The case of Livonian

Livonian Language Revival

Livonian is a Finnic language spoken on the Livonian Coast of the Gulf of Livonia. Nowadays it is considered an extinct language with strong revitalization processes. Although some sources claim that there are no longer any living native speakers of Livonian (since the last native speaker died in 2013), there is a wide range of activities taking place in order to revive Livonian. Currently, there is even one native speaker of Livonian, a two-year old Kuldi Medne who is being brought up in Livonian and Latvian.

Nowadays, it is estimated that there are about 40 speakers at B1 and up and around 210 at A1-A2 level.

In 2018, a Livonian Culture Center was establish to promote Livonian language and culture. Every second year they organize a Livonian language summer course in Latvia. Apart from it, they organize a wide range of cultural activities promoting Livonian - poetry readings, music events, university language courses etc.

The power of literature in the revival of Livonian

Although Livonian is a highly endangered language, one of the ways how to promote and keep it alive is by producing materials in the language. Currently, there are three poets who are actively writing in Livonian - Baiba Damberga (1957), Valts Ernštreits (1974) and Ķempi Karl (1963). These three are the only authors in the world writing their work in Livonian. Usually, their work is very quickly translated into Latvian and reach a wide audience in Latvia and abroad.

Bilingualism of Livonian speakers

Livonian and Latvian speakers have lived next to each other for an extended period of time. A majority of Livonian speakers are/were naturally bilingual, although we have no exact records of how proficient they were in Latvian. There is an absence of reliable data showing the exact number of bilingual Livonian, it is only assumed that Livonians were already bilingual for several centuries. However, we can say this with certainty about the period after the First World War, when the social importance of the Latvian language increases. (Rudzīte 1994:288).

Resources

1.Latvia's tiny Livonian minority struggles to keep its language alive | Baltic States news & analytics". The Baltic Course. 2012-10-17.

2. Lībiešu valodas situācija. Archived from the original on 2014-02-02.

3. Livonian Culture Center website - http://www.livones.net/en

4. Rudzīte, Marta (1996) “Latviešu un lībiešu valodas kontaktu atspulgi”. In P. Vanags, atb.  red.  Baltu  filoloģija  VI:  Rakstu  krājums,  6.  laidiens,  3–7.  Rīga:  Latvijas  Universitāte.

5.Rudzīte,  Marta  (1994)  “Latviešu  un  lībiešu  valodas  savstarpējā  ietekme”.  Lībieši. Rakstu krājums, 288–319. Rīga : Zinātne.