Chuvash language

Short description: Oghur Turkic language of Volga region

Chuvash

Çăvašla
Чӑвашла
Pronunciation| cv
Native to| Russia
Region| Volga region (esp. Chuvashia)
Ethnicity| 1.05 million Chuvash (2020 census)[1]

Native speakers

| 740,000 (2020 census)e26

Language family

Turkic

* Oghuric
* Chuvash

Writing system

| Cyrillic
Official status

Official language in

| Chuvashia (Russia)
Language codes
ISO 639-1| `cv`
ISO 639-1| `chv`
ISO 639-3| `chv`
Glottolog| `chuv1255`[2]
This article contains IPA phonetic symbols. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Unicode characters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA.

Chuvash (UK: /ˈtʃuːvɑːʃ/ CHOO-vahsh,[3] US: /tʃʊˈvɑːʃ/ chuu-VAHSH;[4] Чӑвашла, translit. Çăvašla, cv)[lower-alpha 1] is a Turkic language spoken in European Russia, primarily in the Chuvash Republic and adjacent areas. It is the only surviving member of the Oghur branch of Turkic languages, one of the two principal branches of the Turkic family.[5] 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).[6]

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.

## Contents

* 1 Usage
* 2 History
* 3 Comparison with Turkic languages
* 4 Dialects
* 5 Writing systems
* 5.1 Official
* 5.1.1 Latin alphabet
* 5.2 1873–1938
* 5.3 Previous systems
* 6 Phonology
* 6.1 Consonants
* 6.2 Vowels
* 6.3 Word accent
* 6.4 Morphonology
* 6.4.1 Vowel harmony
* 6.4.1.1 Exceptions
* 6.4.2 Other processes
* 7 Grammar
* 7.1 Nominals
* 7.1.1 Nouns
* 7.1.2 Adjectives
* 7.1.3 The 'separating' form
* 7.1.4 Pronouns
* 7.2 Verbs
* 7.2.1 Finite verb forms
* 7.2.2 Non-finite verb forms
* 7.3 Word order
* 8 Numerals
* 9 Word formation
* 10 Sample text
* 11 See also
* 12 Notes
* 13 References
* 14 Further reading
* 15 External links
* 15.1 Resources
* 15.2 News and opinion articles

## Usage

Stamp of the Soviet Union, Chuvash people, 1933

Chuvash is the native language of the Chuvash people and an official language of Chuvashia.[7][8] 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[9] 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.[10] 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.[11] Although Chuvash is taught at schools and sometimes used in the media, it is considered endangered by the UNESCO,[12][13] because Russian 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.[14] However, as with most other languages of the former USSR, 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[15] and just 17, in the post-1991 Russia (mostly, in the 1990s).[16] 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).[17]

## History

Chuvash is the most distinctive of the Turkic languages and cannot be understood by other Turkic speakers, whose languages have varying degrees of mutual intelligibility within their respective subgroups. Chuvash is classified, alongside several extinct languages including Bulgar, as the only remaining member of the Oghuric branch of the Turkic language family, or equivalently, the sole surviving descendant of West Old Turkic.[18] Since the surviving literary records for the non-Chuvash members of Oghuric (Khazar and Bulgar) are scant, the exact position of Chuvash within the Oghuric family cannot be determined.

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 it an independent Onoguric (Bulgharic) family similar to Uralic and Turkic languages. Turkic classification of Chuvash was seen as a compromise solution for classification purposes.[19]

The Oghuric branch is distinguished from the rest of the Turkic family (the Common Turkic languages) by two sound changes: r corresponding to Common Turkic z and l corresponding to Common Turkic š.[20] The first scientific fieldwork description of Chuvash, by August Ahlqvist in 1856, allowed researchers to establish its proper affiliation.[21]

Some scholars suggest Hunnic had strong ties with Chuvash[22] and classify Chuvash as separate Hunno-Bulgar.[23] Chuvash is so divergent from the main body of Turkic languages that some scholars formerly considered Chuvash to be a Uralic language.[24] Conversely, other scholars regard it as Oghuric language significantly influenced by Finnic languages.[25]

The following sound changes and resulting sound correspondences are typical:[26][27]

Sound change from Proto-Turkic  | Example of sound correspondence

|

*z > r | хӗр (hĕr) : Turkish kız 'girl'
*š > l,

but occasionally š > 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 адак, Turkish ayak (< Proto-Turkic *adak) ‘foot’
*[q] (i.e. */k/ in back 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 at, Turkish ad 'name' (< Proto-Turkic *āt)

вут (vut) : Turkmen ot, 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.[27]

## Comparison with Turkic languages

In the 8-10th centuries in Central Asia, the ancient Turkic script (the Orkhon-Yenisei runic script) was used for writing in Turkic languages. Turkic epitaphs of 7-9th centuries AD were left by speakers of various dialects (table):

* Often in the Chuvash language, the Common Turkic sounds of /j/ (Oghuz), /d/ (Uighur), /z/ (Kipchak) are replaced by /r/, example rhotacism:

Words for "leg" and "put" in various Turkic languages:

j - languages (Oguz): ajaq, qoj-

d - languages (Uyghur): adaq, qod-

z - languages (Kypchak): azaq, qoz-

r - languages (Oghur): ura, hor- [28]

* Often in the Chuvash language, the Turkic sound /q/ is replaced by /h/, example hitaism:

Comparison table[28]

Сhitacism (Q > H)

English word | Oguz / Kipchak | Chuvash

|
|

black | qara | hura
goose | qaz | hur
girl | qyz | hĕr
zucchini | qabaq | hupah

* The -h- sound disappears if it is the final sound of a syllable.

Dudaq - Tuta - Lips instead of Tutah

Ayaq - Ura - Leg instead of Urah

Balyq - Pulă - Fish instead of Pulăh

Ineq \- Ĕne - Cow instead of Ĕneh [28]

* Turkic sound -j- (oguz) and -ž- (kipchaks) is replaced by chuvash -ş-, example:

Words in Turkic languages: egg, snake, rain, house, earth

Oguz: jumurta, jylan, jagmur, jurt, jer (turk., azerb., tat.,)

Kipchaks: žumurtka, žylan, žamgyr, žort, žer (kyrgyz., kazakh.)

Chuvash: şămarta, şĕlen, şămăr, şurt, şĕr [28]

* The Turkic sound -š- is replaced by the Chuvash -L-, example lambdaism:

Comparison table[28]

English word | Oguz / Kipchak | Chuvash

|
|

winter | kyš | hĕl
silver | kemeš | hӗmӗl
sun | kojaš | hĕvel

* In the field of vowels, we observe the following correspondences: the common Turkic -a- in the first syllable of the word in Chuvash correspond to -u-.

Comparison table[28]

English word | Oguz / Kipchak | Chuvash

|
|

horse | at | ut
coin | akça | ukşa
head | baš | puş
step | adym | utăm

In modern times, in Chuvash [a] remains, Tatar "kapka" ~ Chuvash "hapha" (gate), when there should be a "hupha" from the root "hup - close".

