Komi-Zyrian, (Коми Кыв - Komi Kyv) or simply Zyrian or Zyryan, is a Finno-Ugric language of the Permic branch spoken by the Komi-Zyrians' ethnic group in Komi Republic and some other parts of Russia. It is disputed whether Zyrian is a separate language or a dialect of Komi, because of its affinity to Komi-Permyak language. In 1994, Komi-Zyrian had about 285,000 speakers.

It was written in the form of Old Permic language for liturgical purposes as early as the 14th century in the Old Permic alphabet, or Abur. Said alphabet was replaced by the Cyrillic alphabet in 17th century. A tradition of secular works of literature in the modern form of the language dates back to the 19th century.

Komi-Zyrian has ten different dialects: Prisyktyvkarsky, Nizhnevychegodsky, Srednevychegodsky, Luzsko-letsky, Verkhnesysolsky, Verkhnevychegodsky, Pechorsky, Izhemsky, Vymsky and Udorsky. Prisyktyvkarsky is spoken in the region of Syktyvkar and forms the model for the generic standard dialect of the language. Dialects are divided based primarily on their use of the v and l phonemes, and some dialects are further distinguished based on palatalized d's and t's.

Cyrillic Alphabet: А/а, Б/б, В/в, Г/г, Д/д, Е/е, Ё/ё, Ж/ж, З/з, И/и, І/і, Й/й, К/к, Л/л, М/м, Н/н, О/о, Ӧ/ӧ, П/п, Р/р, С/с, Т/т, У/у, Ф/ф, Х/х, Ц/ц, Ч/ч, Ш/ш, Щ/щ, Ъ/ъ, Ы/ы, Ь/ь, Э/э, Ю/ю, Я/я

External link

• Komi