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Livonian language

Not to be confused with Livvi-Karelian language or Livonian dialect.
Livonian
līvõ kēļ
Native toLatvia
RegionLivonian Coast
EthnicityLivonians
Extinct2 June 2013, with the death of Grizelda Kristiņa (initial)[1][2]
Revival1 native speaker[3]
~40 L2 speakers at B1 and up
~210 at A1–A2[4]
Dialects
Official status
Recognised minority
language in
Language codes
ISO 639-3liv
Glottologlivv1244
ELPLivonian
Medieval Livonian areas (brown). Inset shows the Livonian villages at the beginning of the 20th century.[7][8]
Livonian is classified as Critically Endangered by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger
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The Livonian language (Livonian: līvõ kēļ or rāndakēļ) is a Finnic language whose native land is the Livonian Coast of the Gulf of Riga, located in the north of the Kurzeme peninsula in Latvia but also used to be spoken in the Salaca River valley. Although initially its last native speaker died in 2013,[1][9] a child, Kuldi Medne, born in 2020 is reported to be a native speaker of Livonian. Her parents are Livonian language revival activists Jānis Mednis and Renāte Medne.[10] Also, there are about 40 reported L2 speakers and 210 having reported some knowledge of the language. Possibly uniquely among the Uralic languages but similarly to Latvian and Lithuanian, Livonian has been described as a pitch-accent language (or restricted tone language, see below).[11]

Some ethnic Livonians are learning or have learned Livonian in an attempt to revive it, but because ethnic Livonians are a small minority, opportunities to use Livonian are limited. The Estonian newspaper Eesti Päevaleht erroneously announced that Viktors Bertholds, who died on 28 February 2009, was the last native speaker who started Latvian-language school as a monolingual.[12] Some other Livonians had argued, however, that there were some native speakers left,[13] including Viktors Bertholds' cousin, Grizelda Kristiņa, who died in 2013.[1] An article published by the Foundation for Endangered Languages in 2007 stated that there were only 182 registered Livonians and a mere six native speakers. In a 2009 conference proceeding, it was mentioned that there could be "at best 10 living native" speakers of the language.[14]

The promotion of the Livonian language as a living language has been advanced mostly by the Livonian Cultural Centre (Līvõ Kultūr Sidām), an organisation of mostly young Livonians. Livonian as a lesser used language in Latvia – along with Latgalian – is represented by the Latvian Bureau of Lesser Used Languages (LatBLUL), formerly a national branch of the European Bureau of Lesser Used Languages (EBLUL).

The language is taught in universities in Latvia, Estonia, Finland and Sweden, which constantly increases the pool of people with some knowledge of the language who do not permanently reside in Latvia.

  1. ^ a b c Charter, David (2013-06-05). "Death of a language: last ever speaker of Livonian passes away aged 103". The Times. Retrieved 2013-12-01.
  2. ^ "Viimane emakeelne liivlane lahkus jäädavalt" Postimees, June 14, 2013 (in Estonian)
  3. ^ ""Kūldaläpš. Zeltabērns" – izdota lībiešu valodas grāmata bērniem un vecākiem". Latvijas Sabiedriskie Mediji (LSM.lv). 2022-10-18. Retrieved 2022-10-22.
  4. ^ "LĪBIEŠU VALODAS SITUĀCIJA". Archived from the original on 2014-02-02. Retrieved 2012-01-19.
  5. ^ "Glottolog 4.5 – Salaca Livonian".
  6. ^ Keeping Livonian – Latvia's Lesser Known Language – Alive, 17.06.2007 at dw.de
  7. ^ Rantanen, Timo; Tolvanen, Harri; Roose, Meeli; Ylikoski, Jussi; Vesakoski, Outi (2022-06-08). "Best practices for spatial language data harmonization, sharing and map creation—A case study of Uralic". PLOS ONE. 17 (6): e0269648. Bibcode:2022PLoSO..1769648R. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0269648. PMC 9176854. PMID 35675367.
  8. ^ Rantanen, Timo, Vesakoski, Outi, Ylikoski, Jussi, & Tolvanen, Harri. (2021). Geographical database of the Uralic languages (v1.0) [Data set]. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.4784188
  9. ^ "Obituary: Last Native Speaker of the Livonian Language Died Age 103". GeoCurrents. Archived from the original on October 26, 2013. Retrieved 2013-12-01.
  10. ^ "«Kūldaläpš. Zeltabērns» – izdota lībiešu valodas grāmata bērniem un vecākiem" ["Kūldaläpš. Golden Child" - Livonian book for children and parents published]. Lsm.lv (in Latvian). 2022-10-18. Retrieved 2023-07-19.
  11. ^ "Sketch of Livonian Sounds and Grammar". Virtual Livonia. Retrieved 2020-03-22.
  12. ^ (in Estonian) Eesti Päevaleht Archived 2011-07-20 at the Wayback Machine "Suri viimane vanema põlve emakeelne liivlane" ("The last native speaker of Livonian from the older generation has died"), March 4, 2009.
  13. ^ "Latvia's tiny Livonian minority struggles to keep its language alive | Baltic States news & analytics". The Baltic Course. 2012-10-17. Retrieved 2013-12-01.
  14. ^ Balodis, Pauls (August 2009). "Personal Names of Livonian Origin in Latvia: Past and Present" (PDF). In Wolfgang Ahrens; Sheila Embleton; André Lapierre (eds.). Proceedings of the 23rd International Congress of Onomastic Sciences. 23rd International Congress of Onomastic Sciences. Toronto, Canada: York University. pp. 105–116. ISBN 978-1-55014-521-2. Retrieved 23 April 2011.

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