Pronunciation help with Latvian song text

[Charles Townsend]

Why don't you translate it for us, Hugh.

Regards,

Charlie
On May 18, 2013, at 1:43 AM, HUgh Olmsted wrote:

> Friends and colleagues, brāļi un māsas!
> 
> I am preparing the text of a well-beloved Latvian song, "Kas tie tādi," in slightly modified transcription to help a chorus pronounce it reasonably, and am writing to request help from you who really know the language and the text. 
> 
> As you know, standard Latvian orthography uses a single letter, e , to represent two different sounds: "closed" [ɛ] and "open" [æ]; the former sounds something like US standard pronunciation of the vowel in "head"or "led" or "gem"; the latter sounds more like the vowel in US standard "had"or "lad" or "jam". (As with other vowels, both of these "e"-variants can occur short or long, standardly written "e" or "ē".) If you don't know the language, when you meet a graphic "e" or "ē" you can't very well tell which pronunciation to give it, like head/led/gem or had/lad/jam. 
> 
> In the text below (four verses), my intention is to indicate this difference by using an arbitrary "e*" for the open (had/lad/jam) variant. I have done my best to do so, but there are probably some mistakes remaining. I would be very grateful for corrections of mistakes I may have made in this or any other feature (long/short syllables, for instance).  It probably makes most sense to respond off-list.
> 
> Many thanks.  Liels paldies!
> 
> Hugh Olmsted
> 
> Kas tie tādi, kas dziedāja,
> Bez saulītes vakarā?
> Tie ir visi bāra bē*rni,
> Bargu kungu klausītāj’.
>  
> 2.
> Kurin’ ugun, silda gaisu,
> Slauka gaužas asaras,
> Krimta cietu pe*lavmaizi,
> Avotiņa mē*rcē*dam’.
>  
> 3.
> Saulīt vē*lu vakarāi,
> Sēžas zeltā laiviņā,
> Rītā, agri uzlē*kdama,
> Atstāj laivu līgojot.
>  
> 4.
> Kam, saulīte, vē*lu lēci,
> Kur tik ilgi kavējies?
> Aiz viņiemi kalniņiemi,
> Bāra bē*rnus sildīdam’.
>  
> [note: e* pronounced like ‘had/lad/jam']
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