Establishing the Age of the Latvian Debitive Mood: the Evidence of Latgalian
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.22364/bf.32.03Keywords:
Latgalian, debitive mood, Latvian dialects, East Baltic, historical linguistics, diachrony, morphosyntaxAbstract
This article attempts to determine the age of the Latvian debitive mood with the help of a systematic investigation of its attestation in Latgalian, the variety of High Latvian dialects spoken in Latgale. While the debitive in older Standard and Central Latvian sources has been studied extensively, the debitive in older Latgalian sources has not met with equivalent interest yet. It is against this backdrop that, for the first time, the present article seeks to provide a systematic historical survey of the debitive as attested in 18th and 19th-century Latgalian sources. This survey will show that the debitive is well-attested in Latgalian since the very beginning of its written record, and that it has most likely always constituted a genuine part of Latgalian morphosyntax. As Latgalian developed free from Standard/Central Latvian influence up until the 20th century, these findings have major implications for establishing the age of the debitive: the cooccurrence of the debitive in Latgalian and Central/Standard Latvian suggests that the debitive is a shared innovation of the Latvian dialects dating back to Proto-Latvian times.
References
Auziņa, Ilze et al. 2015. Latviešu valodas gramatika. 2. izdevums. Rīga: Latviešu valodas institūts.
Andronovs, Aleksejs. 1998. Vajadzības izteiksme latviešu valodas gramatiskajā tradicijā. Baltu filoloģija 8, 154–177.
Balode, Laimute & Axel Holvoet. 2001. The Latvian language and its dialects. Östen Dahl & Maria Koptevskaja-Tamm (eds.). The Circum-Baltic languages. Typology and contact. Vol 1. Past and present. Amsterdam: Benjamins, 3–40.
Cibuļs, Juris & Lidija Leikuma. 2003. Vasals! Latgaliešu valodas mācība. [Rīga:] n.i.m.s.
CJ = Cyłwaks jszkigs aba mocieyba ab karrybom cyłwaka. Polotsk: Society of Jesus, 1808.
CV = Biblia Sacra Vulgatae Editionis. Rome: Typographia Apostolica Vaticana, 1592.
Daugavet, Anna. 2017. A corpus-based study of the Latvian debitive vs vajadzēt. Baltic Linguistics 8, 9–56.
Elger, Georg[ius]. 1672. Evangelia Toto Anno Singulis Dominicis & Festis diebus juxta antiquam Ecclesiæ consvetudinem in Livonia Lothavis prælegi Solita. Vilnius: Society of Jesus.
Endzelin 1901a = Endzelīns, Jānis. Kā cēlies un lietojams latviešu valodas dēbitīvs? Rakstu krājums 13, 1–6 (reprinted in Endzelīns, Jānis. Darbu izlase. I, 138–142. Rīga: Zinātne, 1971).
Endzelin, J[an]. 1901b. Ursprung und gebrauch des lettischen debitivs. Beiträge zur Kunde der indogermanischen Sprachen 26, 66–74 (reprinted in Endzelīns, Jānis. Darbu izlase. I, 143–150. Rīga: Zinātne, 1971).
Endzelin, J[a]n. 1922. Lettisches Lesebuch. Grammatische und metrische Vorbemerkungen, Texte und Glossar. Heidelberg: Winter.
Endzelin, J[an]. 1923. Lettische Grammatik. Heidelberg: Winter.
EvEp = Evangelia und Episteln aus dem deudſchen in undeudſche Sprache gebracht. Königsberg: Osterberger, 1587.
EvTA = Evangelia Toto Anno Singulis Dominicis & Festis diebus juxta antiquam Ecclesiæ consvetudinem in Livonia Lothavis prælegi Solita. Vilnius: Society of Jesus, 1753 (ed. Stafecka 2004).
Gāters, Alfrēds. 1993. Lettische Syntax. Die Dainas. Frankfurt am Main: Lang.
Holvoet, Axel. 1997. Notes on the Latvian debitive. Res Balticae 3, 141–152.
Holvoet, Axel. 1998. Notes on the rise and grammaticalisation of the Latvian debitive. Linguistica Baltica 7, 101–118.
Holvoet, Axel. 2000. Infinitival relative clauses in Latvian: their structure, development and tendency towards lexicalisation. Linguistica Lettica 7, 99–116.
Holvoet, Axel. 2001a. Mood and modality in Latvian. Sprachtypologie und Universalienforschung 54 (3), 226–252.
Holvoet, Axel. 2001b. Studies in the Latvian verb. Kraków: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Jagiellońskiego.
Holvoet, Axel. 2007. Mood and modality in Baltic. Kraków: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Jagiellońskiego.
Holvoet, Axel. 2013. Obliqueness, quasi-subjects and transitivity in Baltic and Slavonic. Ilija A. Seržant & Leonid Kulikov (eds.). The diachronic typology of non-canonical subject. Amsterdam: Benjamins, 257–282.