* In the field of vowels, G. F. Miller observes another example when -u- is replaced by -wu- or -wă-

Comparison table[28]

English word | Oguz | Chuvash (Upper) | Kipchak | Chuvash (Lower)

|
|
|
|

fire | ut | wut | ot | wot
ten | un | wun | on | won
forest | urman | wărman | orman | wărman
Russian | urus | wyrăs | orus | wyrăs
he | ul | wăl | ol | wăl
thirty | utyz | wătăr | otyz | wătăr

* The fricative -g- in some words in Chuvash corresponds to -v-

Comparison table[28]

English word | Oguz | Chuvash

|
|

native | tugan | tăvan
tree  | ağac  | jyvăş
mountain | dag | tuv

Ogur and Oguz

It is well known that the Oguz group of Turkic languages differs from the Kipchak in that the word “I” was pronounced by the Oguzes and Ogurs in ancient times by "bä(n)", and the rest of the Turks - by "män". Transition b < m. There is such a difference in the modern Turkic languages of the Volga region:

tat., bash. Min, ogur/chuv. Epĕn (< *pen), turk. Ben, eng. «I am»;

tat., bash. Mең, ogur/chuv. Pin', turk. Bin, eng. «thousand»;

tat., bash. Milәš, ogur/chuv. Pileš, eng. «rowan»;

tat. Мәçә, ogur/chuv. Pĕşi, Pĕşuk, az. Pišik, eng. «cat»;

tat. Miçеү, ogur/chuv. Piçev, eng. «buckle»

## Dialects

The linguistic landscape of the Chuvash language is quite homogeneous, the differences between dialects are insignificant. Currently, the differences between dialects are even more leveled.

Researchers distinguish three main dialects:

* Riding dialect / cv.Turi jal ("sound prevails О") — upstream of the Sura;
* Middle dialect (mixed, transitional);
* Lover dialect / cv. Anatri jal ("sound prevails U") is downstream of the Sura.

The riding dialect is closer to the Oguz, the lower dialect \- which is closer to the Kipchaks.

English  | Turi dial.  | Oghuz  | Anat dial.  | Kipchak

|
|
|
|

ten  | von  | on  | vun  | un
forest  | vorman  | orman  | vurman  | urman
bow  | ohă  | ok  | uhă  | uk

The Malokarachinsky dialect is designated as occupying a separate position.

The literary language is based on both the Lower and Upper dialects. Both Tatar and the neighbouring Uralic languages such as Mari have influenced the Chuvash language, as have Russian, Mongolian, Arabic and Persian, 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. It turns out a dialect matryoshka where there are basic dialects, and these dialects are divided in turn into sub-dialects.

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 riding 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), picche (brother), appa (sister), kukka (uncle), pĕrre (one), ikkĕ (two), vişşĕ (three), tvattă (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, 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 “mulkach” for everyone, “pancakes - kujmak” for the rest is ikerchĕ, “cat - pĕşi” for the rest is “sash”, 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 -jăn (-jĕn), the dative case is -ja (-je), while in the lower dialect -năn (-nĕn, -n), -na (-ne) , For example:

in Turi: lašaiăn, ĕnejĕn, lašaja, ĕneja, ĕneje

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, 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 .

## Writing systems

### Official

Letters in bold with light-yellow background are solely used in loanwords.

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  |  |  |

#### Latin alphabet

Latin alphabet used by Chuvash people living in the USA and Europe, used for the convenience of writing Chuvash words

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:

Latin alphabet | Chuvash alphabet | Meaning

|
|

Çĕkĕntĕr | Чĕкĕнтĕр | beet
Çul | Чул | stone
Çüreçe | Чӳрече | window
Şĕmĕrt | Ҫĕмĕрт | bird cherry
Şăkăr | Ҫăкăр | bread
Šură | Шурă | white
Šăl | Шăл | tooth
Šapa | Шапа | frog
Üpĕte | Ӳпĕте | monkey
Ükerçĕk | Ӳкерчĕк | drawing
Žiraf | Жираф | giraffe
Žuk | Жук | beatle
Žjuri | Жюри | jury
Energi | Энерги | energy
Etem | Этем | human
Epĕr | Эпĕр | we
Juman | Юман | oak
Jur | Юр | snow
Jalav | Ялав | flag
Japala | Япала | thing
Jomkăş | Ёмкăҫ | container
Joršik | ёршик | brush
Văjlă | Вăйлă | strong
Vişşĕ | Виҫҫĕ | three
Jermikke  | Ермикке  | market
Ješĕl  | Ешĕл  | green
Cunami  | Цунами  | tsunami

Transliteration of the Chuvash alphabet [29]

| Name  | IPA | KNAB [30] 1995  | ALA-LC[31] 1997  | Edward Allworth[32] 1971  | ISO

System A

| ISO

System B

| Turkkălla[33] | Ivanof | CVLat 1.1

2007 [34]

