latvian language and culture through the ages dace prauliņš [email protected]

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Latvian Language and Culture through the Ages Dace Prauliņš [email protected]

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Page 1: Latvian Language and Culture through the Ages Dace Prauliņš d.praulins@lbss.gla.ac.uk

Latvian Language and Culture through the Ages

Dace Prauliņš[email protected]

Page 2: Latvian Language and Culture through the Ages Dace Prauliņš d.praulins@lbss.gla.ac.uk

Outline

Brief introduction

Origins of Baltic languages and history of Latvian language to the present day

Features of Latvian language

Cultural heritage – folk songs, folk tales, beliefs, etc.

Page 3: Latvian Language and Culture through the Ages Dace Prauliņš d.praulins@lbss.gla.ac.uk

Number of Latvian speakers About 1.4 million native speakers in Latvia About 150 000 native speakers abroad

either exiled in 1944 or emigrated from Latvia more recently to find work

Total number of Latvian speakers slightly exceeds 2 million – includes all for whom Latvian is a second language

Only about 250 languages which are spoken by more than 1 million people in the world

Page 4: Latvian Language and Culture through the Ages Dace Prauliņš d.praulins@lbss.gla.ac.uk

Ethnic composition of Latvia

Latvians 58.6% Russians 28.8% Belarussians 3.9% Ukrainians 2.6% Polish 2.5% Lithuanians 1.4% Others 2.2%

Page 5: Latvian Language and Culture through the Ages Dace Prauliņš d.praulins@lbss.gla.ac.uk

Contact with other languages Liv, Estonian, Lithuanian, Belorussian,

Russian neighbouring languages Russian, Polish, Swedish, German have

been languages of cultural exchange and official transactions

Latin in Catholic religious ceremonies From Middle Ages to the early 20th century

German was dominant in education, science and administration – about 3000 borrowings from German in Latvian

Page 6: Latvian Language and Culture through the Ages Dace Prauliņš d.praulins@lbss.gla.ac.uk

Indo-European languages

Page 7: Latvian Language and Culture through the Ages Dace Prauliņš d.praulins@lbss.gla.ac.uk

Early settlers and Baltic groups

Earliest hunter-gatherers arrived 10 – 12 thousand years ago – following reindeer

More than 4000 years ago Finno-Ugric groups settled – Livs and Estonians are descendants

Proto-Baltic groups arrived in early 2000 BC – first in south, then also central and eastern parts

First split into Eastern (Prussians, Couronians, etc.) and Western (Lettgallians, Lithuanians, etc.) Balts

Page 8: Latvian Language and Culture through the Ages Dace Prauliņš d.praulins@lbss.gla.ac.uk

Area of Baltic river names

Page 9: Latvian Language and Culture through the Ages Dace Prauliņš d.praulins@lbss.gla.ac.uk

Latvian and Lithuanian Split between Latvian and Lithuanian

happened between the 1st -5th centuries and the 7th century AD

Tribes in the north had more contact with Finno-Ugric tribes, those in the south had more contact with Slav tribes – these influences caused split

It is thought that Lithuanian remained more archaic than Latvian because Slav languages also Indo-European and therefore there were more similarities

Page 10: Latvian Language and Culture through the Ages Dace Prauliņš d.praulins@lbss.gla.ac.uk

Baltic tribes & provinces c. AD 1200

Page 11: Latvian Language and Culture through the Ages Dace Prauliņš d.praulins@lbss.gla.ac.uk

Regions in Latvia today

Page 12: Latvian Language and Culture through the Ages Dace Prauliņš d.praulins@lbss.gla.ac.uk

Beginnings of Latvian language

Latvian thought to be based mainly on languages spoken by Latgallians and Semigallians

Couronian and Selonian languages extinct before they could be documented but leave traces in place names and dialects

Descendants of Livs also retained features in dialect, also in place names, e.g. –aži,-iži; first syllable stress in Latvian may be of Liv origin

Page 13: Latvian Language and Culture through the Ages Dace Prauliņš d.praulins@lbss.gla.ac.uk

Early language standardisation

Latvian not written down until 16th century Authors of first books were Baltic German clergy

writing religious works in Latvian following Reformation

First printed text in Latvian appeared in 1525 Among first books preserved until today are a

Catholic Catechism (1585) and an Evangelical Catechism (1586)

First dictionary – 1638; first grammar – 1644: German clergymen G. Manzelius and J.G. Rehehusen

Page 14: Latvian Language and Culture through the Ages Dace Prauliņš d.praulins@lbss.gla.ac.uk

Luther’s small catechism - 1586

Page 15: Latvian Language and Culture through the Ages Dace Prauliņš d.praulins@lbss.gla.ac.uk

First bible translated by J. E. Glück, published in Rīga in 1689

Page 16: Latvian Language and Culture through the Ages Dace Prauliņš d.praulins@lbss.gla.ac.uk

