have had a shape such as jäkrä, jähr(e)^[18]

According to Rahkonen, in Merya areas there is a word veks, which is probably cognate with the Komi word вис (vis) 'middle river', and similar also to an element vieksi which appears in Finnish toponyms. From Merya toponyms it can also be seen that words such as volo 'down' (Finnish: ala), vondo 'give' (Finnish: antaa) existed in the Merya language.^[8]^[17] From this it can be concluded that Finnish a- corresponds to vo- or o- in the Merya language. Another thing that can be observed is the Finnish sound "a" corresponding to a Merya "o", for example a hydronym kol(o) can be seen, which can be compared to Finnish kala 'fish'. In the Muroma-Merya territory a word il(e) can be observed, which can be compared to Finnic *ülä ‘upper’.^[8]^[17]

Phonology

Meryan phonology has been studied only in general terms, relying on Russian dialects in the Kostroma and Yaroslavl regions. Helimski suggests^[3] that Merya likely developed massive reduction of word-final syllables. The Merya language only allowed one consonant at the beginning of words, and likely placed stress on the first syllable of the word. It likely did not feature vowel harmony. The vowels /ö/, /ä/ and /y/ likely existed in the Merya language.^[15]

References

^ ^a ^b ^c "Merya". MultiTree. 2009-06-22. Archived from the original on July 19, 2012. Retrieved 2012-07-13.
^ "Уральские языки". bse.sci-lib.com.
^ ^a ^b ^c Helimski, Eugene (2006). "The «Northwestern» group of Finno-Ugric languages and its heritage in the place names and substratum vocabulary of the Russian North". In Nuorluoto, Juhani (ed.). The Slavicization of the Russian North (Slavica Helsingiensia 27) (PDF). Helsinki: Department of Slavonic and Baltic Languages and Literatures. pp. 109–127. ISBN 978-952-10-2852-6. Archived from the original (PDF) on August 30, 2017.
^ ^a ^b Janse, Mark; Sijmen Tol; Vincent Hendriks (2000). Language Death and Language Maintenance. John Benjaminsf Publishing Company. p. A108. ISBN 978-90-272-4752-0.
^ Smolitskaya, G.P. (2002). Toponimicheskyi slovar' Tsentral'noy Rossii Топонимический словарь Центральной России (in Russian). pp. 211–2017.
^ Pauli, Rahkonen (2013). "Itämerensuomalaisten kielten kaakkoinen kontaktialue nimistöntutkimuksen valossa". Virittäjä (2).
^ Tarkiainen, Kari (2010). Ruotsin itämaa. Helsinki: Svenska litteratursällskapet i Finland. p. 19. ISBN 978-951-583-212-2.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Rahkonen, Pauli (2013). The South-Eastern Contact Area of Finnic Languages in the Light of Onomastics (PhD thesis). University of Helsinki. hdl:10138/38908.
^ Wieczynski, Joseph (1976). The Modern Encyclopedia of Russian and Soviet History. Academic International Press. ISBN 978-0-87569-064-3.
^ "Меря - Меряния - Залесская Русь - Мерянский язык". Merjamaa.
^ Матвеев, А. К. (1997). "К проблеме расселения летописной мери". Известия Уральского Государственного Университета. 1997. № 7.
^ Bereczki, Gábor (1996). "Le méria, une language balto-finnoise disparue". In Fernandez, M.M. Jocelyne; Raag, Raimo (eds.). Contacts de languages et de cultures dans l'aire baltique / Contacts of Languages and Cultures in the Baltic Area. Uppsala Multiethnic Papers. pp. 69–76.
^ Petrov A., KUGARNYA, Marij kalykyn ertymgornyzho, #12 (850), 2006, March, the 24th.
^ "Народ Эрзя и Русь: в фокусе русского неславянина. Александр Шаронов | Эрзянь ки. Культурно-образовательный портал". Archived from the original on 2010-05-08. Retrieved 2021-03-25.
^ ^a ^b ^c ”Allikas: Ткаченко О. Б., Мерянский язык, Kiova 1985.”
^ Andrey, Malyšev (2019). Merjanskij jazyk Мерянский язык [Meryan language] (PDF) (in Russian). Izdatelʹstvo "Inbelkulʹt". ISBN 978-5-00076-049-9.
^ ^a ^b ^c Rahkonen, Pauli (2013). "Suomen etymologisesti läpinäkymätöntä vesistönimistöä [Etymologically opaque hydronyms of Finland]". Virittäjä (1).
^ О.Б., Ткаченко (2007). исследованиа по мерянскому языку. kostroma.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)

External links

[:0-1] "Merya". MultiTree. 2009-06-22. Archived from the original on July 19, 2012. Retrieved 2012-07-13.

