Mari, or Cheremis, is a language of the Finno-Ugric family. It has more than half a million speakers.
Mari is an official language (together with Russian) of the Mari El republic of the Russian Federation, with speakers also in the Tatarstan, Udmurtia, and Perm regions. It is a literary language, using the Cyrillic alphabet.
There are two Mari languages: Hill Mari (in the minority) and Meadow Mari. Some Mari also speak Tatar.
Russian and Tatar have strongly influenced Mari, especially Meadow Mari.