| Notes

|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|

А а | а  | /a/~/ɑ/ | a  | a  | a  | a  | a  | a  | a  | a  |
Ӑ ӑ | ӑ  | /ɤ̆/, /ə/, /ɒ/ | ä  | ă  | ă  | ă  |  | ĭ | ah  | ă/ò  | a'
Б б | бӑ  | /b/ | b  | b  | b  | b  | b  | b  | b  | b  | only in loanwords from Russian
В в | вӑ  | /ʋ/~/w/, /v/ (in non-Chuvash loanwords)  | v  | v  | v  | v  | v  | v  | v  | w  |
Г г | гӑ  | /ɡ/ | g  | g  | g  | g  | g  | g  | g  | g  | only in loanwords from Russian
Д д | дӑ  | /d/ | d  | d  | d  | d  | d  | d  | d  | d  | only in loanwords from Russian
Е е | е  | /ɛ/ | ye-, -e-  | e  | e, je  | e  | e  | -e-, ye-  | je  | e, je/ye  |
Ё ё | ё  | /jo/ or /ʲo/ | yo  | ë  | ë  | ë  | yo  | yo  | jo  | jo/yo  | only in loanwords from Russian
Ӗ ӗ | ӗ  | /ɘ/ (ɘ~ø)  | ĕ  | ĕ  | ö  | ĕ  |  | ĭ̇  | eh  | ĕ/ö  | e'
Ж ж | жӑ  | /ʒ/ | zh  | zh  | ž  | ž  | zh  | j  | q  | sh (š)  | only in loanwords from Russian
З з | зӑ  | /z/ | z  | z  | z  | z  | z  | z  | zh  | s  | only in loanwords from Russian
И и | и  | /i/ | i  | i  | i  | i  | i  | i  | i  | i  |
Й й | йӑ  | /j/ | y  | ĭ  | j  | j  | j  | y  | j  | j  |
К к | кӑ  | /k/, /kʲ/ (c), /k̬ʲ/ (gʲ, ɟ)  | k  | k  | k  | k  | k  | k  | k  | k  |
Л л | лӑ  | /l/~/ɫ/, /lʲ/ (ʎ)  | l  | l  | l  | l  | l  | l  | l  | l, lĭ/l'  | l'
М м | мӑ  | /m/ | m  | m  | m  | m  | m  | m  | m  | m  |
Н н | нӑ  | /n/, /nʲ/ (ɲ)  | n  | n  | n  | n  | n  | n  | n  | n, nĭ/n'  | n'
О о | о  | /o/ | o  | o  | o  | o  | o  | o  | o  | o  |
П п | пӑ  | /p/, /p̬/ (b)  | p  | p  | p  | p  | p  | p  | p  | p  |
Р р | рӑ  | /r/~/ɾ/ | r  | r  | r  | r  | r  | r  | r  | r  | r'
С с | сӑ  | /s/, /s̬/ (z)  | s  | s  | s  | s  | s  | s  | s  | s  |
Ҫ ҫ | ҫӑ  | /ɕ/, /ɕ̬/ (ʑ)  | s'  | ś  | ś  | ş  |  | ş́  | c  | ş/ś  | s'
Т т | тӑ  | /t/, /tʲ/, /t̬ʲ/ (dʲ), /t̬/ (d)  | t  | t  | t  | t  | t  | t  | t  | t, tĭ/t'  |
У у | у  | /u/, /̯u/ (o)  | u  | u  | u  | u  | u  | u  | u  | u  |
Ӳ ӳ | ӳ  | /y/ | ü  | u̇  | ü  | ű  |  | ü  | uh  | ü  | u'
Ф ф | фӑ  | /f/, /̯f̬/ (v)  | f  | f  | f  | f  | f  | f  | f  | f  | only in loanwords from Russian
Х х | хӑ  | /χ/, /χʲ/, /χ̃/ (ɣ), /χ̃ʲ/ (ɣʲ)  | kh  | kh  | h  | h  | x  | h  | x  | h/x  |
Ц ц | цӑ  | /ts/, /ʦ̬/ (dz)  | ts  | t͡s  | c  | c  | cz, c  |  | z  | ts/z  | only in loanwords from Russian
Ч ч | чӑ  | /tɕ/, /ʨ̬/ (ʥ)  | ch  | ch  | č  | č  | ch  | ç  | ch  | tś/c  |
Ш ш | шӑ  | /ʃ/, /ʃ̬/ (ʒ)  | sh  | sh  | š  | š  | sh  | ş  |  | sh (š)  |
Щ щ | щӑ  | /ɕː/
/ɕt͡ɕ/ | shch  | shch  | šč  | ŝ  | shh  |  | th  | śç, ş  | only in loanwords from Russian
Ъ ъ | хытӑлӑх палли  | –  |  | ″  | "  | ʺ  | ``  |  |  | j  | only in loanwords from Russian. Placed after a consonant, acts as a "silent back vowel"; puts a distinct /j/ sound in front of the following iotated: Е, Ё, Ю, Я vowels with no palatalization of the preceding consonant
Ы ы | ы  | /ɯ/ | ï  | y  | y  | y  | y'  | ı  | y  | y  | only in beginning of words, 1-2 letters
Ь ь | ҫемҫелӗх палли  | /ʲ/ | '  | ′  | ' / j  | ʹ  | `  |  |  | ĭ/'  | Placed after a consonant, acts as a "silent front vowel", slightly palatalizes the preceding consonant
Э э | э  | /e/ | ë  | ė  | è, e  | è  | e`  | e  | e  | e  | only first letter
Ю ю | ю  | /ju/ or /ʲu/ | yŭ  | ͡iu  | ju  | û  | yu  | yu  | ju  | ju/yu, ‘u  |
Я я | я  | /ja/ or /ʲa/ | yă  | ͡ia  | ja  | â  | ya  | ya  | ja  | ja/ya, ‘a  |

### 1873–1938

The initial alphabet of Ivan Yakovlev, with 47 letters.

Yakovlev's revised alphabet

The modern Chuvash alphabet was devised in 1873 by school inspector Ivan Yakovlevich Yakovlev.[35]

Cursive

а | е | ы | и/і | у | ӳ | ӑ | ӗ | й | в | к | л | ԡ | м | н | ԣ | п | р | р́ | с | ҫ | т | т̌ | ꚋ | х | ш

|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|

In 1938, the alphabet underwent significant modification which brought it to its current form.

### Previous systems

The most ancient writing system, known as the Old Turkic alphabet, disappeared after the Volga Bulgars converted to Islam. Later, the Arabic script was adopted. After the Mongol invasion, writing degraded. After Peter the Great's reforms Chuvash elites disappeared, blacksmiths and some other crafts were prohibited for non-Russian nations, the Chuvash were educated in Russian, while writing in runes recurred with simple folk.[36][37]

## Phonology

### Consonants

The consonants are the following (the corresponding Cyrillic letters are in brackets): The stops, sibilants and affricates are voiceless and fortes but become lenes (sounding similar to voiced) in intervocalic position and after liquids, nasals and semi-vowels. Аннепе sounds like annebe, but кушакпа sounds like kuzhakpa. However, geminate consonants do not undergo this lenition. Furthermore, the voiced consonants occurring in Russian are used in modern Russian-language loans. Consonants also become palatalized before and after front vowels. However, some words like пульчӑклӑ "dirty", present palatalized consonants without preceding or succeeding front vowels, and should be understood that such are actually phonemic: lʲ ⟨ль⟩, nʲ ⟨нь⟩, tʲ ⟨ть⟩.

| Labial  | Dental/
Alveolar  | Post-
alveolar  | Palatal  | Velar

|
|
|
|
|

Stop  | p ⟨п⟩ | t ⟨т⟩ |  | tɕ ⟨ч⟩ | k ⟨к⟩
Fricative  |  | s ⟨c⟩ | ʃ ⟨ш⟩ | ɕ ⟨ҫ⟩ | x ⟨x⟩
Nasal  | m ⟨м⟩ | n ⟨н⟩ |  |  |
Approximant  | ʋ ⟨в⟩ | l ⟨л⟩ |  | j ⟨й⟩ |
Trill  |  | r ⟨p⟩ |  |  |

* /x/ can have a voiced allophone of [ɣ].

### Vowels

A possible scheme for the diachronic development of Chuvash vowels [citation needed] (note that not all the sounds with an asterisk are necessarily separate phonemes).

According to Krueger (1961), the Chuvash vowel system is as follows (the precise IPA symbols are chosen based on his description since he uses a different transcription).

| Front  | Back

|
|

unrounded | rounded | unrounded | rounded
High  | i ⟨и⟩ | y ⟨ӳ⟩ | ɯ ⟨ы⟩ | u ⟨у⟩
Low  | e ⟨е⟩ | ø̆ ⟨ӗ⟩ | a ⟨а⟩ | ŏ ⟨ӑ⟩

András Róna-Tas (1997)[38] 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.

| Front  | Back

|
|

unrounded | rounded | unrounded | rounded
High  | i ⟨и⟩ | y ⟨ӳ⟩ | ɯ ⟨ы⟩ | u ⟨у⟩
Close-mid  | ӗ ⟨ĕ⟩ |  | ɤ̆ ⟨ӑ⟩ |
Open-mid  | ɛ ⟨е⟩ |  |  |
Low  |  |  | a ⟨а⟩ |

The vowels ӑ and ӗ are described as reduced, thereby differing in 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 /o/ and /ø/.

Additionally, ɔ (о) occurs in loanwords from Russian where the syllable is stressed in Russian.

### Word accent

The usual rule given in grammars of Chuvash is that the last full (non-reduced) vowel of the word is stressed; if there are no full vowels, the first vowel is stressed.[39] Reduced vowels that precede or follow a stressed full vowel are extremely short and non-prominent. One scholar, Dobrovolsky, however, hypothesises that there is in fact no stress in disyllabic words in which both vowels are reduced.[40]

### Morphonology

#### Vowel harmony

Vowel harmony is the principle by which a native Chuvash word generally incorporates either exclusively back or hard vowels (а, ӑ, у, ы) and exclusively front or soft vowels (е, ӗ, ӳ, и). As such, a Chuvash suffix such as -тен means either -тан or -тен, whichever promotes vowel harmony; a notation such as -тпӗр means either -тпӑр, -тпӗр, again with vowel harmony constituting the deciding factor.

