Lithuanian is the most-spoken East Baltic language, with more than 3 million speakers worldwide, followed by Latvian, with 1.75 million native speakers, then Samogitan with 500,000 native speaker, and lastly Latgalian with 150,000 native speakers. [3][4]
Historyedit
Originally, East Baltic was presumably native to the north of Eastern Europe, which included modern Latvia, Lithuania, northern parts of current European Russia and Belarus. Dnieper Balts lived in the current territory of Moscow, which was the furthest undisputed eastern territory inhabited by the Baltic people.
Traditionally, it is believed that Western and Eastern Baltic people had already possessed certain unique traits that separated them in the middle of the last millennium BC and began to permanently split between 5th and 3rd century BC.[5] During this time, Western and Eastern Balts adopted different traditions and customs. They had separate ceramics and housebuilding traditions. In addition, both groups had their own burial customs: unlike their Western counterparts, it is believed that Eastern Balts would burn the remains of the dead and scatter the ashes on the ground or nearby rivers and lakes. It is also known that Eastern Balts were much more susceptible to the cultural influences coming from their Baltic Finnic neighbours in the northeast.[5]
Linguistic featuresedit
The East Baltic languages are less archaic than their Western counterparts with Latvian being the most innovative Baltic language. In part due to the influence of Baltic Finnic languages on their development, such as in the case of stress retraction. The extinct languages of the Eastern family group are poorly understood as they are practically unattested.[6] However, from the analysis of hydronyms and retained loanwords, it is known that Selonian and Old Curonian languages possessed the retention of nasal vowels *an, *en, *in, *un. It is noted that Selonian, Semigallian and Old Latgalian palatalised soft velars *k, *g into *c, *dz while also depalatalising the sounds *š, *ž into *s, *z respectively. This is observed in hydronyms and oeconyms (e.g. Zirnajai, Zalvas, Zarasai) as well as loanwords preserved in Lithuanian and Latvian dialects.[7] It is believed that Semigallian possessed an uninflected pronoun, which was the equivalent to the Lithuanian savo (e.g. Sem. Savazirgi, Lith. savo žirgai, meaning 'one's horses').[8] East Baltic would in many cases turn the diphthong *ei into a monophthong, pronounced like the contemporary Latvian jē and Lithuanian ė. This would further develop in Lithuanian and Latvian to become the present diphthong *ie (e.g. Lat. dievs, Lith. dievas 'god').[6] This innovation becomes obvious when comparing ablauted words of the same root, where o-grade words do not reflect this change (e.g. Lat. ciems, Lith. kaimas 'village'). Unlike their Western counterparts, East Baltic languages usually tend to keep their short vowels *o and *a separately (e.g. Lat. duot, Lith. duoti 'give' as opposed to Lat. māte, Lith. motina 'mother').[9]
Referencesedit
^Gimbutas, Marija (1963). The Balts. Ancient peoples and places 33. London: Thames and Hudson. Retrieved 3 December 2011.
^Östen Dahl (ed.) 2001, The Circum-Baltic Languages: Typology and Contact, vol. 1
^Lithuanian language at Ethnologue (19th ed., 2016)
^Latvian at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required), Standard Latvian language at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required), Latgalian language at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
^ abZinkevičius, Zigmas, Luchtanas, Aleksiejus, Česnys, Gintautas (2006). Apie skirtumus tarp rytų ir vakarų baltų [About the Differences Between Eastern and Western Balts] (in Lithuanian).
^Zinkevičius, Zigmas (1984). Lietuvių kalbos istorija [History of Lithuanian Language] (in Lithuanian). I. Vilnius: Mokslas. p. 361. ISBN5-420-00102-0.
^Schmalstieg, W. R. (1974). An Old Prussian Grammar: The Phonology and Morphology of the Three Catechisms. The Pennsylvania State University, University Park and London, p. 17.
