Livonian grammar

Grammar of the Livonian language

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

## Tones

[edit]

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

[edit]

### Personal Pronouns

[edit]

Singular

| First Person ("I") | Second Person ("You") | Third Person ("He" or "She")
Nominative | minā/ma  | sinā/sa  | tämā/ta
Genitive | min  | sin  | täm
Dative | minnõn  | sinnõn  | tämmõn
Translative | minkõks  | sinkõks  | tämkõks
Partitive | mīnda  | sīnda  | tǟnda
Inessive | mins/minšõ  | sins/sinšõ  | täms/tamšõ
Elative | minst/minstõ  | sinst/sinstõ  | tämst/tämstõ
Illative | minnõ  | sinnõ  | tämmõ
Plural

| First Person ("We") | Second Person ("You") | Third Person ("They")
Nominative | mēg  | tēg  | ne
Genitive | mäd  | täd  | nänt
Dative | mäddõn  | täddõn  | näntõn
Translative | mätkõks  | tätkõks  | näntkõks
Partitive | mēḑi  | tēḑi  | nēḑi
Inessive | mēšši  | tēšši  | nēšši
Elative | mēšti  | tēšti  | nēšti
Illative | mēži  | tēži  | nēži

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

### Demonstrative Pronouns

[edit]

| Singular
("this, this one") | Plural
("these, these ones")

|
|

Nominative | sīe/se  | ne
Genitive | sīe/se  | nänt
Dative | sīen  | näntõn
Translative | sīeks/sīekõks  | näntkõks
Partitive | sīeda  | nēḑi
Inessive | sīes/sīessõ  | nẽšši
Elative | sīest/sīestõ  | nēšti
Illative | sīezõ  | nēži

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

### Reflexive Pronouns

[edit]

| Singular
("myself, yourself, oneself") | Plural
("ourselves, yourself/ves, themselves")

|
|

Nominative | iž  | iž
Genitive | eņtš  | eņtš
Dative | eņtšõn  | eņtšõn
Translative | eņtšõks  | eņtšōdõks
Partitive | eņtšta  | eņtšidi
Inessive | eņtšõs  | eņtšis
Elative | eņtšõst  | eņtšist
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

[edit]

Look up Appendix:Livonian declension in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

The following are the cases in Livonian:[1]

Case  | Singular  | Plural

|
|

Nominative  | -∅  | -t

-õd
Genitive  | -∅  | -t

-õd
Partitive  | -tā
-dā
-ța
-ta
-da
-tõ
-dõ

-∅  | -ți
-ḑi
-ti
-di

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

[edit]

līvli "Livonian"  | Singular  | Plural

|
|

Nominative  | līvli | - | līvlizt | -t
Genitive  | līvliz | - | līvlizt | -t
Partitive  | līvliztõ | -tõ | līvliži | -i
Dative  | līvlizõn | -õn | līvliztõn | -tõn
Instrumental  | līvlizõks | -õks | līvliztõks | -tõks
Illative  | līvlizõ | -õ | līvližiz | -iz
Inessive  | līvlizõs | -õs | līvližis | -is
Elative  | līvlizõst | -õst | līvližist | -ist
ve’ž "water"  | Singular  | Plural

|
|

Nominative  | ve’ž | - | viedūd | -d
Genitive  | vie’d | - | viedūd | -d
Partitive  | vietā | -tā | vežži | -i
Dative  | vie’ddõn | -õn | viedūdõn | -dõn
Instrumental  | vie’dkõks | -kõks | viedūdõks | -dõks
Illative  | vie’ddõ | -õ | vežīz | -īz
Inessive  | vie’dsõ | -sõ | vežīs | -īs
Elative  | vie’dstõ | -stõ | vežīst | -īst

## Moods

[edit]

The following are the moods in Livonian:[1]

Mood and Tense  | Person  | Singular  | Plural

|
|
|

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)
Conditional  | 1  | -ks -õks  | -kstõ -õkstõ
| 2  | -kst -õkst  | -kstõ -õkstõ
|  | -ks -õks  | -kstõ -õkstõ
Imperative  | 1  |  | -gõm -õgõm -kkõm -kõm
| 2  | –  | -gīd -gid -õgid -kkõd -kõd
Quotative  | 1–3  | -i -ji -iji  | -id -jid -ijid
Jussive  | 1–3  |  -gõ -g |-õg -kkõ -kõ  | -gõd -õgõd -kkõd -kõd

## References

[edit]

1. ^ a b c "Sketch of Livonian Sounds and Grammar". Virtual Livonia.
2. ^ a b c 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

[edit]

* Sivers, Fanny de (2000). Parlons live : une langue de la Baltique (in French). Paris: L'Harmattan. ISBN 2-7475-1337-8.

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