# Moksha language

Moksha (мокшень кяль, mokšəń käĺ, pronounced) is a Mordvinic language of the Uralic family, spoken by Mokshas, with around 130,000 native speakers in 2010. Moksha is the majority language in the western part of Mordovia. Its closest relative is the Erzya language, with which it is not mutually intelligible. Moksha is also possibly closely related to the extinct Meshcherian and Muromian languages.

## History
### Cherapkin's Inscription

There is very little historical evidence of the use of Moksha from the distant past. One notable exception are inscriptions on so-called mordovka silver coins issued under Golden Horde rulers around the 14th century. The evidence of usage of the language (written with the Cyrillic script) comes from the 16th century.
МОЛИ
moli
Моли
АНСИ
ansi
аньцек
ОКАНП
okan
окань
ЄЛКИ
pelki
пяли
(Inscription, Old Moksha)
(Transcription)
(Interpretation, Moksha)
МОЛИ АНСИ ОКАНП ЄЛКИ
moli ansi okan pelki
Моли аньцек окань пяли
Goes only for half gold

### Indo-Iranian Influence

Indo-Iranian forms :
| D–V ||||
| Indo-Iranian form | Declining stem | Meaning | Moksha derivatives |
| داس | Persian: dâs | "sickle" | тарваз /'tɑrvɑs/ "sickle" |
| 𐬠𐬀𐬖𐬀 | Avestan: baγa | "God" | паваз /'pɑvɑs/ "God" |
| ऊधर् | Sanskrit: ū́dhar | "udder" | одар /'odɑr/ "udder" |
| वज्र | Sanskrit: vajra | "God's weapon" | узерь /'uzʲərʲ/ "axe" |

## Dialects

The Moksha language is divided into three dialects:
* Central group (M-I)
* Western group (M-II)
* South-Eastern group (M-III)
The dialects may be divided with another principle depending on their vowel system:
* ä-dialect: Proto-Moksha *ä /æ/ is retained: śeĺmä /sʲelʲmæ/ "eye", t́äĺmä /tʲælʲmæ/ "broom", ĺäj /lʲæj/ "river".
* e-dialect: Proto-Moksha *ä is raised and merged with *e: śeĺme /sʲelʲme/ "eye", t́eĺme /tʲelʲme/ "broom", ĺej /lʲej/ "river".
* i-dialect: Proto-Moksha *ä is raised to /e/, while Proto-Moksha *e is raised to /i/ and merged with *i: śiĺme /sʲilʲme/ "eye", t́eĺme /tʲelʲme/ "broom", ĺej /lʲej/ "river".
The standard literary Moksha language is based on the central group with ä (particularly the dialect of Krasnoslobodsk).

## Sociolinguistics
### Official status

Moksha is one of the three official languages in Mordovia (the others being Erzya and Russian). The right to one's own language is guaranteed by the Constitution of the Mordovia Republic. The republican law of Mordovia N 19-3 issued in 1998 declares Moksha one of its state languages and regulates its usage in various spheres: in state bodies such as Mordovian Parliament, official documents and seals, education, mass-media, information about goods, geographical names, road signs. However, the actual usage of Moksha and Erzya is rather limited.

### Revitalisation efforts in Mordovia

Policies regarding the revival of the Moksha and Erzya languages in Mordovia started in the late 1990s, when the Language, and Education Laws were accepted. From the early 2000s on, the policy goal has been to create a unified Mordvin standard language despite differences between Erzya and Moksha.
However, there have been no executive programmes for the implementation of the Language Law. Only about a third of Mordvin students had access to Mordvin language learning, the rest of whom are educated through Russian. Moksha has been used as the medium of instruction in some rural schools, but the number of students attending those schools is in rapid decline. In 2004, Mordovian authorities attempted to introduce compulsory study of the Mordvin/Moksha as one of the Republic's official languages, but this attempt failed in the aftermath of the 2007 education reform in Russia.

