PROCEEDINGS OF THE LATVIAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCES

What are the characteristics of diaspora Latvian?

https://doi.org/10.53231/LZAV.24.1.6
Keywords: heritage Latvian, Latvian diaspora, divergent attainment, diaspora language policy
Language: In Latvian

For decades, the Latvian language has undergone change in the Latvian diaspora. As a result of the two latest waves of emigration, a large number of Latvian heritage speakers live all across the world. Heritage languages develop as dialect-like variants of the home-country variety under the circumstances of limited language inputs, with full literacy acquired in the dominant language. Features of Latvian as a heritage language are identified and illustrated using examples from two mini-corpora of Swedish Latvian written texts as well as from literature on American Latvian. The corpora include writing by the so-called old diaspora, second generation adults of the exile wave of emigration, referred to also as the old diaspora, and adolescents attending the complementary Stockholm Latvian school that represent the second-generation new diaspora and the fourth generation of the exile wave. Even with a limited amount of heritage language material, it is possible to conclude that Latvian in diaspora settings is influenced by the general grammatical principles of heritage languages, exhibiting similar features and differences as other heritage languages. The language in use among diaspora youth indicates systemic divergence compared to the language norm in Latvia. Greater understanding of the features of heritage language can be beneficial in providing language support for returnees, developing educational content, and assessing language skills of diaspora children. An inclusive attitude, based on understanding the differences of the diaspora language, is likely to strengthen diaspora’s ties with the language and culture of their country of origin.