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Chuvash ( , ; Чӑваш чӗлхи, Чӑвашла, , ) is a Turkic languages spoken in Volga-Ural region of Russia, primarily in the Chuvashia and adjacent areas. It is the only surviving member of the Oghur languages branch of Turkic languages, one of the two principal branches of the Turkic family.[1] Chuvash is the sole living representative of the Bulgharic branch, one of the two principal branches of the Turkic family.
The writing system for the Chuvash language is based on the Cyrillic script, employing all of the letters used in the Russian alphabet and adding four letters of its own: Ӑ, Ӗ, Ҫ and Ӳ.
Оценка языковой политики в Чувашии There are contradictory numbers regarding the number of people able to speak Chuvash nowadays; some sources claim it is spoken by 1,640,000 persons in Russia and another 34,000 in other countries and that 86% of ethnic Chuvash and 8% of the people of other ethnicities living in Chuvashia claimed knowledge of Chuvash language during the 2002 census.Russian Census 2002. 6. Владение языками (кроме русского) населением отдельных национальностей по республикам, автономной области и автономным округам Российской Федерации ( Knowledge of languages other than Russian by the population of republics, autonomous oblast and autonomous districts) However, other sources claim that the number of Chuvash speakers is on the decline, with a drop from 1 million speakers in 2010 to 700,000 in 2021; observers suggest this is due to Moscow having a lack of interest in preserving the language diversity in Russia. Although Chuvash is taught at schools and sometimes used in the media, it is considered endangered by the UNESCO, because Russian language dominates in most spheres of life and few children learning the language are likely to become active users.
A fairly significant production and publication of literature in Chuvash still continues. According to UNESCO's Index Translationum, at least 202 books translated from Chuvash were published in other languages (mostly Russian) since ca. 1979. Index Translationum: translations from Chuvash - shows 202 titles, as of 2013-01-06. The index has data since ca. 1979. However, as with most other languages of the former Soviet Union, most of the translation activity took place before the dissolution of the USSR: out of the 202 translations, 170 books were published in the USSR Index Translationum: translations from Chuvash, published in the USSR - shows 170 titles and just 17, in the post-1991 Russia (mostly, in the 1990s). Index Translationum: translations from Chuvash, published in Russia - shows 17 titles A similar situation takes place with the translation of books from other languages (mostly Russian) into Chuvash (the total of 175 titles published since ca. 1979, but just 18 of them in post-1991 Russia). Index Translationum: translations into Chuvash
Despite grammatical similarity with the rest of Turkic language family, the presence of changes in Chuvash pronunciation (which are hard to reconcile with other members of the Turkic family) has led some scholars to see Chuvash as originating not from Proto-Turkic but from another proto-language spoken at the time of Proto-Turkic (in which case Chuvash and all the remaining Turkic languages would be part of a larger language family).
Italian historian and philologist Igor de Rachewiltz noted a significant distinction of the Chuvash language from other Turkic languages. According to him, the Chuvash language does not share certain common characteristics with Turkic languages to such a degree that some scholars consider Chuvash as an independent branch from Turkic and Mongolic. The Turkic classification of Chuvash was seen as a compromise solution for classification purposes. Rachewiltz, Igor de. Introduction to Altaic philology: Turkic, Mongolian, Manchu / by Igor de Rachewiltz and Volker Rybatzki; with the collaboration of Hung Chin-fu. p. cm. — (Handbook of Oriental Studies = Handbuch der Orientalistik. Section 8, Central Asia; 20). — Leiden; Boston, 2010. — P. 7.
The Oghuric branch is distinguished from the rest of the Turkic family (the Common Turkic languages) by two : r corresponding to Common Turkic z and l corresponding to Common Turkic š.Johanson (1998); cf. Johanson (2000, 2007) and the articles pertaining to the subject in Johanson & Csató (ed., 1998). The first scientific fieldwork description of Chuvash, by August Ahlqvist in 1856, allowed researchers to establish its proper affiliation.
Some scholars suggest Hunnic language had strong ties with Chuvash and classify Chuvash as separate Hunno-Bulgar. However, such speculations are not based on proper linguistic evidence, since the language of the Huns is almost unknown except for a few attested words and personal names. Scholars generally consider Hunnish as unclassifiable. Chuvash is so divergent from the main body of Turkic languages that some scholars formerly considered Chuvash to be a Uralic language language. Conversely, other scholars today regard it as an Oghuric language significantly influenced by the Finno-Ugric languages.
