The Relationship between Economic Cycles and the Timing of Proto-Language Divergence: A Glottochronological Perspective (Evidence from the Mordvin Languages)

The Relationship between Economic Cycles and the Timing of Proto-Language Divergence: A Glottochronological Perspective (Evidence from the Mordvin Languages)

Dogadushkin D.M. (MGIMO, Moscow, Russia)
Normanskaja Ju.V. (ISP RAS, Moscow, Russia; ILS RAS, Moscow, Russia)

Abstract

This paper examines the relationship between economic cycles and the timing of proto-language divergence using evidence from the Mordvin languages. The study continues a series of investigations testing the hypothesis that periods of severe economic disintegration promote linguistic divergence. As a theoretical framework, we employ S.A. Starostin's glottochronological method, implemented on the LingvoDoc platform. The analysis is based on Swadesh 100-word lists from six Erzya and Moksha dialects collected by the authors during field expeditions. Glottochronological calculations date the breakup of Proto-Mordvin to approximately the 7th century CE. The results are compared with archaeological and historical-economic evidence indicating a sharp decline in long-distance trade, the cessation of Roman imports into the Volga-Kama region, and the onset of a prolonged "coinless period" between the 4th and 8th centuries CE. The analysis demonstrates that the period of linguistic divergence coincides with a severe economic crisis and a decline in the region's economic integration. These findings support the hypothesis previously proposed by the authors on the basis of Chinese and Romance language data, namely that there is a systematic relationship between economic disintegration and proto-language divergence. We conclude that economic crisis should be regarded as one of the important factors that, together with demographic, political, and cultural processes, may have promoted migration, territorial expansion, and the acceleration of linguistic divergence.

Keywords

glottochronology; Proto-Mordvin; Erzya; Moksha; economic history; linguistic divergence; proto-language divergence; LingvoDoc; archaeology; Volga-Kama region.

Edition

Proceedings of the Institute for System Programming, vol. 38, issue 6, part 1, 2026, pp. 193-202

ISSN 2220-6426 (Online), ISSN 2079-8156 (Print).

DOI: 10.15514/ISPRAS-2026-38(6)-12

For citation

Dogadushkin D.M., Normanskaja Ju.V. The Relationship between Economic Cycles and the Timing of Proto-Language Divergence: A Glottochronological Perspective (Evidence from the Mordvin Languages). Proceedings of the Institute for System Programming, vol. 38, issue 6, part 1, 2026, pp. 193-202 DOI: 10.15514/ISPRAS-2026-38(6)-12.

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