Research Unit for Volgaic Languages

the minority languages of the volga-kama region

Where is the Volga-Kama region?

If you travel ca. 600 km due east from Moscow, you arrive at the region where the River Volga and its tributary, the Kama, meet, see the map. This territory, here referred to as the Volga-Kama region, is very interesting because of the many minority nationalities who live there.

What minority languages are spoken there?

The Finno-Ugric languages spoken in the Volga-Kama region include Mari (previously called Cheremis), Mordvin and Udmurt (Votyak). The Turkic languages of the territory are Chuvash, Tatar and Bashkir.

How many people speak these languages?

According to the population census of 1989, there were 670 000 Maris, 746 000 Udmurts and 1.15 million Mordvinians. There are two variants of the language, Erzya, spoken by 2/3 of the Mordvinians, and Moksha. The number of Chuvashes was 1.8 million. The total population of Tatars in Russia was 5.5 million, of whom only one third lived in the republic of Tatarstan. The number of Bashkirs was 1.3 million. Russification is a strong tendency in the region, thus, for instance, not all Mordvinians speak their national language. The numbers of speakers of the national languages are generally somewhat smaller than the population numbers given above.

Do the indigenous peoples form a majority in their republics?

In the Volga-Kama region, we find small republics named after the indigenous peoples, see the map. These are Marij El of the Maris, Mordovia of the Mordvinians, Udmurtia of the Udmurts, Chuvashia of the Chuvashes, Tatarstan of the Tatars and Bashkortostan of the Bashkirs. The Finno-Ugric peoples —Maris, Mordvinians and Udmurts — are the second biggest nationality after Russians in their republics, whereas two Turkic peoples — Chuvashes and Tatars — form the majority in their republics. In Bashkortostan, only a little more than 1/5 of the population are Bashkirs, and the number of Tatars in the republic is slightly greater. Together these two nationalities, however, outnumber the Russians living in the republic.

Do the speakers of the minority languages understand each other?

Despite the connection between their languages, the Maris, Mordvinians and Udmurts do not understand each other. As a matter of fact, the Mordvinians speak two quite different forms of Mordvin, Erzya and Moksha, and can understand each other's speech only with training. As to Mari, the differences between the eastern and the westernmost dialects make mutual comprehension difficult, and the small group of the Hill Mari speakers (ca. 5% of all Maris) have developed a separate literary language. The Udmurt language is internally quite homogenous and because of this all Udmurts understand each other. In fact, Udmurt can be regarded as being a part of a language continuum which it forms with the northern Komi (earlier called Zyryan) language. The differences between Tatar and Bashkir are minimal and the speakers do not have difficulties in mutual comprehension, whereas the language of Chuvashes differs strongly from all other Turkic languages which makes it incomprehensible to Tatars and Bashkirs.

How did the multilinguality of the Volga-Kama region arise?

The Volga-Kama region is a territory of ancient Finno-Ugric populations. In connection with the Great Migration, Turkic Bolgars arrived at the region at latest in the 8th and 9th centuries A.D. Further changes in the national mixture of the district were brought about by the invasion of Mongols into Europe, which made these peoples flee the invaders. From the 15th century onwards, the expansion of the rule of Moscow into the east increased the ethnic blending in the region as people fled the oppressive measures of the Russians.

Do the Volga-Kama nationalities have similar cultures?

During its history, the Volga-Kama region has been subject to cultural influences from many directions, but, on the other hand, their geographical proximity has tended to bring cultures closer together. As to the dominant religion, the peoples of the Volga-Kama region can roughly be divided into three groups: the Tatars and Bashkirs, who are Moslems; the Mordvinians and Chuvashes, who are Orthodox; and the third group which consists of the Maris and the Udmurts, for whom the traditional ethnic religion is still part of their national identity.

Maintained by: Jorma.Luutonen_at_utu.fi. Page updated January 3, 2007.