This case study shares first insights of the family language policy of a Lithuanianfamily in Sweden. It identifies Lithuanian language discourses that might affect this policy and analyses discourse strategies applied by the family members. The aim isto shed some new light on the negotiation processes of family language policies thateither support the maintenance of an ethnic language as the means of intra-familycommunication in immigrant contexts or, conversely, work against it. Applyinga linguistic ethnographical approach, the study indicates that in this case the familylanguage policy is mostly shaped by the mother in a protective and monolingualway in order to foster the maintenance of the Lithuanian heritage in anticipation ofan external threat for Lithuanian language and identity.

The study of post-Soviet Lithuanian emigrant literature is a research field that only recently has emerged. The research published so far generally concentrates on “identity”: how Lithuanians conserve or do not conserve their Lithuanian identity while living abroad.

This paper has another approach. Based on the chronotope models elaborated by literary scholar Juris Rozītis, two books by Lithuanian authors writing about life in the UK and Ireland are analysed with the aim to investigate how emigrant life is depicted. The research questions are:

• How is emigrant life depicted in post-Soviet Lithuanian emigrant literature?
• How does this image differ from the one in Latvian post-World War II exile literature?

The resulting “confined in the new country model" turned out to be very similar to the "life in the refugee camps model" presented by Rozītis. The “confined in the new country model" shows emigrants living in a world where there is no space for personal self or for intimate relations with family or loved ones. Instead they live in a grey zone, IN the new country but not really as a PART OF it. Their immediate environment is constituted by other ”outsiders”: other immigrants, petty criminals, etc. Confining this zone of ”outsiders” there is an invisible but no less real delimitation from the normal society of the host country. However, there is a significant difference from the "life in the refugee camp model": the presence of active contacts with the home country.

Många av världens språk är besläktade, vissa närmare än andra. Man brukar tala om olika språkfamiljer, varav den största är den indoeuropeiska. Dit hör såväl svenskan som flertalet europeiska språk, men även utomeuropeiska språk som hindi och persiska. Många ord har liknande ljudbild. Tänk på ett ord som näsa som ju heter nose på engelska, Nase på tyska, nos på ryska, nosis på litauiska, nasus på latin och så vidare. När man undersöker de indoeuropeiska språken i detalj visar det sig dessutom att de har en liknande struktur. Liksom orden går strukturen tillbaka på ett gemensamt ursprung.

Heritage languages are increasingly seen as a source of important insight in linguistics. Latvian has a long and under-researched history as a heritage language, with a heterogenous community of heritage speakers from two waves of migration in many countries including Sweden. A qualitative case study of a small written corpus identifies and analyses the key divergences in heritage Latvian in texts by nine preadolescent children that attend the complementary Latvian community school in Stockholm. Self-reported background information on language practices by study participants and their parents is used to estimate and compare their heritage language exposure level. This composite measure helps to evaluate the vulnerability of various areas of grammar to reduced language input. The observed language changes are analysed in the context of a recent study on Latvian language change in second-generation post-war immigrants to Sweden, earlier findings of contact-induced change in heritage Latvian in the USA as well as common features identified in other heritage languages. Changes attested in texts by several study participants and in previous studies are likely to point to common features of heritage Latvian. Recognition of their language as a heritage variety of Latvian can facilitate language maintenance efforts in the language community.

The article deals with two books of parish register from Mālpils, which were begun to compile in 1697 and that are interesting not only for their historical factual information, but also for their language. These are two of the few parish register books of this era, in which sometimes one can find entries not only German or Latin, but also in Latvian. In these two particular books from Mālpils’ parish records in Latvian between 1697 and 1706 have been consecutively done by two persons.

Source analysis suggests that the Danzig-born pastor of Mālpils – Nathanael Pomeranus (writer A) who learned Latvian already as a grown man, was not only familiar with writing tradition of Georg Mancelius that lasted until the last decade of the 17th century but also used it in his records in parish register. On the other hand, N. Pomeranus was also aware of certain problems in the Latvian writing and he tried to use innovative approaches to denote a number of sounds. Meanwhile, the second writer (B), which continued the records, comes from relatively educated class, who although new Latvian, were not familiar with the particular writing tradition of that time. The actual author of these records (B) still stays unknown. In this paper a hypothesis has been put forward that it could have been the son of N. Pomeranus – Christian Pomeranus, who helped his father when due to his illness, he was no longer able to take care of parish register.

