Erzya language

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July 23, 2026

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The Erzya language is a member of the Finno-Ugric group of the Uralic language family. It is spoken in Mordvinia and surrounding areas, and it is one of the three largest Uralic languages by speaker count, after Hungarian and Finnish. Erzya is one of the two major dialects of the Mordvin language, the other being Moksha. Both dialects are written and have official status. The speakers of Erzya and Moksha sometimes identify as separate ethnic groups, and they do not have a common name for their language; "Mordvin" is an exonym, a name used by outsiders. Erzya is most closely related to the Mari language, and together they form the Volga-Finnic subgroup of the Finnic languages within Finno-Ugric.1

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Mordvin language
It has two major dialects: Erzya, spoken in the eastern portion of Mordvinia and the surrounding territory, and Moksha, spoken in the west. Both dialects are currently written and have official status, and their speakers have been known to identify themselves as separate ethnic groups. Indeed, they lack a common…
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It has two major dialects: Erzya, spoken in the eastern portion of Mordvinia and the surrounding territory, and Moksha, spoken in the west. Both dialects are currently written and have official status, and their speakers have been known to identify themselves as separate ethnic groups. Indeed, they lack a common…
Read More