The following is an inventory of the distinctive segments in Livonian. Those of infrequent or inconsistent occurrence (used in borrowings only or subject to fluctuation) are given in brackets (see 3.1.2.3).
/a/, /a/, /a/, /£/, /b/, /d/, /d'/, /e/, /e/, /i/, /e/, (/f/), /g/, (/h/), /!/, /I/, /]/, /k/, /!/, /I'/, /m/, /n/, /n'/, /o/, /Ô/, /p/, (/Ô/), /p/, /r/, /r'/z /s/, /s/, /t/, /t'/< /u/, /u/, (/Ü/), /v/, /z/, /z/.
The glottal catch [ ' ] may also be regarded as a distinctive segment; see 3.1.2.1.6. The phoneme /n/ is realised as [g ] to the left of /k/ and /g/.
3.1.2 Realisation of segmental elements 3.1.2.1 Non-seomental elements
3.1.2.1.1 Plosives
Plosives consist of unvoiced labial /p/ and its voiced
counterpart /b/; unvoiced apico-alveolar /t/ and its voiced counterpart /d/; the palatalised versions of these /t'/ and /d'/; unvoiced dorso-velar /k/ and its voiced counterpart /g/. In word- final position the plosive consonants may be either voiced, unvoiced or partially voiced depending on their environment, and are marked thus in texts: G, D, B. Plosives may be geminated between vowels. Examples:
(194) vada 'seine' (195) kiedeD 'ropes'
167 (197) ka 'also' (198) pal 'on' (199) tibeD 'wings' (200) aga 'or' (201) e'bbi 'horse' 3.1.2.1.1 Fricatives
The inventory of fricatives consist of unvoiced apico-alveolar /s/, unvoiced dorso-postalveolar /s/, their voiced equivalents /z/ and /%/, and voiced labio-dental /v/. Unvoiced labio-dental /f/ occurs only in recent loans (and no adjacent source-language has /f/ either). All fricatives may be geminated. In word-final position the same partial devoicing applies to /s/ or /z/, /s/ or /z/ as to plosives: they are transcribed as Z and Z. Examples:
(202 (203 (204 (205 (206 (207 se 'it'
valdiZ 'open' (AJ) sidiZ 'tied' (3SG)
vo'l't't'e 'were' (3PL) si'zzel 'inside' (AV) lekâte 'went' (3PL) 3.1.2.1.3 Nasals
The nasals, all voiced, consist of labio-dental /m/, apico-
alveolar /n/, palatal-alveolar /n'/ and dorso-velar /g /.
Examples :
(208) immer 'around' (209) ne 'they'
(210) sin' '(t)hither' (211) agkkar 'anchor'
168 /g/'
3.1.2.1.4 Liquids
These consist of the apico-alveolar lateral /I/, the palatalised lateral /I'/, trilled alveolar /r/ and trilled palatalised alveolar /r'/. All can be lengthened. Examples:
(212) jür 'at' (PO) (213) vo'l' 'was' (3SG) (214) iiz 'up'
(215) mje'rre 'sea' (IL) (216) or'a 'sandbank'
It should be noted that palatalised /r'/ is of infrequent and somewhat inconsistent occurrence, and tends to be found in words of Latvian origin. Interestingly, this sound (formerly written r) has virtually disappeared from spoken Latvian, and (since 1945) from the written language.
3.1.2.1.5 Glide
There is only one true glide, the high front unrounded /j/, as in
(217) ja 'and'.
However, there is a vestigial glide, often realised as /uw/ in the combination written as uvv in words such as se'uvve 'summer'
(FT), p a u w e 'day' (AD).
The /w/ as transcribed before /o/ in words such as kwolm 'three' indicates a briefer onset in a variant of the diphthong /uo/. 3.1.2.2 Vowels
The vowels consist of high front unrouded /i/, mid-front unrounded /e/, mid-central unrounded /e/, low front unrounded
169
/o/, unrounded mid-back /o/ and high back rounded /u/. Of infrequent and unstable occurrence are high front rounded /Ü/ and
mid-front rounded /o/, sometimes found in borrowings and
alternating with /i/ and /e/ respectively in native stems. All except [8 ] can occur in long or short forms. Examples:
(218) siZ 'then' (219) ku 'when', ku 'moon' (220) tiB 'wing' (2 2 1) rânda 'coast' (2 2 2) pâl 'on' (223) voza 'meat' (224) bet 'but' (225) koh't's 'until'
(226) veza 'shoot, sprout'
The mark under /e/ and /o/ indicates a phonemically distinct,
more centralised vowel, occurring only in stressed syllables. Note that [a] never occurs in a stressed syllable. Note also that /i/ and /u/ can also occur in a shortened form as the unstressed initial element in a diphthong or triphthong, transcribed here as /j/ and /w/, but by Kettunen as / V and /^/ respectively:
(227) twoi 'other'
(228) vje'dde 'pull, haul' 3.1.2.1.6 Glottal catch
Though not a syllabic itself, the glottal catch /'/ can only occur between vowels and consonants in stressed syllables, as in example (228) above.
170
Latvian and are of extremely rare occurrence. The vowels /ü/ and /Ô/ are sometimes heard in native words, but only in words with similar or identical Estonian cognates, indicating Estonian influence on the spoken language. They may be regarded as
vestiges of a much earlier phase of the language which have
vanished as a result of Latvian influence. An example is the alternating use of sü/1/si'1 for 'lap' (Est. süli) in the corpus
(the /Ü/ occurred in quoting another speaker). For further examples of this phenomenon, see the texts in Part 3.
It might also be argued that /z/ and /z/ are borrowings into Livonian, as they of such infrequent occurrence in word-initial or medial position, and are usually only semi-voiced in word- final position, but the existence of genuine Baltic-Finnic words like aza 'thing' indicates internal processes of phonemic change. 3.1.2.4 Restrictions in word-classes
One marginal restriction may be observed in the distribution of sounds among word-classes: since [a] is found only in unstressed (non-initial) syllables, it may be said to be a feature of suffixes (such as the infinitive-marker of verbs and in certain noun and adjective case-endings) , but it may also occur in disyllabic stems such as vai'meZ 'ready'.