National awakening Early 19th century - powerful “awakening”

of national identity – first newspapers printed and active cultural development

Status of Baltic languages also changed – Baltic German nobility had regarded them as “rural languages”

End of 19th century – Jaunlatvieši (new Latvians) demanded same rights enjoyed by other nations - Latvians took over research and standardisation of language – many press publications and books

Page 17: Latvian Language and Culture through the Ages Dace Prauliņš d.praulins@lbss.gla.ac.uk

First newspaper – January 1822

Page 18: Latvian Language and Culture through the Ages Dace Prauliņš d.praulins@lbss.gla.ac.uk

Latvian Newspaper 1824; St. Petersburg Newspaper 1862

Page 19: Latvian Language and Culture through the Ages Dace Prauliņš d.praulins@lbss.gla.ac.uk

Atis Kronvalds ( 1837 – 1875) Instrumental in

changing script from Gothic to Latin and spelling which was originally based on Middle Low German

Introduced new words into language based on existing rules – about 100 still used

Also suggested preferred words where several existed

Page 20: Latvian Language and Culture through the Ages Dace Prauliņš d.praulins@lbss.gla.ac.uk

Krišjānis Barons (1835–1923)

Promoter of Latvian national awakening

Collector, compiler and researcher of Latvian folk songs (dainas)

An editor of the Pēterburgas avīzes - a newspaper which was very prominent in the national awakening

Page 21: Latvian Language and Culture through the Ages Dace Prauliņš d.praulins@lbss.gla.ac.uk

After World War II

In Latvia: Latvian and Russian bilingualism - language of state and its structures was Russian

Percentage of Latvian language users decreased because of immigration

Many studies of Latvian carried out by Commission of Terminology of the Latvian Academy of Sciences – grammar and dictionaries compiled

In exile: many Latvian schools which kept language and culture alive; also secondary school (ğimnāzija) in Münster, West Germany

Page 22: Latvian Language and Culture through the Ages Dace Prauliņš d.praulins@lbss.gla.ac.uk

Language integration today

Main goal of language policy is integration of all citizens in context of Latvian as official language while protecting and developing minority languages

Many minorities have bilingual education with Latvian taught as a second language but Latvian being used more and more to teach core subjects; higher education only in Latvian

Now about 50% of non-Latvians have good – excellent language skills; only 10% – 12% have no Latvian (mainly elderly)

Page 23: Latvian Language and Culture through the Ages Dace Prauliņš d.praulins@lbss.gla.ac.uk

Latvian alphabet and spelling

a, ā, b, c, č, d, e, ē, f, g, ģ, h, i, ī, j, k, ķ, l, ļ, m, n, ņ, o, p, r, s, š, t, u, ū, v, z, ž

One of the most perfect Latin script-based spelling systems – based on Czech

First books printed in the second half of 16th century used Gothic letters and based on spelling of Middle Low German

Gothic letters & German spelling principles used up to beginning of 20th century

1908 – new orthography introduced but not fully used until 1920s

Page 24: Latvian Language and Culture through the Ages Dace Prauliņš d.praulins@lbss.gla.ac.uk

Structural features of Latvian

Nouns have 6 cases: nominative, genitive, accusative, dative, locative, vocative

Verbs inflected for tense, mood, voice and person System of derivational affixes, e.g. dot (give):

atdot (give back), iedot (give with perfective meaning), padot (pass), pārdot (sell), izdot (spend)

Word order within clause relatively fluid Stress generally on first syllable of each word –

long vowel may occur in an unstressed syllable

Page 25: Latvian Language and Culture through the Ages Dace Prauliņš d.praulins@lbss.gla.ac.uk

Oral traditions

Very rich collection - some 3 m - of folksongs (dainas), folk tales (pasakas), riddles (mīklas), proverbs and sayings (sakāmvārdi), beliefs (ticējumi)

Folk song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBsEO5zFYuE

Page 26: Latvian Language and Culture through the Ages Dace Prauliņš d.praulins@lbss.gla.ac.uk

Dainas – folk songs

Not known how old they are – saved through oral tradition – probably sung

Censored at beginning of 13th century by Teutonic knights

Krišjānis Barons collected 218 000 in 8 volumes (1894 – 1915) – 35 000 primary + variations – his original notes and drawers shown in next slide

Folklore Archive now has about 1 m – “one daina for every Latvian”

Ecological, anti-war, matriarchal – talk about daily life, nature, courtship, etc.