[2] "Уральские языки". bse.sci-lib.com.

[Helimski-3] Helimski, Eugene (2006). "The «Northwestern» group of Finno-Ugric languages and its heritage in the place names and substratum vocabulary of the Russian North". In Nuorluoto, Juhani (ed.). The Slavicization of the Russian North (Slavica Helsingiensia 27) (PDF). Helsinki: Department of Slavonic and Baltic Languages and Literatures. pp. 109–127. ISBN 978-952-10-2852-6. Archived from the original (PDF) on August 30, 2017.

[Janse_2000_A108-4] Janse, Mark; Sijmen Tol; Vincent Hendriks (2000). Language Death and Language Maintenance. John Benjaminsf Publishing Company. p. A108. ISBN 978-90-272-4752-0.

[Smol-5] Smolitskaya, G.P. (2002). Toponimicheskyi slovar' Tsentral'noy Rossii Топонимический словарь Центральной России (in Russian). pp. 211–2017.

[6] Pauli, Rahkonen (2013). "Itämerensuomalaisten kielten kaakkoinen kontaktialue nimistöntutkimuksen valossa". Virittäjä (2).

[7] Tarkiainen, Kari (2010). Ruotsin itämaa. Helsinki: Svenska litteratursällskapet i Finland. p. 19. ISBN 978-951-583-212-2.

[Rahkonen-8] Rahkonen, Pauli (2013). The South-Eastern Contact Area of Finnic Languages in the Light of Onomastics (PhD thesis). University of Helsinki. hdl:10138/38908.

[9] Wieczynski, Joseph (1976). The Modern Encyclopedia of Russian and Soviet History. Academic International Press. ISBN 978-0-87569-064-3.

[10] "Меря - Меряния - Залесская Русь - Мерянский язык". Merjamaa.

[11] Матвеев, А. К. (1997). "К проблеме расселения летописной мери". Известия Уральского Государственного Университета. 1997. № 7.

[12] Bereczki, Gábor (1996). "Le méria, une language balto-finnoise disparue". In Fernandez, M.M. Jocelyne; Raag, Raimo (eds.). Contacts de languages et de cultures dans l'aire baltique / Contacts of Languages and Cultures in the Baltic Area. Uppsala Multiethnic Papers. pp. 69–76.

[13] Petrov A., KUGARNYA, Marij kalykyn ertymgornyzho, #12 (850), 2006, March, the 24th.

[14] "Народ Эрзя и Русь: в фокусе русского неславянина. Александр Шаронов | Эрзянь ки. Культурно-образовательный портал". Archived from the original on 2010-05-08. Retrieved 2021-03-25.

[:4-15] ”Allikas: Ткаченко О. Б., Мерянский язык, Kiova 1985.”

[:3-16] Andrey, Malyšev (2019). Merjanskij jazyk Мерянский язык [Meryan language] (PDF) (in Russian). Izdatelʹstvo "Inbelkulʹt". ISBN 978-5-00076-049-9.

[auto-17] Rahkonen, Pauli (2013). "Suomen etymologisesti läpinäkymätöntä vesistönimistöä [Etymologically opaque hydronyms of Finland]". Virittäjä (1).

[18] О.Б., Ткаченко (2007). исследованиа по мерянскому языку. kostroma.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)

