Livonian grammar

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Livonian is a Finnic language, and, as such, is closely related to both Estonian and Finnish.

Contents

Tones

Livonian is a pitch accent language. It has a broken tone that can appear in words. The broken tone is marked with a '. [1]

lēḑ ‘sphere’lē’ḑ ‘leaf’
nīņ ‘bark strip’nī’ņ ‘wide belt’
mō ‘earth’mō’ ‘down; earthwards’
ūdõ ‘to fry’ū’dõ ‘to strain’
pūstõ ‘tree (elat. sg.)’pū’stõ ‘to clean’

Pronouns

Personal Pronouns

Singular
First Person ("I")Second Person ("You")Third Person ("He" or "She")
Nominative minā/masinā/satämā/ta
Genitive minsintäm
Dative minnõnsinnõntämmõn
Translative minkõkssinkõkstämkõks
Partitive mīndasīndatǟnda
Inessive mins/minšõsins/sinšõtäms/tamšõ
Elative minst/minstõsinst/sinstõtämst/tämstõ
Illative minnõsinnõtämmõ
Plural
First Person ("We")Second Person ("You")Third Person ("They")
Nominative mēgtēgne
Genitive mädtädnänt
Dative mäddõntäddõnnäntõn
Translative mätkõkstätkõksnäntkõks
Partitive mēḑitēḑinēḑi
Inessive mēššitēššinēšši
Elative mēštitēštinēšti
Illative mēžitēžinēži

Note: the third person pronouns do not possess a gender in the singular or the plural.

Demonstrative Pronouns

Singular
("this, this one")
Plural
("these, these ones")
Nominative sīe/sene
Genitive sīe/senänt
Dative sīennäntõn
Translative sīeks/sīekõksnäntkõks
Partitive sīedanēḑi
Inessive sīes/sīessõnẽšši
Elative sīest/sīestõnēšti
Illative sīezõnēži

Note: The plural demonstrative pronoun is the same as the third person plural personal pronoun.

Reflexive Pronouns

Singular
("myself, yourself, oneself")
Plural
("ourselves, yourself/ves, themselves")
Nominative
Genitive eņtšeņtš
Dative eņtšõneņtšõn
Translative eņtšõkseņtšōdõks
Partitive eņtštaeņtšidi
Inessive eņtšõseņtšis
Elative eņtšõsteņtšist
Illative eņtšõ(z)eņtšiz

Note: The usage of the reflexive pronoun is broad. Of course, it is used as a reflexive pronoun as in "minnõn eņtšõn um vajag...," meaning "I need..." [lit: to myself is necessary...]. However, the pronoun can also express possession; it frequently replaces the genitive forms of the personal pronouns. For example: "ma sīeda kūliz eņtš izast", or "I heard it from my father." Also, reflexive pronouns can be used in adverbial expressions: "täm eņtš ie", "this same night".

Cases

The following are the cases in Livonian: [1]

CaseSingularPlural
Nominative-∅-t
-d
-õd
Genitive-∅-t
-d
-õd
Partitive-tā
-dā
-ța
-ta
-da
-tõ
-dõ

-∅
-ți
-ḑi
-ti
-di
-i
Dative-n
-õn
-ddõn
-dõn
-tõn
-õdõn
Instrumental-kõks
-ks
-õks
-dkõks
-tkõks
-dõks
-tõks
Translative-ks
Illative-zõ
-(õ)z
-ži
-īž
-iž

-īz
-iz
Inessive-š(õ)
-s(õ)
-õs(õ)
-ši
-īs
-is
Elative-št(õ)
-st(õ)
-õst(õ)
-šti
-īst
-ist
Instructive-īņ
-iņ
Allative-l(õ)
-õl
-il
-iļ [2]
Adessive-l(õ)
-õl
-il
-iļ [2]
Ablative-ld(õ(st))
-õld
-iļd [2]
Abessive-tõ
Lative-j
-jõ
Essive-nõ
-n
Exessive-ndõ(st)

Examples

līvli "Livonian"
SingularPlural
Nominativelīvli-līvlizt-t
Genitivelīvliz-līvlizt-t
Partitivelīvliz-tõlīvliži-i
Dativelīvlizõn-õnlīvliztõn-tõn
Instrumentallīvlizõks-õkslīvliztõks-tõks
Illativelīvlizõlīvližiz-iz
Inessivelīvlizõs-õslīvližis-is
Elativelīvlizõst-õstlīvližist-ist
ve’ž "water"
SingularPlural
Nominativeve’ž-viedūd-d
Genitivevie’d-viedūd-d
Partitivevie-tāvežži-i
Dativevie’ddõn-õnviedūdõn-dõn
Instrumentalvie’dkõks-kõksviedūdõks-dõks
Illativevie’ddõvežīz-īz
Inessivevie’d-sõvežīs-īs
Elativevie’dstõ-stõvežīst-īst

Moods

The following are the moods in Livonian: [1]

Mood and TensePersonSingularPlural
Indicative (present tense)1-b -õb —-mõ -m -õm
2-d -õd-tõ -t -õt
3-b -õb —-bõd -õbõd -āt(õ)
Indicative (past tense)1-, (comma indicates palatalization of final consonant) -i -īz -iz -ž -kš-,mõ -imõ -īzmõ -izmõ -žmõ -kšmõ
2-,d -id -īzt -izt -žt -št-,t(õ) -it(õ) -īzt(õ) -izt(õ) -žt(õ) -kšt(õ)
3-, -id -īz -iz -ž -kš-,t(õ) -it(õ) -īzt(õ) -izt(õ) -žt(õ) -kšt(õ)
Conditional1-ks -õks-kstõ -õkstõ
2-kst -õkst-kstõ -õkstõ
-ks -õks-kstõ -õkstõ
Imperative1-gõm -õgõm -kkõm -kõm
2-gīd -gid -õgid -kkõd -kõd
Quotative1–3-i -ji -iji-id -jid -ijid
Jussive1–3 -gõ -g |-õg -kkõ -kõ-gõd -õgõd -kkõd -kõd

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References

  1. 1 2 3 "Sketch of Livonian Sounds and Grammar". Virtual Livonia.
  2. 1 2 3 Blokland, Rogier; Inaba, Nobufumi (2018). "The l-cases in Courland Livonian". Eesti ja Soome-Ugri Keeleteaduse Ajakiri. 9 (2): 147–164. doi: 10.12697/jeful.2018.9.2.07 .

Bibliography