April 23, 2024
east, baltic, languages, group, languages, that, along, with, extinct, west, baltic, languages, belong, baltic, branch, indo, european, language, family, east, baltic, branch, only, four, living, languages, latvian, latgalian, lithuanian, samogitian, also, inc. The East Baltic languages are a group of languages that along with the extinct West Baltic languages belong to the Baltic branch of the Indo European language family The East Baltic branch has only four living languages Latvian Latgalian Lithuanian and Samogitian 1 It also includes now extinct Selonian Semigallian and possibly Old Curonian 2 East BalticGeographicdistributionIn Northern Europe Baltic regionLinguistic classificationIndo EuropeanBalto SlavicBalticEast BalticSubdivisionsLatvian Lithuanian Latgalian Samogitian Selonian Semigallian ISO 639 5batLinguasphere54 Glottologeast2280Extent of Baltic languages in present day Europe with languages traditionally considered to be dialects mentioned in ItalicsEast Baltic languages Latgalian Latvian Lithuanian SamogitianLithuanian is the most spoken East Baltic language with more than 3 million speakers worldwide followed by Latvian with 1 75 million native speakers then Samogitan with 500 000 native speaker and lastly Latgalian with 150 000 native speakers 3 4 History editOriginally East Baltic was presumably native to the north of Eastern Europe which included modern Latvia Lithuania northern parts of current European Russia and Belarus Dnieper Balts lived in the current territory of Moscow which was the furthest undisputed eastern territory inhabited by the Baltic people Traditionally it is believed that Western and Eastern Baltic people had already possessed certain unique traits that separated them in the middle of the last millennium BC and began to permanently split between 5th and 3rd century BC 5 During this time Western and Eastern Balts adopted different traditions and customs They had separate ceramics and housebuilding traditions In addition both groups had their own burial customs unlike their Western counterparts it is believed that Eastern Balts would burn the remains of the dead and scatter the ashes on the ground or nearby rivers and lakes It is also known that Eastern Balts were much more susceptible to the cultural influences coming from their Baltic Finnic neighbours in the northeast 5 Linguistic features editThe East Baltic languages are less archaic than their Western counterparts with Latvian being the most innovative Baltic language In part due to the influence of Baltic Finnic languages on their development such as in the case of stress retraction The extinct languages of the Eastern family group are poorly understood as they are practically unattested 6 However from the analysis of hydronyms and retained loanwords it is known that Selonian and Old Curonian languages possessed the retention of nasal vowels an en in un It is noted that Selonian Semigallian and Old Latgalian palatalised soft velars k g into c dz while also depalatalising the sounds s z into s z respectively This is observed in hydronyms and oeconyms e g Zirnajai Zalvas Zarasai as well as loanwords preserved in Lithuanian and Latvian dialects 7 It is believed that Semigallian possessed an uninflected pronoun which was the equivalent to the Lithuanian savo e g Sem Savazirgi Lith savo zirgai meaning one s horses 8 East Baltic would in many cases turn the diphthong ei into a monophthong pronounced like the contemporary Latvian je and Lithuanian e This would further develop in Lithuanian and Latvian to become the present diphthong ie e g Lat dievs Lith dievas god 6 This innovation becomes obvious when comparing ablauted words of the same root where o grade words do not reflect this change e g Lat ciems Lith kaimas village Unlike their Western counterparts East Baltic languages usually tend to keep their short vowels o and a separately e g Lat duot Lith duoti give as opposed to Lat mate Lith motina mother 9 References edit Gimbutas Marija 1963 The Balts Ancient peoples and places 33 London Thames and Hudson Retrieved 3 December 2011 Osten Dahl ed 2001 The Circum Baltic Languages Typology and Contact vol 1 Lithuanian language at Ethnologue 19th ed 2016 Latvian at Ethnologue 18th ed 2015 subscription required Standard Latvian language at Ethnologue 18th ed 2015 subscription required Latgalian language at Ethnologue 18th ed 2015 subscription required a b Zinkevicius Zigmas Luchtanas Aleksiejus Cesnys Gintautas 2006 Apie skirtumus tarp rytu ir vakaru baltu About the Differences Between Eastern and Western Balts in Lithuanian a b Rytu ir vakaru baltai Du baltu tarimu junginiai Eastern and Western Balts Two Compounds of Baltic Spelling in Lithuanian Science and Encyclopaedia Publishing Centre Zinkevicius Zigmas 1984 Lietuviu kalbos istorija History of Lithuanian Language in Lithuanian I Vilnius Mokslas p 361 ISBN 5 420 00102 0 Dini P U 2000 Baltu kalbos Lyginamoji istorija Baltic Languages Comparative History in Lithuanian Vilnius Science and Encyclopaedia Publishing Centre p 235 ISBN 5 420 01444 0 Schmalstieg W R 1974 An Old Prussian Grammar The Phonology and Morphology of the Three Catechisms The Pennsylvania State University University Park and London p 17 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title East Baltic languages amp oldid 1188778823, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