## Phonology
### Vowels

There are eight vowels with limited allophony and reduction of unstressed vowels. Moksha has lost the original Uralic system of vowel harmony but maintains consonant-vowel harmony (palatalized consonants go with front vowels, non-palatalized with non-front).
| | Front | Central | Back |
| Close | i ⟨и⟩ | ɨ ⟨ы⟩ | u ⟨у, ю⟩ |
| Mid | e ⟨е, э⟩ | ə ⟨а, о, е⟩ | o ⟨о⟩ |
| Open | æ ⟨я, э, е⟩ | | ɑ ⟨а⟩ |
There are some restrictions for the occurrence of vowels within a word:
* [ɨ] is an allophone of the phoneme /i/ after phonemically non-palatalized ("hard") consonants.
* /e/ does not occur after non-palatalized consonants, only after their palatalized ("soft") counterparts.
* /a/ and /æ/ do not fully contrast after phonemically palatalized or non-palatalized consonants.
** Similar to /e/, /æ/ does not occur after non-palatalized consonants either, only after their palatalized counterparts.
** After palatalized consonants, /æ/ occurs at the end of words, and when followed by another palatalized consonant.
** /a/ after palatalized consonants occurs only before non-palatalized consonants, i.e. in the environment /CʲaC/.
* The mid vowels' occurrence varies by the position within the word:
** In native words, /e, o/ are rare in the second syllable, but common in borrowings from e.g. Russian.
** /e, o/ are never found in the third and following syllables, where only /ə/ occurs.
** /e/ at the end of words is only found in one-syllable words (e.g. ве /ve/ "night", пе /pe/ "end"). In longer words, word-final ⟨е⟩ always stands for /æ/ (e.g. веле /velʲæ/ "village", пильге /pilʲɡæ/ "foot, leg").
Unstressed /ɑ/ and /æ/ are slightly reduced and shortened [ɑ̆] and [æ̆] respectively.

### Consonants

There are 33 consonants in Moksha.
| | Labial | Labial | Dental | Dental | Dental | Dental | Post- alveolar | Post- alveolar | Palatal | Palatal | Velar | Velar |
| | Labial | Labial | plain | plain | palat. | palat. | | Post- alveolar | Post- alveolar | Palatal | Palatal | Velar | Velar |
| Nasal | | m ⟨м⟩ | | n ⟨н⟩ | | nʲ ⟨нь⟩ | | | | | | |
| Stop | p ⟨п⟩ | b ⟨б⟩ | t ⟨т⟩ | d ⟨д⟩ | tʲ ⟨ть⟩ | dʲ ⟨дь⟩ | | | | | k ⟨к⟩ | ɡ ⟨г⟩ |
| Affricate | | | ts ⟨ц⟩ | | tsʲ ⟨ць⟩ | | tɕ ⟨ч⟩ | | | | | |
| Fricative | f ⟨ф⟩ | v ⟨в⟩ | s ⟨с⟩ | z ⟨з⟩ | sʲ ⟨сь⟩ | zʲ ⟨зь⟩ | ʂ~ʃ ⟨ш⟩ | ʐ~ʒ ⟨ж⟩ | ç ⟨йх⟩ | | x ⟨х⟩ | |
| Approximant | | | l̥ ⟨лх⟩ | l ⟨л⟩ | l̥ʲ ⟨льх⟩ | lʲ ⟨ль⟩ | | | | j ⟨й⟩ | | |
| Trill | | | r̥ ⟨рх⟩ | r ⟨р⟩ | r̥ʲ ⟨рьх⟩ | rʲ ⟨рь⟩ | | | | | | |
/ç/ is realized as a sibilant [ɕ] before the plural suffix /-t⁽ʲ⁾/ in south-east dialects.
Palatalization, characteristic of Uralic languages, is contrastive only for dental consonants, which can be either "soft" or " hard". In Moksha Cyrillic alphabet the palatalization is designated like in Russian: either by a "soft sign" ⟨ь⟩ after a "soft" consonant or by writing "soft" vowels ⟨е, ё, и, ю, я⟩ after a "soft" consonant. In scientific transliteration the acute accent or apostrophe are used.
All other consonants have palatalized allophones before the front vowels /æ, i, e/ as well. The alveolo-palatal affricate /tɕ/ lacks non-palatalized counterpart, while postalveolar fricatives /ʂ~ʃ, ʐ~ʒ/ lack palatalized counterparts.

