Livonian ( or ) is a Finnic language that originated on 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 its last known native speaker died in 2013, 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. 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).
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 erroneously announced that Viktors Bertholds, who died on 28 February 2009, was the last native speaker who started Latvian-language school as a monolingual. Eesti Päevaleht "" ("The last native speaker of Livonian from the older generation has died"), March 4, 2009. Some other Livonians had argued, however, that there were some native speakers left, including Viktors Bertholds' cousin, Grizelda Kristiņa, who died in 2013. 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.
The promotion of the Livonian language as a living language has been advanced mostly by the Livonian Cultural Centre (), 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.
History In the 19th century, about 2,000 people still spoke Livonian; in 1852, the number of Livonians was 2,394. Various historical events have led to the near total language death of Livonian: In the 13th century, speakers of Livonian numbered 30,000. 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 Protestant Reformation. 1557: The Russian invasion, also known as the Russo-Swedish War. 1558–1583: Livonian War. Russians, Swedes, Danes, Lithuanians and Poles fought over the area. 1721: The Treaty of Nystad. Northern Livonia became provinces of Tsarist Russia. 1918: The founding of Latvia; the Livonian language re-blossomed. World War II and Soviet Union: marginalisation of Livonian. Declared extinct on 6 June 2013. Revival of the Livonian language started after the last native speaker died.
In the 13th century, the native Livonians inhabited all the areas around the Gulf of Riga, except for the Estonian island of Saaremaa. In the 12th–13th centuries the Livonian lands were conquered by the Teutonic Order. The conquest led to a strong decrease in the number of speakers of the Livonian language, empty Livonian lands inhabited by the Latvians, which contributed to the replacement of the Livonian language in favor of Latvian. It is estimated that at the time of the German colonization, there were 30,000 Livonians. In the 19th century the number of speakers of the Couronian dialect is estimated as follows: 2,074 people in 1835, 2,324 people in 1852, 2,390 people in 1858, 2,929 people in 1888. According to the Soviet Census of 1989, 226 people were Livonian, and almost half of them spoke Livonian. According to estimates of the Liv Culture Center in 2010, only 40 people spoke Livonian in everyday life. In 2013, there was no one who spoke Livonian in everyday life.
Early literature The first Livonian words were recorded in the Livonian Chronicle of Henry. The first written sources about Livonian appeared in the 16th century. The collection of Livonian poems "Mariners sacred songs and prayers" () was translated into Latvian by Jānis Prints and his son Jānis Jr. and was published in 1845.Juhrneeku svehtas dseesmas un luhgschanas, sadomahtas no zitkahrtiga Pises basnizas ķestera Jahņa Prinz, un viņņa vezzaka dehla Jahņa. Jelgavā pee Jahņa Wridriķķa Steffenhagen un dehla. 1845Latvian encyclopedia . Volume 4. Riga: Valery Belokon's Publishing. 2007 p. 832-833 . The first book in Livonian was the Gospel of Matthew, published in 1863 in London in both the eastern and western Courland dialects. It was translated into eastern Curonian by Nick Pollmann and into western Curonian by Jānis Prints and Peteris. The plan with the book was to establish a standard orthography by F. Wiedemann, which consisted of 36 letters with many diacritics. The total circulation was 250 copies. The Livonians received only one copy of each dialect. The second book in Livonian was the same Gospel of Matthew, published in 1880 in St. Petersburg, with an orthography based on Latvian and German.
In the interwar period, there were several dozen books published in Livonian, mainly with the help of Finnish and Estonian organizations. In 1930, the first newspaper in Livonian, "", was published. In 1942, a translation of the New Testament was published in Helsinki. It was translated by Kōrli Stalte, with help from the Finnish linguist Lauri Kettunen. After WWII, books in Livonian were no longer published, as Latvia was occupied by the Soviet Union. The whole area of the Livonian Coast became a restricted border zone under tight Soviet supervision. Coastal fishing was gradually eliminated in the smaller villages and concentrated in the larger population centres of Kolka, Roja, and Ventspils. Limits were placed on freedom of movement for inhabitants. All of these factors contributed to the decline of the language, although some initiatives appeared from the early 1970s onwards.
After Latvia regained its independence, the newsletter "" was published in Livonian in 1994, dedicated to the Livonian culture, art, and figures of the national movement, and in 1998 with the support of the "Open Society," the first collection of poetry in Livonian, "", was published and presented in Finland and Estonia. It combines the works of famous Livonian poets. To date, the only Livonian media outlet is the trilingual (English-Latvian-Livonian) Livones.lv (livones.net) operated by the Liv Culture Center.
