Mansi is subdivided into four main
dialect groups which are to a large degree
mutually unintelligible, and therefore best considered four languages. A primary split can be set up between the Southern variety and the remainder. Several features are also shared between the Western and Eastern varieties, while certain later sound changes have diffused between Eastern and Northern (and are also found in some neighboring dialects of
Northern Khanty to the east). Individual dialects are known according to the rivers their speakers live(d) on: •
Mansi • Core Mansi •
Northern Mansi •
Upper Lozva •
Severnaya Sosva •
Sygva •
Ob • Central Mansi •
Eastern Mansi (
Konda) •
Lower Konda •
Middle Konda •
Upper Konda •
Jukonda •
Western Mansi •
Pelym •
North Vagil •
South Vagil •
Lower Lozva •
Middle Lozva •
Vishera • ''Ust'-Uls'' •
Southern Mansi (
Tavda) • Tagil • Tura • Chusovaya All of the sub-dialects given above are those which were still spoken in the late 19th and early 20th century and have been documented in linguistic sources on Mansi, except for certain varieties of Western and Southern Mansi, spoken further west; the
Tagil,
Tura and
Chusovaya dialects of Southern and the
Vishera dialect of Western, found in pre-scientific records from the 18th and early 19th centuries. The two dialects last mentioned were hence spoken on the western slopes of the
Urals, where also several early Russian sources document Mansi settlements.
Placename evidence has been used to suggest Mansi presence reaching still much further west in earlier times, though this has been criticized as poorly substantiated. Northern Mansi has strong
Russian,
Komi,
Nenets, and
Northern Khanty influence, and it forms the base of the literary Mansi language. There is no accusative case; that is, both the nominative and accusative roles are unmarked on the noun. and have been backed to and . Western Mansi was described as "probably
extinct" already in 1988. Although the last speaker is not known, it is considered certain that none were left at the end of the 20th century. It had strong Russian and Komi influences; dialect differences were also considerable. Long vowels were diphthongized. Eastern Mansi became extinct in 2018, when its last speaker Maksim Šivtorov (Максим Семенович Шивторов) died. It has Khanty and
Siberian Tatar influence. There is
vowel harmony, and for it has , frequently diphthongized. Southern (Tavda) Mansi was recorded from area isolated from the other Mansi varieties. Around 1900, a couple hundred speakers existed; in the 1960s, it was spoken only by a few elderly speakers, and it has since then become extinct. It had strong Tatar influence and displayed several archaisms such as
vowel harmony, retention of (elsewhere merged with ), (elsewhere deaffricated to ), (elsewhere fronted to or diphthongized) and (elsewhere raised to ).
Comparison ==Phonology==