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Stalin's Last Victim

Feb 19, 2009
By .
History, Language

The Livonian language, which survived conquests of what is now the tiny Livonia province of Latvia by the Danes, the medieval Knights of the Sword, the Teutonic Knights, the Lithuanians, the Poles, the Swedes, the Russians, the Prussians, the Russians again, the Germans, the Russian revolution, the Nazis, and the Soviets, is down to one last native speaker.

In the end, Stalin killed Livonian, deporting the Livonians who hadn't been slaughtered in two world wars to Siberia and forbidding official instruction in the language.  Though Livonian culture survives (barely), with one native speaker left, the language will soon be as dead as Cornish and Etruscan.  It is, unfortunately, only one among many.

H/t: Walter Olson, via Twitter.

Last 5 posts by Patrick

5 Comments
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5 Comments

  1. Marc J. Randazza  •  Feb 19, 2009 @7:32 pm

    Wow, UNESCO lists Sicilian as "unsafe." That's a bummer.

  2. Pagan Temple  •  Feb 19, 2009 @9:11 pm

    And people waste time learning Klingon and that other made up thing (can't think of the name of it). Why not learn and revive a real language, like Livonian or Etruscan?

  3. PLW  •  Feb 20, 2009 @6:16 am

    Esperanto, perhaps?

  4. Ken  •  Feb 20, 2009 @9:52 am

    And people waste time learning Klingon and that other made up thing (can’t think of the name of it). Why not learn and revive a real language, like Livonian or Etruscan?

    It is considerably more difficult to find a convention of other misfits who will accept you if you dress like an Etruscan.

  5. John  •  Feb 22, 2009 @4:53 pm

    What about the Irish langage being left to die by the Irish Government when it could very easily exist side by side with English.

    All place names in Ireland should be in Irish, towns, streets etc plus simple things like milk, butter, bread.

    God, I hear you say what about the tourists… you hop off a plane in Moscow and tell me how much English street names you see or food items written English.