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. Шупашкарта, "in Cheboksary" but килте, "at home".

Two vowels cannot occur in succession.

##### Exceptions

Vowel harmony does not apply for some invariant suffixes such as the plural ending -сем and the 3rd person (possessive or verbal) ending -ӗ, which only have a front version.[41] It also does not occur in loanwords and in a few native Chuvash words (such as анне "mother"). In such words suffixes harmonize with the final vowel; thus Аннепе "with the mother".

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).

#### Other processes

The consonant т often alternates with ч before ӗ from original *i (ят 'name' - ячӗ 'his name'). There is also an alternation between т (after consonants) and р (after vowels): тетел 'fishing net (nom.)' - dative тетел-те, but пулӑ 'fish (nom.)' - dative пулӑ-ра.[42]

Consonants

Voiceless consonant sounds, if they stand in the middle and end of words become voiced:

English word | Written Chuvash | Pronunciation

|
|

sword | hĕşĕ | hĕžĕ
owner | huşa | huža
peak | pekĕ | pegĕ
lunch | apat | abat
bouillon | šürpe | šürbe
window | çüreçе | çürejе
glass | kĕlençe | kĕlenje
little | pĕçĕkke | pĕjĕkke
slice | katăk | kadăk

Geminated voiceless consonants are not voiced:

ikkĕ - two, piççe - brother, sakkăr - eight, appa - sister.

## Grammar

As characteristic of all Turkic languages, Chuvash is an agglutinative language and as such, has an abundance of suffixes but no native prefixes or prepositions, apart from the partly reduplicative intensive prefix, such as in: шурӑ \- white, шап-шурӑ \- snow-white, хура \- black, хуп-хура \- jet black, такӑр \- flat, так-такӑр \- absolutely flat, тулли \- full, тӑп-тулли \- chock full (compare to Turkish beyaz \- white, bem-beyaz snow-white, kara \- black, kap-kara \- jet black, düz \- flat, dümdüz \- absolutely flat, dolu \- full, dopdolu \- chock full). One word can have many suffixes, which can also be used to create new words like creating a verb from a noun or a noun from a verbal root. See Vocabulary below. It can also indicate the grammatical function of the word.

### Nominals

#### Nouns

Chuvash nouns decline in number and case and also take suffixes indicating the person of a possessor. The suffixes are placed in the order possession - number - case.[42] There are six noun cases in the Chuvash declension system:

Grammatical cases:  | Singular  | Plural

|
|

Nominative  | -∅  | -сем
Genitive (of)  | -(ӑ)н/-(ӗ)н  | -сен
Dative-Accusative (for)  | -(н)а/-(н)е  | -сене
Locative (in, on)  | -ра/-ре, -та/-те  | -сенче
Ablative (from)  | -ран/-рен, -тан/-тен  | -сенчен
Instrumental (with)  | -па(лан)/-пе(лен)  | -семпе(лен)
Abessive (without)  | -сӑр/-сӗр  | -семсӗр
Causative | -шӑн/-шӗн  | -семшӗн

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.[43] 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.[44]

The nominative is used instead of the dative-accusative to express indefinite or general objects, e.g. утӑ типӗт 'to dry hay'.[45] It can also be used instead of the genitive to express a possessor, so that the combination gets a generalised compound-like meaning (лаша пӳҫӗ 'a horse head' vs лашан пӳҫӗ 'the horse's head'); with both nominative and genitive, however, the possessed noun has a possessive suffix (see below).[46][47]

In the genitive and dative-accusative cases, some nouns ending in -у and -ӳ were changed to -ӑв and -ӗв (ҫыру → ҫырӑван, ҫырӑва, but ҫырура; пӳ → пӗвен, пӗве, but пӳре). In nouns ending in -ӑ, the last vowel simply deletes and may cause the last consonant to geminate (пулӑ 'fish' > пуллан). Nouns ending in consonants sometimes also geminate the last letter (ҫын 'man' → ҫыннан).[48]

There are also some rarer cases, such as:

* Terminative–antessive (to), formed by adding -(ч)чен
* relic of distributive, formed by adding -серен: кунсерен "daily, every day", килсерен "per house", килмессерен "every time one comes"
* Semblative (as), formed by adding пек to pronouns in genitive or objective case (ман пек, "like me", сан пек, "like you", ун пек, "like him, that way", пирӗн пек, "like us", сирӗн пек, "like you all", хам пек, "like myself", хӑвӑн пек, "like yourself", кун пек, "like this"); adding -ла, -ле to nouns (этемле, "humanlike", ленинла, "like Lenin")
* Postfix: ха (ha); adding -шкал, -шкел to nouns in the dative (actually a postposition, but the result is spelt as one word: унашкал 'like that').

Taking кун (day) as an example:

Noun case  | Singular  | Plural

|
|

Nominative  | кун  | кунсем
Genitive  | кунӑн  | кунсен
Dative-Accusative  | куна  | кунсене
Locative  | кунта  | кунсенче
Ablative  | кунтан  | кунсенчен
Instrumental  | кунпа  | кунсемпе

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":

кушак + -ӑн ура атӑ(и) + -сем ҫук + -ччӗ
(кушакӑн ура аттисем ҫукччӗ)

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

|
|

1st person  | -(ӑ)м  | -мӑр
2nd person  | -у  | -ӑр
3rd person  | -ӗ/и  | -ӗ/и[42]

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.[49] Furthermore, the noun атте 'father' is irregularly declined in possessive forms:[50]

| singular  | plural

|
|

1st person  | атте
аттем  | аттемӗр
2nd person  | аҫу  | аҫӑр
3rd person  | ашшӗ  | ашшӗ

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'.[51]

#### Adjectives

Adjectives do not agree with the nouns they modify, but may receive nominal case endings when standing alone, without a noun.[52] The comparative suffix is -рах/-рех, or -тарах/терех after stems ending in -р or, optionally, other sonorant consonants.[53] The superlative is formed by encliticising or procliticising the particles чи or чӑн to the adjective in the positive degree.[54] A special past tense form meaning '(subject) was A' is formed by adding the suffix -(ч)чӗ.[55] Another notable feature is the formation of intensive forms via complete or partial reduplication: кǎтра 'curly' - кǎп-кǎтра 'completely curly'.[56]

#### The 'separating' form

Both nouns and adjectives, declined or not, may take special 'separating' forms in -и (causing gemination when added to reduced vowel stems and, in nouns, when added to consonant-final stems) and -скер. The meaning of the form in -и is, roughly, 'the one of them that is X', while the form in -скер may be rendered as '(while) being X'.[57] For example, пӳлӗм-р(е)-и-сем 'those of them who are in the room'. The same suffixes may form the equivalent of dependent clauses: ачисем килте-скер-ӗн мӗн хуйхӑрмалли пур унӑн? 'If his children (are) at home, what does he have to be sad about?', йӗркеллӗ çынн-и курӑнать 'You (can) see that he is a decent person', эсӗ килт(e)-и савӑнтарать (lit. 'That you are at home, pleases one').[58]

#### Pronouns

The first and second person pronouns exhibit a deictic e- prefix, lacking in any other Turkic language. The personal pronouns exhibit partly suppletive allomorphy between the nominative and oblique stems; case endings are added to the latter:[42]

| singular  | plural

|
|

| nominative  | oblique  | nominative  | oblique
1st person  | эпӗ  | ман-  | эпир  | пир-
2nd person  | эсӗ  | сан-  | эсир  | сир-
3rd person  | вӑл  | ун-  | вӗсем  | вӗсен

Demonstratives are ку 'this', çак 'this' (only for a known object), çав '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

|
|

1st person  | хам  | хамӑр
2nd person  | ху  | хӑвӑр
3rd person  | хӑй  | хӑйсем

Interrogatives are кам 'who', мӗн 'what', хаш/хӑшӗ 'which'. Negative pronouns are formed by adding the prefix ни- to the interrogatives: никам, ним(ӗн), etc. Indefinite pronouns use the prefix та-: такам etc. Totality is expressed by пур 'all', пӗтӗм 'whole', харпӑр 'every'.

