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Southernmost Finnic Prosody Project

The Southernmost Finnic languages and their contact varieties.
(Map by: Timo Rantanen, BEDLAN)

The Southernmost Finnic Languages

The Southernmost Finnic languages include all varieties of South Estonian – its dialects in Estonia as well as the three language island varieties (Lutsi, Leivu, Kraasna) spoken outside of it, both documented varieties of Livonian (Courland and Salaca) as well as Krevin Votic – a variety of Votic spoken near the city of Bauska in southern Latvia until the mid-19th century.

The map above shows the location in color of the four languages at the focus of the Southernmost Finnic Prosody Project's research: Courland Livonian, Salaca Livonian, Lutsi, and Leivu. Background information on the history and present state of these four languages follows below.

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Courland Livonian
Livonian speaker Valts Ernštreits teaching the advanced Livonian course at the Livonian Summer University.
(Photo: Uldis Balodis; Pizā (Miķeļtornis), Latvia, 2017)
  • The Courland Livonians historically lived in a string of fishing villages along the northern coast of Courland (Kurzeme) in western Latvia. This area is known as Līvõd rānda (the Livonian Coast).
  • In the 1950s, the Courland Livonians were forced to leave their native coast due to militarization of the area by the Soviet occupation regime. Today most Livonians live in Rīga, Ventspils, and Kolka.
  • In the 2020s, there are ~20 conversational (mostly L2) speakers and ~200 individuals with basic knowledge of Livonian. Some of the L2 speakers are linguists and not Livonian descendants.
  • Language revitalization efforts are ongoing. The University of Latvia Livonian Institute is developing online language resources. Every year the Livonian children's and youth summer school Mierlinkizt is held in Irē (Mazirbe) on the Livonian Coast.
  • The Livonian Summer University is held regularly on the Livonian Coast for scholars interested in Livonian research and language study. The University of Tartu has supported Livonian research and offered language courses for over a century.
  • Project researcher Tuuli Tuisk has studied and described different aspects of the Livonian sound system over the course of her career.
Rīga-Lielnori
Salaca Livonian
Vidzeme Livonian descendants – members of the Lielnori family – study their family tree.
(Photo: Rasma Noriņa; Rīga, Latvia, 2012)
  • The Salaca Livonians are descendants of the Vidzeme (Metsepole) Livonians who lived in western Vidzeme and a small adjacent coastal area of Estonia south of Häädemeeste.
  • Modern descendants are aware of their heritage and view it positively, but no speakers of Salaca Livonian remain.
  • Salaca Livonian is the only documented part of Vidzeme Livonian. Its speakers lived near Svētciems south of Salacgrīva in Latvia. 
  • The last known speakers lived in the 1860s, but Salaca Livonian rememberers survived and were documented until the early 20th century.
  • Salaca Livonian was documented by Anders Johan Sjögren and a description based on these materials was published by Ferdinand Johann Wiedemann in 1864.
  • The project's principal investigator Karl Pajusalu continues work on these materials and has published a dictionary and grammar of Salaca Estonian with Eberhard Winkler (University of Göttingen) as well as several Salaca Livonian poetry collections (as Ķempi Kārl).
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Lutsi
Lutsi descendants with project researcher Uldis Balodis at the release of the Lutsi language and culture primer. (Photo: Uldis Balodis; Ludza, Latvia, 2020)
  • Lutsi is a variety of South Estonian that was spoken for at least several centuries mostly separated from other South Estonian speakers in Estonia.
  • Lutsi is characterized by the extended, intense contact it had with Latvian and Latgalian as well as with Russian, Polish, Belarusian, and Yiddish.
  • At the end of the 19th century, Lutsi was spoken in several dozen villages north, east, and south of the city of Ludza in southeastern Latvia.
  • The final conversational speakers lived in the villages of Jāni külä (Lielie Tjapši) and Kirbu külä (Škirpāni) south of Ludza.
  • The last fluent speaker lived until 1983, the last conversational speaker died in 2006, the last partial speaker died in 2014. 
  • In the 2020s, several Lutsi rememberers remain. Lutsi descendants are aware of their heritage and view it positively. There are early efforts at language revitalization.
  • Project researcher Uldis Balodis has focused his work on Lutsi for the last decade and published a Lutsi language and culture primer in 2020.
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Leivu
Lake Alūksne in autumn, located near the historical Leivu region.
(Photo: Uldis Balodis; Alūksne, Latvia, 2015)
  • Leivu is the earliest variety of South Estonian to have split off from the historical South Estonian language. Leivu is a more distant relation to Lutsi and Võro and Seto in Estonia than these other varieties are to each other.
  • Leivu may be the modern descendant of the undocumented language of the historical land of Atzele in modern-day northeastern Latvia.
  • The last known fluent speaker of Leivu was from Pajušilla (Kārklupe) village and died in 1988.
  • As with the other Southernmost Finnic varieties, which no longer have living fluent speakers, Leivu descendants are aware of their heritage.
  • Project researcher Pire Teras has described the characteristics of the Leivu sound system and its unique prosodic features.