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| Livonian Līvõ kēļ |
||
|---|---|---|
| Spoken in: | Latvia | |
| Region: | Livonia | |
| Total speakers: | Less than 150 | |
| Language family: | Uralic Finno-Ugric Finno-Lappic Baltic-Finnic Livonian |
|
| Language codes | ||
| ISO 639-1: | none | |
| ISO 639-2: | fiu (Other Finno-Ugric languages) | |
| ISO 639-3: | liv | |
| Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. | ||
Livonian (Līvõ kēļ) belongs to the Baltic Finnic branch of the Uralic languages. It is a moribund language now spoken by some 35 people, of whom only 10 are fluent.1 It is closely related to Estonian. The native land of the Livonian people is Livonia, located in Latvia, in the north of the Kurzeme peninsula. Some ethnic Livonians are learning or have learnt the language in an attempt to revive it, but, as ethnic Livonians are a small minority, opportunities to use Livonian are limited.
The Livonian alphabet is a hybrid which mixes Latvian and Estonian orthography.
Livonian alphabet:
A/a, Ā/ā, Ä/ä, Ǟ/ǟ, B/b, D/d, Ḑ/ḑ, E/e, Ē/ē, F/f, G/g, H/h, I/i, Ī/ī, J/j, K/k, L/l, Ļ/ļ, M/m, N/n, Ņ/ņ, O/o, Ō/ō, Ȯ/ȯ, Ȱ/ȱ, Õ/õ, Ȭ/ȭ, P/p, R/r, Ŗ/ŗ, S/s, Š/š, T/t, Ț/ț, U/u, Ū/ū, V/v, Z/z, Ž/ž
Contents |
Phonology
Vowels
Livonian has 8 vowels:
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | i /i/ | õ /ɨ/ | u /u/ |
| Near-close | ȯ /ʊ/ | ||
| Mid | e /ɛ/ | [ə]1 | o /o/ |
| Open | ä /æ/ | a /ɑ/ |
- Unstressed /ɨ/ is realized as [ə].
All vowels can be long or short. Short vowels are written as indicated in the table; long vowels are written with an additional macron ("¯") over the letter, so, for example, [æː] = ǟ. The Livonian vowel system is notable for having a stød similar to Danish. As in other languages with this feature, it is thought to be a vestige of an earlier pitch accent.
Consonants
Livonian has 23 consonants:
| Labial | Dental | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | m /m/ | n /n/ | ņ /ɲ/ | [ŋ]1 | ||
| Plosive | voiceless | p /p/ | t /t̪/ | ț /c/ | k /k/ | |
| voiced | b /b/ | d /d̪/ | ḑ /ɟ/ | g /ɡ/ | ||
| Fricative | voiceless | f /f/ | s /s/ | š /ʃ/ | h /h/ | |
| voiced | v /v/ | z /z/ | ž /ʒ/ | |||
| Trill | r /r/ | ŗ /rʲ/ | ||||
| Approximant | Central | j /j/ | ||||
| Lateral | l /l/ | ļ /ʎ/ | ||||
/n/ becomes [ŋ] preceding /k/ or /ɡ/.
Grammar
History
In the 19th century, about 2,000 people still spoke Livonian; in 1852, the number of Livonians was 2394 (Ariste 1981: 78). Various historical events have led to the near total language death of Livonian:
- In the 13th century, speakers of Livonian numbered 30,000 (Schätzung Vääri, 1966).
- The German invasion: around the year 1200, the Livonian Brothers of the Sword and the Teutonic knights conquered Livonia, leading to contention of rule of the area between these orders and the Archbishopric of Riga.
- 1522: The introduction of the Reformation. Courland was annexed to Denmark.
- 1557: The Russian invasion.
- 1558-1583: Livonian War. Russians, Swedes, Danes, Lithuanians and Poles fought over the area.
- 1721: The Treaty of Nystad. Livonia and Courland became provinces of Tsarist Russia.
