Livonian

[Hoogstwaarschijnlijk]

I have to make an assignment about an endangered language and we have chosen for Livonian, a language spoken in Latvia by only 35 people or something. I don't expect that there is someone here who speaks it, but maybe someone knows a bit more about this language? We have already found a bit information on the internet, but I don't think it will be enough. Maybe there is more information in Latvian or Lithuanian, but I don't speak that
So when someone has information about this language, please post it here!

[allemaalmeezinge]

misschien heb je dit hier al, maar ik post't maar..

http://homepage.mac.com/uldis/livonia/livonia.html
http://www.ryerson.ca/~freimuts/livu/livu.htm
http://www.hwpfeiff.de/liv/spra/sprapro.html
http://www.suri.ee/r/liivi/liivlink.html
http://www.suri.ee/r/liivi/

[Hoogstwaarschijnlijk]

I only had the first one, thanks a lot, especially the last link does look very good

[Alcadras]

35 natives? Dammit! I did the same thing with Manx Gaelic.
I thought it would be similar with Latvian but ortography seems like totally different.

[darkina]

It sounds like the name of a fairytale kingdom

Sembra il nome di un regno delle fiabe

[Mulder-21]

Excellent choice. The Uralic family is probably the one in Europe and Asian Russia, which is the most threatened to severely lose members, maybe especially the Baltic-Finnic branch, but also the Samoyedic branch.

Myself, I'd probably also chose one of these languages. Maybe Veps or the one with I. Izhorian? Something like that. But the other Ugric language, Khanty and Mansi look very interesting, though I'm not sure if they're endangered.

[Egein]

Wow I think it looks SO beautiful

I love it.
I could even understand some very spars words in the story of the first website (kalamiet or something for fisherman).

It's such a shame that it should be about to die...

[Soassae]

Yeah, I agree, it sounds like a pleasure to hear it spoken. And I too find that it is an enormous pity that not only Livonian but so many languages are dying out...
Some time ago, I wanted to add the first resource of yabba's list (I did not know the others) to the Unilang's main page menu, but Livonian is not listed there. I tried to write to the administrator using the form provided, but I did not get any answer, then I forgot to retry. Do you know which is a good way to contact the administrators for such things?

[Hoogstwaarschijnlijk]

35 natives? Dammit! I did the same thing with Manx Gaelic.
I thought it would be similar with Latvian but ortography seems like totally different.

I think that is because it is a Finoegrisch language.

But in my book there is something interesting (a pity that it is only one sentence):

(...) Latvian has lost grammatical gender as a result of shift-induced interference from Livonian, an Uralic language.

I get a bit depressive about this assignment, not only because I can't find enough information, but also because it is so stupid that so many languages die. And I know that it is natural that languages die, but I like the diversity and I don't know if it is so natural that so many languages are threatened.

[mak]

(...) Latvian has lost grammatical gender as a result of shift-induced interference from Livonian, an Uralic language.

What is grammatical gender? I think this sentence is not true.

[Hoogstwaarschijnlijk]

(...) Latvian has lost grammatical gender as a result of shift-induced interference from Livonian, an Uralic language.

What is grammatical gender? I think this sentence is not true.

I assume it is just the gender, like der die das?

*reads again* Maybe it is only about a Latvian dialect.

[kripata]

(...) Latvian has lost grammatical gender as a result of shift-induced interference from Livonian, an Uralic language.

What is grammatical gender? I think this sentence is not true.

I assume it is just the gender, like der die das?

*reads again* Maybe it is only about a Latvian dialect.

Latvian has never had die, der, das. So it shouldn't be true, what you wrote.

[CoBB]

It’s lovely how similar Livonian ‘to be’ is to ours.

Nagyon tetszik, ahogy a lív „lenni” hasonlít a miénkhez.

[utterstarlight]

Here's a link to a Latvian-Livonian-English Phrase Book, dont know if it is the kind of thing you are looking for but it could help translate some work?

http://www.eraksti.lv/R013.php?gid=86

It opens as a pdf file.

[Hoogstwaarschijnlijk]

*reads again* Maybe it is only about a Latvian dialect.

Latvian has never had die, der, das. So it shouldn't be true, what you wrote.[/quote] Are you sure? Also the dialects? Then my book is just not true, a bit shocking

@CoBB: It is related to Hungarian, so I think it is quite logical

@utterstarlight: Wow, thanks. It looks really cool and helpful

[Alcadras]

She's Latvian. How can't she be true?

[Hoogstwaarschijnlijk]

She's Latvian. How can't she be true?

Hehe, didn't see that. But I guess she is right and the book I had to learn for my exam is wrong. What a great university I have

[CoBB]

@CoBB: It is related to Hungarian, so I think it is quite logical

Related like, say, Czech to Dutch. Very far, that is.

Rokonok, mint pl. a cseh és a holland. Azaz nagyon távoliak.

[Hoogstwaarschijnlijk]

@CoBB: It is related to Hungarian, so I think it is quite logical

Related like, say, Czech to Dutch. Very far, that is.

Rokonok, mint pl. a cseh és a holland. Azaz nagyon távoliak.

I thought more like Dutch and Italian, but okay.

Can you explain how similar "to be" is?

[culúrien]

@CoBB: It is related to Hungarian, so I think it is quite logical

Related like, say, Czech to Dutch. Very far, that is.

Rokonok, mint pl. a cseh és a holland. Azaz nagyon távoliak.

I thought more like Dutch and Italian, but okay.

Can you explain how similar "to be" is?

Yes, I'd like to know to
Sí, m'agradaria saber també
Sí, me gustaría saber también
Oui, j'aimerais savoir aussi
Ie, baswn i'n hoffi hefyd