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@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
 {{Short description|Extinct Finno-Ugric language}}
+{{Sources exist|date=June 2024}}
 {{Infobox language
-| name             = Meryan
+| name             = Merya
 | extinct          = at latest 18th century
 | ref              =
 | familycolor      = Uralic
-| fam2             = [[Finno-Permic languages|Finno-Permic]]?
+| fam2             = [[Finnic languages|Finnic]]?/[[Mari language|Mari]]?
-| fam3             = [[Finnic languages|Finnic]]?/[[Mari language|Mari]]?
+| map              = File:Finno-ugrian-map.svg
-| map              =
 | ethnicity        = [[Meryans]]
+| linglist         = 0tw
+| altname          = Meryanic<br>Tecua<ref name=":0">{{cite web |date=2009-06-22 |title=Merya |url=http://multitree.org/codes/0tw |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120719084520/http://multitree.org/codes/0tw |archive-date=July 19, 2012 |access-date=2012-07-13 |publisher=MultiTree}}</ref>
+| states           = [[Russia]]
+| region           = Upper [[Volga]]
+| mapcaption       = {{legend|#92cbb2|Merya}}
+| iso3             = none
+| revived          = 2000s (reconstructed)
+| acceptance       = unattested
 }}
-'''Merya''' or '''Meryanic''' is an extinct [[Finno-Ugric languages|Finno-Ugric]] language, which was spoken by the [[Meryans]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://bse.sci-lib.com/article114382.html|title=Уральские языки|website=bse.sci-lib.com}}</ref><ref name="Helimski" /> Merya began to be assimilated by [[East Slavs]] when their territory became incorporated into [[Kievan Rus']] in the 10th century.<ref name="Janse 2000 A108">{{cite book|last=Janse|first=Mark|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JdzVePSApMgC&pg=PA108|title=Language Death and Language Maintenance|author2=Sijmen Tol|author3=Vincent Hendriks|publisher=John Benjaminsf Publishing Company|year=2000|isbn=978-90-272-4752-0|page=A108}}</ref><ref name="Smol">{{cite book|last1=Smolitskaya|first1=G.P.|title=Toponimicheskyi slovar' Tsentral'noy Rossii|date=2002|pages=211–2017|language=ru|script-title=ru:Топонимический словарь Центральной России}}</ref> However some Merya speakers might have even lived in the 18th century.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Pauli|first=Rahkonen|date=2013|title=Itämerensuomalaisten kielten kaakkoinen kontaktialue nimistöntutkimuksen valossa|journal=Virittäjä|issue=2|url=https://journal.fi/virittaja/article/view/8316}}</ref> There is also a theory that the word for "[[Moscow]]" originates from the Merya language.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Tarkiainen|first=Kari|title=Ruotsin itämaa|publisher=Svenska litteratursällskapet i Finland|year=2010|isbn=978-951-583-212-2|location=Helsinki|page=19}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Early East Slavic Tribes in Russia|url=http://study.com/academy/lesson/early-east-slavic-tribes-in-russia.html|access-date=2018-12-10|website=Study.com|language=en}}</ref> The Meryan language stretched to the western parts of [[Vologda Oblast]] and [[Moscow]].<ref name="Rahkonen">{{cite thesis|first=Pauli|last=Rahkonen|year=2013|title=The South-Eastern Contact Area of Finnic Languages in the Light of Onomastics|degree=PhD|publisher=University of Helsinki|hdl=10138/38908|url=http://hdl.handle.net/10138/38908}}</ref>
+'''Merya''' or '''Meryanic''' (also '''Tecua<ref name=":0" />''') ({{Langx|orv|мєр(ь)скъıї}}) is an extinct [[Finno-Ugric languages|Finno-Ugric]] language, which was spoken by the [[Meryans]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://bse.sci-lib.com/article114382.html|title=Уральские языки|website=bse.sci-lib.com}}</ref><ref name="Helimski" /> Merya began to be assimilated by [[East Slavs]] when their territory became incorporated into [[Kievan Rus']] in the 10th century.<ref name="Janse 2000 A108">{{cite book|last=Janse|first=Mark|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JdzVePSApMgC&pg=PA108|title=Language Death and Language Maintenance|author2=Sijmen Tol|author3=Vincent Hendriks|publisher=John Benjaminsf Publishing Company|year=2000|isbn=978-90-272-4752-0|page=A108}}</ref><ref name="Smol">{{cite book|last1=Smolitskaya|first1=G.P.|title=Toponimicheskyi slovar' Tsentral'noy Rossii|date=2002|pages=211–2017|language=ru|script-title=ru:Топонимический словарь Центральной России}}</ref> However some Merya speakers might have even lived in the 18th century.