The source analysed in this paper also provides an important material for research of Latvian vocabulary. This source itself contains a number of lexical thematic groups related to the social structure of their time. Meanwhile, notes of proper names in Latvian reveal the actual form of place names used at this time in Mālpils’ parish and its surroundings, as well as a significant number of personal names.

The article discusses the origin and development of the Latvian language, which covers the period until the beginning of the 20th century. The main focus is on the following phases of the history of Latvian: 1. Period of the graphization and language selection (first half of the 13th to17th century); 2. Period of the initial codification of the norm (mid-17th century to mid-18th century); 3. Period of normalization (second half of the 18th century to mid-19th century); 4. Period of partial change and modernization of the norm (second half of the 19th century to the beginning of the 20th century).

During this development, the following processes took place in the Latvian language: a) alphabetization or graphization; b) unification of spelling; c) unification of language forms; d) the construction of a language (Ausbau) in a narrower sense, which can also be called modernization. This construction involves two interdependent dimensions – new stylistic tools and new genres: 1) religious texts; 2) practical texts; 3) fiction; 4) private texts.

Sociolinguistic aspects should be taken into account alongside purely linguistic aspects and content of texts. In the case of the Latvian language, they are: active users (language creators – writers and speakers), passive users (readers and listeners), areas of use and functions of the language. These aspects differ in each historical period, complemented by new nuances.

At the beginning of the 20th century, the Latvian language was already well established. Before World War I, the Latvian written or literary language was at least in its written form a common language for all Latvians in Vidzeme (Livland) and Kurzeme (Courland). In Latgale, the Latgalian written language has gradually strengthened. Latvian was developed and used by the Latvians themselves.

In the four hundred years since the first written texts, the Latvian language had developed from spoken dialects into a highly developed standard language. The next historic step was the Latvian language becoming a national language in the Republic of Latvia, founded in 1918.

Der Artikel befasst sich mit der Entstehung der Texte des ersten lettischen lutherischen Katechismus Enchiridion (1586) und seiner Verbindung mit den katechetischen Werken Martin Luthers. Die Studie zeigt, dass die lettische Ausgabe aus zwei Teilen besteht – einem kurzen anonymen Katechismus sowie einer Übersetzung von Luthers Kleinem Katechismus. Eine detailliertere Analyse der Texte ermöglicht es auch, die ungefähre Zeit der Übersetzung und die verwendeten Quellen anzugeben. Der erste Teil des lettischen Enchiridions ist ein anonymer Text aus den 1520er–1530er Jahren. Die Übersetzung von Luthers Kleinem Katechismus wurde ursprünglich etwa Mitte der 1540er Jahre aus einer niederdeutschen Ausgabe angefertigt. Die Texte beider Teile des lettischen Katechismus wurden dann redaktionell korrigiert, bis sie die Form annahmen, in der sie 1586 gedruckt wurden.

1. The Lithuanian word valstybė ‘state, polity’ was first registered in a Lithuanian text by Simonas Daukantas’s History of the Lithuanian Lowlands (Istoryje Ƶemaytyszka; IƵ; ~1828–1834 in Rīga, Latvia).

2. Daukantas borrowed the word valstybė from Latvian. He himself believed he had appropriated the word from the Herulian language (not Latvian) via Joachim Lelewel’s text. The word had reached Daukantas this way: Hasentöter (beginning of the sixteenth century) → Münster (1550) → Lazius (1557) → Lelewel (1808) → Daukantas (1828–1834).

3. Daukantas’s work at the General Governor’s office in Rīga must have stimulated him to transfer valstybė into Lithuanian. Daukantas could not miss the printed texts containing the Latvian combination Kreewu(=) walſtibas ‘of the Russian state’ that were circulating in the office, and it could have encouraged him to adapt it for his Lithuanian text.

4. Daukantas also used valstybė in his later writings. After his death (in 1864), however, valstybė was not accepted in Lithuanian for a long time. Only later, after the 1892, 1893, and 1899 (re‑)publications of his works, did valstybė reemerge.