The following sound changes and resulting sound correspondences are typical:Johanson (1998: 89-197).Agyagási (2019: passim)
| + !Sound change from Proto-Turkic !Example of sound correspondence | |
| */ɾʲ/ > r | хӗр (hĕr) : Turkish language kız 'girl' |
| */lʲ/ > l, but occasionally /lʲ/ > ś | хӗл (hĕl) : Turkish kış ‘winter’ пуҫ (puş) : Turkish baş ‘head’ |
| * y > ǰ > č > ś | ҫул (şul) : Turkish yol ‘road’ |
| *- n > - m | тӗтӗм (tĕtĕm) : Turkish tütün ‘smoke’ |
| *- ŋ > - n (sometimes - m) | ҫӗнӗ (şĕnĕ) : Yakut саҥа, Turkish yeni 'new' (< Proto-Turkic * yaŋï, yeŋi) |
| *- d > - ð > - z > - r | ура (ura) : Tuvan language адак, Turkish ayak (< Proto-Turkic * adak) ‘foot’ |
| *q (i.e. */k/ in Back vowel environments) > χ But dropped before later * y | хура (hura) : Turkish kara 'black' юн (jun) : Turkish kan 'blood' (Proto-Turkic * qaːn > Oguric * χaːn > *χyan > *yån) |
| *-/k/ (both -q or -k) finally in disyllabic stems: > g > γ > ∅ | пулӑ (pulă) : Turkish balık 'fish', ĕне (ĕne) : Turkish inek 'cow' |
| *- g > *- w > - v, - ∅ (also via monophthongisation) | ту (tu) : Turkish dağ 'mountain', тив (tiv) : Turkish değ 'touch',
вӗрен (vĕren) : Turkish öğren 'learn',
аллӑ (allă) : Turkish elli (< Proto-Turkic * ellig, ellüg) |
| * s > š occasionally (due to a following * y?) | шыв (šyv ) : Old Turkic sub, Turkish su 'water' |
| * b- > p- | пӗр (pĕr) : Turkish bir 'one' |
| *- b > *- w > - v | шыв (šyv) : Old Turkic sub, Turkish su 'water' |
| * t in palatal environments > č | чӗр (çĕr) : Turkish diz 'knee' |
| diphthongisation of long vowels producing /yV/ and /vV/ sequences (but not in all relevant lexemes); e.g.:
* ā > ja
* ō > * wo > vu * ȫ, ǖ > * üwä > ăva | ят (jat) : Turkmen a t, Turkish ad 'name' (< Proto-Turkic * āt)
вут (vut) : Turkmen o t, Turkish od 'fire' (< Proto-Turkic * ōt)
тӑват (tăvat): Turkish dört (< Proto-Turkic *tȫrt) |
| reduction and centralisation of high vowels:
* u > ă;
* ï > ă or ĕ * i, * ü > ĕ | тӑр (tăr) : Turkish dur 'stand'
хӗр (hĕr) : Turkish kız 'girl'
пӗр (pĕr) : Turkish bir 'one', кӗл (kĕl): Turkish kül 'ash' |
| * a > * å > o > u (the latter only in the Anatri dialect, on which the standard is based);
but also (the determining circumstances are unclear):
* a > ï | ут (ut) : Turkish at 'horse'
ҫыр (şyr) : Turkish yaz 'write' |
| raising of most other low vowels: * ẹ > i, * o > u, * ö > ü | кил (kil) : Turkish gel 'come', утӑ (utӑ) : Turkish ot 'grass' |
| * e (i.e. * ä) > a | кас (kas) : Turkish kes 'cut' |
| Allophonic rules: voicing between voiced segments,
palatalisation of consonants in palatal environments,
leftward stress retraction from reduced vowels | See Phonology section. |
Most of the (non-allophonic) consonant changes listed in the table above are thought to date from the period before the Bulgars migrated to the Volga region in the 10th century; some notable exceptions are the č > ś shift and the final stage of the -d > -ð > -z > -r shift, which date from the following, Volga Bulgar period (between the 10th-century migration and the Mongol invasions of the 13th century). The vowel changes mostly occurred later, mainly during the Middle Chuvash period (between the invasions and the 17th century), except for the diphthongisation, which took place during the Volga Bulgar period. Many sound changes known from Chuvash can be observed in Turkic loanwords into Hungarian (from the pre-migration period) and in Volga Bulgar epitaphs or loanwords into languages of the Volga region (from the Volga Bulgar period). Nevertheless, these sources also indicate that there was significant dialectal variation within the Oguric-speaking population during both of these periods.
Words for "leg" and "put" in various Turkic languages:
j - languages (Oguz): ayaq, qoy-
d - languages (Karluk): adaq, qod-
z - languages (Kypchak): azaq, qoz-
r - languages (Oghur): ura, hur- (Dialectic ora, hor-)
Сhitacism (Q > H)
| hura | hora |
| hur | hor |
| hĕr | hĕr |
| hupah | hopah |
Dudaq - Tuta - Lips instead of Tutah
Ayaq - Ura - Leg instead of Urah
Balıq - Pulă - Fish instead of Pulăh
İnek - Ĕne - Cow instead of Ĕneh
Words in Turkic languages: egg, snake, rain, house, earth
Oguz: yumurta, yılan, yağmur, yurt, yer (turk., azerb. )
Kipchaks: jumırtqa, jılan, jañğır, jurt, jer (kyrgyz., kazakh. )
Chuvash: şămarta, şĕlen, şămăr, şurt, şĕr
| hĕl |
| kӗmӗl |
| hĕvel |
| ut | ot |
| ukşa | okşa |
| puş | poş |
| utăm | otăm |
In modern times, in Chuvash a remains, Tatar "kapka" ~ Chuvash "hapha" (gate), when there should be a " hupha" from the root " hup - close".
