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This empirical study explores the use of large language models (LLMs) in sentiment analysis and presents a new approach to creating a dataset in Latvian language using Reddit data. Using prompt engineering for the GPT-3.5-turbo model (latest at the time of writing), we achieved 82% accuracy that exceeds previous research on Latvian Tweet Sentiment Corpus by 50% in three class sentiment classification. We also demonstrate that LLMs can partially replace human labelers, making data set creation more cost-effective, especially for larger datasets. This work contributes to sentiment analysis in non-English languages, leveraging the power of LLMs. The paper introduces a new LVReddit dataset that contains more than 90000 samples, making it the largest available sentiment dataset for the Latvian language. Our findings confirm the LLM's underlying "understanding" of language. However, LLMs occasionally deviate from response templates, making parsing challenging. Future research should investigate fine-tuned models based on novel datasets and analyze language patterns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article considers the development of technical terminology in the Latvian language until the proclamation of the independent state of Latvia in 1918. The activists of the National Awakening became the first creators of technical terminology, describing current technical innovations as, for example, Juris Alunāns (1832–1864) did in 1860 for the telegraph. The need for technical terms became apparent after the Second Baltic Agricultural Exhibition when difficulties arose in describing the showcased exhibits in Latvian. Significant steps in the development of terminology were made on the initiative of student Mikus Skruzītis (also Skruzīšu Mikus; 1861–1905), who suggested collecting frequently used names of parts of various simple devices, and the initiative of Nikolajs Puriņš (also Puriņu Klāvs; 1858–1935) to publish self-education materials in construction («Būvskola» or Building School) and mechanical engineering («Mašīnu būvskola» or Machine Building School). As the proportion of Latvians employed in the industry and the number of persons who received technical education increased, the need to establish organizations that would take care of both technical education in Latvian and the coinage of the necessary terms became more apparent. The Baltic Technical Society (1906) and the Latvian Educational Society (1908), which established their own terminology committees, deserve special recognition. Encyclopaedic dictionaries were also important for the systematization of terminology, especially the conversational dictionary published by the Knowledge Committee of Riga Latvian Society (1903–1921). The research was carried out within the project «Mūsdienu latviešu valodas lietojums un attīstība» (Research on Modern Latvian Language and Development) of the National Research Program of the Latvian Council of Science (No. VPP-LETONIKA-2022/1-0001).