Among the pronominal adverbs that are not productively formed from the demonstratives, notable ones are the interrogatives хăçан 'when' and ăçта 'where'.

### Verbs

Chuvash verbs exhibit person and can be made negative or impotential; they can also be made potential. Finally, Chuvash verbs exhibit various distinctions of tense, mood and aspect: a verb can be progressive, necessitative, aorist, future, inferential, present, past, conditional, imperative or optative.

The sequence of verbal suffixes is as follows: voice - iterativity - potentiality - negation - tense/gerund/participle - personal suffix.[59]

Chuvash  | English

|

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?

#### Finite verb forms

The personal endings of the verb are mostly as follows (abstracting from vowel harmony):[60]

| singular  | plural

|
|

1st person  | -(ӑ)п/(ӑ)м  | -(ӑ)пӑр/(ӑ)мӑр
2nd person  | -(ӑ)н  | -(ӑ)р
3rd person  | -(ӗ)  | -(ӗ)ҫ(ӗ)

The 1st person allomorph containing -п- is found in the present and future tenses, the one containing -м- is found in other forms. The 3rd singular is absent in the future and in the present tenses, but causes palatalisation of the preceding consonant in the latter. The vowel-final allomorph of the 3rd plural -ҫӗ is used in the present.[61] The imperative has somewhat more deviant endings in some of its forms:

| singular  | plural

|
|

1st person  | -ам  | -ар
2nd person  | -∅  | -ӑр
3rd person  | -тӑр  | -ч(ч)ӑр

To these imperative verb forms, one may add particles expressing insistence (-сам) or, conversely, softness (-ччӗ) and politeness (-ах).

The main tense markers are:[62]

present  | -(a)т-

|

future  | -∅-
past  | -р/т-
pluperfect  | -ӑс(с)ӑtt-
iterative past  | -атт-[63]

The consonant -т of the present tense marker assimilates to the 3rd plural personal ending: -ҫҫĕ. The past tense allomorph -р- is used after vowels, while -т- is used after consonants. The simple past tense is used only for witnesses events, whereas retold events are expressed using the past participle suffix -н(ӑ) (see below). In addition to the iterative past, there is also an aspectual iterative suffix -кала- expressing repetitive action.

There are also modal markers,[61] which do not combine with tense markers and hence have sometimes been described as tenses of their own:[64]

| suffix

|

conditional[61]/optative[65] | -ӑттӑ-
concessive  | -ин

The concessive suffix -ин is added after the personal endings, but in the 2nd singular and plural, a -с- suffix is added before them: кур-ӑ-сӑн(-ин) 'alright, see it'.[66] If the particle -ччӗ is added, the meaning becomes optative.[67]

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.[61] 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.[68] A 'reciprocal voice' form is produced by the suffixes -ӑш and -ӑҫ.[69] There are two causative suffixes - a non-productive -ат/ар/ӑт and a productive -(т)тар (the single consonant allomorph occurring after monosyllabic stems).[70]

Voice suffixes  passive-

reflexive

| -ӑл-,

-ӑн-

|

reciprocal  | -ӑш,

-ӑҫ

causative  | -(т)тар, (-ат/ар/ӑт)

There are, furthermore, various periphrastic constructions using the non-finite verb forms, mostly featuring predicative use of the participles (see below).

#### Non-finite verb forms

Some of the non-finite verb forms are:[71]

I. Attributive participles

1. Present participle: -акан (вӗренекен 'studying' or 'being studied'); the negative form is the same as that of the past participle (see below);
2. Past participle: -н(ӑ) (курнӑ 'which has seen' or 'which has been seen'); the final vowel disappears in the negative (курман)
3. Future participle: -ас (каяс 'who will go')
4. Present participle expressing a permanent characteristic: -ан (вӗҫен 'flying')
5. Present participle expressing pretence: -анҫи, -иш
6. Necessitative participle: -малла (пулмалла 'who must become'); the negative is formed by adding the enclitic мар
7. Satisfaction participle: -малӑх (вуламалӑх 'which is enough to be read')
8. Potentiality participle: -и (ути 'which can go')[61]

The suffix -и may be added to participles to form a verbal noun: ҫыр-нӑ ;'written' > ҫыр-н-и 'writing'.

II. Adverbial participles (converbs)[59]

1. -са (default: doing, having done, while about to do')[61] (-сар after a negative suffix)
2. -а 'doing Y' (the verb form is usually reduplicated)
3. -нӑҫем(-ен) 'the more the subject does Y':
4. -уҫӑн 'while doing Y'
5. -сан 'having done Y', 'if the subject does Y'
6. -нӑранпа 'after/since having done Y'
7. -массерен 'whenever the subject does Y'
8. -иччен 'before/until doing Y'

III. Infinitives

The suffixes -ма and -машкӑн form infinitives.

There are many verbal periphrastic constructions using the non-finite forms, including:

1. a habitual past using the present participle and expressing periodicity (эпĕ вулакан-ччĕ, lit. 'I was [a] reading [one]');
2. an alternative pluperfect using the past participle (эпĕ чĕннĕ-ччĕ, lit. 'I [was] one that had called'; negated by using the negatively conjugated participle эпĕ чĕнмен-ччĕ);
3. a general present equal to the present participle (эпĕ ҫыракан, lit. 'I [am a] writing [one]'; negated with the enclitic мар),
4. an alternative future expressing certainty and equal to the future participle (эпĕ илес 'I [am] one who will get'; negated with an encliticised ҫук),
5. a necessitative future using the necessitative participle (ман/эпĕ тарант(ар)малла 'I [am] one who must feed'; negated with мар),
6. a second desiderative future expressing a wish and using the converb in -сан (эпĕ ҫĕнтерсен-ччĕ, 'I wish I'd win'),
7. another desiderative form expressing a wish for the future and using the future participle followed by -чĕ (эпĕ пĕлес-чĕ 'I wish/hope I know', negated by мар with an encliticised -ччĕ).[72]

### Word order

Word order in Chuvash is generally subject–object–verb. Modifiers (adjectives and genitives) precede their heads in nominal phrases, too. The language uses postpositions,[73] often originating from case-declined nouns, but the governed noun is usually in the nominative, e.g. тĕп çи-не 'onto (the surface of) the ground' (even though a governed pronoun tends to be in the genitive).[74] Yes/no-questions are formed with an encliticised interrogative particle -и.[75] The language often uses verb phrases that are formed by combining the adverbial participle in -са and certain common verbs such as пыр 'go', çӳре 'be going', кай 'go (away from the speaker)', кил 'go (towards the speaker)', ил 'take', кала 'say', тăр 'stand', юл 'stay', яр 'let go'; e.g. кĕрсe кай 'go entering > enter', тухса кай 'go exiting > leave'.[76]

