Individual Submission Summary
Share...

Direct link:

Cultural and Linguistic Contexts of Livonian Poetry

Sun, June 3, 4:00 to 5:30pm, History Corner (450 Serra Mall, Building 200), 305

Abstract

Livonian is a Finnic language historically spoken in the area surrounding the Gulf of Rīga in Latvia. Livonians have contributed to the formation of the Baltic region and modern Latvian language and culture. Currently, Livonian is a critically endangered language. However, there are still individuals with Livonian roots who are actively working in Livonian art and fiction. Livonian poetry is published regularly and on an ongoing basis and is vital in the broader context of the Livonian cultural identity.

Our paper focuses on the study of modern Livonian poetry along with traditions of development of Livonian culture and literature as well as traditions of Livonian language use during recent centuries. We are analysing corpora of Livonian poetry presented in anthologies (1998, 2011, 2017) and other publications by connecting thematic and linguistic approaches.

Livonian literature has a tradition of almost 200 years with the first poems written in Livonian dating to in the mid-19th century. Since the beginning of the 20th century, together with the wider Livonian cultural awakening, more than 30 poets (out of ca. 1000 Livonian speakers) have published in Livonian. Their poetry followed the development of literary Livonian and also served the needs of other areas of modern Livonian culture, e.g., songs for choirs, education of children in schools, etc. At the same time, all modern Livonian authors are multilingual and multicultural, their various linguistic and cultural backgrounds are reflected in their poems and this is noted in our study.

Short Bio

Valts Ernštreits is a researcher of Livonian at the University of Tartu. He defended his PhD Thesis on the development of Standard Livonian. He is also a poet of Livonian origin who writes both in Livonian and Latvian. His studies and poetry have been translated into several languages.

Karl Pajusalu is a professor of Estonian dialectology and history of the Estonian language at the University of Tartu and a docent of the Finnic languages at the University of Helsinki. He has studied phonological and morphological variation of Southern Finnic and other Finno-Ugric languages, language dynamics, and sociolinguistics.

Authors