Appendix:Moksha declension

At the moment of writing this it is suspected that there doesn't appear to exist an official framework of inflection types for Moksha nominals.

From a practical standpoint in majority of cases at least the six forms of definite declension can be added, as in. There are plans to add a switch to disable ablative and prolative (the most problematic/irregular cases that are somewhat rarely used at the same time and cause the most trouble in attempts to confirm their forms) in the indefinite declension table which would allow adding decl. tables to many nominals with minimal information (knowing the plural and/or genitive would suffice in most cases), minus the abl./prol. fields.

Currently incomplete

Vowel stems
NB: lemmas ending in ka, ke, ga, ge, ta, te, da, de lose their vowel and behave like consonant stems in their paradigm, see below.

Vowel doesn't change
Attested:
 * (attested: indef., def., pos. decl.)
 * (attested: indef., def., indef. copulative (verbal) in sg.)
 * (attested: indef., def., def. copulative (verbal) in sg. and pl.)
 * (attested: pos. decl.)
 * (partially attested: indef.)

Vowel changes
Attested:
 * (full indef. paradigm)

Many forms have been found of:

hard n-stem
Full paradigm of a soft n'-stem has been found, the following paragraph is not relevant anymore, this type is expected to be the same but with hard theme vowel o.

No full paradigm of this type has been found, it has several features that distinguish it from other types, the definite sg. nom. ending is -c' not -s', -n shifts to -t in plural, forms with possessor that have a suffix that starts with an s for other types, in n-stems have c instead –.

, its entry has only the definite declension, however, the dative organti has yet to be confirmed (other def forms are attested), it is very likely to be correct, however, as the (soft) n'-stem definite dative can be attested in many sources. As the soft n'-stem is a very widely used word, perhaps the hard n-stem paradigm can be extrapolated from its attested uses. (It also appears that there may not be native hard n-stem words in Moksha, however, they are likely to be commonly found as borrowings of scientific terminology, etc.)


 * Конат-конат ня сукснень эзда эряйхть свободнайста, но ламоц ня сукснень эзда ладясть лия животнаень потма органца эрямати и эряйхть паразитокс.


 * In Zoologija there is inconsistency in how translative is spelled, sometimes органокс, however, the version without o is more common.

soft n'-stem
A presentational/instructional .doc file found on mordva-tol'jatti.rf (the orig. url is in Cyrillic) contains full paradigm of sevon' (consistent with already found forms of organ above.)


 * севонь
 * севонень
 * севоненди
 * севоньда
 * севоньца
 * севоньцта
 * севоньц
 * севоньге (the original gave севонь-гя, also вирь-гя for "forest", this is not consistent with Poljakov's prolative ending for forest –, it was changed here to be in accordance with P.)
 * севоньшка
 * abessive not given, evidently it would be севоньфтома (no cases are known where abe. would be formed irregularly)
 * севонькс
 * севоненкса

Plural not given, for organ it's orgatt (n - t shift), as this word is a soft-cons. stem, the plural marker is to be expected to be soft – севотть, this is also the widely attested plural of loman' ("person") – lomatt'.

Voiced hard consonant (excluding sonorants) stems
Attested:
 * (att: indef., def. and pos. decl.)
 * (indef. and def. decl.)

Shared characteristics:
 * stem consonant de-voicing is shown orthographically in plural
 * prolative in -ga
 * theme vowel o (but this may not be universal)

d-stems
Differ from others by taking -ta instead of -da in ablative – kudta.

Voiceless hard consonant stems
Attested: All (or almost all) forms have been found of -ks derivations:
 * (att: indef. decl.)
 * , etc.
 * , etc.

Characteristics:
 * ablative in -ta
 * varied theme vowel, can be e as in oš or o as in kasyks, etc.
 * prolative – theme vowel + -va

t-stem
It is not know what would the ablative of this type be, most likely it can be speculated to be -ta, as above, e.g., *parazitta, prolative, most likely, theme vowel (in this case o) + -va – *parazitova.

Zoologija


 * Маштыксонь паразиць
 * Маштыксонь паразитть мумац
 * Якстерь тельцатнень эса паразиць
 * паразитокс (theme vowel o)

The above perhaps outdated spelling, "of the human" is spelled ломантть, should be ломанть, of the organ is spelled органтть in this book, again in more recent sources – органть, evidently should be, "his/her" possessed forms have a prosthetic vowel in consonant stems, so, "his/her parasite" would be *parazitoc (so, a possessed form can be ruled out too.)


