Livonian language
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Livonian Līvõ kēļ |
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|---|---|---|
| Spoken in: | Latvia | |
| Region: | Livonia | |
| Total speakers: | Less than 150 | |
| Language family: | Uralic Finno-Ugric Finno-Lappic Baltic-Finnic Livonian |
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| 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. See IPA chart for English for an English-based pronunciation key. | ||
Livonian (Līvõ kēļ) belongs to the Finnic branch of the Finno-Ugric languages. A highly endangered language, it is now spoken by some 35 people, of whom only 10 are fluent.[1] It is related to Finnish, spoken on the other side of the Gulf of Finland, and Estonian, with high mutual intelligibility among all of them. The native land of the Livonian people is Livonia, located in Latvia, north of the Kurzeme peninsula. Some ethnic Livonians are learning or have learnt the language in an attempt to revive it. Unfortunately this is problematic, as ethnic Livonians are in an extreme minority and have little opportunity to make common use of the language.
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 |
[edit] Phonology
[edit] Vowels
Livonian has 8 vowels, and differentiates between long and short sounds by marking long vowels with a "¯".
| Letter | Phonetic Value | Letter | Phonetic Value |
|---|---|---|---|
| a | [ɑ] | o | [o] |
| ā | [ɑ:] | ō | [o:] |
| ä | [æ] | ȯ | [ʊ] |
| ǟ | [æ:] | ȱ | [ʊ:] |
| e | [ɛ] | õ | stressed: [ɨ] unstressed: [ə] |
| ē | [ɛ:] | ȭ | stressed: [ɨ:] unstressed: [ə:] |
| i | [i] | u | [u] |
| ī | [i:] | ū | [u:] |
[edit] Consonants
Livonian has 23 consonants. They are as follows;
| Letter | Phonetic Value | Letter | Phonetic Value |
|---|---|---|---|
| b | [b] | ņ | [ɲ] |
| d | [d̪] | p | [p] |
| ḑ | [ɟ] | r | [r] |
| f | [f] | ŗ | [rʲ] |
| g | [ɡ] | s | [s] |
| h | [h] | š | [ʃ] |
| j | [j] | t | [t̪] |
| k | [k] | ț | [c] |
| l | [l] | v | [v] |
| ļ | [ʎ] | z | [z] |
| m | [m] | ž | [ʒ] |
| n | [n], but [ŋ] if preceding [k] or [g]. |
[edit] Grammar
[edit] History
In the 19th century about 2,000 people still spoke Livonian. Various historical events have led to the near total language death of Livonian:
- In the 13th Century, speakers of Livonian number 30,000 (Schätzung Vääri, 1966).
- German invasion: around the year 1200 the Livonian Brothers of the Sword and the Teutonic knights conquer Livonia, leading to contention of rule of the area between these orders and the Archbishopric of Riga.
- 1522: Introduction of the Reformation. Courland is annexed to Denmark.
- 1557: Russian invasion.
- 1558-1583: Livonian War. The Russians, Swedish, Danish, and Polish fight over the area.
- 1721: Treaty of Nystad. Livonia and Courland become provinces of Tsarist Russia.
- 1918: Founding of Latvia; the Livonian language re-blossoms.
- World War II and Soviet Union: Marginalization of Livonian.
[edit] Common phrases
- Hello! – Tēriņtš!
- breakfast - Jõõdõõsöömä
- Good morning! - Jõvā ūomõg! / Jõvvõ ūomõgt!
- Good day! - Jõvā pǟva! / Jõvvõ päuvõ!
- Thank you! - Tienū!
- Happy new year! - Vȯndzist Ūdtāigastõ!
- die - kõõlmä
- one – ikš
- two – kakš
- three – kuolm
- four – nēļa
- five – vīž
- six – kūž
- seven – seis
- eight – kōdõks
- nine – īdõks
- ten – kim
[edit] Written language example
Mustā Plagā Valsō
- 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
[edit] See Also
Min izāmō – The national anthem of the Livonians
[edit] Bibliography
- Fanny de Siviers. 2000. Parlons Live: une langue de la Baltique. Paris: L'Harmattan. ISBN 2-7475-1337-8.
[edit] References
- ^ ed. György Nanovfszky: Nyelvrokonaink. Budapest, 2000.
[edit] External links
| Finno-Ugric languages | |||
| Ugric | Hungarian | Khanty | Mansi | ||
| Permic | Komi | Komi-Permyak | Udmurt | ||
| Finno-Volgaic | Mari | Erzya | Moksha | Merya† | Meshcherian† | Muromian† | ||
| Sami | Akkala Sami† | Inari Sami | Kemi Sami† | Kildin Sami | Lule Sami | Northern Sami | Pite Sami | Skolt Sami | Southern Sami | Ter Sami | Ume Sami | ||
| Baltic-Finnic | Estonian | Finnish | Ingrian | Karelian | Kven | Livonian | Ludic | Meänkieli | South Estonian | Veps | Votic | Võro † denotes extinct |
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