Latvian language (Latvian: latviešu valoda), is the official state language of Latvia. Latvia ( Latvija officially the Republic of Latvia (Latvijas Republika is a Country in Northern Europe in the Baltic region. Alternative names include Lettish and Lettisch. There are about 1. 39 million native Latvian speakers in Latvia and about 150,000 abroad. The Latvian language has a relatively large number of non-native speakers, atypical for a small language. Because of language policy in Latvia approximately 60% of the 900,000 ethnic-minority population of Latvia speak Latvian. The basis of Language policy in Latvia are articles 4 and 114 of Constitution of Latvia, which constitute official status of Latvian and rights of ethnic minorities The use of the Latvian language in various areas of the social life in Latvia is increasing. ^[2]

Latvian is a Baltic language, closely related to Lithuanian; however, they are not mutually intelligible to each other. The Baltic languages are a group of related languages belonging to the Indo-European language family and spoken mainly in areas extending east and southeast of the Baltic Lithuanian ( lietuvių kalba) is the official state language of Lithuania and is recognised as one of the official languages of the European Union.

Latvian first appeared in Western print in the mid-16th century with the reproduction of the Lord's Prayer in Latvian in Sebastian Münster's Cosmographia Universalis, in Roman script. Sebastian Münster ( 20 January 1488 – 26 May 1552) was a German Cartographer, Cosmographer, and a Prior to this westernization, earlier Latvian was written in runic characters. ^[3]

Classification

Latvian is one of two living Baltic languages (with the other one being Lithuanian), a group of its own within the Indo-European language family. The Baltic languages are a group of related languages belonging to the Indo-European language family and spoken mainly in areas extending east and southeast of the Baltic Lithuanian ( lietuvių kalba) is the official state language of Lithuania and is recognised as one of the official languages of the European Union. The Latvian and Lithuanian languages have retained many features of the nominal morphology of the proto-language, though in matters of phonology and verbal morphology they show many innovations, with Latvian being considerably more innovative than Lithuanian.

Dialects

There are three dialects in Latvian: the Livonian dialect, Latgalian and the Middle dialect. A dialect (from the Greek word διάλεκτος dialektos) is a variety of a Language that is characteristic of a particular group of Latgalian language can mean one of the following It was a language spoken by Latgalians in a great part of the area which is now Latvia. The Livonian dialect is divided into the Vidzeme variety and the Courland variety (also called tāmnieku or ventiņu). Vidzeme is one of the cultural and historical Regions of Latvia. Courland (Kurzeme Kurland Latin: Curonia / Couronia; Kuršas Kuramaa Kurlandia Курляндия Курляндія Kuurinmaa is one of the historical The Middle dialect, the basis of standard Latvian, is divided into the Vidzeme variety, the Curonian variety and the Semigallian variety. Note: Latvian dialects should not be confused with the Livonian, Curonian, Semigallian and Selonian languages. Livonian (Līvõ kēļ belongs to the Baltic Finnic branch of the Uralic languages. The term Curonian language (Kurisch kuršu valoda kuršių kalba may refer to two different but related Baltic languages. Semigallian is an Extinct language of the Baltic languages sub-family of Indo-European languages. Selonian was a Language appertaining to the Baltic languages group of the Indo-European languages family

Map showing geographical distribution of the dialects in Latvia

Livonian dialect

The Livonian dialect of Latvian was more affected by the Livonian language substratum than Latvian in other parts of Latvia. Livonian (Līvõ kēļ belongs to the Baltic Finnic branch of the Uralic languages. In Contact linguistics, a substratum ( lat sub: under + stratum: layer → lower layer) is a Language There are two intonations in the Livonian dialect. In Linguistics, intonation is variation of pitch whilst speaking which is not used to distinguish words In Courland short vowels in the endings of words are discarded, while long vowels are shortened. In all genders and numbers only one form of verb is used. For English usage of verbs see the wiki article English verbs. Personal names in both genders are derived with endings - els, -ans. A personal name is the Proper name identifying an individual Person. In prefixes ie is changed to e. An affix is a Morpheme that is attached to a stem to form a word Due to migration and the introduction of a standardised language this dialect has declined. It arose from assimilated Livonians, who started to speak in Latvian and assimilated Livonian grammar into Latvian. The Livonians or Livs are the indigenous inhabitants of Livonia, a large part of what is today the northwestern Latvia and southwestern

Middle dialect

The Vidzeme variety and the Semigallian variety are closer to each other than to the Curonian variety, which is more archaic than the other two. There are three intonations in the Middle dialect. In the Semigallian variety, ŗ is still used.