 * паразитсна
 * Паразиттне

soft d'-stem
No full paradigm has been given in literature but almost all forms of have been attested, it's identical to hard d-stem kud, except for taking soft theme vowel e (as would be expected from a soft stem.)

j-stem
Zoologija/Botanika
 * организованнайкс (tra.)
 * животнаень (gen.) – theme vowel e orthographically "merges" with j
 * животнайхть (nom. pl.) – soft -t' in plural
 * Тяфтама низшай животнайда башка (..) (abl.)
 * Ракань кодяма (трилобиттне) первобытнай животнайхне масторса ся пингть ульсть животнайнь миронь высшай представителькс. – irregular gen. (missing theme vowel)
 * животнайде a typo?
 * Тевса жа лама и лия животнайда, конат эряйхть аф салу ведьга, морява, океанга и конатненди мярьгихть сукст. – abl. again in -da
 * Ламоц минь калоньке пря тряйхть ведень аф оцю животнайса (раканяса, насекомаень личинкаса и лияса) или ведень касыксса.
 * Кепетьксонди начка вастова лятьф и вирь крайга сидеста васьфневи валеринась (109-це тяш.) (..) – prolative in -ga

Лютикть нетьксканзон и сонь боконь таратканзон пева ащихть тю же панчфт.

r-stem/hard liquid stem
In http://www.ut.ee/Ural/ariste/loputood/Ventchakova.pdf Ventchakova gives the full indefinite paradigm of, unusual is the definite dative form масторти in indef. dat., however, at least one usage of the expected масторонди can be found: a 1930 book about building cowsheds (or something similar).


 * Масторонди — сембода цебярь ули 2 сантиметрань серь асфальць или бетонць. For ground(?) – the best is 2 centimeters (thick?) asphalt or concrete.

Characteristics:
 * theme vowel o
 * ablativa -da
 * prolative -ga
 * voicless -r before -t in pl. (as expected) – масторхт

This same type is to be expected in the other hard liquid – -l

Soft liquid stems
Full paradigm of is attested.

Characteristics:
 * theme vowel e
 * abl. -da
 * pro. -ge
 * voiceless -r' in pl. and pl. ending is soft -t' –

This same type is to be expected in the other soft liquid – -l'.

g,k,d,t + vowel stems (with elision)
In older books assimilation by voicedness in paradigm (e.g., before suffixes that start with s) is shown in orthography. Poljakov in indicates that orthographically this is shown only in plural: пильге "leg" – пилькт "legs", пильгса "in leg (ines.)", пильгста "out of l. (ela.)", пильгс "in l. (ill.)".

Poljakov also notes that this elision/dropping of nom. theme vowel happens in all words ending in -га, -ге, -ка, -ке, -да, -де, -та, -те.

This explains why the plural of is  (Poljakov).

There is one usage example that suggests ablative in -ta (like in ):
 * Колма сядта лама участникта минь страньконь ламоц аймаконзон эзда састь Саранскяи.

Theme vowel appears to be o in sjada:
 * Эрь кизоня кафта сядонь или сяда ламонь гектар (..).

Aside from the vowel ending in sg. nom. sjada appears to be identical to.

Golenkov (page 70) notes that this rule operates only if there is another consonant before the g/k/d/t + vowel sequence, this explains why for example behaves like a regular vowel stem (per Raija Bartens), in this case  is an unusual case.

m-stems
Full indef. sg. and def. sg. and pl. paradigm for is attested. It is pretty regular except for its plural.
 * theme vowel o
 * ablative -da
 * prolative o + -va – -ova
 * regular def. sg.
 * def. plural takes the root sisep- which means its plural is sisept (it is not yet known when or if at all plural forms of cardinal numerals are ever used in indef.)

These plural forms of other words, however, can be easily attested, plurals of antonym, synonym:, can be easily found.

f-stems
The same source as soft n'-stems gives two forms for lazf ("gap, gorge") prolative is unusual (not found in any other type), this appears to be further confirmed by pos. endings with k instead of g – -ganza --&gt; -kanza
 * лазфка – prolative (can be found in a geography book)
 * лазфонкса – causative, theme v. o

Botanika

indef.
 * панчфт – pl.
 * панчфонь – gen., t.v. o
 * панчфса – ines.
 * панчфста-панчфс – ela.-ill.
 * панчфта – ablative ((..) што сонь эсонза ламодонга лама пяк кеместа серьцек кочкаф панчфта.)

def.
 * панчфнень pl. gen.
 * панчфсь sg. nom.
 * панчфть sg. gen.
 * панчфне pl. nom.
 * панчфти sg. dat.
 * панчфненьди pl. dat.

pos.
 * панчфоц
 * панчфстонза
 * панчфонза
 * панчфснон
 * панчфсонза
 * панчфснонды
 * панчфкац ??? (maybe the "too" suffix – "flower too"?)
 * панчфкат ???
 * панчфсост
 * панчфонзон
 * панчфкасна ???
 * панчфсна
 * панчфканза ~ кузганза ??? – it appears the prolative "g" is devoiced in pos. paradigm too.
 * панчфканзон ??? (no such pos. prol. ending?)

v-stems
Poljakov indicates the -v as shifting to f before plural marker
 * ке/в, -фт камень – rock, -s rock [in Russian]

Theme vowel needs to be found out and abl. and prol. endings.