Latvian Grammar

“Latvian Grammar” was written to make information about the Latvian language and its grammatical system more easily available not only within Latvia, but also beyond its borders. A modern grammar of Latvian written in English is as important for native speakers of Latvian as for those who have learned Latvian as a second language and also is of great value for anyone interested in the culture and history of Latvia or the Latvian language itself. The need for a reference grammar of Latvian written in English is especially important right now due to the existence of a large Latvian diaspora community abroad, particularly in English-speaking countries where children and young people are educat…

Valoda: nozīme un forma. Nr. 12: Gramatika un valodas apguve

Rakstu krājums ietver 15 rakstu par dažādiem gramatikas un valodas apguves jautājumiem sinhroniskā un diahroniskā aspektā. Valodas materiāla analīze galvenokārt balstās dažādu korpusu (latviešu, lietuviešu, angļu) pētījumos un tekstu interpretācijā (latviešu un gruzīnu valodas diahroniskā aprakstā). This volume covers 15 articles on different synchronic and diachronic issues in grammar and language acquisition. The research is mainly corpus- based (using various Latvian, Lithuanian, English corpora) and text-driven (the history of Latvian, Latin, and Georgian).

Subject case alternation in negated existential, locative, and possessive clauses in Latvian

[full article and abstract in English]
 The goal of this article is to analyse the alternation between the genitive and nominative cases in Latvian. As the alternation between genitive and nominative cases is possible in all clauses in which the verb būt ‘to be’ is used as an independent verb, this article examines existential, locative, and also possessive clauses, while also demonstrating that distinguishing these clause types is problematic for Latvian utilising the criteria given in the linguistic literature. Clauses containing the negative form of būt ‘to be’, i.e. nebūt, form the foundation of those selected for this study, as only in these sentences the genitive/nominative alter…

Nenoteiksme, modalitāte un verba nullformas latviešu valodā

Subject case alternation in Latvian and Estonian existential clauses

In Latvian and Estonian existential clauses, the subject’s case form alternates between nominative vs. genitive (in Latvian) and nominative vs. partitive (in Estonian). This article is a study of the case-alternation systems of existential clauses and related clause types, locative and possessive clauses in these languages. It includes a corpusbased analysis of Latvian existential clauses that is being compared with Estonian corpus-based findings on similar clause types in Estonian. *** Subjekti kaandevaheldus lati ja eesti keele eksistentsiaallausetes Nii eesti kui ka lati keeles esineb subjekti kaandevaheldust. Lati keeles saab subjekt olla lisaks nominatiivile ka genitiivis, eesti keeles…

Pragmatiniai predikatinių bendraties konstrukcijų aspektai latvių kalboje

Šio straipsnio tikslas – ištirti pragmatinius predikatinės bendraties konstrukcijos latvių kalboje aspektus ir įrodyti, kad šios konstrukcijos turi specifinius pragmatinius ženklus. Priešingai nei tokie pragmatiniai ženklai kaip dalelytės, jungtukai, prieveiksmiai ar prozodija, predikatinės bendraties konstrukcijos latvių kalboje pragmatiškai funkcionuoja kaip atskiras vienetas, t. y., struktūrinis funkcionalumas kyla iš sąsajos, o ne iš atskirų leksinių ar gramatinių elementų. Šios konstrukcijos latvių kalboje žymi marginalinį modalumą, o jų vartojimas yra susijęs su neutraliais, pažymėtais kalbos registrais. Taigi straipsnyje pagrindinis dėmesys skiriamas modalinėms ir laikinoms reikšmėms…

Valoda: nozīme un forma. Nr. 13: Gramatika un valodas prasme