## Numerals

The number system is decimal. The numbers from one to ten are:

* 1 – pĕrre (пĕрре), pĕr (пĕр)
* 2 – ikkĕ (иккĕ), ikĕ (икĕ), ik (ик)
* 3 – wişşĕ (виççĕ), wişĕ (виçĕ), wiş (виç)
* 4 – tăwattă (тӑваттӑ) tvată (тватӑ), tăwat (тӑват), tvat (тват)
* 5 – pillĕk (пиллӗк), pilĕk (пиллĕк), pil (пил)
* 6 – ulttă (улттӑ), cv, ultă (ултă), cv, ult (улт), cv/cv
* 7 – şiççĕ (çиччĕ), cv, şiçĕ (çичĕ), cv, şiç (сич), cv
* 8 – sakkăr (саккăр), cv, sakăr (сакăр), cv
* 9 – tăhhăr (тăххăр), tăhăr (тăхăр)
* 10 – wunnă (вуннă), wun (вун)

The teens are formed by juxtaposing the word 'ten' and the corresponding single digit:

* 11 – wun pĕr (вун пĕр)
* 12 – wun ikkĕ (вун иккĕ), wun ikĕ (вун икĕ), wun ik (вун ик)
* 13 – wun vişşĕ (вун виççĕ), wun vişĕ (вун виçĕ), wun viş (вун виç)
* 14 – wun tăwattă (вун тăваттă), wun tvată (вун тватă), wun tvat (вун тват)
* 15 – wun pillĕk (вун пиллĕк), wun pilĕk (вун пилĕк), wun pil (вун пил)
* 16 – wun ulttă (вун улттă), wun ultă (вун ултă), wun ult (вун улт)
* 17 – wun şiççĕ (вун çиччĕ), wun şiçĕ (вун çичĕ), wun şiç (вун çич)
* 18 – wun sakkăr (вун саккăр), wun sakăr (вун сакăр)
* 19 – wun tăhhăr (вун тăххăр), wun tăhăr (вун тăхăр)

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'.

* 20 – şirĕm (çирĕм)
* 30 – wătăr (вăтăр)
* 40 – hĕrĕh (хĕрĕх)
* 50 – allă (аллă), ală (алă), al (ал)
* 60 – utmăl (утмăл)
* 70 – şitmĕl (çитмĕл)
* 80 – sakăr wunnă (сакăр вуннă), sakăr wun (сакăр вун)
* 90 – tăhăr wunnă (тăхăр вуннă), tăhăr wun (тăхăр вун)

Further multiples of ten are:

* 100 – şĕr (çĕр)
* 1000 – pin (пин)
* Example: 834236 \- sakăr şĕr wătăr tvată pin te ik şĕr wătăr ulttă (сакӑр ҫӗр вӑтӑр тӑватӑ пин те ик ҫӗр вӑтӑр улттӑ), cv

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', tvatăm (тватăм), pilĕm (пилĕм), ultăm (ултăм), şiçĕm (çичĕм), wunăm (вунăм).[77]

## Word formation

Some notable suffixes are: -ҫӑ for agent nouns, -лӑх for abstract and instrumental nouns, -ӑш, less commonly, for abstract nouns from certain adjectives, -у (after consonants) or -v (after vowels) for action nouns, -ла, -ал, -ар, and -н for denominal verbs.[78] The valency changing suffixes and the gerunds were mentioned in the verbal morphology section above. Diminutives may be formed with multiple suffixes such as -ашка, -(к)ка, -лчӑ, -ак/ӑк, -ача.[79]

## Sample text

1\. Хĕвелĕн икĕ арăм: Ирхи Шуçăмпа Каçхи Шуçăм.[80]
1\. The Sun has two wives: Dawn and Afterglow (lit. "the Morning Glow" and "the Evening Glow").

2\. Ир пулсан Хĕвел Ирхи Шуçăмран уйрăлса каять
2\. When it is morning, the Sun leaves Dawn

3\. те яра кун тăршшĕпе Каçхи Шуçăм патнелле сулăнать.
3\. and during the whole day (he) moves towards Afterglow.

4\. Çак икĕ мăшăрĕнчен унăн ачасем:
4\. From these two spouses of his, he has children:

5\. Этем ятлă ывăл тата Сывлăм ятлă хĕр пур.
5\. a son named Etem (Human) and a daughter named Syvlăm (Dew).

6\. Этемпе Сывлăм пĕррехинче Çĕр чăмăрĕ çинче тĕл пулнă та,
6\. Etem and Syvlăm once met on the globe of the Earth,

7\. пĕр-пĕрне юратса çемье чăмăртанă.
7\. fell in love with each other and started a family.

8\. Халь пурăнакан этемсем çав мăшăрăн тăхăмĕсем.
8\. The humans who live today are the descendants of this couple.

## See also

* Chuvash literature
* Bulgar language
* Cyrillic script
* Oghur languages
* Turkic Avar language
* Turkic languages
* Ivan Yakovlev

## Notes

1. ↑ Also known as Chăvash, Chuwash, Chovash, Chavash, Çovaş, Çuvaş or Çuwaş.