#### Devoicing

Unusually for a Uralic language, there is also a series of voiceless liquid consonants: /l̥ , l̥ʲ, r̥ , r̥ʲ/ ⟨ʀ, ʀ́, ʟ, ʟ́⟩. These have arisen from Proto-Mordvinic consonant clusters of a sonorant followed by a voiceless stop or affricate: *p, *t, *tʲ, *ts⁽ʲ⁾, *k.
Before certain inflectional and derivational endings, devoicing continues to exist as a phonological process in Moksha. This affects all other voiced consonants as well, including the nasal consonants and semivowels. No voiceless nasals are however found in Moksha: the devoicing of nasals produces voiceless oral stops. Altogether the following devoicing processes apply:
| Plain | b | m | d | n | dʲ | nʲ | ɡ | l | lʲ | r | rʲ | v | z | zʲ | ʒ | j |
| Devoiced | p | p | t | t | tʲ | tʲ | k | l̥ | l̥ʲ | r̥ | r̥ʲ | f | s | sʲ | ʃ | ç |
For example, before the nominative plural /-t⁽ʲ⁾/:
* кал /kal/ "fish" – калхт /kal̥t/ "fish"
* лем /lʲem/ "name" – лепть /lʲeptʲ/ "names"
* марь /marʲ/ "apple" – марьхть /mar̥ʲtʲ/ "apples"
Devoicing is, however, morphological rather than phonological, due to the loss of earlier voiceless stops from some consonant clusters, and due to the creation of new consonant clusters of voiced liquid + voiceless stop. Compare the following oppositions:
* калне /kalnʲæ/ "little fish" – калхне /kal̥nʲæ/ (< *kal-tʲ-nʲæ) "these fish"
* марьне /marʲnʲæ/ "my apples" – марьхне /mar̥ʲnʲæ/ ( < *marʲ-tʲ-nʲæ) "these apples"
* кундайне /kunˈdajnʲæ/ "I caught it" – кундайхне /kunˈdaçnʲæ/ ( < *kunˈdaj-tʲ-nʲæ) "these catchers"

### Stress

Non-high vowels are inherently longer than high vowels /i, u, ə/ and tend to draw the stress. If a high vowel appears in the first syllable which follow the syllable with non-high vowels (especially /a/ and /æ/), then the stress moves to that second or third syllable. If all the vowels of a word are either non-high or high, then the stress falls on the first syllable.
Stressed vowels are longer than unstressed ones in the same position like in Russian. Unstressed vowels undergo some degree of vowel reduction.

## Writing systems

Moksha has been written using Cyrillic with spelling rules identical to those of Russian since the 18th century. As a consequence of that, the vowels /e, ɛ, ə/ are not differentiated in a straightforward way. However, they can be (more or less) predicted from Moksha phonotactics. The 1993 spelling reform defines that /ə/ in the first (either stressed or unstressed) syllable must be written with the "hard" sign ⟨ъ⟩ (e.g. мъ́рдсемс mə́rdśəms "to return", formerly мрдсемс). The version of the Moksha Cyrillic alphabet used in 1924-1927 had several extra letters, either digraphs or single letters with diacritics. Although the use of the Latin script for Moksha was officially approved by the CIK VCKNA (General Executive Committee of the All Union New Alphabet Central Committee) on June 25, 1932, it was never implemented.
From letters to sounds :
| CyrTooltip Cyrillic alphabet | Аа | Бб | Вв | Гг | Дд | Ее | Ее | Ее | Ее | Ёё | Ёё | Жж | Зз | Ии | Йй | Кк | Лл | Мм | Нн | Оо | Оо |
| IPATooltip International Phonetic Alphabet | a | b | v | ɡ | d | ʲe, | je, | ʲɛ, | ʲə | ʲo, | jo | ʒ | z | i | j | k | l | m | n | o, | ə |
| ScTr | a | b | v | g | d | ˊe, | je, | ˊä, | ˊə | ˊo, | jo | ž | z | i | j | k | l | m | n | o, | ə |
| CyrTooltip Cyrillic alphabet | Пп | Рр | Сс | Тт | Уу | Фф | Хх | Цц | Чч | Шш | Щщ | Ъъ | Ыы | Ьь | Ээ | Ээ | Юю | Юю | Яя | Яя | Яя |
| IPATooltip International Phonetic Alphabet | p | r | s | t | u | f | x | ts | tɕ | ʃ | ɕtɕ | ə | ɨ | ʲ | e, | ɛ | ʲu, | ju | ʲa, | æ, | ja |
| ScTr | p | r | s | t | u | f | χ | c | č | š | šč | ə | i͔ | ˊ | e, | ä | ˊu, | ju | ˊa, | ˊä, | ja |
From sounds to letters :
| IPATooltip International Phonetic Alphabet | a | ʲa | ja | ɛ | ʲɛ | ʲɛ | b | v | ɡ | d | dʲ | e | ʲe | je | ʲə | ʲo | jo | ʒ | z | zʲ | i | ɨ | j | k | l | lʲ | l̥ | l̥ʲ |
| CyrTooltip Cyrillic alphabet | а | я | я | э | я, | е | б | в | г | д | дь | э | е | е | е | ё | ё | ж | з | зь | и | ы | й | к | л | ль | лх | льх |
| ScTr | a | ˊa | ja | ä | ˊä | ˊä | b | v | g | d | d́ | e | ˊe | je | ˊə | ˊo | jo | ž | z | ź | i | i͔ | j | k | l | ľ | ʟ | ʟ́ |
| IPATooltip International Phonetic Alphabet | m | n | o | p | r | rʲ | r̥ | r̥ʲ | s | sʲ | t | tʲ | u | ʲu | ju | f | x | ts | tsʲ | tɕ | ʃ | ɕtɕ | ə | ə | ə | ə |
| CyrTooltip Cyrillic alphabet | м | н | о | п | р | рь | рх | рьх | с | сь | т | ть | у | ю | ю | ф | х | ц | ць | ч | ш | щ | о, | ъ,* | a,* | и* |
| ScTr | m | n | o | p | r | ŕ | ʀ | ʀ́ | s | ś | t | t́ | u | ˊu | ju | f | χ | c | ć | č | š | šč | ə | ə | ə | ə |

