LIVONIAN POLAR QUESTIONS IN THEIR AREAL CONTEXT

This paper analyses strategies for forming polar questions and their historical sources in the two main varieties of Livonian - Courland Livonian and Salaca Livonian. The results reveal that the main means for marking polar questions in both varieties are sentence-initial particles. Their usage is compared to the means found in other varieties spoken in the Central Baltic area. This micro-areal comparison offers an in-depth analysis of the main patterns in the area, including their developmental paths. It appears that on several occasions, Livonian, Latvian, Latgalian, and Leivu South Estonian ( spoken in Latvia) pattern together as opposed to the Estonian and South Estonian varieties (spoken in Estonia) and Lutsi and Kraasna South Estonian (spoken, respectively, in southeastern Latvia and the southern Pskov region in Russia). The data originate from various sources and different times, and were obtained by using both manual and automated methods; the analyses are qualitative.