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Pauli|first=Rahkonen|date=2013|title=Itämerensuomalaisten kielten kaakkoinen kontaktialue nimistöntutkimuksen valossa|journal=Virittäjä|issue=2|url=https://journal.fi/virittaja/article/view/8316}}</ref> There is also a theory that the word for "[[Moscow]]" originates from the Merya language.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Tarkiainen|first=Kari|title=Ruotsin itämaa|publisher=Svenska litteratursällskapet i Finland|year=2010|isbn=978-951-583-212-2|location=Helsinki|page=19}}</ref> The Meryan language stretched to the western parts of [[Vologda Oblast]] and [[Moscow]].<ref name="Rahkonen">{{cite thesis|first=Pauli|last=Rahkonen|year=2013|title=The South-Eastern Contact Area of Finnic Languages in the Light of Onomastics|degree=PhD|publisher=University of Helsinki|hdl=10138/38908|url=http://hdl.handle.net/10138/38908}}</ref>
 == Classification ==
-There is no general agreement on the relationship of Merya with its neighboring Uralic languages. It is sometimes left as unclassified within the western end of the family.<ref>{{cite web|date=2009-06-22|title=Merya|url=http://multitree.org/codes/0tw|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120719084520/http://multitree.org/codes/0tw|url-status=dead|archive-date=July 19, 2012|access-date=2012-07-13|publisher=MultiTree}}</ref>
+There is no general agreement on the relationship of Merya with its neighboring Uralic languages. It is sometimes left as unclassified within the western end of the family.<ref name=":0" />
 * A traditional account places Merya as a member of the 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>
-* [[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|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|author-link=Eugene Helimski}}</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>
 *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>
-*T. Semenov and M. Fasmer believed Merya to be a close relative of [[Mari language|Mari]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.merjamaa.ru/index/merjanskij_jazyk/0-10|title = Меря - Меряния - Залесская Русь - Мерянский язык}}</ref> Max Vasmer saw that many Merya toponyms have [[Mari language|Mari]] parallels.<ref>{{Cite journal|url=https://elar.urfu.ru/handle/10995/23523|title=К проблеме расселения летописной мери|journal=Известия Уральского Государственного Университета. 1997. № 7|year=1997|last1=Матвеев|first1=А. К.}}</ref>
 *Mordvinian author [[Aleksandr Sharonov]] claimed that Merya is an [[Erzya language|Erzyan]] dialect, however this doesn't have much support.<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>
@@ Line 27: / Line 35: @@
 == Reconstruction ==
-There have been attempts to re-construct Merya based on [[Toponymy|toponyms]], [[onomastics]] and words in [[Russian dialects]] by O. B. Tkachenko, Arja Ahlqvist and A. K. Matveev among others. The first reconstructions were done in 1985 by O. B. Tkachenko. The latest book about Merya reconstructions was published in 2019.<ref name=":3">{{Cite book |last=Andrey |first=Malyšev |title=Merjanskij jazyk |year=2019}}</ref><ref name="auto">{{cite journal|first=Pauli|last=Rahkonen|title=Suomen etymologisesti läpinäkymätöntä vesistönimistöä [Etymologically opaque hydronyms of Finland]|journal=Virittäjä |date=2013|issue=1|url=https://journal.fi/virittaja/article/view/7843}}</ref><ref name=":4">”Allikas: Ткаченко О. Б., Мерянский язык, Kiova 1985.”</ref> As an example: in Russian toponyms around where Merya was spoken, an ending ''-яхр'' (''-jaxr'') is regularly seen in names relating to lakes. This also resembles, but does not exactly match, the words for 'lake' in western Uralic languages, such as Finnish ''järvi'', Northern Sami ''jávri'', Erzya ''эрьке'' (''eŕke''), Meadow Mari ''ер'' (''jer'') (from a common proto-form [[wikt:Reconstruction:Proto-Uralic/jäwrä|*jäwrä]]). From these it can be inferred that ''-яхр'' likely continues the Meryan word for 'lake', which may have had a shape such as {{transl|mis|jäkrä, jähr(e)}}<ref>{{Cite book|last=О.Б.|first=Ткаченко|title=исследованиа по мерянскому языку|year=2007|location=kostroma}}</ref>