| wot |
| won |
| wărman |
| wırăs |
| wăl |
| wătăr |
| tăvan | ||
| tree | ağaç | jıvăş |
| tuv |
It is well known that the Oghuz Turks group of Turkic languages differs from the Kipchaks in that the word “I” was pronounced by the Oghuz Turks and Ogurs in ancient times by " bä(n)", and the rest of the Turks - by " män". There is such a difference in the modern Turkic languages of the Volga region:
| + !Volga Tatar !Chuvash !Oghuz !Translation !Notes | ||||
| min | эпӗ(н) | ben | I, me | |
| meñ | пин | biŋ | thousand | |
| miləş | пилеш | rowan | ||
| məçe | пӗҫи, пиҫук | pişik | cat | |
| miçəw | пичев | buckle |
tat., bash. Mең, ogur/chuv. Piń, turk. Bin, eng. «thousand»;
tat., bash. Milәş, ogur/chuv. Pileš, eng. «rowan»;
tat. Мәçe, ogur/chuv. Pĕşi, Pĕşuk, az. Pişik, eng. «cat»;
,
Researchers distinguish three main dialects:
The Malokarachinsky dialect is designated as occupying a separate position.
The literary language is based on both the Lower and Upper dialects. Both Tatar language and the neighbouring Uralic languages such as Mari language have influenced the Chuvash language, as have Russian language, Arabic and Persian language, which have all added many words to the Chuvash lexicon.
All dialects established to date have their own sub-dialects, which have their own exceptional features and peculiarities, thereby they are divided into even smaller dialect forms. The following dialect ramifications in the Chuvash language have been identified:
1) as part of the upper dialect, the subdialects are: a) Sundyrsky; b) Morgaussko-Yadrinsky; c) Krasnochetaysky; d) Cheboksary; e) Kalininsko-Alikovsky;
2) in the zone of the middle dialect: a) Malocivilsky; b) Urmarsky; c) civil-marposadsky;
3) in the zone of the grassroots dialect: a) Buin-Simbirsk; b) Nurlatsky (prichemshanye);
Phonetic differences:
a) All words of the Upper dialect (except exc. Kalinin-Alikov subgroup) in the initial syllable, instead of the "lower" sound -U- is used -O- for example:
In English: yes, six, found
in Turi: por, olttă, toprăm
in Anatri: pur, ulttă, tuprăm
b) In the upper dialect in the Sundyr sub-dialect, instead of the sound -ü- (used in all other dialects), the sound -ö- is used, which is a correlative soft pair of the posterior -o-, for example:
in English: hut, back, broth
in Turi: pӧrt, tӧrt, šӧrpe
in Anatri: pürt, türt, šürpe
с) In the upper dialect (in most sub-dialects) the loss of the sound -j- before the sonorant -l-, -n-, -r- and stop -t- is characterized, which in turn entails palatalization of these consonants, for example:
in English: russian woman, choose
in Turi: mar'a, sul'l'a
in Anatri: majra, sujla
d) In the higher dialect (for most sub-dialects), gemination of intervocalic consonants is characteristic, as in the Finnish language, for example:
in English: shawl, drunk, crooked
in Turi: tottăr, ĕssĕr, kokkăr
in Anatri: tutăr, üsĕr, kukăr
In general, gemination itself is the norm for the Chuvash language, since many historically root words in both dialects contain gemination, for example: anne (mather), atte (father), piççe (brother), appa (sister), kukka (uncle), pĕrre (one), ikkĕ (two), vişşĕ (three), tăvattă (four), pillĕk (five), ulttă (six), şiççĕ (seven), sakkăr (eight), tăhhăr (nine), vunnă (ten), etc. Some linguists are inclined to assume that this is the influence of the Volga Finns at the turn of the 7th century when the ancestors of the Chuvash moved to the Volga, there are those who disagree with this statement. In one of the subgroups of the Trans-Kama Chuvash, in the same words there is no gemination at all, for example, the word father is pronounced as Adi, and mother as Ani, their counting looks like this: pĕr, ik, viş, tvat, pül, ulta, şiç, sagăr, tăgăr, vun - but many scientists assume that this is a consequence of the influence of the Tatar language. They also have many words in the Tatar style, the word “hare - kuşana” (tat.kuyan) is “mulkaç” for everyone, “pancakes - kuymak” for the rest is ikerçĕ, “cat - pĕşi” for the rest is “saş”, etc.
e) In the middle and upper dialects there are rounded vowels -ă°-, -ĕ°- (pronounced with the lips rounded and slightly pulled forward), in the lower dialect this is not observed, here they correspond to the standard sounds -ă-, -ĕ-.
f) In the upper and lower dialects, consonantism is distinguished by the pronunciation of the affricate sound -ç-. Among the upper Chuvash and speakers of the middle dialect, the sound -ç- is almost no different from the pronunciation of the Russian affricate; in the lower dialect it is heard almost like a soft -ç-, as in the Tatar language.