## Grammar
### Morphosyntax

Like other Uralic languages, Moksha is an agglutinating language with elaborate systems of case-marking and conjugation, postpositions, no grammatical gender, and no articles.

#### Case

Moksha has 13 productive cases, many of which are primarily locative cases. Locative cases in Moksha express ideas that Indo-European languages such as English normally code by prepositions (in, at, towards, on, etc.).
However, also similarly to Indo-European prepositions, many of the uses of locative cases convey ideas other than simple motion or location. These include such expressions of time (e.g. on the table/Monday, in Europe/a few hours, by the river/the end of the summer, etc. ), purpose (to China/keep things simple), or beneficiary relations. Some of the functions of Moksha cases are listed below:
* Nominative, used for subjects, predicatives and for other grammatical functions.
* Genitive, used to code possession.
* Allative, used to express the motion onto a point.
* Elative, used to code motion out of a place.
* Inessive, used to code a stationary state, in a place.
* Ablative, used to code motion away from a point or a point of origin.
* Illative, used to code motion into a place.
* Translative, used to express a change into a state.
* Prolative, used to express the idea of "by way" or "via" an action or instrument.
* Lative, used to code motion towards a place.
There is controversy about the status of the three remaining cases in Moksha. Some researchers see the following three cases as borderline derivational affixes.
* Comparative, used to express a likeness to something.
* Caritive (or abessive), used to code the absence of something.
* Causal, used to express that an entity is the cause of something else.
| Case function | Case Name | Suffix | Vowel stem | Vowel stem | Plain consonant stem | Plain consonant stem | Palatalized consonant stem | Palatalized consonant stem |
| Case function | Case Name | Suffix | [ˈmodɑ] | land | [kut] | house | [velʲ] | town |
| Grammatical | Nominative | -Ø | [ˈmodɑ] | a land | [kud] | a house | [ˈvelʲæ] | a town |
| Grammatical | Genitive | [nʲ] | [ˈmodɑnʲ] | of a land, a land's | [ˈkudʲənʲ] | of a house, a house's | [ˈvelʲənʲ] | of a town, a town's |
| Locative | Allative | [nʲdʲi] | [ˈmodɑnʲdʲi] | onto a land | [ˈkudənʲdʲi] | onto a house | [ˈvelʲənʲdʲi] | onto a town |
| Locative | Elative | [stɑ] | [ˈmodɑstɑ] | out of a land | [kutˈstɑ] | out of a house | [ˈvelʲəstɑ] | out of a town |
| Locative | Inessive | [sɑ] | [ˈmodɑsɑ] | in a land | [kutˈsɑ] | in a house | [ˈvelʲəsɑ] | in a town |
| Locative | Ablative | [dɑ, tɑ] | [ˈmodɑdɑ] | from a land | [kutˈtɑ] | from the house | [ˈvelʲədɑ] | from the town |
| Locative | Illative | [s] | [ˈmodɑs] | into a land | [kuts] | into a house | [ˈvelʲəs] | into a town |
| Locative | Prolative | [vɑ, ɡɑ] | [ˈmodɑvɑ] | through/alongside a land | [kudˈɡɑ] | through/alongside a house | [ˈvelʲəvɑ] | through/alongside a town |
| Locative | Lative | [v, u, i] | [ˈmodɑv] | towards a land | [ˈkudu] | towards a house | [ˈvelʲi] | towards a town |
| Other | Translative | [ks] | [ˈmodɑks] | becoming/as a land | [ˈkudəks] | becoming/as a house | [ˈvelʲəks] | becoming a town, as a town |
| Other | Comparative | [ʃkɑ] | [ˈmodɑʃkɑ] | size of a land, land size | [kudəʃˈkɑ] | size of a house, house size | [ˈvelʲəʃkɑ] | size of a town, town size |
| Other | Caritive | [ftəmɑ] | [ˈmodɑftəmɑ] | without a land, landless | [kutftəˈmɑ] | without a house, houseless | [ˈvelʲəftəma] | without a town, townless |
| Other | Causal | [ŋksɑ] | [ˈmodɑŋksɑ] | because of a land | [kudəŋkˈsɑ] | because of a house | [ˈvelʲəŋksɑ] | because of a town |

