Foreign rule & cultural domination characterize the histories of Finland, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. And yet all four nations have preserved an independent linguistic identity apart from their rulers and rivals. Finland’s literary tradition did not mature until the Kalevala was composed in the 19th century. After a long period of Polish high cultural domination Lithuanian literature emerged from its centuries long slumber in the 19th century as well (it was during this period that both came under Russian rule). As for the Estonians and Latvians, the benign neglect of Teutonic Knights, Swedes, Poles, Lithuanians and Russians (if the last can be ever said as such), prevented their linguistic dissolution.
The persistence of these languages among the common-folk is amazing to me because the commanding heights of politics, military, church and literature were the domain of alien peoples for centuries. And yet with the expansion of literacy and the dissemination of nationalistic ideas in the 19th century these “peasant languages” took their places besides the speeches of rule.
So how did the elite transmission of Indo-European (if it was elite transmission) occur in ancient Europe? Swedes and their ilk brought the Finns their god, the power of their swords, the writ of their king, the written word and much more. And yet after 650 years of rule, in 1800 the Finns still spoke Finnish and were a distinct people. Things that make you say hhhhmmmm….
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