The current stage of research rejects Volga-Finnic, while the validity of Finno-Samic and Finno-Permic remains disputed.

[4] In particular, the position of Mari within the alleged grouping appears to be marginal, while more evidence can be found uniting specifically Finnic, Samic, and Mordvinic.

[5] Only a single uniting phonological feature of the Finno-Volgaic languages has been proposed: the loss of the consonant *w before rounded vowels.

Lexical evidence for a Finno-Volgaic group is weak as well.

Less than ten word roots are known that would be shared by all four member groups, while being absent from the other Uralic languages.