Latgalistikys kongresu materiali, III. 2011. - Latvijas Universitāte

The first step in our discussion is to look at the rough data (see Lazdiņa,
Šuplinska 2009: 420, map 405 (What languages and/or dialects do
you speak with partner/husband-wife); 422, map 407 (What languages
and/or dialects do you speak with elderly relatives), 425, map 410 (What
languages and/or dialects do you speak with small children?)). The maps
show the percentage usage declared for the selected language by geographical
region for each interlocutor age group. The range of percentage
values is reflected by a single colour scale from red through yellow to
green. Warm colours represent values below the threshold of 50%, cool
colours the higher values, while yellow is considered relatively neutral. In
presenting linguistic scenarios, this type of colour scheme provides a visual
impression of tranquillity (green) for languages with high rates of usage,
and various levels of ‘alarm’ (red, orange) for situations of threat or
minority usage 31 .
The sociolinguistic scenario depicted in this set of maps shows a
general loss of usage of Latgalian through the generations; among elderly
people Latgalian is still quite well-known and used in the central part of
the region, what we may call the core area. At the western border, in which
Latvian is the main spoken language, Latgalian is not widespread; and the
same for southern and eastern parts, traditionally Slavic, and in the industrialised
area of Rēzekne. Comparing the map of elderly people’s behaviour
with that of small children, we can see a splitting of the Latgalian core
area with a reasonably stable eastern northern part, and a central-southern
feeble. The only area in which Latgalian seems to be used more with small
children than with partners is the area north of Krāslava.
3. This kind of map, however, provides a static vision of the use of
codes over time: they lead us to make a merely ‘manual’ comparison between
different synchronic realities. It is possible however to analyse this
relative chronology in greater depth: firstly we can classify the types of
trend that may be obtained by sorting answers in order of decreasing age,
i.e. from ‘elderly relatives’ to ‘children’. This provides us with rough patterns
of code development. In fact, 6 combinations yield 6 different types
of ‘movement’ which can be applied to each of the codes:
1. constantly strengthening code: the language is spoken with partner
more than with elderly relatives, and with small children more than
with partner;
31 For an overview on the theory of linguistic cartography see Dell’Aquila 2010; Brunet
1987; Peters-Williams 1993; Slocum 1989.
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