Non-native speakers

The history of the Latvian language (cf. below) has placed it in a peculiar position whereby it is spoken by a large number of non-native speakers as compared to native speakers. The minority population in Latvia reaches 900 000 people. It comprises Russians, Belorussians, Ukrainians, Poles, and others. The Russian people (Русские— Russkie) are an East Slavic Ethnic group, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries Belarusians or Belorussians (Беларусы Biełarusy previously also spelled Belarussians, Byelorussians and Belorusians, also Ukrainians (Українці Ukrayintsi,) are an East Slavic Ethnic group primarily living in Ukraine, or more broadly— Citizens The Polish people, or Poles, (Polacy) are a Western Slavic Ethnic group of Central Europe, living predominantly in Poland. Most of them emigrated to Latvia when Latvia was occupied by the Soviet Union (1940 - 1991). The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR was a constitutionally Socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991 In a recent survey, 60% of Latvia's ethnic minorities described their knowledge of Latvian as fluent^[4]. Fluency in Latvian is prevalent among the younger generations of the minorities.

The adoption of Latvian by minorities was brought about by its status as the only official language of the country, its prominence in the education system, its sole use in the public sector and by changes in the society after the fall of the Soviet Union that shifted linguistic focus away from Russian. The Soviet Union 's collapse into independent nations began early in 1985 Russian ( transliteration:,) is the most geographically widespread language of Eurasia, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages As an example, in 2007 universities and colleges for the first time received applications from prospective students who had a bilingual secondary education in schools for minorities. Fluency in Latvian is expected in a variety of professions and careers.

Grammar

Main article: Latvian grammar

Latvian is an inflecting language with many analytical forms. The Latvian language is a moderately Inflected language, with complex nominal and verbal morphology For fusion in Word formation, see Compound (linguistics. A fusional language (also called inflecting language) is a There are two grammatical genders in Latvian (masculine and feminine) and two numbers, singular and plural. In Linguistics, grammatical genders, sometimes also called Noun classes are classes of nouns reflected in the behavior of associated words every noun must belong In linguistics grammatical number is a Grammatical category of nouns pronouns and adjective and verb agreement that expresses count distinctions (such as "one" Nouns decline into seven cases: nominative, genitive, dative, accusative, instrumental, locative, and vocative. In Linguistics, declension (or declination) is the occurrence of Inflection in Nouns Pronouns and Adjectives indicating The nominative case is a Grammatical case for a Noun, which generally marks the subject of a Verb, as opposed to its object or other In Grammar, the genitive case or possessive case (also called the second case) is the case that marks a Noun as modifying another The dative case is a Grammatical case generally used to indicate the Noun to whom something is given The accusative case ( abbreviated ACC) of a Noun is the Grammatical case used to mark the Direct object of a Transitive The instrumental case (also called the eighth case) is a Grammatical case used to indicate that a noun is the instrument or means by or with which the Locative (also called the seventh case) is a Grammatical case which indicates a location The vocative case is the case used for a Noun identifying the person (animal object etc Primary word stress, with a few exceptions, is on the first syllable. A syllable ( Greek:) is a unit of organization for a sequence of speech sounds There are no articles in Latvian. Basic word order in Latvian is Subject Verb Object, however word order is relatively free. In Linguistic typology, subject-verb-object ( SVO) is a sentence structure where the subject comes first the Verb second and the object

So Latvian grammar is more like Latin, not modern English or Italian grammar.