Morphological differences:
a) In the upper dialect there are synharmonic variants of the plural affix -sam/-sem, and in the lower dialect only -sem, for example:
in English: horses, sheep, meadows, cows, flowers
in Turi: lašasam, surăhsam, şaramsam, ĕnesem, çeçeksem
in Anatri: lašasem, surăhsem, şeremsem, ĕnesem, çeçeksem
b) In the upper dialect (in most sub-dialects) the affix of the possessive case is -yăn (-yĕn), the dative case is -ya (-ye), while in the lower dialect -năn (-nĕn, -n), -na (-ne), For example:
in Turi: lašayăn, ĕneyĕn, lašaya, ĕneya, ĕneye
in Anatri: lašan(ăn), ĕnen(ĕn), lašana, ĕnene
c) in the upper dialect, affixes of belonging, with the exception of the 3rd person affix -i (-ĕ), have almost fallen out of use or are used extremely rarely. In the latter case, the 2nd person affix -u (-ü) of the upper dialect usually corresponds to -ă (-ĕ) in the lower dialect;
in English: your head, your daughter
in Turi: san puşu, san hĕrü
in Anatri: san puşă, san hĕrĕ
There is also a mixed type
d) In the upper dialect, the gemination of the temporal index -t- and -p- is used in the affixes of the 2nd person plural of the verb of the present tense, for example:
in English: are you reading, we are going
in Turi: esĕr vulattăr, epĕr pırappăr
in Anatri: esir vulatăr, epir pırappăr
The influence of Russian: we are going < epir pıratpăr
There is also a mixed type, as already mentioned above.
e) In the upper dialect, the affix of the possibility of verbs -ay (-ey), due to contraction, monophtongized to -i:
in English: Couldn't tell, couldn't find out
in Turi: kalimarăm, pĕlimarăm, pĕlimerĕm
in Anatri: kalaymarăm, pĕleymerĕm
f) In the upper dialect, the synharmonic variant of the interrogative particle -i is common, in the dialects of the lower dialect, variants -a (-e) are used:
in English: Have you left? Do you know?
in Turi: esĕ kayrăn-i? esĕ pĕletĕn-i / es pĕletni?
in Anatri: esĕ kayrăn-a? esĕ pĕletĕn-e? es pĕletnĕ?
g) in the upper dialect, individual phrases turn into a complex word by shortening (contraction):
in English: apple tree, frying pan handle, earring, monkey, belt
in Turi: ulmuşşi (olmaşşi), şatmari, hălhanki, upăte, pişĕhe
in Anatri: ulma yıvăşşi / yıvăşĕ, şatma avri, hălha şakki (ear pendant), upa-etem (bear-man), pilĕk şihhi (lower back tie)
Syntactic differences:
a) In the upper dialect (in most dialects), the adverbial participle -sa (-se) performs the function of a simple predicate, which is not allowed in the middle and lower dialects:
in English: I wrote
in Turi: Ep şırsa
in Anatri: Epĕ şırtăm
b) In the upper dialect, analytical constructions are used instead of the lower synthetic one:
in English: Go to lunch, It says in the newspaper
in Turi: Apat şima kilĕr, Kaşiť şinçe şırnă
in Anatri: Apata kilĕr, Xaşatra şırnă
There is also a mixed type.
Other lexical differences:
Another feature between the upper and lower dialects:
in English: We, you
in Turi: Epĕr, Esĕr
in Anatri: Epir, Esir
There are also those grassroots Chuvash (living in Kama) with a biting dialect who use the riding version of Epĕr, Esĕr. It has been established that the correct historical form is the pronunciation of Epĕr, Esĕr, A comparison with the Tatar Turkic languages, which are close to the Chuvash language, determined historical justice.
Ep / Epĕ - I, Epĕ+r - We
Es / Esĕ - You, Esĕ+r - You
Affixes -ĕr/-ăr are converted from singular to plural:
Epĕ şitrĕm - Ep+ĕr şitrĕm+ĕr / I got there - We've reached it
Epĕ şırtăt - Ep+ĕr şırtăm+ăr / I wrote - we wrote
Ham vularăm - Ham+ăr vularăm+ăr / I read it - we read it
There is no "+ir" suffix in the Chuvash language so this is a big mistake. No one says "kiltĕm+ir", vularăm+ir", çitrĕm+ir". Don't say "Hamir turăm+ir". There is a dialect with pronunciation "Ep+ĕr+ĕn" - instead of "Pir+ĕn" (our), and "Es+ĕr+ĕn" - instead of "Sir+ĕn" (your) on this we can assume that their pronunciation was historical, because the structure is more correct, but because of what evolution it transformed into "pirĕn/sirĕn".
Ep+ĕr pĕr+le - We are one
Es+ĕr ik+sĕr - The two of you
There are also very different words.
