Livonian place names: Documentation, research, problems, and opportunities

Abstract

Livonian is one of the most endangered languages in Europe. Place names of Livonian origin are found not only where Livonian was recently spoken, but also in territories historically inhabited by Livonians across Latvia. Collection and study of place names in Livonian, however, has been fragmentary and largely occurred as part of other research. Documenting place names through field work is no longer possible, as few Livonian speakers remain and most of them know only already documented place names. This article gives an overview of previous work on research of place names in Livonian and grammatical features of such place names, examines techniques for collecting and reconstructing place names in Livonian using innovative approaches with existing data sources (e.g., harvesting place names from metadata), and explains the need for an authoritative source so Livonian place names can be used on official signage to visually demarcate the Livonian areas of Latvia and restore the Livonian place name landscape.