Orthography

Runic Latvian inscriptions on a zither (kokle)

Main article: Latvian orthography

Main article: Latvian alphabet

Latvian in western orthography was first written using a system based upon German phonetic principles, while the Latgalian dialect was written using Polish orthographic principles. The zither is a musical String instrument, most commonly found in Slovenia, Austria, Hungary, the southern regions of Germany, alpine Latvian orthography, historically has used a system based upon German phonetic principles and the Latgalian dialect was written using Polish orthographic principles Alphabet The Latvian Alphabet is based on the Latin alphabet and consists of 33 letters The German language (de ''Deutsch'') is a West Germanic language and one of the world's major languages. Phonetics (from the Greek φωνή ( phonê) "sound" or "voice" is the study of the physical sounds of human speech At the beginning of the 20th century, this was replaced by a more phonetically appropriate system, using a modified Latin alphabet.

Standard orthography

Today, the Latvian standard alphabet consists of 33 letters:

The modern standard Latvian alphabet uses 22 unmodified letters of the Latin alphabet (all except Q, W, X and Y). The letter A is the first letter in the Latin alphabet. Its name in English is a (eɪ plural For A E van Vogt's novel see The World of Null-A. Ā, lowercase ā, is a Grapheme, a Latin A with a B is the second letter in the Latin alphabet. Its name in English is spelled bee or occasionally be (biː plural bees. C is the third letter in the Latin alphabet. Its name in English is spelled cee or occasionally ce (siː The grapheme Č (Latin C with Háček) is used in various contexts usually denoting the Voiceless postalveolar affricate Consonant not unlike D is the fourth letter in the Latin alphabet. Its name in English is spelled dee or occasionally de (diː E is the fifth letter in the Latin alphabet. Its name in English is spelled e (iː plural es or ees (also written E's E A macron, from Greek el μακρόv ( makrón) meaning "long" is a Diacritic ¯ placed over or under a Vowel which was originally F is the sixth letter in the Latin alphabet. Its name in English is spelled ef or eff (ɛf G is the seventh letter in the Latin alphabet. Its name in English is spelled gee or occasionally ge (dʒiː I is the ninth letter of the Latin alphabet. Its English name is i (aɪ A macron, from Greek el μακρόv ( makrón) meaning "long" is a Diacritic ¯ placed over or under a Vowel which was originally J is the tenth letter in the modern Latin alphabet; it was the last of the 26 letters to be added K is the eleventh letter of the modern Latin alphabet. Its name in English is spelled kay (keɪ L is the twelfth letter of the Latin alphabet. Its name in English is el or occasionally ell (ɛl M is the thirteenth letter of the modern Latin alphabet. Its name in English is spelled em (ɛm N is the fourteenth letter in the Latin alphabet. Its name in English is spelled en (ɛn O is the fifteenth letter of the modern Latin Alphabet. Its name in English is spelled o (oʊ plural usually o's or os; sometimes P is the sixteenth letter of the modern Latin alphabet. Its name in English is spelled pee or occasionally pe (piː R is the eighteenth letter of the modern Latin alphabet. Its name in English is spelled ar (ɑr pronounced or) S is the nineteenth letter in the modern Latin alphabet. Its name in English is spelled ess or occasionally es (ɛs generally es- The Grapheme Š, š (Latin S with Háček) is used in various contexts usually denoting the Voiceless postalveolar fricative, including T is the twentieth letter in the modern Latin alphabet. Its name in English is spelled tee or occasionally te (tiː U is the twenty-first letter in the modern Latin alphabet. Its name in English is spelled u (juː A macron, from Greek el μακρόv ( makrón) meaning "long" is a Diacritic ¯ placed over or under a Vowel which was originally V is the twenty-second letter in the modern Latin alphabet. Its name in English is spelled vee or occasionally ve (viː Z is the twenty-sixth and last letter of the modern Latin alphabet. The grapheme Ž ( minuscule: ž) is formed from Latin Z with the addition of Háček. The letter A is the first letter in the Latin alphabet. Its name in English is a (eɪ plural For A E van Vogt's novel see The World of Null-A. Ā, lowercase ā, is a Grapheme, a Latin A with a B is the second letter in the Latin alphabet. Its name in English is spelled bee or occasionally be (biː plural bees. C is the third letter in the Latin alphabet. Its name in English is spelled cee or occasionally ce (siː The grapheme Č (Latin C with Háček) is used in various contexts usually denoting the Voiceless postalveolar affricate Consonant not unlike D is the fourth letter in the Latin alphabet. Its name in English is spelled dee or occasionally de (diː E is the fifth letter in the Latin alphabet. Its name in English is spelled e (iː plural es or ees (also written E's E A macron, from Greek el μακρόv ( makrón) meaning "long" is a Diacritic ¯ placed over or under a Vowel which was originally F is the sixth letter in the Latin alphabet. Its name in English is spelled ef or eff (ɛf G is the seventh letter in the Latin alphabet. Its name in English is spelled gee or occasionally ge (dʒiː I is the ninth letter of the Latin alphabet. Its English name is i (aɪ A macron, from Greek el μακρόv ( makrón) meaning "long" is a Diacritic ¯ placed over or under a Vowel which was originally J is the tenth letter in the modern Latin alphabet; it was the last of the 26 letters to be added K is the eleventh letter of the modern Latin alphabet. Its name in English is spelled kay (keɪ L is the twelfth letter of the Latin alphabet. Its name in English is el or occasionally ell (ɛl M is the thirteenth letter of the modern Latin alphabet. Its name in English is spelled em (ɛm N is the fourteenth letter in the Latin alphabet. Its name in English is spelled en (ɛn O is the fifteenth letter of the modern Latin Alphabet. Its name in English is spelled o (oʊ plural usually o's or os; sometimes P is the sixteenth letter of the modern Latin alphabet. Its name in English is spelled pee or occasionally pe (piː R is the eighteenth letter of the modern Latin alphabet. Its name in English is spelled ar (ɑr pronounced or) S is the nineteenth letter in the modern Latin alphabet. Its name in English is spelled ess or occasionally es (ɛs generally es- The Grapheme Š, š (Latin S with Háček) is used in various contexts usually denoting the Voiceless postalveolar fricative, including T is the twentieth letter in the modern Latin alphabet. Its name in English is spelled tee or occasionally te (tiː U is the twenty-first letter in the modern Latin alphabet. Its name in English is spelled u (juː A macron, from Greek el μακρόv ( makrón) meaning "long" is a Diacritic ¯ placed over or under a Vowel which was originally V is the twenty-second letter in the modern Latin alphabet. Its name in English is spelled vee or occasionally ve (viː Z is the twenty-sixth and last letter of the modern Latin alphabet. The grapheme Ž ( minuscule: ž) is formed from Latin Z with the addition of Háček. Q is the seventeenth letter of the modern Latin alphabet. Its name in English is spelled cue (kjuː W is the twenty-third letter in the Latin alphabet. Its name in English is spelled double-u (ˈdʌbljuː X is the twenty-fourth letter in the modern Latin alphabet. Its name in English is spelled ex or occasionally ecks (ɛks plural exes The letter Y is the twenty-fifth letter in the modern Latin alphabet. It adds a further eleven letters by modification. The vowel letters A, E, I and U can take a macron to show length, unmodified letters being short. The letter A is the first letter in the Latin alphabet. Its name in English is a (eɪ plural E is the fifth letter in the Latin alphabet. Its name in English is spelled e (iː plural es or ees (also written E's E I is the ninth letter of the Latin alphabet. Its English name is i (aɪ U is the twenty-first letter in the modern Latin alphabet. Its name in English is spelled u (juː A macron, from Greek el μακρόv ( makrón) meaning "long" is a Diacritic ¯ placed over or under a Vowel which was originally The letters C, S and Z, that in unmodified form are pronounced [ts], [s] and [z] respectively, can be marked with a caron. C is the third letter in the Latin alphabet. Its name in English is spelled cee or occasionally ce (siː S is the nineteenth letter in the modern Latin alphabet. Its name in English is spelled ess or occasionally es (ɛs generally es- Z is the twenty-sixth and last letter of the modern Latin alphabet. Names Usage differs as to the name of this diacritic In the field of typography the term "caron" seems to be more popular These marked letters, Č, Š and Ž are pronounced [tʃ], [ʃ] and [ʒ] respectively. The letters Ģ, Ķ, Ļ and Ņ are written with a cedilla or little 'comma' placed below (or above the lowercase g). They are modified (palatalized) versions of G, K, L and N and represent the sounds [ɟ], [c], [ʎ] and [ɲ]. Palatalization or palatalisation (ˌpælətəlɨˈzeɪʃən generally refers to two phenomena As a process or the result of a process Non-standard varieties of Latvian add extra letters to this standard set.