+There have been attempts to re-construct Merya based on [[Toponymy|toponyms]], [[onomastics]] and words in [[Russian dialects]] by O. B. Tkachenko, Arja Ahlqvist and A. K. Matveev among others. The first reconstructions were done in 1985 by O. B. Tkachenko. The latest book about Merya reconstructions was published in 2019.<ref name=":3">{{Cite book |last=Andrey |first=Malyšev |url=https://forumcontent.paradoxplaza.com/public/922083/Maket_-_Meryanskiy_yazyk_1.pdf |title=Merjanskij jazyk |year=2019 |publisher=Izdatelʹstvo "Inbelkulʹt" |isbn=978-5-00076-049-9 |language=ru |script-title=ru:Мерянский язык |trans-title=Meryan language}}</ref><ref name="auto">{{cite journal|first=Pauli|last=Rahkonen|title=Suomen etymologisesti läpinäkymätöntä vesistönimistöä [Etymologically opaque hydronyms of Finland]|journal=Virittäjä |date=2013|issue=1|url=https://journal.fi/virittaja/article/view/7843}}</ref><ref name=":4">”Allikas: Ткаченко О. Б., Мерянский язык, Kiova 1985.”</ref> As an example: in Russian toponyms around where Merya was spoken, an ending ''-яхр'' (''-jaxr'') is regularly seen in names relating to lakes. This also resembles, but does not exactly match, the words for 'lake' in western Uralic languages, such as Finnish ''järvi'', Northern Sami ''jávri'', Erzya {{Lang|myv|эрьке}} (''eŕke''), Meadow Mari ''ер'' (''jer'') (from a common proto-form [[wikt:Reconstruction:Proto-Uralic/jäwrä|*jäwrä]]). From these it can be inferred that ''-яхр'' likely continues the Meryan word for 'lake', which may have had a shape such as {{transl|mis|jäkrä, jähr(e)}}<ref>{{Cite book|last=О.Б.|first=Ткаченко|title=исследованиа по мерянскому языку|year=2007|location=kostroma}}</ref>
 According to Rahkonen, in Merya areas there is a word ''veks'', which is probably cognate with the Komi word ''вис'' (''vis'') 'middle river', and similar also to an element ''vieksi'' which appears in Finnish toponyms. From Merya toponyms it can also be seen that words such as ''volo'' 'down' (Finnish: ''ala''), ''vondo'' 'give' (Finnish: antaa) existed in the Merya language.<ref name="Rahkonen" /><ref name="auto" /> From this it can be concluded that Finnish ''a-'' corresponds to ''vo-'' or ''o-'' in the Merya language. Another thing that can be observed is the Finnish sound "a" corresponding to a Merya "o", for example a hydronym {{transl|mis|kol(o)}} can be seen, which can be compared to Finnish kala 'fish'. In the Muroma-Merya territory a word {{transl|mis|il(e)}} can be observed, which can be compared to Finnic *ülä ‘upper’.<ref name="Rahkonen" /><ref name="auto" />
+<!--== Grammar ==
+This grammar section is the reconstructed grammar of Merya, based on linguistic evidence, while not being attested facts about the Merya language:<ref name=":3">{{Cite book |last=Andrey |first=Malyšev |title=Merjanskij jazyk |year=2019}}</ref><ref name=":2">{{Cite book |last=Andrey |first=Malyšev |title=Merjan jelma Мерянский язык |year=2013 |location=Moscow}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{cite web |date= |title=Info |url=http://costroma.k156.ru/tk/066-125.pdf |accessdate=2021-03-03 |publisher=costroma.k156.ru}}</ref>
+{| class="wikitable"
+|+Cases
+|Case
+|Case ending
+|-
+|nominative
+| -
+|-
+|Genetive
+| -n/-an
+|-
+|Partitive
+| -ta/da
+|-
+|Inessive
+| -sna/ssa/ššo
+|-
+|Illative
+| -s
+|-
+|ellative
+|sta
+|-
+|adessive
+| -lna/lla
+|-
+|allative
+| -l'/le
+|-
+|ablative
+| -lta
+|-
+|translative
+| -kš
+|-
+|vokative
+| -aj
+|-
+|abessive
+| -to/do
+|-
+|dative
+| -lan/len
+|-
+|accusative
+| -m/-am/-ym
+|-
+|comitative
+| -ge
+|-
+|prolative
+| -te
+|-
+|subessive
+| -nna
+|-
+|delative
+| -lta/-lda
+|-
+|plural
+| -k/-ak
+|}
+{| class="wikitable"
+|+Possessive suffixes
+!Person
+!Singular
+!Plural
+|-
+|1sg
+| -em
+| -en
+|-
+|2sg
+| -et
+| -ent
+|-
+|3sg
+| -eš
+| -enže
+|-
+|1pl
+| -amo
+| -ano
+|-
+|2pl
+| -ato
+| -anto
+|-
+|3pl
+| -ašto
+| -ažno
+|}
+{| class="wikitable"
+|+Present tense conjugation
+!Person
+!Ending
+|-
+|1sg
+| -am
+|-
+|2sg
+| -at
+|-
+|3sg
+| -a/-as
+|-
+|1pl
+|em/ama
+|-
+|2pl
+|et/ata
+|-
+|3pl
+|es
+|}
+{| class="wikitable"
+|+Past tense
+!Person
+!Ending
+|-
+|1sg
+|ym
+|-
+|2sg
+|yt
+|-
+|3sg
+|yš/ys
+|-
+|1pl
+|yma/im/ym
+|-
+|2pl
+|yta/yt/it
+|-
+|3pl
+|iš/is
+|}-->
 == Phonology ==
 Meryan phonology has been studied only in general terms, relying on [[Russian dialects]] in the [[Kostroma Oblast|Kostroma]] and [[Yaroslavl Oblast|Yaroslavl]] regions. Helimski suggests<ref name="Helimski"/> that Merya likely developed massive reduction of word-final syllables. The Merya language only allowed one consonant at the beginning of words, and likely placed stress on the first syllable of the word. It likely did not feature [[vowel harmony]]. The vowels /ö/, /ä/ and /y/ likely existed in the Merya language.<ref name=":4" />