The dispute over the literary language
The modern Chuvash literary language was formed on the basis of a grassroots dialect, before this period an old literary language based on an upper dialect was in use. There are linguists who believe that the mother tongue was still the riding dialect of the Chuvash, when now it is considered to be the primary grassroots dialect. Their arguments are based on certain factors:
1) the migration of the Chuvash in the post-Horde period was from north to south, and not vice versa, the further they moved away from the root region towards the south and east, the more their language was subject to changes. Russian language was strongly influenced by the Kipchak languages (steppe raids), and after the settlement of Simbirsk by Russian people (at that time a very large city, much larger than Cheboksary), the dialect of the grassroots Chuvash in the area of Buinsk was strongly influenced by the Russian language, which is easily provable, all the most ancient records of the Chuvash language made by different travelers, such as G. F. Miller and others, contain words only of the upper-level dialect and not one of the lower-level. .
2) The U-dialect of the grassroots Chuvash has undergone influence from the Northern Kipchak vowel raising, whereas the O-dialect has preserved the Common Turkic vowels.
3) One of the rules says that the sound -T- standing at the end of a borrowed word in Chuvash falls out, for example: friend - dust - tus, cross - krest - hĕres... The auslaut t is not pronounced in oral speech, it disappears in the position after the consonant s (the latter in this case is replaced by a soft ş): vlast' ~ vlaş, vedomost' - vetămăş, volost' - vulăs, pakost' - pakăş, sançast' - sançaş, oblast' - oblaş. In addition, the affixal t is not pronounced orally and in certain verb forms established as a literary language: pulmast' < pulmaş ~ It doesn't happen, the correct historical form: " pulmas". As well kurmast' < kurmaş ~ He doesn't see it, the correct historical form: "kurmas". As well kilmest' < kilmeş ~ It doesn't come, the correct historical form: " kilmes". The historically correct affix is "-mas/-mes", instead of "-mast'/-mest' ", which appeared as a result of the influence of the Russian language. As is known, the form with the ending -st' and -st is not peculiar to the Chuvash language by its nature, which means it is a late influence of the Russian language on the dialect of the lower Chuvash. Affixes: -mes/-mas, -mep/-map, -men/-man.
4) In most dialects, palatalizes only when it is preceded by the front vowels: kileť, pereť, ükeť, kĕteť. If is preceded by the back vowels, it doesn't palatalize: yurat, kalat, urat, păhat, kayat. In the grassroots dialect, all the end T's soften.
5) A simple shortened address in the literary language has become unacceptable, only respectful treatment has been left with the correct pronunciation: Instead of "Es yuratan" - "Esĕ yuratatăn" - "do you love". "Ep pırap" - "Epĕ pıratăp" - "I'm coming".
6) Instead of the supreme dialect "Kaya ppăr - we go away, Uta ppăr - we come, Vula ppăr - we read", it is customary to write and speak in a grassroots dialect subject to Russification: " Kaya tpăr, Uta tpăr, Vula tpăr".
*There is also a mixed type, where all variants of the case are used at once, this is especially noticeable in those settlements that arose at the turn of the 17th-20th centuries, such villages created by combining speakers of upper and lower dialects gave birth to a more universal dialect where both options were used .
András Róna-Tas (1997) provides a somewhat different description, also with a partly idiosyncratic transcription. The following table is based on his version, with additional information from Petrov (2001). Again, the IPA symbols are not directly taken from the works so they could be inaccurate.
The vowels ӑ and ӗ are described as reduced vowel, thereby differing in vowel quantity from the rest. In unstressed positions, they often resemble a schwa or tend to be dropped altogether in fast speech. At times, especially when stressed, they may be somewhat rounded and sound similar to and .
Additionally, (о) occurs in loanwords from Russian where the syllable is stressed in Russian.
Chuvash has two classes of vowels: front and back (see the table above). Vowel harmony states that words may not contain both front and back vowels. Therefore, most grammatical suffixes come in front and back forms, e.g. Шупашкар та, "in Cheboksary" but кил те, "at home".
Two vowels cannot occur in succession.
Compound words are considered separate words with respect to vowel harmony: vowels do not have to harmonize between members of the compound (so forms like сӗтел|пукан "furniture" are permissible).
Consonants
In the Chuvash orthography, the fortis and lenis consonants are not differentiated, because their changes are very straightforward. Therefore, only voiceless consonants are written.
