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The present paper analyses self-reflexive opinions of 33 Estonians about small talk; it is based on interviews carried out in 2020–2022. The main topics covered in the paper are what participants consider small talk situations, how they feel in such situations, and what kind of topics they bring up or avoid. While silent Finns and silent Scandinavians appear in the literature almost as terms, research on Estonians and their behaviour has been scarce. The paper reveals that although Estonians might see themselves as silent, they often feel the need to break the silence. As it appears, it might result in a failed attempt, but the attempts are there. The article discusses various decisive factors in engaging in or refraining from small talk mentioned by the participants. It also sheds light on changes in time, which mainly seem to indicate that Estonians are opening up. Although small talk is not primarily connected with the notion of politeness in the interviewees' views, it nevertheless belongs to what is considered appropriate behaviour. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present article studies verbs that are used to convey change-of-state in the Finnic languages: “to come”, “to go”, “to remain/stay”, “to get”, “will be”, “to make/do”, and “to be born/give birth”. These are polysemous core verbs, which can be expected to be integrated in constructions with (new) generalized grammatical meaning. As will be shown, in order to convey change-of-state typically they occur in constructions that either mark the goal and the source or leave both unmarked. In addition, change can be associated with experiential, existential, and possessive constructions, which also enable to shed more light on the development of the above-mentioned verbs, including the possible development change-of-state → future. The article demonstrates that each Finnic language uses several verbs from the list presented above, but there are differences in what are the most commonly used ones and in what kind of constructions they occur. In some languages, there is a general change-of-state verb, which also appears as a future copula if there is no competing future copula. In the case of Estonian, Finnish, and Livonian, the results of previous studies on change-of-state predicates were used; for the other Finnic languages, a separate data set was compiled using various collections of texts.

This paper discusses comparative constructions in the Finnic languages. The main focus is on the southern Finnic languages with separate attention paid to dialect variation. By including a maximally complete microareal dataset, the article reviews already identified patterns and their spread, while also introducing some (later) developments that have received less attention or gone unnoticed. The results are viewed in the context of neighbouring noncognate contact languages (Latvian, Latgalian, and Russian); some parallels are also drawn with Lithuanian. As appears, due to being at the crossroads of Finnic and Baltic, it is in the southernmost Finnic languages where the genuine separative comparative construction meets various other patterns, including those borrowed from the Baltic languages. In general, the results enable us to shed more light on the outcomes of more ancient as well as more recent contact situations. The linguistic data originate from text collections, language corpora, example sentences in dictionaries and grammar books, and our own field work data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses strategies for forming polar questions and their historical sources in the two main varieties of Livonian – Courland Livonian and Salaca Livonian. The results reveal that the main means for marking polar questions in both varieties are sentence-initial particles. Their usage is compared to the means found in other varieties spoken in the Central Baltic area. This micro-areal comparison offers an in-depth analysis of the main patterns in the area, including their developmental paths. It appears that on several occasions, Livonian, Latvian, Latgalian, and Leivu South Estonian (spoken in Latvia) pattern together as opposed to the Estonian and South Estonian varieties (spoken in Estonia) and Lutsi and Kraasna South Estonian (spoken, respectively, in southeastern Latvia and the southern Pskov region in Russia). The data originate from various sources and different times, and were obtained by using both manual and automated methods; the analyses are qualitative. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article offers a comparative analysis of several morphosyntactic and phonological features in the South Estonian language islands: Leivu, Lutsi, and Kraasna. The objective is to give an overview of the distribution of selected features, their (in)stability over time, and discuss their form and use in a broader areal context. To achieve this goal, comparative information was also included from the closest cognate varieties (Estonian and the South Estonian varieties, Courland Livonian and Salaca Livonian) and the main contact varieties (Latgalian, Latvian, and Russian). The data analysed in this study originated from various sources: text collections, dictionaries, and language corpora. The results reveal a multitude of linguistic patterns and distribution patterns, which means that the studied varieties are similar to / different from one another in various ways and points to multifaceted contact situations and outcomes in this area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The supine inessive form in Salaca Livonian appears in a copular construction or as a sole predicate, and is usually associated with progressive and futurate readings. The linguistic data analysed in this study consist of example sentences in Salaca Livonian that are provided with Latvian, German, and/or Swedish translations. The data originate from the 19th century when Livonian was still spoken by Livonian-Latvian bilingual speakers in the northern part of Latvia. The present paper aims to study the functions and possible development of the supine inessive construction in detail, including the possibility of contact-induced change. The study takes a functional-typological and usage-based approach. We suggest that the usages of the supine inessive form reveal both language-internal development as well as instances of contact-induced development, more precisely reanalysis of Latvian forms with a similar function and/or form. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present article studies the usage of the Estonian verb jääda and Livonian īedõ in various grammatical constructions. Although in both languages they can be attested to convey REMAIN and CHANGE, there are differences in their use depending on the construction. Apart from Estonian, the Livonian īedõ is shown to function as a general change-of-state predicate. Whereas previously the Estonian jääda has been associated with negative change and continuation, this study demonstrates that, in more general terms, one could speak about unexpectedness or difference from the majority, and remaining in an activity or state for some time. The linguistic data originates from various corpora, in the case of Livonian also from collections of texts. In order to investigate the historical development, the Old Written Estonian data was also included in the study. We propose that originally the verb expressed 'remain, stay behind'. The corresponding meaning is present in most of the constructions expressing location; in Old Written Estonian such instances constituted 3/4 of all examples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this article is to present the main findings of research into Livonian syntax. As is typical of the Finnic languages other than Estonian and Finnish, in the past, syntax-related issues have received little attention. For instance, the only scientific grammar of Livonian, which was written in German and published in the 19th century, remains the most comprehensive overview of Livonian syntax. In recent times, however, interest in syntax-related issues has grown and there are several separate studies on specific issues of Livonian syntax. Furthermore, a contemporary Livonian reference grammar will be published in a few years and it will also contain a chapter on syntax. The present article is meant to give a research overview of the main topics discussed previously and point out the main challenges for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Finnic languages, the future is often expressed by means of the present tense. In addition to the present tense, there are also periphrastic devices that convey the future. Such devices involve verbs that have developed or are developing into future markers. This article concentrates on one of the varieties of Livonian -- Salaca Livonian. It analyses the development of the verbs tulla 'come', ürg 'begin', sād 'become' and lĩd 'will' (copula) that on the basis of broader typological background can be regarded as possible future markers in Salaca Livonian. The aim is to show to what extent these verbs have grammaticalized. The article reveals that lĩd is the most grammaticalized verb, as it also expresses the future in its temporal sense. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While global patterns of human genetic diversity are increasingly well characterized, the diversity of human languages remains less systematically described. Here, we outline the Grambank database. With over 400,000 data points and 2400 languages, Grambank is the largest comparative grammatical database available. The comprehensiveness of Grambank allows us to quantify the relative effects of genealogical inheritance and geographic proximity on the structural diversity of the world's languages, evaluate constraints on linguistic diversity, and identify the world's most unusual languages. An analysis of the consequences of language loss reveals that the reduction in diversity will be strikingly uneven across the major linguistic regions of the world. Without sustained efforts to document and revitalize endangered languages, our linguistic window into human history, cognition, and culture will be seriously fragmented.