Page 27: Latvian Language and Culture through the Ages Dace Prauliņš d.praulins@lbss.gla.ac.uk

Dainu skapis (cupboard)

Page 28: Latvian Language and Culture through the Ages Dace Prauliņš d.praulins@lbss.gla.ac.uk

Emilis Melngailis (1874 – 1954)

Musician, composer and choir conductor

Collected folk song texts and melodies on expeditions through countryside

Page 29: Latvian Language and Culture through the Ages Dace Prauliņš d.praulins@lbss.gla.ac.uk
Page 30: Latvian Language and Culture through the Ages Dace Prauliņš d.praulins@lbss.gla.ac.uk
Page 31: Latvian Language and Culture through the Ages Dace Prauliņš d.praulins@lbss.gla.ac.uk
Page 32: Latvian Language and Culture through the Ages Dace Prauliņš d.praulins@lbss.gla.ac.uk

Prof. Pēteris Šmits (1869 – 1938)

Collected folk tales in 15 volumes, first published 1925 – 1937; categorised according to subject: animals, magic, jokes, tales with a moral, etc.

Also collected 36 790 beliefs, first published in 1940 - 1941

Page 33: Latvian Language and Culture through the Ages Dace Prauliņš d.praulins@lbss.gla.ac.uk

Folk beliefs Katru lielāku darbu iesāk

jaunā mēnesī un laimīgās dienās;vai nu otrdienā, ceturtdienā jebsestdienā.Every big task should be started when there is a new moon and on lucky days; either on a Tuesday, a Thursday or a Saturday.

Ja kaķis pārskrien no labās uz kreiso pusi pārceļu, tad ir laime, bet ja no kreisās uz labo, tadir nelaime. If a cat crosses your path from right to left, you will have good luck, bet if it’s from left to right, then you will have bad luck.

Page 34: Latvian Language and Culture through the Ages Dace Prauliņš d.praulins@lbss.gla.ac.uk

Proverbs and sayings Ja upei dibena neredzi, tad nebrien

iekšā. If you can’t see the bottom of the river, don’t wade in. Look before you leap.

Ciemos labi, bet mājās vēl labāk. It’s good to go visiting, but it’s even better to be at home. There’s no place like home.

Page 35: Latvian Language and Culture through the Ages Dace Prauliņš d.praulins@lbss.gla.ac.uk

Riddles Liela, zila pļava, pilna zelta aitiņu un ganiņš

vidū. A large blue field full of small golden sheep and a young shepherd in the middle.

(Sky)

Liels kalns; caur to kalnu divi tuneli, caur tiem, tuneļiem skrien vējš aurodams. A large hill with two tunnels running through; the wind roars through these tunnels.(Nose)

Page 36: Latvian Language and Culture through the Ages Dace Prauliņš d.praulins@lbss.gla.ac.uk

References - books Dini, P. U. (2000) Baltu Valodas (Baltic languages). Roze Gimbutas, M. (1963) The Balts. Thames and Hudson Ķēniņš, I. (2005) Latvija Gadsimtu Lokos. I. Aizvēsture un

Senvēsture (Latvia through the centuries. I. Pre-history and ancient history). Raka

Ķēniņš, I. (2005) Latvija Gadsimtu Lokos. II. Viduslaiki 13. -15. Gadsimts (Latvia through the centuries. II Middle ages 13th – 15th centuries). Raka

Plakans, A. (1995) The Latvians. A Short History. Hoover Vīķe-Freiberga, V. (2005) Saules Balsi. Latvian Sun Song

Melodies. Karogs (The three folksongs with music taken from this book)

Page 37: Latvian Language and Culture through the Ages Dace Prauliņš d.praulins@lbss.gla.ac.uk

References - websites http://www.ailab.lv/ai1/kultura.htm (culture) http://www.ailab.lv/pasakas/ (folk tales) http://www.ailab.lv/ticejumi/default.htm (beliefs) http://www.dainuskapis.lv/ (folksongs) http://www.li.lv/ (Latvian Institute) http://www.pbla.lv/izglitiba/miklas/miklas.htm (riddles) http://www.vaidilute.com/books/gimbutas/gimbutas-contents.html (M.

Gimbutas’ book The Balts download)

Page 38: Latvian Language and Culture through the Ages Dace Prauliņš d.praulins@lbss.gla.ac.uk

References - illustrations Indo-European language family tree:

http://www.intersolinc.com/newsletters/Language_Tree.htm Baltic tribes + provinces; area of Baltic river names:

http://www.vaidilute.com/books/gimbutas/gimbutas-01.html Luther’s small catechism, first Bible and its translator, Latvian newspapers:

http://www.li.lv/images_new/files/pdf/History_of_Latvia_2007.pdf Atis Kronvalds: http://www.lu.lv/aktualitates/index.html?id=1627 Krišjānis Barons:

http://data.lnb.lv/digitala_biblioteka/atklatnes/Portreti/Latviski/008.htm Emilis Melngailis:

http://www.liis.lv/muzika/komponisti/Emilis_Melngailis/index.php?id=7 Šmits: http://www5.acadlib.lv/PVP/0000000127.htm Dainu skapis: http://www.lza.lv/lat/inst/LFK/dskapis.html Latvian regions: http://www.li.lv/index.php?

option=content&task=view&id=12&Itemid=413