| Notice the palatalization on /p/. | |
| Notice the centralization of /i/ in a back vowels word, and the lack of palatalization on /x/. | |
| Notice the palatalization on /m/. | |
| Good day! | Ырӑ кун! (Iră kun!) | ||
| Is it okay? | Юрать-и? (Yuraty-i?) | -i is a question suffix. |
| А а | Ӑ ӑ | Б б | В в | Г г | Д д |
| Е е | Ё ё | Ӗ ӗ | Ж ж | З з | И и |
| Й й | К к | Л л | М м | Н н | О о |
| П п | Р р | С с | Ҫ ҫ | Т т | У у |
| Ӳ ӳ | Ф ф | Х х | Ц ц | Ч ч | Ш ш |
| Щ щ | Ъ ъ | Ы ы | Ь ь | Э э | Ю ю |
| Я я |
| Aa | Ăă | Bb | Cc | Çç | Dd | Ее | Ĕĕ | |
| Ff | Gg | Hh | Ii | Jj | Kk | Ll | Mm | |
| Nn | Oo | Pp | Rr | Ss | Şş | Šš | Tt | |
| Uu | Üü | Ww | Zz | Žž | Je | Ju | Ja | Jo |
Examples of written text:
| stone | ||
| window | ||
| bird cherry | ||
| bread | ||
| white | ||
| tooth | ||
| frog | ||
| monkey | ||
| drawing | ||
| giraffe | ||
| beatle | ||
| jury | ||
| energy | ||
| human | ||
| we | ||
| oak | ||
| snow | ||
| flag | ||
| thing | ||
| container | ||
| brush | ||
| strong | ||
| three | ||
| Jermikke | Ермикке | market |
| Ješĕl | Ешӗл | green |
| Cunami | Цунами | tsunami |
Transliteration of the Chuvash alphabet
| a | ~ | Aa | Aa | Aa | Aa | Aa | Aa | Aa | Aa | Aa | ||
| ӑ | , , | Ää | Ăă | Ăă | Ăă | Ăă | Ĭĭ | Ah;ah | Oo | Ăă | ||
| бӑ | Bb | Bb | Bb | Bb | Bb | Bb | Bb | Pp | Pp | only in Russian loanwords | ||
| вӑ | ~, (in non-Chuvash loanwords) | Vv | Vv | Vv | Vv | Vv | Vv | Vv | Vv | Vv | ||
| гӑ | Gg | Gg | Gg | Gg | Gg | Gg | Gg | Kk | Kk | only in Russian loanwords | ||
| дӑ | Dd | Dd | Dd | Dd | Dd | Dd | Dd | Tt | Tt | only in Russian loanwords | ||
| Ee | Ye-;ye-;-e- | Ee | Je-;je-;-e- | Ee | Ee | Ye-;ye-;-e- | Je-;je-;-e- | Ye-; ye-; -e- | Je-;je-;-e- | |||
| ё | or | Yo-, yo-, -o- | Ëë | Ëë | Ëë | Yo-, yo-, -o- | Yo-, yo-, -o- | Jo-, jo-, -o- | Yo-; yo-; -o- | Jo-, jo-, -o- | only in Russian loanwords | |
| ӗ | (ɘ~ø) | Ӗӗ | Ӗӗ | Öö | Ӗӗ | I̐ĭ̇ | Eh;eh | Öö | Ӗӗ | e' | ||
| жӑ | Zh;zh | Zh;zh | Žž | Žž | Zh;zh | Jj | Şş | Šš | only in Russian loanwords | |||
| зӑ | Zz | Zz | Zz | Zz | Zz | Zz | Zh;zh | Ss | Ss | only in Russian loanwords | ||
| и | Ii | Ii | Ii | Ii | Ii | Ii | Ii | İi | Ii | |||
| Short I | йӑ | Yy | Ĭı̆ | Jj | Jj | Jj | Yy | Jj | Yy | Jj | ||
| кӑ | , (c), (gʲ, ɟ) | Kk | Kk | Kk | Kk | Kk | Kk | Kk | Kk | Kk | ||
| лӑ | ~, (ʎ) | Ll | Ll | Ll | Ll | Ll | Ll | Ll | Ll, Ly | Ll, lĭ/l' | Ll | |
| мӑ | Mm | Mm | Mm | Mm | Mm | Mm | Mm | Mm | Mm | |||
| нӑ | , (ɲ) | Nn | Nn | Nn | Nn | Nn | Nn | Nn | Nn | Nn, nĭ/n' | Nn | |
| о | Oo | Oo | Oo | Oo | Oo | Oo | Oo | Oo | Oo | |||
| пӑ | , (b) | Pp | Pp | Pp | Pp | Pp | Pp | Pp | Pp | Pp | ||
| рӑ | ~ | Rr | Rr | Rr | Rr | Rr | Rr | Rr | Rr | Rr | Rr | |
| сӑ | , (z) | Ss | Ss | Ss | Ss | Ss | Ss | Ss | Ss | Ss | ||
| ҫӑ | , (ʑ) | S';s' | Śś | Śś | Şş | Ş́ş́ | Cc | Cc | Şş | Şş | ||
| тӑ | , , (dʲ), (d) | Tt | Tt | Tt | Tt | Tt | Tt | Tt | Tt | Tt, tĭ/t' | ||
| у | , (o) | Uu | Uu | Uu | Uu | Uu | Uu | Uu | Uu | Uu | ||
| ӳ | Üü | U̇u̇ | Üü | Űű | Üü | Uh;uh | Üü | Üü | U';u' | |||
| фӑ | , (v) | Ff | Ff | Ff | Ff | Ff | Ff | Ff | Ff | Ff | only in Russian loanwords | |
| хӑ | , , (ɣ), (ɣʲ) | Kh;kh | Kh;kh | Hh | Hh | Xx | Hh | Xx | Xx | Hh & Xx | ||
| цӑ | , (dz) | Ts;ts | Ts;ts | Cc | Cc | Cz;cz | Zz | ts | Zz | only in Russian loanwords | ||
| чӑ | , (ʥ) | Ch;ch | Ch;ch | Čč | Čč | Ch;ch | Çç | Ch;ch | Çç | Cc | ||
| шӑ | , (ʒ) | Sh;sh | Sh;sh | Šš | Šš | Sh;sh | Şş | Şş | Šš | |||
| Shcha | щӑ | Shch;shch | Shch;shch | Šč;šč | Ŝŝ | Shh;shh | Th;th | Şş | Şş | only in Russian loanwords | ||
| Yer | хытӑлӑх палли | – | ” | " | “ | `` | -j- | only in Russian loanwords. Placed after a consonant, acts as a "silent back vowel"; puts a distinct sound in front of the following iotation: Е, Ё, Ю, Я vowels with no palatalization of the preceding consonant | ||||