Latvian spelling has almost perfect correspondence between graphemes and phonemes. Every phoneme has its own letter so that a reader need not learn how a word is pronounced, but simply pronounce it. The phoneME project is Sun Microsystems reference implementation of Java virtual machine and associated libraries of Java ME with source licensed under the GNU There are only three exceptions to this that could cause mispronunciation. The first is the letter E and its long variation Ē, which are used to write two sounds that represent the short and long versions of either [ɛ] or [æ] respectively. The letter O indicates both the short and long [ɔ], and the diphthong [uɔ]. In Phonetics, a diphthong (also gliding vowel) (from Greek grc δίφθογγος "diphthongos" literally "with two sounds" or "with These three sounds are written as O, Ō and Uo in Latgalian, and some Latvians campaign for the adoption of this system in standard Latvian. However, the majority of Latvian linguists argue that o and ō are found only in loanwords, with the Uo sound being the only native Latvian phoneme. The digraph Uo was discarded in 1914, and the letter Ō has not been used in the official Latvian language since 1946. Likewise, the letters Ŗ and Ch were discarded in 1957, although they are still used in some varieties and by many Latvians living beyond the borders of Latvia. The letter Y is used only in the Latgalian language, where it is used to write a distinct phoneme that does not occur in other Latvian varieties. Latvian orthography allows nine digraphs, which are written Ai, Au, Ei, Ie, Iu, Ui, Oi, Dz and Dž.

Old orthography

Latvian bible written in old orthography.

The old orthography was based on that of German and did not represent the Latvian language phonemically. At the beginning it was used to write religious texts for German priests to help them in their work with Latvians. The first writings in Latvian were chaotic: there were as many as twelve variations of writing Š. In 1631 the German priest Georgs (Juris) Mancelis tried to systematize the writing. He wrote long vowels according to their position in the word — a short vowel followed by h for a radical vowel, a short vowel in the suffix and vowel with a diacritic mark in the ending indicating two different accents. Consonants were written following the example of German with multiple letters. The old orthography was used until the 20th century when it was slowly replaced by the modern orthography.

Latvian on computers

The rarely used Latvian ergonomic keyboard layout

Lack of software support of diacritics has caused an unofficial style of orthography, often called translit, to emerge for use in situations when the user is unable to access Latvian diacritic marks in today's computerised media (e-mail, newsgroups, web user forums, chat, SMS etc. Translit is a method of encoding Cyrillic letters with Latin ones ). It uses the basic Modern Latin alphabet only, and letters that aren't used in standard orthography are usually omitted. List of Latin letters. Basic alphabet Extensions and ligatures Letters with diacritics Digraphs trigraphs and tetragraphs In this style, diacritics are replaced by digraphs - a doubled letter indicates a long vowel; j indicates palatalisation of consonants, except for Š, Č and Ž that are indicated by using h. Sometimes the second letter, the one used instead of a diacritic, is changed to one of two other diacritic letters (e. g. š is written as ss or sj, not sh), and since many people may find it difficult to use these unusual methods, they write without any indication of missing diacritic marks, or they use digraphing only if the diacritic mark in question would make a semantic difference. ^[5] Sometimes an apostrophe is used before or after the character that would properly need to be diacriticised. Also, digraph diacritics are often used and sometimes even mixed with diacritical letters of standard orthography. Although today there is software support available, diacritic-less writing is still widespread for financial and social reasons.