- 1918: The founding of Latvia; the Livonian language re-blossomed.
- World War II and Soviet Union: Marginalization of Livonian.
Language contacts with Latvians and Estonians
Livonian has been - for centuries - thoroughly influenced by Latvian in terms of grammar, phonology and word derivation etc. It is worthy of mention, that especially from the end of the 19th century on there were also many contacts with Estonians, namely, between (Kurzeme) Livonian fishers or mariners and the Estonians from Saaremaa or other islands. Many inhabitants of the islands of Western Estonia went to work in summer to the villages of the Kurzeme Livonians. As a result, the knowledge of Estonian spread among those Livonians and words of Estonian origin also came into Livonian. (Ariste 1981: 79)
Common phrases
- Hello! – Tēriņtš!
- Bon Appetit - Jõvvõ sīemnaigõ!
- Good morning! - Jõvā ūomõg! / Jõvvõ ūomõgt!
- Good day! - Jõvā pǟva! / Jõvvõ päuvõ!
- Thank you! - Tienū!
- Happy new year! - Vȯndzist Ūdāigastõ!
- die - kȭlmä
- one – ikš
- two – kakš
- three – kuolm
- four – nēļa
- five – vīž
- six – kūž
- seven – seis
- eight – kōdõks
- nine – īdõks
- ten – kim
Written language example
Mustā plagā valsõ
- Kubbõ āt tuļ immõr satunnõd mingizt.
- Mustā lupāt um vȯrd tutkām jūs.
- Nǟlgalizt nīelõb min mȯistõmõt rõkūd
- Sigžtūļ käds ikš dadžā ja ūgõb.
- Mitikš äb tō ku sa kēratõkst pǟgiñ:
- Um jõvīst, až sāina pǟl kēratõd "A".
- Võid stalažod arrõ, až sainõ äb sȭita -
- Ma vāgiž set kītõb, ku jõvīst tīed sa
- Ja tikkiž ja tegīž um lagtõd sin tōmi
- Sīest, mis sinnõn tīemõst ja mis sinā võid.
- Až suggõbõd suodād ja revolūtsijõd,
- Siz nustām sīes pāikal. Pǟdõ ka mēg.
- Až nai ikškõrd vāldiž ka mäddõn tīeb sillõ.
- Īezõ palābõd sīlmad, kus pīegiļtiz irm.
- Siz grumā touvõd mäd' āndabõd villõ
- Ja kõzzist pīkstõbõd pimdõd joud.
- Ni īdskubs himnõ mēg lōlam īe pierrõ,
- Sīest mēḑi ta kāitsõb ja sīnda ka tōks.
- Sīest lōlam mēg: "Julgizt ni, veļīd, tīe jūrõ!"
- Täuds sidāms oppõrmīel põrāndõks.
- Leb Valst āigastsadā võilõb se kāngaz,
- Mustā ku loptõmõt mōīlmarūim.
- Kuñš īebõd pandõkst, kūoḑõd ja kuodād,
- Täddõn nagrõs muidlõb kūolõn pǟlū.
- Lyrics by Tõnu Trubetsky
- Translated by Valt Ernštreit
See also
- Min izāmō – The national anthem of the Livonians
- Tulli Lum - A music group with a Livonian singer
Bibliography
- Fanny de Sivers. 2000. Parlons Live: une langue de la Baltique. Paris: L'Harmattan. ISBN 2-7475-1337-8. (French)
- Paul Ariste 1981. Keelekontaktid. Tallinn: Valgus. [pt. 2.6. Kolme läänemere keele hääbumine lk. 76 - 82] (Estonian)
- Lauri Kettunen. 1999. Livisches Wörterbuch : mit grammatischer Einleitung. Helsinki: Finno-Ugrian Society. (German)
References
- ^ ed. György Nanovfszky: Nyelvrokonaink. Budapest, 2000.
External links
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Wikipedia content modification information:
- This page was last modified on 16 November 2008, at 08:59.
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