##### Relationships between locative cases

As in other Uralic languages, locative cases in Moksha can be classified according to three criteria: the spatial position (interior, surface, or exterior), the motion status (stationary or moving), and within the latter, the direction of the movement (approaching or departing). The table below shows these relationships schematically:
Schematic Summary of Locative Cases :
| Spatial Position | Motion Status | Motion Status | Motion Status |
| Spatial Position | Stationary | Moving | Moving |
| Spatial Position | Stationary | Approaching | Departing |
| Interior | inessive (in) [-sɑ] | illative (into) [-s] | elative (out of) [stɑ] |
| Surface | N/A | allative (onto) [nʲdʲi] | ablative (from) [dɑ, tɑ] |
| Exterior | prolative (by) [vɑ, gɑ] | lative (towards) [v, u, i] | N/A |

#### Pronouns

Personal pronouns :
| Case | Singular | Singular | Singular | Plural | Plural | Plural |
| Case | First | Second | Third | First | Second | Third |
| nominative | [mon] | [ton] | [son] | [minʲ] | [tʲinʲ] | [sʲinʲ] |
| genitive | [monʲ] | [tonʲ] | [sonʲ] | [minʲ] | [tʲinʲ] | [sʲinʲ] |
| allative | [monʲdʲəjnʲæ, tʲejnæ] | [ˈtonʲdʲəjtʲ, tʲəjtʲ] | [ˈsonʲdʲəjzɑ, ˈtʲejnzɑ] | [minʲdʲəjnʲek] | [tinʲdʲəjnʲtʲ] | [sʲinʲdʲəst] |
| ablative | [ˈmonʲdʲədən] | [ˈtonʲdʲədət] | [ˈsonʲdʲədənzɑ] | [minʲdʲənk] | [minʲdʲədent] | [sʲinʲdʲədəst] |