Standard QWERTY keyboards are used for writing in Latvian; diacritics are entered by using a dead key (usually ", occasionally ~). QWERTY (ˈkwɜː(rti is the most common modern-day Keyboard layout on English-language computer and Typewriter keyboards It takes its A dead key is a key on a Typewriter or a Computer keyboard that allows modification (such as by placement of Diacritic) on the following letter Some keyboard layouts use the modifier key AltGr (most notably the Windows 2000 and XP built-in layout (Latvian QWERTY)). In Computing, a modifier key is a special key on a Computer keyboard that modifies the normal action of another key when the two are pressed in combination AltGr is a Modifier key on PC keyboards used to type many characters primarily ones that are unusual for the locale of the Keyboard layout, such In the early 1990s, the Latvian ergonomic keyboard layout was developed. QWERTY keyboardjpg|thumb|right|300px|QWERTY keyboard on a Laptop of 2007]]A keyboard layout is any specific mechanical, visual, or functional Although this layout may be available with language support software, it has not become popular because of a lack of keyboards with this layout.

Comparative orthography

For example, the Lord's Prayer in Latvian written in different styles:

Phonology

Consonants

The consonant sounds /f x/ are only found in loanwords. In Phonetics, a bilabial consonant is a Consonant articulated with both Lips The bilabial consonants identified by the International Phonetic Alphabet In Phonetics, labiodentals are Consonants articulated with the lower Lip and the upper Teeth. Alveolar consonants are articulated with the tongue against or close to the superior Alveolar ridge, which is called that because it contains the alveoli (the sockets Postalveolar consonants are Consonants articulated with the tongue near or touching the back of the Alveolar ridge, placing them a bit further back in the Palatal consonants are Consonants articulated with the body of the tongue raised against the Hard palate (the middle part of the roof of the mouth A stop, plosive, or occlusive is a Consonant sound produced by stopping the airflow in the Vocal tract. Affricate Consonants begin as stops (most often an alveolar, such as or) but release as a fricative (such as or or occasionally into A nasal consonant (also called nasal stop or nasal continuant) is produced with a lowered velum in the mouth allowing air to escape freely through the Fricatives are Consonants produced by forcing air through a narrow channel made by placing two articulators close together Approximants are speech sounds ( Phonemes) that could be regarded as intermediate between Vowels and typical Consonants In the articulation of approximants Laterals are "L"-like Consonants pronounced with an occlusion made somewhere along the axis of the tongue while air from the lungs escapes at one side or both Latvian plosives are not aspirated (unlike in English and other Germanic languages).

Vowels and diphthongs

Latvian has six vowels, with length as distinctive feature:

Vowel length ratio is about 1/2. In Linguistics, vowel length is the perceived duration of a Vowel sound A front vowel is a type of Vowel sound used in some spoken Languages The defining characteristic of a front vowel is that the tongue is positioned as far forward A central vowel is a type of Vowel sound used in some spoken Languages The defining characteristic of a central vowel is that the tongue is positioned halfway between A back vowel is a type of Vowel sound used in some spoken Languages The defining characteristic of a back vowel is that the tongue is positioned as far back as A close vowel is a type of Vowel sound used in many spoken Languages The defining characteristic of a close vowel is that the tongue is positioned as close as The open-mid vowels make a class of Vowel sounds used in some spoken Languages The defining characteristic of an open-mid vowel is that the tongue is positioned A near-open vowel is a type of Vowel sound used in some spoken Languages The defining characteristic of a near-open vowel is that the tongue is positioned similarly An open vowel is a Vowel sound of a type used in most spoken Languages The defining characteristic of an open vowel is that the tongue is positioned as far as 5. Vowel length is phonemic and plays an important role in the language. For example ‘koka’ [`kuɔka] means 'made of wood', ‘kokā’ [`kuɔkaː] means 'on the tree'.