Two sites were included in the Atlas Linguarum Europae to study Livonian: Miķeļtornis and Mazirbe.
Speakers of Livonian in the twenty-first century
Viktors Bertholds (10 July 1921 – 28 February 2009),Picture of V. Bertholds one of the last Livonian speakers of the generation who learnt Livonian as a first language in a Livonian-speaking family and community, died on 28 February 2009. Though it was reported that he was the last native speaker of the language, Livonians themselves claimed that there were more native speakers still alive, albeit very few."Latvia's tiny Livonian minority struggles to keep its language alive", Baltic Course, 6 June 2013 (retrieved 6 June 2013)
As reported in the Estonian newspaper , Eesti Päevaleht "Suri viimane vanema põlve emakeelne liivlane″ ("The last native speaker of Livonian from the older generation has died"), March 4, 2009. Viktors Bertholds was born in 1921 and probably belonged to the last generation of children who started their (Latvian-medium) primary school as Livonian monolinguals; only a few years later it was noted that Livonian parents had begun to speak Latvian with their children. During World War II, Bertholds, unlike most Livonian men, managed to avoid being mobilized in the armies of either occupation force by hiding in the woods. After the war, Bertholds worked in various professions and shared his knowledge of the Livonian language with many field linguists; in the 1990s, he also taught Livonian in children's summer camps.
Bertholds' Livonian-speaking brother and wife died in the 1990s. In the early 2000s, many other prominent "last Livonians" also died, such as Poulin Klavin (1918–2001), keeper of many Livonian traditions and the last Livonian to reside permanently on the Courland coast, and Edgar Vaalgamaa (1912–2003), clergyman in Finland, translator of the New Testament and author of a book on the history and culture of the Livonians.Valkoisen hiekan kansa, Jyväskylä 2001Edgar Vaalgamaa – Muistokirjoitus – Muistot, hs.fi, Retrieved 2 March 2015.
The last native speaker of Livonian was Grizelda Kristiņa, née Bertholde (1910–2013, a cousin of Viktors Bertholds), who lived in Canada from 1949. According to linguist and activist Valts Ernštreits, she spoke Livonian as well "as if she had stepped out of her home farm in a Livonian coastal village just yesterday" and qualified as the last living native speaker of the Livonian language of her generation. She died on June 2, 2013.Raimu Hanson. Teadusdoktor käib mööda liivi radu. Postimees, 09.12.2011. (Accessed December 9, 2011.)
The survival of the Livonian language now depends on young Livonians who learnt Livonian in their childhood from grandparents or great-grandparents of the pre-war generations. There are not many of them, though there are a few hundred ethnic Livonians in Latvia now who are interested in their Livonian roots. Some young Livonians not only sing folk-songs in Livonian but even strive to use Livonian actively in everyday communication. One such younger generation Livonian speaker is , who performs with the Livonian-Estonian world music group . In 2018, the Livonian Institute at the University of Latvia () was established to promote research and awareness of the language. It is led by Valts Ernštreits.
In 2020 Livonian language revival activists Jānis Mednis and Renāte Medne started teaching Livonian as the first language to their newborn daughter Kuldi Medne. As of 2023 she was the only Livonian native speaker in Latvia. In October 2022, her parents published ('Golden Child'), a book in Livonian and Latvian for children and parents, with plans for subsequent books and an audio version.
2023 was proclaimed as Livonian Heritage Year () by the UoL Livonian Institute in cooperation with the UNESCO Latvian National Commission and the Latvian National Cultural Center, with various events held by individuals and institutions. In January 2023, the first of 171 approved road signs in Latvia with Latvian and Livonian text were placed on the border of Talsi Municipality. Similar signs are being placed in Latgale featuring Latgalian. During the 2023 Latvian Song and Dance Festival, for the first time in the history of the event, a song with Livonian lyrics was featured. (Latvian: 'Livonians are coming'), the second part of the musical cycle by and was performed during the Grand Choir Concert .
Phonology Livonian, like Estonian, has lost vowel harmony, but unlike Estonian, it has also lost consonant gradation.
Vowels Livonian has 8 vowels in the table below. Additionally two archaic vowels are given in parentheses:
+ Vowel phonemes in Livonian Front Central Back unrounded rounded unrounded rounded Close ( ) Mid ~ ( ) Open
All vowels can be long or short. Short vowels are written as indicated in the table; long vowels are written with an additional macron ("ˉ") over the letter, so, for example, = . 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.