Latvian Language and
Culture through the Ages
Dace Prauliņš
d.praulins@lbss.gla.ac.uk
Outline
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Brief introduction
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Origins of Baltic languages and history of
Latvian language to the present day
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Features of Latvian language
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Cultural heritage – folk songs, folk tales,
beliefs, etc.
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
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Ethnic composition of Latvia
 Latvians
 Russians
 Belarussians
 Ukrainians
 Polish
 Lithuanians
 Others
58.6%
28.8%
3.9%
2.6%
2.5%
1.4%
2.2%
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
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Indo-European languages
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
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Area of Baltic river names
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
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Baltic tribes & provinces c. AD 1200
Regions in Latvia today
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
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Early language standardisation
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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
Luther’s small catechism - 1586
First bible translated by J. E.
Glück, published in Rīga in 1689
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
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First newspaper – January 1822
Latvian Newspaper 1824;
St. Petersburg Newspaper 1862
Atis Kronvalds ( 1837 – 1875)
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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
Krišjānis Barons (1835–1923)
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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
After World War II
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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
Language integration today
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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)
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
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Structural features of Latvian
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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
Oral traditions
Very rich collection - some 3 m - of
folksongs (dainas), folk tales (pasakas),
riddles (mīklas), proverbs and sayings
(sakāmvārdi), beliefs (ticējumi)
 Folk song:
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBsEO5zFYuE
Dainas – folk songs
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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.
Dainu skapis (cupboard)
Emilis Melngailis (1874 – 1954)
Musician,
composer and
choir conductor
 Collected folk song
texts and melodies
on expeditions
through
countryside
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Prof. Pēteris Šmits (1869 – 1938)
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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
Folk beliefs
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Katru lielāku darbu iesāk
jaunā mēnesī un laimīgās dienās;
vai nu otrdienā, ceturtdienā jeb
sestdienā.
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
pār
ceļu, tad ir laime, bet ja no kreisās uz labo,
tad
ir 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.
Proverbs and sayings
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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.
Riddles
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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)
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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)
References - books
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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)
References - websites
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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)
References - illustrations
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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