Latvian also has 10 diphthongs ([ai], [ui], [ɛi], [aŭ], [iɛ], [uɔ], [iu], [ɔi], [ɛu], [ɔu]), altough some diphthongs are mostly limited to proper names and interjections. In Phonetics, a diphthong (also gliding vowel) (from Greek grc δίφθογγος "diphthongos" literally "with two sounds" or "with

Pitch accent

In Latvian, long syllables—i. e. those containing a long vowel, a diphthong, or a so-called "mixed diphthong" (a short vowel followed by a sonorant consonant)—can take one of three tones:

level tone (stieptā intonācija)

high throughout the syllable

e. In Phonetics and Phonology, a sonorant is a Speech sound that is produced without turbulent airflow in the Vocal tract. g. , loki "chives" (pronunciation represented as "luõki" in Latvian phonetics)

falling tone (krītošā intonācija)

brief rise followed by a long fall

e. g. , loks "arch, bow" (pronounced "lùoks")

broken tone (lauztā intonācija)

rising tone followed by falling tone with interruption in the middle or some creakiness in the voice

e. g. , logs "window" (pronounced "luôks")

This system is similar to the ones found in Lithuanian, Swedish, Norwegian and Serbian. Lithuanian ( lietuvių kalba) is the official state language of Lithuania and is recognised as one of the official languages of the European Union. Swedish ( is a North Germanic language spoken by more than nine million people predominantly in Sweden and parts of Finland, especially along the Norwegian ( norsk) is a North Germanic Language spoken primarily in Norway, where it is an official language Serbian (sr-Cyrl српски језик sr-Latn ''srpski jezik'' is a South Slavic language, The broken tone is similar to the Danish stød. Danish ( d̥ænsɡ̊ is one of the North Germanic languages (also called Scandinavian languages a sub-group of the Germanic branch of the Stød is a suprasegmental unit of Danish Phonology, which in its most common form is a kind of Creaky voice (laryngealization but may

History

The Baltic languages are of particular interest to linguists because they retain many archaic features believed to have been present in the early stages of the Proto-Indo-European language. The Baltic languages are a group of related languages belonging to the Indo-European language family and spoken mainly in areas extending east and southeast of the Baltic In Language, an archaism is the use of a form of speech or writing that is no longer current

There is some evidence to suggest the existence of a Balto-Slavic language group after the break-up of Proto-Indo-European, with the Slavic and Baltic languages splitting around the 10th century BC. However, some linguists: Meillet, Klimas, Zinkevičius oppose this view, providing arguments against Balto-Slavic group, and explaining similarities by one or several periods of close contacts. As there exist a number of Baltic words that are similar to Sanskrit or Latin, which lacks counterparts in Slavic languages. Latvian with albanian, slavic and Indo-Iranian languages are grouped as satem languages. The Indo-Iranian language group constitutes the easternmost extant branch of the Indo-European family of languages While the possession of many archaic features is undeniable, the exact manner by which the Baltic languages have developed from the Proto-Indo-European language is not clear.

According to some glottochronological speculations, the Eastern Baltic languages split from Western Baltic (or, perhaps, from the hypothetical proto-Baltic language) between 400 and 600. Glottochronology refers to methods in Historical linguistics used to estimate the time at which languages diverged based on the assumption that the basic (core vocabulary of The Baltic languages are a group of related languages belonging to the Indo-European language family and spoken mainly in areas extending east and southeast of the Baltic The Balto-Slavic language group consists of the Baltic and Slavic languages, belonging to the Indo-European family of languages Events By Place Western Roman Empire Italy is first invaded by Alaric (probable date Events By Place World The population of the Earth rises to about 208 million people The differentiation between Lithuanian and Latvian started after 800, with a long period of being one language but different dialects. Lithuanian ( lietuvių kalba) is the official state language of Lithuania and is recognised as one of the official languages of the European Union. Events By Place Europe September 15 - Oldest known mention of Monkey. At a minimum, transitional dialects existed until the 14th century or 15th century, and perhaps as late as the 17th century.