## References

Specific

1. ↑ Cite error: Invalid `<ref>` tag; no text was provided for refs named `e26`
2. ↑ Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds (2017). "Chuvash". Glottolog 3.0. Jena, Germany: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History. http://glottolog.org/resource/languoid/id/chuv1255.
3. ↑ "Chuvash". Chuvash. Oxford University Press. http://www.lexico.com/definition/Chuvash.
4. ↑ "Chuvash". Chuvash. Oxford University Press. http://www.lexico.com/en/definition/Chuvash.
5. ↑ [1] Chuvash is the sole living representative of the Bulgharic branch, one of the two principal branches of the Turkic family.
6. ↑ Encyclopedia of Linguistics. p. 39.
7. ↑ http://www.cv-haval.org/ru/node/54 Алос-и-Фонт, Эктор. Оценка языковой политики в Чувашии
8. ↑ http://cvlat.blogspot.com/2010/11/blog-post.html Оценка языковой политики в Чувашии
9. ↑ "Chuvash". http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=chv.
10. ↑ 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)(in Russian)
11. ↑ "Languages in Russia Disappearing Faster than Data Suggests, Activists Warn". The Moscow Times. 13 March 2023. https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2023/03/13/languages-in-russia-disappearing-faster-than-data-suggests-activists-warn-a80432.
12. ↑ "Zheltov, Pavel. An Attribute-Sample Database System for Describing Chuvash Affixes". http://www.mt-archive.info/LREC-2006-Zheltov.pdf.
13. ↑ Tapani Salminen (22 September 1999). "UNESCO red book on endangered languages: Europe". http://www.helsinki.fi/~tasalmin/europe_index.html.
14. ↑ Index Translationum: translations from Chuvash \- shows 202 titles, as of 2013-01-06. The index has data since ca. 1979.
15. ↑ Index Translationum: translations from Chuvash, published in the USSR \- shows 170 titles
16. ↑ Index Translationum: translations from Chuvash, published in Russia \- shows 17 titles
17. ↑ Index Translationum: translations into Chuvash
18. ↑ Róna-Tas, András; Berta, Árpád (2011). West Old Turkic. 2. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz. p. 1176.
19. ↑ 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.
20. ↑ Johanson (1998); cf. Johanson (2000, 2007) and the articles pertaining to the subject in Johanson & Csató (ed., 1998).
21. ↑ Korhonen, Mikko (1986). Finno-Ugrian Language Studies in Finland 1828-1918. Helsinki: Societas Scientiarum Fennica. p. 80. ISBN 951-653-135-0.
22. ↑ Pritsak, Omeljan (1982). "The Hunnic Language of the Attila Clan". Harvard Ukrainian Studies (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute) IV (4): 470. ISSN 0363-5570. https://www.jstor.org/stable/41036005. ""The language had strong ties to Bulgar language and to modern Chuvash, but also had some important connections, especially lexical and morphological, to Ottoman Turkish and Yakut"".
23. ↑ Pritsak (1981). "The Proto-Bulgarian Military Inventory Inscriptions". Turkic-Bulgarian-Hungarian relations. Budapest.
24. ↑ Savelyev, Alexander (2020-01-01). "Chuvash and the Bulgharic languages". The Oxford Guide to the Transeurasian Languages: 446–464. doi:10.1093/oso/9780198804628.003.0028. ISBN 978-0-19-880462-8. https://www.academia.edu/43117302. "Early scholarship from the 18th century associated Chuvash with the Uralic languages, being unable to disentangle complicated areal phenomena in the Volga-Kama region (see, e.g., language groupings in Pallas 1787–1789). The Turkic origin of Chuvash was proposed no later than by Klaproth in 1828 and convincingly proved by Schott in 1841. In 1863, Feizkhanov managed to read three grave epitaphs in the Volga Bulghar language based on his knowledge of the contemporary Chuvash. Strong arguments relating Chuvash to Volga Bulghar were summarized by Ašmarin in 1902; since then, the Volga Bulghar → Chuvash linguistic continuity has gained general acceptance in the field. Together with its extinct relatives, Chuvash forms the separate Bulgharic branch of the Turkic family, which exhibits many differences from the so-called Common Turkic languages".
25. ↑ Matti Miestamo; Anne Tamm; Beáta Wagner-Nagy (24 June 2015). Negation in Uralic Languages. John Benjamins Publishing Company. pp. 646. ISBN 978-90-272-6864-8. https://books.google.com/books?id=qmwCCgAAQBAJ.
26. ↑ Johanson (1998: 89-197).
27. ↑ 27.0 27.1 Agyagási (2019: passim)
28. ↑ 28.0 28.1 28.2 28.3 28.4 28.5 28.6 28.7 Егоров (Egorov), Василий Георгиевич (1964) (in ru). Чăваш чĕлхин этимологи словарĕ.. Cheboksary: Чувашское книжное издательство. https://altaica.ru/LIBRARY/chuvash.pdf.
29. ↑ Transliteration of Chuvash writing system (2006-10-19). "Error: no `|title=` specified when using {{Cite web}}". http://transliteration.eki.ee/pdf/Chuvash.pdf.Error:+no+`|title=`+specified when+using+{{[[Template:Cite+web|Cite+web]]}}&rft.atitle=&rft.aulast=Transliteration+of+Chuvash+writing+system&rft.au=Transliteration+of+Chuvash+writing+system&rft.date=2006-10-19&rft_id=http://transliteration.eki.ee/pdf/Chuvash.pdf&rfr_id=info:sid/en.wikibooks.org:Social:Chuvash_language">
30. ↑ "KNAB: kohanimeandmebaasi avaleht". http://www.eki.ee/knab/knab.htm.
31. ↑ "ALA-LC Romanization Tables". https://www.loc.gov/catdir/cpso/roman.html.
32. ↑ Allworth, Edward (1971-12-31). Nationalities of the Soviet East Publications and Writing Systems. doi:10.7312/allw92088. ISBN 9780231886963. http://dx.doi.org/10.7312/allw92088.
33. ↑ "cvlat2 - СVLat". https://sites.google.com/site/cavashlat/cvlat2.
34. ↑ "Chuvash Latin Script". https://en.chuvash.org/e/43687576617368204c6174696e20536372697074.
35. ↑ "Telegram to the Chairman of the Simbirsk Soviet". http://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1918/apr/20.htm.
36. ↑ "Древнечувашская руническая письменность". Трофимов А.А. Национальная библиотека Чувашской Республики. http://nasledie.nbchr.ru/nasledie/yazyk/runicheskaja-pismennost.
37. ↑ "Язык – основа национальной культуры". Национальная библиотека Чувашской Республики. http://nasledie.nbchr.ru/nasledie/yazyk/.
38. ↑ András Róna-Tas. "Nutshell Chuvash". Erasmus Mundus Intensive Program Turkic languages and cultures in Europe (TLCE). http://www.lingfil.uu.se/afro/turkiskasprak/IP2007/NUTSHELLCHUVASH.pdf.
39. ↑ Dobrovolsky (1999), p. 539.
40. ↑ Dobrovolsky (1999), p. 541.
41. ↑ Rona-Tas 1997: 3
42. ↑ 42.0 42.1 42.2 42.3 Róna-Tas (1997: 4)
43. ↑ Rona-Tas 1997: 4
44. ↑ Chuvash manual, Unit 3
45. ↑ Павлов 2017: 84
46. ↑ Chuvash manual, Unit 2
47. ↑ Павлов 2017: 62-64
48. ↑ "UNIT TWO". https://en.chuvash.org/e/554e49542054574f20284356204d616e75616c2c204772616d6d617229.
49. ↑ Róna-Tas 1997: 3
50. ↑ "UNIT FIVE". https://en.chuvash.org/e/554e4954204649564520284356204d616e75616c2c204772616d6d617229.
51. ↑ Chuvash Manual, Unit 6
52. ↑ Павлов 2017: 142-145
53. ↑ Павлов 2017: 126-127
54. ↑ Павлов 2017: 128-129
55. ↑ Павлов 2017: 150-151
56. ↑ Павлов 2017: 130
57. ↑ Павлов 2017: 146-150
58. ↑ Павлов 2017: 110-117
59. ↑ 59.0 59.1 Павлов (2017: 251)
60. ↑ Павлов (2017: 229), Rona-Tas (1997: 5)
61. ↑ 61.0 61.1 61.2 61.3 61.4 61.5 Róna-Tas (1997: 5)
62. ↑ Róna-Tas (1997: 5); Павлов (2017: 269) about the present tense
63. ↑ Павлов (2017: 255)
64. ↑ Павлов 2017: passim, e.g. p. 296
65. ↑ Павлов (2017: 295-296)
66. ↑ Павлов (2017: 275)
67. ↑ Павлов (2017: 300)
68. ↑ Павлов (2017: 207)
69. ↑ Павлов (2017: 208-209)
70. ↑ Павлов (2017: 211-212)
71. ↑ Павлов (2017: 250)
72. ↑ Павлов 2017: 261-307
73. ↑ Róna-Tas 1997: 5
74. ↑ Павлов 2017: 352
75. ↑ Павлов 2017: 386
76. ↑ Chuvash manual, Unit 13
77. ↑ Павлов 2017: 164-165
78. ↑ Chuvash manual, Unit 16
79. ↑ Павлов 2017: 142-144
80. ↑ Сатур, Улатимĕр. 2011. Çăлтăр çӳлти тӳпере / Звезда на небе. Шупашкар (a book on Chuvash myths, legends and customs)