## Common expressions

| Moksha | Romanization | English |
| Да | Da | Yes |
| Пара | Pára | Good |
| Стане | Stáne | Right |
| Аф | Af | Not |
| Аш | Aš | No |
| Шумбра́т! | Šumbrát! | Hello! (addressing one person) |
| Шумбра́тада! | Šumbrátada! | Hello! (addressing more than one person) |
| Сюкпря! | Sjuk prjá! | Thanks! (lit.: Bow) |
| Ульхть шумбра́! | Ulht šumbrá! | Bless you! |
| У́леда шумбра́т! | Úleda šumbrát! | Bless you (to many)! |
| Ванфтт пря́цень! | Vanft prjátsen | Take care! |
| Ванфтк пря́цень! | Vanftk prjátsen! | Be careful! |
| Ко́да э́рят? | Kóda érjat? | How do you do? |
| Ко́да те́фне? | Kóda téfne? | How are your things getting on? |
| Лац! | Lac! | Fine! |
| Це́бярьста! | Cébjarsta! | Great! |
| Ня́емозонк! | Njájemozonk! | Good bye! (lit.: See you later) |
| Ва́ндыс! | Vándis! | See you tomorrow! |
| Шумбра́ста па́чкодемс! | Šumbrásta páčkodems! | Have a good trip/flight! |
| Па́ра а́зан - ле́здоманкса! - се́мбонкса! | Pára ázan - lézdomanksa! - sémbonksa! | Thank you - for help/assistance! - for everything! |
| Аш ме́зенкса! | Aš mézenksa! | Not at all! |
| Про́стямак! | Prо́stjamak! | I'm sorry! |
| Про́стямасть! | Prо́stjamast! | I'm sorry (to many)! |
| Тят кяжия́кшне! | Tját kjažijákšne! | I didn't mean to hurt you! |
| Ужя́ль! | Užjál! | It's a pity! |
| Ко́да тонь ле́мце? | Kóda ton lémce? | What is your name? |
| Монь ле́мозе ... | Mon lémoze ... | My name is ... |
| Мъзя́ра тейть ки́зa? | Mzjára téjt kíza? | How old are you? |
| Мъзя́ра те́йнза ки́за? | Mzjára téinza kíza? | How old is he (she)? |
| Те́йне ... ки́зот. | Téjne ... kízot. | I'm ... years old. |
| Те́йнза ... ки́зот. | Téjnza ... kízot. | He (she) is ... years old. |
| Мя́рьгат сува́мс? | Mjárgat suváms? | May I come in? |
| Мя́рьгат о́замс? | Mjárgat о́zams? | May I have a seat? |
| О́зак. | Ózak. | Take a seat. |
| О́зада. | Ózada. | Take a seat (to many). |
| Учт аф ла́мос. | Učt af lámos. | Please wait a little. |
| Мярьк та́ргамс? | Mjárk tárgams? | May I have a smoke? |
| Та́ргак. | Tárgak. | [You may] smoke. |
| Та́ргада. | Tárgada. | [You may] smoke (to many). |
| Аф, э́няльдян, тят та́рга. | Af, énjaldjan, tját tárga. | Please, don't smoke. |
| Ко́рхтак аф ла́мода ся́да ка́йгиста (сяда валомня). | Kórtak af lámoda sjáda kájgista (sjáda valо́mne). | Please speak a bit louder (lower). |
| Азк ни́нге весть. | Azk nínge vest. | Repeat one more time. |
| Га́йфтть те́йне. | Gájft téjne. | Call me. |
| Га́йфтеда те́йне. | Gájfteda téjne. | Call me (to many). |
| Га́йфтть те́йне ся́да ме́ле. | Gájft téjne sjáda méle. | Call me later. |
| Сува́к. | Suvák. | Come in. |
| Сува́да. | Suváda. | Come in (to many). |
| Ётак. | Jо́tak. | Enter. |
| Ётада. | Jо́tada. | Enter (to many). |
| Ша́чема ши́цень ма́рхта! | Šáčema šícen márhta! | Happy Birthday! |
| А́рьсян тейть па́ваз! | Ársjan téjt pávaz! | I wish you happiness! |
| А́рьсян тейть о́цю сатфкст! | Ársjan téjt ótsju satfkst! | I wish you great success! |
| Тонь шумбраши́цень и́нкса! | Ton šumbrašícen ínksa! | Your health! |
| О́чижи ма́рхта | Óčiži márhta! | Happy Easter! |
| Од Ки́за ма́рхта! | Od Kíza márhta! | Happy New Year! |
| Ро́штува ма́рхта! | Róštuva márhta! | Happy Christmas! |
| То́ньге ста́не! | Tónge stáne! | Same to you! |

## Media
### Use in literature

Before 1917 about 100 books and pamphlets mostly of religious character were published. More than 200 manuscripts including at least 50 wordlists were not printed. In the 19th century the Russian Orthodox Missionary Society in Kazan published Moksha primers and elementary textbooks of the Russian language for the Mokshas. Among them were two fascicles with samples of Moksha folk poetry. The great native scholar Makar Evsevyev collected Moksha folk songs published in one volume in 1897. Early in the Soviet period, social and political literature predominated among published works. Printing of Moksha language books was all done in Moscow until the establishment of the Mordvinian national district in 1928. Official conferences in 1928 and 1935 decreed the northwest dialect to be the basis for the literary language.

### Use in education

The first few Moksha schools were established in the 19th century by Russian Christian missionaries. Since 1973, Moksha has been allowed to be used as the language of instruction for the first three grades of elementary school in rural areas, and as an elective subject. Classes in universities in Mordovia are in Russian, but the philological faculties of Mordovian State University and Mordovian State Pedagogical Institute offer a teacher course of Moksha. Mordovian State University also offers a course in Moksha for other humanitarian and some technical specialities. According to annual statistics from the Russian Ministry of Education for 2014-2015, there were 48 Moksha-medium schools (all in rural areas) where 644 students were taught, and 202 schools (152 in rural areas) where Moksha was studied as a subject by 15,783 students (5,412 in rural areas). Since 2010, the study of Moksha in Mordovian schools is not compulsory, but can be chosen only by parents.