Copyright of Letonica is the property of University of Latvia, Institute of Literature, Folklore & Art and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Pedersen's law describes the development of the IE *s after *i, u, r, k, causing the shift of IE *s into *š. The process is well known from Indo-Iranian and Slavic. The process also affects Lithuanian but not Latvian or Old Prussian. The paper demonstrates that the Baltic area was fully affected by the ruki-rule; the "defective" results in the Baltic languages are results of secondary depalatalizations. The paper also provides examples of similar processes affecting "Pedersen's" sibilant in other satəm-languages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Different aspects of the historical study of Slavisms in the Latvian language can be defined. The problem of distinguishing of a loanword and a native word is relevant, that is, the question of the status of a specific word (a loanword or a native word). There is no certain etymology of some dialectal Slavisms. For example, in the "Latviešu etimoloģijas vārdnīca" ("Etymological Dictionary of the Latvian Language" by Konstantīns Karulis some words that are called Slavisms in the studies of Baltists and Slavists are considered as native lexical elements because they are etymologically related to native words. The article discusses the problem of the origin of Latv. tēgāt 'understand, question; speak, tell'. This word is considered as a Slavic loanword. Semantic-etymological and cultural-historical analysis of this word allows us to conclude that the borrowed word tēgāt is based on the Old Russian tjagáti, tjagátisja (тяга́ти, тяга́тися) 'judge, sue' < *tęgati 'pull'. The meaning of the Old Russian verb was formed as a result of narrowing of the meaning of the corresponding word in the language of law. In the semantics of borrowed verb of the Latvian language, the development of ancient meanings is also observed. The word is borrowed in the older period of contacts between the Old Latvian and Old Russian languages. East Slavic lexical elements related to the administrative and legal sphere could be borrowed as a result of political and trade contacts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Copyright of Vilnius University Open Series is the property of Vilnius University and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The transcription of Japanese script into Latvian and vice versa has formerly been influenced by such intermediary foreign languages as Russian and English, thus considerably altering the outcome. This study attempts to compare several transcription systems and their approaches, to compare the source and target language phonemes employing the acoustic spectral analysis, and collate the transcription approaches applying content analysis of Twitter data. The aim of this study is to improve the overall quality of transcription of Japanese script into Latvian and vice versa; and to facilitate the perceptibility and intelligibility of the Latvianization of Japanese as well as the Katakanaization of Latvian for the native speakers. Furthermore, this paper also provides useful hints for singers, performers and alike to reproduce more accurate pronunciation to the original. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of the paper is to find out the parallels of eponymic terms in Latvian and Lithuanian branches of the humanities. The sources are defining dictionaries of philosophy, literature, music, religion, linguistics, history terms. In the study of eponymic terms of Latvian and Lithuanian humanities, attention is paid to terms and research related to the terminologization of eponyms; trends in term coining in the Baltic language are examined. Two structures of eponymic terms are common in terminology: 1) one-word terms coined using direct and affixal apellativization; 2) compound terms with eponyms in the dependent component. Eponymic terms are coined from: 1) anthroponyms (names, surnames, pseudonyms), often also from theonyms; 2) toponyms (macrotoponyms, oikonyms, hydronyms, oronyms); 3) ergonyms (names of human associations, organizations, as well as publications and works of art). The semantics of eponymous terms in the humanities is diverse: political and ideological movements, philosophical trends, teachings, schools, religious organizations and their members, styles of artistic activity, in terminology of history - privileges, collections of rights and contracts, battles, etc. Sometimes the same eponym gives rise to several terms of the same or different branches. In order to name multifaceted, mainly historical concepts, both anthroponyms (first names and surnames) and toponyms (names of cities or rivers) are combined using a hyphen. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the context of political changes related with the soviet occupation, language issues, especially terminology recommendations and spelling rules, were an object of ideological discussions, evaluating each individual fact from the positions of "progressive" or "reactionary". After the loss of national independence in the summer of 1940, the contradictory rules of 1938 and 1939 of the government of Kārlis Ulmanis on Latvian orthography were abolished, emphasizing this step as care for the Latvian language. Restoring the orthography that was in force between 1922 and 1938, it was promised that all spelling ambiguities would be resolved by an official orthographic dictionary. However, the preparation of such dictionary took a longer time, and it was already published during the Nazi occupation, becoming an object of criticism after the second Soviet occupation. At the same time as the Terminology and Spelling Commission was established in May 1945, the Communist Party's main newspaper "Cīņa" published a sharp criticism of the previous linguistic practice. Linguists were criticized for their tendency to archaize the language, make unmotivated changes in terms, and avoid borrowings from non-Baltic languages. In 1946, the new orthographic rules were adopted that were close in nature to those proposed in 1938. Criticism regarding language issues continued after the establishment of the Terminology Committee of the Latvian Academy of Sciences because the majority of the examples of "reactionary" decisions in language were taken from the terminological lexis. Particularly sharp criticism of the Terminology Commission was frequent in the press in 1948 and 1949, when the first terminology bulletins were published. The chairman of the Terminology Commission was repeatedly replaced (from 1946 to November 1948 Prof. Matvejs Kadeks, then until December 1951 Kārlis Krauliņš and then Pēteris Valeskalns). Active criticism of linguists (including extensive articles by Andrejs Upīts and Arturs Ozols in 1951) continued until March 1952, when language issues and current problems of Latvian linguistics were summarized by Arvīds Pelše, the chief ideologist of the Latvian Communist Party. Only then did the ideological pressure on language issues relax a little. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is argued that, contrary to what is claimed in a series of relatively recent studies, verbal aspect has acquired the status of a grammatical feature in Baltic, and the notion of grammatical aspect is relevant to the description of the Baltic languages. As is widely recognized, aspect is less grammaticalized in Baltic than in Slavonic, but the difference is one of a degree rather than of essence, as in both language branches grammatical aspect arises from the grammaticalization of lexical aspect classes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Vertimo Studijos is the property of Vilnius University and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Established in 2012, CLARIN research infrastructure aims to maintain an infrastructure to support the sharing, use and sustainability of the language data and tools for research in the social sciences and humanities (SSH). In Latvia, after joining CLARIN ERIC in 2016, work on creation of CLARIN research infrastructure started in 2018. This paper aims to provide overview of CLARIN infrastructure and introduce the researchers of Latvian digital humanities to the opportunities offered by CLARIN ERIC and in particular CLARIN Latvia (CLARIN-LV) node. At first, we introduce to the fundamental elements of CLARIN ERIC – Virtual Language Observatory, Language Resource Families and funding and cooperation mechanisms. Then, we provide an overview of CLARIN-LV repository and language resources and tools documented. We explain citation mechanisms and provide practical recommendations for depositing and licensing. The core values of CLARIN are very closely aligned with the FAIR data principles, therefore we stress the importance of long-term preservation of research outcomes (including language resources and tools) and explain CLARIN role in supporting open science and FAIR principles. Furthermore, mechanisms for the knowledge sharing and user support are presented. It includes CLARIN knowledge centres, targeted seminars, university level courses and individual consultations. Finally, paper outlines future goals of CLARIN-LV and the next steps to implement them. The main directions include extension and adaptation of repository content, long-term cooperation with SSH researchers, support for higher level education in language technologies and support for implementation of open science principles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Vilnius University Open Series is the property of Vilnius University and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Ten years ago, when the META-NET Network of Excellence conducted a study on language technology support for European languages, Latvian was included in the category of languages with little or no support. During the last decade, notable progress has been made in the development of language resources and tools for Latvian, particularly regarding the creation of advanced datasets like speech corpora and treebanks, state-of-the-art neural language models, machine translation systems, speech technology, and technologies for natural language understanding and human-computer interaction. This paper provides an overview of the most recent activities in the language technology field in Latvia: national and international initiatives, key language resources and tools, key projects and initiatives. We summarize both the recent activities and the most significant achievements after the publication of the META-NET White Paper on Latvian. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the alternatives to nation-centered research agendas for Armenian, Kazakh or Ukrainian history in the Latvian and Lithuanian languages. Topics include use the opportunity to leave the focus on bilateral relations with the Russian centers and include non-dominant groups, institutions and broader transnational networks; and issue of 'red globalization' and transnational inspirations for Estonian transition to a market economy at the tradition of Baltic art and history.

