Lexical Relations between Salaca Livonian and Estonian Dialects
Lexical Relations between Salaca Livonian and Estonian Dialects

Summary/Abstract: The present study is based on the Salaca Livonian dictionary compiled by Eberhard Winkler and Karl Pajusalu (Winkler, Pajusalu 2009), which assembles the vocabulary of all the Salaca Livonian sources. The Salaca Livonian dialect, which is a major variety of Livonian alongside Courland Livonian, was spoken in the vicinity of the river Salaca in northern Latvia until the mid-19th century. These areas were in direct contact with the areas of the Häädemeeste and Saarde subdialects of the southern group of the western dialect of North Estonian and the western dialects of South Estonian. The present study focuses on lexical relations between Salaca Livonian and its contact dialects as well as with the Estonian dialect area in general and makes an atttempt to explain what the vocabulary shared by Salaca Livonian and Estonian dialects could reveal about the development of Livonian. The closeness of lexical relations is established by means of a dialectometrical study, where at first the closeness of relations is calculated on the basis of the entire shared vocabulary, followed by closeness on the basis of infrequent and frequent vocabulary. The quantitative findings serve as the basis of a diachronic study of lexical relations between Salaca Livonian and the Estonian dialects. When taking into account the entire shared vocabulary, the links between Salaca Livonian and the southernmost South-Estonian dialects prove to be the strongest; however, the links between Salaca Livonian and western South-Estonian and West-Estonian subdialects rise to prominence as well. Analysis of less common vocabulary highlights the relation between Salaca Livonian and South Estonian even more; in the case of frequent words there is, in addition to South Estonian, a positive correlation with the insular dialects. All the three analyses show the closest link between the vocabulary of Salaca Livonian and the South-Estonian Leivu linguistic enclave.

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