Linguae Europaeae

by Eric Becker Eric Becker is a graduate student in French Linguistics at the University of Illinois. He is planning on continuing his work towards his Masters and is interested in minority languages in Europe. He wrote this text as a student enrolled in FR 418 ‘Language and Minorities in Europe’. Image Source La situation de la langue live, ou le livonien comme on y réfère dans certains contextes, est précaire : la langue est « en situation critique » d’extinction selon l’UNESCO. La dernière locutrice de cette langue finno-ougrienne proche du finnois et de l’estonien, Grizelda Kristiņa, est morte en 2013 au Canada. Sans aucun locuteur natif, que deviendra la langue live ? Le livonien appartient à la branche fennique des langues finno-ougriennes, mais il était influencé aussi par les langues baltiques et slaves. Le livonien est parlé en Livonie, une région de Lettonie située à la pointe nord de la Courlande sur une péninsule dans le Golfe de Riga. Le livonien est donc class...

by Eastman Klepper Eastman Klepper is a graduate student in Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Eastman will start working for the government after graduation and is interested in the Russian language and culture and the current use and future development of the conventional ground forces of the Russian Federation. He wrote this text as a student enrolled in 418 ‘Language and Minorities in Europe.’ Figure 1 Russian-speaking minorities in the Baltics ( Image Source ) The Russian annexation of Crimea and the Russian-supported separatist conflict in eastern Ukraine have has become a major focus for the Baltic countries of Latvia and Estonia.  Due to their NATO membership, and active support “of Ukraine, Georgia, Moldova, and other countries that have resisted Russia’s pressures” (Bugajski),  these two countries have become a prime focus of Russian activities to gain the support of the Russian-speaking minorities...