General

* Agyagási, Klára. Chuvash Historical Phonetics: An Areal Linguistic Study. With an Appendix on the Role of Proto-Mari in the History of Chuvash Vocalism. 1st ed. Harrassowitz Verlag, 2019. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctvh4zh9k.
* Čaušević, Ekrem (2002). "Tschuwaschisch. in: M. Okuka (ed.)". Lexikon der Sprachen des Europäischen Ostens (Klagenfurt: Wieser) Enzyklopädie des europäischen Ostens 10: 811–815. http://www.uni-klu.ac.at/eeo/Tschuwaschisch.pdf. Retrieved 31 August 2010.
* Dobrovolsky, Michael (1999). "The phonetics of Chuvash stress: implications for phonology". Proceedings of the XIV International Congress of Phonetic Sciences, 539–542. Berkeley: University of California.
* Johanson, Lars & Éva Agnes Csató, ed. (1998). The Turkic languages. London: Routledge.
* Johanson, Lars (1998). "The history of Turkic". Johanson & Csató. Encyclopædia Britannica Online CD 98. pp. 81–125. http://www.turkiclanguages.com/www/classification.html.
* Lars Johanson (1998). "Turkic languages". https://www.britannica.com/eb/article-80003/Turkic-languages.
* Lars Johanson (2000). "Linguistic convergence in the Volga area". Gilbers, Dicky & Nerbonne, John & Jos Schaeken (ed.). Languages in contact Amsterdam & Atlanta: Rodopi.. pp. 165–178 (Studies in Slavic and General linguistics 28.). http://www3.germanistik.uni-halle.de/antos/dgfs98/abstracts/johanson.htm.
* Johanson, Lars (2007). Chuvash. Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics. Oxford: Elsevier.
* Krueger, John (1961). Chuvash Manual. Indiana University Publications. https://archive.org/details/rosettaproject_chv_ortho-1.
* Paasonen, Heikki (1949). Gebräuche und Volksdichtung der Tschuwassen. edited by E. Karabka and M. Räsänen (Mémoires de la Société Finno-ougrinenne XCIV), Helsinki.
* Павлов, И. П. (2017). Современный чувашский язык. Чебоксары.
* Петров, Н. П (2001). "Чувашская письменность новая". Краткая чувашская энциклопедия. – Чебоксары. pp. С. 475–476. http://www.lib.cap.ru/date_apr_05_2.asp.
* Róna-Tas, András (2007). "Nutshell Chuvash" (PDF). Erasmus Mundus Intensive Program Turkic languages and cultures in Europe (TLCE). Archived from the original (PDF) on 7 August 2011.
* Алос-и-Фонт, Эктор (2015). Преподавание чувашского языка и проблема языкового поведения родителей. Чувашский государственный институт гуманитарных наук.

## Further reading

* Krueger, John R. "Remarks on the Chuvash Language: Past, Present and Future". In: Sociolinguistic Perspectives on Soviet National Languages: Their Past, Present and Future. Edited by Isabelle T. Kreindler. Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter Mouton, 1985. pp. 265–274. doi:10.1515/9783110864380-013
* Zheltov, Pavel V. (2006). "Comparative Analysis of Some Tatar and Chuvash Affixes". Turcica 38: 325–331. doi:10.2143/TURC.38.0.2021278.

## External links

### Resources

|  чӑвашла edition of Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

|

* Chuvash–Russian On-Line Dictionary
* Chuvash English On-Line Dictionary
* Chuvash People's Website (in English), also available in Chuvash, Esperanto and Russian (contains Chuvash literature)
* Nutshell Chuvash, by András Róna-Tas
* Chuvash people and language by Éva Kincses Nagy, Istanbul Erasmus IP 1- 13. 2. 2007
* Chuvash manual online
* The Chuvash-Russian bilingual corpus
* Translations of works by Alexander Pushkin into Chuvash
* Chuvash literature blog

### News and opinion articles

* Скоро чувашский язык останется "какой-то культурной традицией"
* Виталий Станьял: На чувашском конь еще не валялся...
* Виталий Станьял: Решение Совета Аксакалов ЧНК
* Прощай, исчезающий чувашский язык?
* Чӑваш чӗлхине Страсбургра хӳтӗлӗҫ
* Тутарстанра чӗлхе пирки сӑмахларӗҫ
* Владимир Болгарский. Об угрозе развала страны в будущем, о съезде ЧНК, и об обращении к президенту
* Why don't Chuvash people speak Chuvash?
* "As it is in the Chuvash Republic the Chuvash are not needed?!"

* v
* t
* e

Turkic languages

Proto-language|

* Proto-Turkic

Common Turkic|

| Arghu|

* Khalaj

|

Karluk|

* Äynu1
* Ili Turki
* Uyghur
* Uzbek
* Extinct
* Middle Turkic
* Khorezmian
* Chagatai

Kipchak|

| Ponto-Caspian|

* Crimean Tatar
* Karachay-Balkar
* Karaim
* Krymchak
* Kumyk
* Urum
* Extinct
* Kipchak
* Cuman

|

Aralo-Caspian|

* Siberian Tatar
* Karakalpak
* Kazakh
* Kyrgyz
* Nogai
* Extinct
* Fergana Kipchak

Uralo-Caspian|

* Bashkir
* Tatar
* Extinct
* Old Tatar

Oghuz|

* Azerbaijani
* Gagauz
* Khorasani Turkic
* Qashqai
* Rumelian Turkish
* Salar
* Turkish
* Turkmen
* Extinct
* Pecheneg2
* Old Anatolian Turkish
* Ottoman Turkish

Siberian|

* Altai
* Chulym
* Dolgan
* Khakas
* Shor
* Tofa
* Tuvan
* Yakut
* Western Yugur2
* Extinct
* Orkhon Turkic
* Old Turkic
* Old Uyghur
* Fuyu Girgis
* Dukhan

Oghur|

* Chuvash
* Extinct
* Khazar2
* Bulgar

* 1 Mixed language.
* 2 Classification disputed.

* v
* t
* e

Languages of Russia

Federal language|

* Russian

State languages of federal subjects|

* Abaza
* Adyghe
* Aghul
* Altai
* Southern Altai
* Avar
* Azerbaijani
* Bashkir
* Buryat
* Chechen
* Chuvash
* Crimean Tatar
* Dargwa
* Erzya
* Ingush
* Kabardian
* Kalmyk
* Karachay-Balkar
* Khakas
* Komi
* Kumyk
* Lak
* Lezgian
* Mari
* Hill
* Meadow
* Moksha
* Nogai
* Ossetian
* Rutul
* Sakha
* Tabasaran
* Tat
* Tatar
* Tsakhur
* Tuvan
* Ukrainian
* Udmurt

Languages with official status|

* Chukchi
* Dolgan
* Even
* Evenki
* Finnish
* Karelian
* Kazakh
* Khanty
* Komi-Permyak
* Mansi
* Nenets
* Selkup
* Veps
* Yukaghir

Scripts|

* Cyrillic
* Cyrillic Braille

0.00

(0 votes)

Original source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chuvash language. Read more

|

Retrieved from "https://handwiki.org/wiki/index.php?title=Social:Chuvash_language&oldid=3309333"
*[v]: View this template
*[t]: Discuss this template
*[e]: Edit this template