| Yery | ы | Ïï | Yy | Yy | Yy | Y';y' | Iı | Yy | Iı | Yy | only in beginning of words, 1-2 letters | |
| Soft sign | ҫемҫелӗх палли | ’ | ’ | -j-;' | ’ | ` | ‘ | Placed after a consonant, acts as a "silent front vowel", slightly palatalizes the preceding consonant | ||||
| э | Ëë | Ėė | Èè | Èè | E';e' | Ee | Ee | Ee | Ee | only first letter | ||
| ю | or | Yŭ-;yŭ- | Iu-;iu- | Ju-;ju- | Ûû | Yu-;yu- | Yu-;yu- | Ju-;ju- | Yu-; yu- | Ju-;ju-, -‘u- | ||
| я | or | Yă-;yă- | Ia-;ia- | Ja-;ja- | Ââ | Ya-;ya- | Ya-;ya- | Ja-;ja- | Ya-; ya- | Ja-;ja-, -‘a- |
| ш |
In 1938, the alphabet underwent significant modification which brought it to its current form.
| + : ! ! Singular ! Plural |
In the suffixes where the first consonant varies between р- and т-, the allomorphs beginning in т- are used after stems ending in the dental sonorants -р, -л and -н. The allomorphs beginning in р- occur under all other circumstances.Rona-Tas 1997: 4 The dative-accusative allomorph beginning in н- is mostly used after stems ending in vowels, except in -и, -у, and -ӑ/-ӗ, whereas the one consisting only of a vowel is used after stems ending in consonants.Chuvash manual, Unit 3
The nominative is used instead of the dative-accusative to express indefinite or general objects, e.g. утӑ типӗт 'to dry hay'.Павлов 2017: 84 It can also be used instead of the genitive to express a possessor, so that the combination gets a generalised compound-like meaning (лаша пуҫӗ 'a horse head' vs лаша н пуҫӗ 'the horse's head'); with both nominative and genitive, however, the possessed noun has a possessive suffix (see below). Chuvash manual, Unit 2Павлов 2017: 62-64
In the genitive and dative-accusative cases, some nouns ending in -у and -ӳ were changed to -ӑв and -ӗв (ҫыру → ҫыр ӑвӑн, ҫыр ӑва, but ҫырура; пӳ → п ӗвӗн, п ӗве, but пӳре). In nouns ending in -ӑ, the last vowel simply deletes and may cause the last consonant to geminate (пулӑ 'fish' > пу ллан). Nouns ending in consonants sometimes also geminate the last letter (ҫын 'man' → ҫын нӑн).
There are also some rarer cases, such as:
Taking кун (day) as an example:
Possession is expressed by means of constructions based on verbs meaning "to exist" and "not to exist" ("пур" and "ҫук"). For example, to say, "The cat had no shoes":
which literally translates as "cat-of foot-cover(of)-plural-his non-existent-was."
The possessive suffixes are as follows (ignoring vowel harmony):
| + ! !singular !plural |
Stem-final vowels are deleted when the vowel-initial suffixes (-у, -и, -ӑр) are added to them. The 3rd person allomorph -ӗ is added to stems ending in consonants, whereas -и is used with stems ending in vowels. There is also another postvocalic variant -шӗ, which is used only in designations of family relationships: аппа 'elder sister' > аппа-шӗ.Róna-Tas 1997: 3 Furthermore, the noun атте 'father' is irregularly declined in possessive forms:
| + ! !singular !plural |
When case endings are added to the possessive suffixes, some changes may occur: the vowels comprising the 2nd and 3rd singular possessive suffixes are dropped before the dative-accusative suffix: (ывӑл-у-на 'to your son', ывӑл-ӗ-нe 'to his son' > ывӑлна, ывӑлнe), whereas a -н- is inserted between them and the locative and ablative suffixes: ывӑл-у-н-та 'in/at your son', ывӑл-ӗ-н-чен 'from his son'. Chuvash Manual, Unit 6
| + ! ! colspan="2" | singular ! colspan="2" | plural |
Demonstratives are ку 'this', ҫак 'this' (only for a known object), ҫав 'that' (for a somewhat remote object), леш 'that' (for a remote object), хай 'that' (the above-mentioned). There is a separate reflexive originally consisting of the stem in х- and personal possessive suffixes:
| + ! !singular !plural |
Among the pronominal adverbs that are not productively formed from the demonstratives, notable ones are the interrogatives хӑҫан 'when' and ӑҫта 'where'.