Holvoet, Axel. 2015. Latvian passives – personal, impersonal and evidential. Axel Holvoet & Nicole Nau (eds.), Voice and argument structure in Baltic. Amsterdam: Benjamins, 367–394.
Holvoet, Axel & Marta Grzybowska. 2014. Non-canonical grammatical relations in a modal construction. The Latvian debitive. Axel Holvoet & Nicole Nau (eds.). Grammatical relations and their non-canonical encoding in Baltic. Amsterdam: Benjamins, 97–135.
ILK = [Manteuffel, Gustav], ed. 1861[1862]–1871. Inflantuziemies łajkagromota aba kalenders. 10 issues.
JT = Tas Jauns Testaments Muhſu Kunga Jesus Kristus. Riga: Wilcken, 1685.
Kalnača, Andra. 2016. Nenoteiksme, modalitāte un verba nullformas latviešu valodā. Valoda: nozīme un forma 7, 41–49.
Kauliń, J. 1889. Ueber die (lettische) Mundart von Saussen und Fehteln (Livland) (Schluss). Beiträge zur Kunde der indogermanischen Sprachen 14, 116–151.
LDW = Mühlenbach, K[arl] & J[an] Endzelin. 1923–1932. Lettisch-deutsches Wörterbuch. 4 vols. Riga: Lettischer Kulturfonds.
Lokmane, Ilze & Andra Kalnača. 2014. Modal semantics and morphosyntax of the Latvian debitive. Elisabeth Leiss & Werner Abraham (eds.). Modes of modality. Modality, typology, and universal grammar. Amsterdam: Benjamins, 167–191.
Mancelius, Georg[ius]. 1631. Lettisch Vade mecum. Riga: Schröder.
Metuzāle-Kangere, Baiba & Kersti Boiko. 2001. Case systems and syntax in Latvian and Estonian. Östen Dahl & Maria Koptevskaja-Tamm (eds.). The Circum-Baltic languages. Typology and contact. Vol 2. Grammar and typology. Amsterdam: Benjamins, 481–498.
Mühlenbach 1907 = Mjulenbaxъ, K. O debitivě. Izvěstija otdělenija russkago jazyka i slovesnosti Imperatorskoj Akademii Naukъ 12 (3), 313–333.
NA = Aland, Barbara & Kurt et al., eds. 2012. Novum Testamentum Graece. 28th edition. Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft.
Nab = Nabożeństwo ku czci i chwale Boga w Troycy S. jedynego. Vilnius: Society of Jesus, 1771.
Nau, Nicole. 2011. A Short Grammar of Latgalian. München: LINCOM.
Nau, Nicole. 2014. Differential object marking in Latgalian. Axel Holvoet & Nicole Nau (eds.). Grammatical Relations and their Non-Canonical Encoding in Baltic. Amsterdam: Benjamins, 207–255.
Ozols, Arturs. 1993. Latviešu tautasdziesmu valoda. Rīga: Zvaigzne.
Prellwitz, W. 1904. Zur entstehung des lettischen debitivs. Beiträge zur Kunde der indogermanischen Sprachen 28, 319.
Seržant, Ilja A. 2013. The diachronic typology of non-canonical subjects and subject-like obliques. Ilija A. Seržant & Leonid Kulikov (eds.). The diachronic typology of non-canonical subjects. Amsterdam: Benjamins, 313–360.
Seržant, Ilja A. 2016. The nominative case in Baltic in a typological perspective. Axel Holvoet & Nicole Nau (eds.). Argument realization in Baltic. Amsterdam: Benjamins, 137–198.
Seržant, Ilja A. & Jana Taperte. 2016. Differential argument marking with the Latvian debitive. A multifactorial analysis. Axel Holvoet & Nicole Nau (eds.). Argument realization in Baltic. Amsterdam: Benjamins, 199–258.
SLV = Šiško, Silvija & Aleksejs Apīnis (eds.). 1999. Seniespiedumi latviešu valodā, 1525–1855. Rīga: Latvijas Nacionālā bibliotēka.
Stafecka, Anna. 2004. Evangelia toto anno 1753. Pirmā latgaliešu grāmata. Rīga: Latvijas Universitātes Latviešu valodas institūts.
Ulanowska, Stefania. 1891–1895. Łotysze inflant polskich a w szczególności z gminy Wielońskiej powiatu Rzežyckiego. 3 vols. Kraków: Nakładem akademii umiejętności.
Vanags, Pēteris. 2000. Debitīva formu lietojums visvecākajos latviešu rakstos. Baltu filoloģija 9, 143–156.
Wälchli, Bernhard. 2000. Infinite predication as a marker of evidentiality and modality in the languages of the Baltic region. Sprachtypologie und Universalienforschung 53 (2), 186–210.
WM = Wyssa Mocieyba Katoliszka. Polotsk: Society of Jesus, 1805.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2023 University of Latvia
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