The research is devoted to one of the modern trends in linguistics - cultural linguistics. The topicality is related to the study of the Russian language functioning as the language of diaspora in the eastern region of Latvia - Latgale. The research aims to characterize the means of expressing the concept fire based on modelling and analyzing its associative field in the aspect of Latvian picture of the world. Theory and practice of the associative experiment were used as a methodological framework for the research. The method of free associative experiment reveals the specific features of different cultures, as well as the functional peculiarities of the linguistic consciousness both of a separate individual - a native speaker, and of a certain ethnic or national group. The word fire (Latvian - uguns) was suggested as a stimulus word. The received reactions were analyzed according to linguistic and cultural-contextual aspects. A comparative analysis of the associative fields revealed both the specific features of the Russian linguistic picture of the world, which combines the characteristics inherent in the Russian language of the metropolis and the ones that indicate the influence of the linguistic and cultural environment, and the features and signs that coincide or are identical in the Russian and the Latvian linguistic picture of the worlds. The data processing and the analysis define the concept fire precisely as a full-fledged concept in the perception of the native speakers of the Russian language in Latgale, since not only the dictionary meaning is actualized in their linguistic picture of the world, but also a multi-level associative field, unique in terms of contextual connotations, is modelled.

The article is devoted to the Polish reception of contemporary Latvian poetry. The author describes the sources of Latvian literature, characterizes the work of several generations of 20th- and 21st-century Latvian poets, and emphasizes the role of translations in disseminating knowledge about other cultures. It also highlights the importance of language as a tool for ordering reality and expanding the boundaries of the world. A background theme is historical and cultural relations between Poland and Latvia, with particular emphasis on territorial, social and political setting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Language: Meaning & Form / Valoda: Nozime un Forma is the property of University of Latvia and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Advertisements in the 1920s and 1930s Latvia were published mainly in Latvian, German and Russian. Besides original adverts for local products, there were numerous translations of advertisements, mainly from German. Translations of translations also circulated in the press, blurring the concept of a source text. Advertising, including translated adverts, made an impact on culture, glorifying feminine beauty in many cases but trivialising women by a specific use of language in others. Advertising also influenced the Latvian language itself. Translators added a second layer of German calques to the ones that already existed. However, new terms coming from adverts also enriched the language. Translations helped create the language of advertising as such, by developing its constituent parts: brands and slogans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

