The database „Language consultations: an electronic database” gives one the opportunity to search for both questions and sources by typing the query in the searching field, or also to choose from the searching options either only questions, or only authors. The user could also choose a relevant filter near the menu „Meklēt” („Search”). On the first page of the answers found are shown up to five questions and 10 sources.
The question found could be shown incompletely – by clicking on the right side of the arrow question bar, the question gets expanded, and the answer, the sources and the linguistic topics, to which the questions belong, are shown. In order to see more results regarding the questions, you can click on „Visi rezultāti” („All results”) under the questions. In the same way, if you prefer to see more results in terms of sources, click on „Visi rezultāti” („All results”) under the sources.
If under the answer to a certain question the sources are clickable, you can open in a new tab, e.g., an electronic edition, a dictionary or a webpage.
By moving the mouse on the linguistic topics, you can see the whole „road of the topic”, i.e., all linguistic subtopics that the question relates to. By clicking on the linguistic topics, all questions and sources, relevant for the topic at issue, are shown.
It is also possible to print a separate question in a PDF format or to share the page, on which it can be found, by opening it in a new window.
In the section „Linguistic topics” the users can see the whole index of the linguistic themes. By clicking on the arrow, it is possible to expand that index and see also the subtopics. By clicking on any linguistic topic, one can find all questions and sources that belong to the relevant linguistic subject.
The linguists of the Latvian Language Agency (LLA) answer to countless questions about the language electronically, by phone or on site on a daily basis. The application „Language consultations: an electronic database” has been created as a repository of frequently asked questions and their already existing answers.
The aim of the database is to make the content user-friendly. The latter consists of: answers to relevant questions about the Latvian language correct pronunciation and spelling, grammar and vocabulary, stylistics, and linguistic culture.
The electronic database for language consultations is intended for students in the field of Humanities, e.g. future philologists, interpreters, translators, journalists, etc., who quickly need to find information about specific language questions. The application would be also of use for literature editors, correctors, teachers in Latvian as a native or a foreign language, as well as for all people who would like to improve their language knowledge and comprehension, to find answers to different practical questions in the language.
The content of the database was created by:
- the linguists of the LLA who used the answers to some interesting questions they received. A part of these answers was published in the LLA popular science article collection „Language practice: observations and recommendations”, in the section „Language consultations”(published since 2005);
- the Latvian Language Expert Commission’s (LLEC) decisions and recommendations. The institution is a part of the Latvian State Language Centre (LSLC) with a website http://www.vvc.gov.lv. A part of the information in the database has also been published in the LLA article collection „Language practice: observations and recommendations”, in the section „Language consultations”.
The questions are formulated in the shortest way possible, and the answers received are concise and clear. Where it is necessary, after the brief answer is provided also a wider explanation, so that the user could obtain additional information. Most often the questions are supplemented with the sources that the linguists have used in order to answer the question. Both the sources used, as well as further, additional ones that could be of use, are mentioned also in the separate section „List of used literature”.
The questions are ordered according to the linguistic topics they respond to – vocabulary, pronunciation, spelling, punctuation, stylistics, etc. One and the same question could match different topics, e.g., the question „How to pronounce the word bebrs – with a wide or a narrow vowel e?”, can be found both under the topic „Part of speech” (in the subtopic „Noun”), and under the topic „Pronunciation”.
The database is constantly supplemented with linguistic answers to the most recently asked questions, the latest LLEC’s decisions and recommendations, as well as several content indexes of the popular science article collection „Language praxis: observations and recommendations”.
The creators of the application invite the users to get acquainted with the content of the database, refresh their knowledge, as well as find the answers to the questions they are interested in!
If you did not find the answer you were looking for, please, contact the linguists: konsultacija@valoda.lv.
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