The sequence of verbal suffixes is as follows: voice - iterativity - potentiality - negation - tense/gerund/participle - personal suffix.Павлов (2017: 251)
| кил- | (to) come |
| килме- | not (to) come |
| килейме- | not (to) be able to come |
| килеймен | He/she was apparently unable to come. |
| килеймерӗ | He/she had not been able to come. |
| килеймерӗр | You (plural) had not been able to come. |
| килеймерӗр-и? | Have you (plural) not been able to come? |
| + ! !singular !plural |
| + ! !singular !plural |
To these imperative verb forms, one may add particles expressing insistence (-сам) or, conversely, softness (-ччӗ) and politeness (-ах).
The main tense markers are:Róna-Tas (1997: 5); Павлов (2017: 269) about the present tense
| + !present | -(a)т- |
There are also modal markers, which do not combine with tense markers and hence have sometimes been described as tenses of their own:Павлов 2017: passim, e.g. p. 296
| + ! !suffix |
Potentiality is expressed with the suffix -(а)й 'be able to'.
The negative is expressed by a suffix inserted before the tense and modal markers. It contains -м- and mostly has the form -м(а)-, but -мас- in the present and -мӑ- in the future. The imperative uses the proclitic particle ан instead (or, optionally, an enclitic мар in the 1st person).
A change of valency to a passive-reflexive 'voice' may be effected by the addition of the suffixes -ӑл- and -ӑн-, but the process is not productive and the choice of suffix is not predictable. Still, if both occur with the same stem, -ӑл- is passive and -ӑн- is reflexive.Павлов (2017: 207) A 'reciprocal voice' form is produced by the suffixes -ӑш and -ӑҫ.Павлов (2017: 208-209) There are two causative suffixes - a non-productive -ат/-ар/-ӑт and a productive -(т)тар (the single consonant allomorph occurring after monosyllabic stems).Павлов (2017: 211-212)
| +Voice suffixes !passive- reflexive | -ӑл-, -ӑн- |
I. Attributive participles
The suffix -и may be added to participles to form a verbal noun: ҫыр-нӑ; 'written' > ҫыр-н-и 'writing'.
III. Infinitives
The suffixes -ма and -машкӑн form infinitives.
There are many verbal periphrastic constructions using the non-finite forms, including:
The teens are formed by juxtaposing the word 'ten' and the corresponding single digit:
The tens are formed in somewhat different ways: from 20 to 50, they exhibit suppletion; 60 and 70 have a suffix -мӑл together with stem changes; while 80 and 90 juxtapose the corresponding single digit and the word 'ten'.
Further multiples of ten are:
Ordinal numerals are formed with the suffix -mĕš ( -мӗш), e.g. pĕrremĕš (пӗррӗмӗш) 'first', ikkĕmĕš (иккӗмӗш) 'second'. There are also alternate ordinal numerals formed with the suffix -ӑм/-ĕм, which are used only for days, nights and years and only for the numbers from three to seven, e.g. wişĕm (виҫӗм) 'third', tăvatăm (тӑватӑм), pilĕm (пилӗм), ultăm (ултӑм), şiçĕm (ҫичӗм), wunăm (вунӑм).Павлов 2017: 164-165
| Хӗвелӗн икӗ арӑм: Ирхи Шуҫӑмпа Каҫхи Шуҫӑм.| style="width:18em; text-align:left" The Sun has two wives: Dawn and Afterglow (lit. "the Morning Glow" and "the Evening Glow") | |
| Ир пулсан Хӗвел Ирхи Шуҫӑмран уйрӑлса каять | When it is morning, the Sun leaves Dawn |
| те яра кун тӑршшӗпе Каҫхи Шуҫӑм патнелле сулӑнать. | and during the whole day (he) moves towards Afterglow. |
| Ҫак икӗ мӑшӑрӗнчен унӑн ачасем:| style="width:18em; text-align:left" From these two spouses of his, he has children: | |
| Этем ятлӑ ывӑл тата Сывлӑм ятлӑ хӗр пур.| style="width:18em; text-align:left" a son named Etem (Human) and a daughter named Syvlăm (Dew). | |
| Этемпе Сывлӑм пӗррехинче Ҫӗр чӑмӑрӗ ҫинче тӗл пулнӑ та, | Etem and Syvlăm once met on the globe of the Earth, |
| пӗр-пӗрне юратса ҫемье чӑмӑртанӑ.| style="width:18em; text-align:left" fell in love with each other and started a family. | |
| Халь пурӑнакан этемсем ҫав мӑшӑрӑн тӑхӑмӗсем.| style="width:18em; text-align:left" The humans who live today are the descendants of this couple. |
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