From the Research on Latvian Dialectal Lexis Review Benita Laumane, Zvejasrīku nosaukumi latvijas piekrastē [Names of Fishing Gear on the Latvian Coast], Liepāja: Liepājas Universitāte, Kurzemes Humanitārais institūts, 2019, 507 pp. This article is a review of the work entitled Zvejasrīku nosaukumi latvijas piekrastē [Names of Fishing Gear on the Latvian Coast], written by the Latvian linguist from Liepāja – Benita Laumane. The study consists of two major parts. The first one, divided into thematic sections, presents the vocabulary related to coastal sea fishing (1: Sea fishing and fishing gear; 2: Hook gear; 3: The organisation of fishing; 4: Fish processing). The second part is devoted to the linguistic characteristics of the lexemes under discussion (phonetics, grammar, etymology, geographical extent). Z badań nad łotewską leksyką gwarową Recenzja Benita Laumane, Zvejasrīku nosaukumi latvijas piekrastē [Nazwy narzędzi połowowych na wybrzeżu łotewskim], Liepāja: Liepājas Universitāte, Kurzemes Humanitārais institūts, 2019, 507 pp. Tekst stanowi recenzję książki pt. Zvejasrīku nosaukumi latvijas piekrastē [Nazwy narzędzi połowowych na wybrzeżu łotewskim], napisanej przez łotewską lingwistkę z Lipawy, Benitę Laumane. Badaczka wydzieliła w monografii dwie podstawowe części. W pierwszej, z podziałem na grupy tematyczne, opisała słownictwo związane z przybrzeżnym rybołówstwem morskim (1. Rybołówstwo morskie i sprzęt połowowy; 2. Sprzęt rybacki; 3. Organizacja życia rybackiego; 4. Przetwórstwo ryb). Część druga poświęcona została charakterystyce językowej omawianych leksemów (fonetyka, gramatyka, etymologia, zasięg geograficzny).

Copyright of Language: Meaning & Form / Valoda: Nozime un Forma is the property of University of Latvia and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Language: Meaning & Form / Valoda: Nozime un Forma is the property of University of Latvia and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

A range of factors such as brand type, brand positioning and the target culture's attitude to global brands influence the translation of advertisements. There are various kinds of adaptation in advertisement translations: adaptation by replacement, by omission, by sentence-structure change and by addition. Advertisements may be translated literally, by a synonym, by glocalisation and abstraction change. In other cases, the text in the original is simply replaced. Translated texts of all types of brands are characterised by borrowings and a calqued sentence structure, and these in turn penetrate the Latvian language. Under the influence of English, fashion words enter Latvian from translations. Brands, and translations of texts defined by them, determine the peculiarities of Latvian in advertising. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Copyright of Studii şi Cercetări de Onomastică şi Lexicologie is the property of University of Craiova, Faculty of Letters and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This article provides an alternative way of experimental investigation of lexical tones in the Baltics. The main idea holds on a presupposition that the phonetic basis of prosodic elements in question can be explained in a more appropriate way in terms of a combined analysis of acoustic correlates, rather than a selective one. The lexical tone in this case may be interpreted as a factor which determines the type of acoustic correlation. Ideally, the interdependence of that sort could be defined by mathematical functions. The analysis of the empirical basis provides clear evidence in the favour of such methodological approach. Phonetic data from both, the Latvian (Valmiera) and the Lithuanian (North Žemaitian) subdialects confirmed clearly that the highest level of the tone distinction can be reached by a combined analysis of the pitch slope, pitch jerk and the duration of the long accented vowels. These results have arguably improved the interpretation of the phonetic tone structure and shed a new light on the typological links between the Baltic dialects. Finally, it presupposes that the phonetic nature of prosodic elements in some degree depends on a methodological way we choose for the investigational purposes.

The article aims to study theoretical provisions of rendering foreign personal names into the related Lithuanian and Latvian languages and to compare their practical implementations. In Lithuanian, the general practice is that of using a source language form of the name, with fewer cases of their adaptation to the rules of Lithuanian spelling and pronunciation. Yet still, there is an ongoing discussion in Lithuania whether the norms of such adaptation require revision. It should also be noted that the usage of personal names in the Lithuanian language depends on the functional style of the text. In the Latvian language, the tradition has established to write proper names in letters of Latvian alphabet, conveying the specifi city of their pronunciation, if possible. In addition, such cases are subject to the general rules of names and surnames usage in the Latvian language, that is, foreign personal names are spelt according to the grammatical norms of the Latvian language. The comparative analysis of foreign personal names rendering strategies in both Baltic languages has found the trend of using source language forms to prevail in Lithuanian (this extends even to Latvian personal names, which, by now, were exceptionally adapted). In Latvia, currently, the theoretically founded and established norms are at no risk of rejection. However, despite the long-term and deliberate pursuit for standardization and alignment of foreign names translation methods in the Latvian language (with guidelines issued, etc.), in practice, there are still considerable constraints to that. The article addresses some of them.