5. One of the first to resurrect Daukantas’s loanword valstybė was Povilas Višinskis, a member of the Lithuanian Democratic Party, in the January 29 [February 11], 1905 issue ofthe Lithuanian newspaper Vilniaus žinios ‘Vilnius News’ in the article “Kiek pinigų surenka ir išleidžia Rusų vyriausybė” [‘How Much Money the Russian Government Collects and Spends’). Possibly during the beginning and certainly by the middle of the year 1905 Višinskis switched to valstybė completely and abandoned viešpatystė and valstija, popular synonyms at the time.

6. After Višinskis, a member of the Lithuanian Social Democratic Party, Augustinas Janulaitis, used the word valstybė in his pamphlet "Kunigo Jurgio Gapono laiškai" (‘Letters ofthe Priest Jurgis Gaponas’) that was published in May or somewhat earlier in 1905; also in his articles “Įsteigiamasis Rūsijos seimas ir Lietuvos seimas” (‘Constitutive Parliament of Russia and the Great Lithuanian Assembly’) and “Politiškas streikas ir ramusis pasipriešinimas”(‘Political Strike and Peaceful Resistance’) that were printed in issue 4, 1905 of the magazine Darbininkų balsas (‘Voice of the Workers’).

7. The linguist Jonas Jablonskis must have accepted the fact of valstybė’s spread at the end of 1905. The Russian revolution and the war with Japan in 1905, the Great Assembly of Vilnius at the end of 1905, and the State Parliament elections at the beginning of 1906 made the concept of ‘state, polity’ very frequent and relevant, and in 1906 valstybė finally won the competition with its synonyms as the most comfortable way to express the concept. It was of significance that Višinskis (circa January 1905) and Janulaitis (circa April 1905) had selected this word, but the approval by Jablonskis (circa December 1905) could have been the most decisive factor for the subsequent substantial spread of valstybė.

Brīvība (Freedom) as the political voice of Latvian Social Demoracts in exile, first years (1948-1954): a short insight

Brīvība (Freedom) was the monthly newsletter of the exile Latvian Social Demo­cratic Workers’ Party (LSDSP), a newsletter which was established in Sweden in 1945. At first Brīvība was published as an annual journal, with issues in 1948, 1949 and 1950. As the official voice of the party, it defended the view that the exile community should unite under the last speaker of the democratic Latvian parliament and that exiles should not follow the lead of the Latvian Ambassador in London, who had been assigned extra­ordinary powers in 1940 by the authoritarian Latvian government. LSDSP support for the “parliamentarians” and its progressive stand points on other political matters were not popular among the mainly conservative Latvian exiles. Moreover, the aggressive journalistic style of the first Brīvība issues was not helpful in attracting new party members or more subscribers. From July 1950 to the end of 1953, Brīvība was issued as an internal party newsletter. It also actively recruited party members among Latvian exile communities and sought to widen its readership. In 1954, Brīvība resu­med publication as a monthly newsletter. The newsletter presented typical social de­mocratic standpoints on global politics and uniquely LSDSP views on exile Latvian politics. However, the parliamentarian con­troversy was no longer at the forefront and the journalistic tone had mellowed. Almost at the same time, a major right­wing exile Latvian politician, Alfrēds Valdmanis, was sentenced by a Canadian court to four years’ imprisonment for fraud and extortion, which meant that the right­wing authoritarians in exile lost their leading figure. These may be some of the main factors why Brīvība succeeded in expanding its readership and was able to continue publication outside of Latvia until 1999, thereby retaining its importance in exile Latvian politics.

Between 1955 and 1992, Latvians in the western exile received the propaganda publication "Dzimtenes Balss", which was written by and published by the Cultural Relations Committee in Riga, a KGB-front whose goal was to neutralize exile Latvian anti-Communistic activities. Beginning 1964, "Dzimtenes Balss" published a number of supplements that targeted exile Latvian activitists and organizations. The supplements, among them Svešuma Balss, Svešatnes Atspulgi, Latvia Today, et al, were published in Latvian and in English.

A summary of historian, publicist, and author Uldis Ģērmanis' collaboration with publishing house "Memento". "Memento" was established in Stockholm 1961, by leading exile Latvian socialdemocrats. Between 1986 and 1998 "Memento" published eleven books authored by Uldis Ģērmanis.

A summary of historian, publicist, and author Uldis Ģērmanis' collaboration with publishing house "Memento". "Memento" was established in Stockholm 1961, by leading exile Latvian socialdemocrats. Between 1986 and 1998 "Memento" published eleven books authored by Uldis Ģērmanis.