Copyright of Language: Meaning & Form / Valoda: Nozime un Forma is the property of University of Latvia and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This study explored the attitudes of ethnic Latvian listeners towards Latvian–Russian bilinguals. Fifty-seven ethnic Latvians completed an identity questionnaire to obtain estimates of their ethnic beliefs and rated the speech of eight Latvian–Russian bilinguals for personal traits, judged how well social and ethnic labels apply to bilinguals, and expressed behavioral choices based on their experience with bilinguals' speech. Listeners generally categorized speakers in linguistic terms, rather than by ethnicity, downgrading only ethnic Russians speaking low-level Latvian in ratings of honesty (solidarity) and education (status), but upgrading the same speakers in terms of listener preference for these speakers as potential entrepreneurs. Listeners' own identity beliefs were moderately associated with their ratings, but only for the evaluations of ethnic Russians speaking Russian. These findings provide insights into Latvian–Russian bilingualism, implicating several processes underlying language attitudes, stemming from the current ethnolinguistic context of Latvia and also potentially from listeners' difficulty processing low-proficiency speakers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Acta Linguistica Lithuanica is the property of Institute of the Lithuanian Language and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

In this study we experimentally test topological and geometric relations as encoded in Latvian. The task of the subject is to describe different combinations of two geometric objects presented in a randomized order. For the in-group experiment two circles – dark and light - were used according to the topological principles of Region Connection Calculus further extended with simple relational variables representing proximity, orientation, object size, and partial occlusion. The results show that both topological and geometric features determine the number of words used in the description of the respective relations and accuracy of the description. Further, we explored the most common words used for the description of general spatial relations and tested the differences associated with the experimental variables. It was concluded that topological and geometric relations matter in the linguistic representation of space but to a differing degree. Our results also indicate that spatial relations at the linguistic level are represented categorically and rarely encode fine-grained information. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Relevance of the work dues to the fact that bilingual education in today’s multicultural world is an effective teaching model. It allows, along with the development of educational content to solve problems, associated with the formation of abilities of intercultural communication. The purpose of the research is to analyze the situation in Latvia, where bilingual approach in national minorities’ schools has been extensively implemented in recent decades. In all countries, except for Russia, the Russian language exists within another language (languages) environment. In a situation of contact between two cultural and language systems, one of which is dominating socially, Russian-speaking bilingual acts as a representative of the non-dominant system. Under the conditions of native language’s ethnic area remoteness, while in the non-dominant part of the language community, the younger generation of Russian bilinguals partly lose language norms, competence, and a sense of cultural and language identity.

This article is focused on the analysis of surnames used in the eastern part of Latvia, i.e., Latgale, the history of which to a certain extent differs from other regions of Latvia. This is due to almost 300 years (1629–1917) of isolation from the territory inhabited by other ethnic Latvians, during which this region was under Polish and later Russian rule. During this 300-year-long separation, Latgale developed its own culture, a written tradition based on the local Latvian dialect, etc. The introduction of surnames for the Latvians of Latgale also differed from other regions. As Latgale is a multi-ethnic region, the system of surnames used there reflects not only the peculiarities of the local sub-dialects in vocabulary and semantics, but also contacts with other languages – Lithuanian, Estonian, Polish, Russian, Belarusian. This article is based on research results acquired within the framework of the project "Latvian surnames in archival materials. Latgale" directed by the Latvian Language Agency. Its main objective was to systematise Latgalian surnames registered in the 1935 census. The research data were summarised in a book "Latvian surnames in archival materials. Latgale", compiled by historian Ilmārs Mežs. This book comprises about 4000 Latvian surnames from Latgale. Each surname is provided with statistical information and a description of its historical place of origin (sometimes even a particular village). Whenever possible, one or several versions of the meaning of each surname are given. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]