Latvian emerged as a distinct language in the 16th century, having evolved from Latgalian and assimilating Curonian, Semigallian and Selonian on the way. Latgalian language can mean one of the following It was a language spoken by Latgalians in a great part of the area which is now Latvia. The term Curonian language (Kurisch kuršu valoda kuršių kalba may refer to two different but related Baltic languages. Semigallian is an Extinct language of the Baltic languages sub-family of Indo-European languages. Selonian was a Language appertaining to the Baltic languages group of the Indo-European languages family All of these belong to the Baltic language group. The Baltic languages are a group of related languages belonging to the Indo-European language family and spoken mainly in areas extending east and southeast of the Baltic

The oldest known examples of written Latvian are from a 1530 translation of a hymn made by Nikolaus Ramm, a German pastor in Riga. Riga (Rīga riːga) the Capital of Latvia, is situated on the Baltic Sea coast on the mouth of the river Daugava.

Until the 19th century, the Latvian language was heavily influenced by German language, because upper class of local society was formed by Baltic Germans. The German language (de ''Deutsch'') is a West Germanic language and one of the world's major languages. The Baltic Germans (Deutschbalten or Baltendeutsche) were mostly ethnically German inhabitants of the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, which today In middle of 19th century first Latvian National Awakening was started, led by “Young Latvians” who popularized use of Latvian language, participants of this movement laid foundations for standard Latvian and also popularized latvianization of loan words. The Latvian National Awakening (latviešu latvju tautas atmoda refers to three distinct but ideologically related Nationalist movements the First Awakening Young Latvians (jaunlatvieši is the term most often applied to the intellectuals of the first Latvian National Awakening (tautas atmoda active from the 1850s to the 1880s However in 1880s when tsar Alexander III came into power, Russification started, during this period some Latvian scholars even suggested adopting the Cyrillic alphabet for use in Latvian. Russification (in Russian: русификация rusifikátsiya)is an adoption of the Russian language or some other Russian attribute (whether voluntarily The Cyrillic alphabet (səˈrɪlɪk also called azbuka, from the old name of the first two letters is actually a family of Alphabets, subsets of which are used by After the tsar's death, at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, nationalist movements reemerged.

In 1908, Latvian linguists Kārlis Mīlenbahs and Jānis Endzelīns elaborated the modern Latvian alphabet, which slowly replaced old orthography used before. Kārlis Mīlenbahs (his surname was formerly also written as Mühlenbach, Mühlenbachs, Mṻlenbachs or Mīlenbachs) (b Another interesting feature of the language, in common with its sister language Lithuanian, that was developed at the time is that proper names from other countries and languages, no matter how obscure, are altered phonetically to fit the phonological system of Latvian. Even if the original language also uses the Latin alphabet, this process takes place. Moreover the names are modified to ensure they have noun declension endings, declining like all other nouns. For example a place such as Lecropt (a Scottish parish) is likely to become Lekropta; the Scottish village of Tillicoultry becomes Tilikutrija. This is a good example of linguistic purism in this ancient language. Linguistic purism (or linguistic protectionism) is the definition of one language variety as purer than other varieties often in reference to a perceived decline

During the years of Soviet occupation (1940–41 and 1945–91) the policy of Russification greatly affected the Latvian language. Occupations of Latvia may refer to Soviet occupations of Latvia Occupation of Latvia by Nazi Germany See also Latvian Russification (in Russian: русификация rusifikátsiya)is an adoption of the Russian language or some other Russian attribute (whether voluntarily Through these periods many Latvians and Latvia’s other ethnicities faced deportations and persecutions. A massive immigration from the Soviet republics of Russia, Ukraine, Belarus and others followed, largely the result of Stalin's plan to integrate Latvia and the other Baltic republics into the Soviet Union by means of Russian colonisation. As a result, the proportion of the ethnic Latvian population within the total population was reduced from 80% in 1935 to 52% in 1989. In the Soviet Latvia, most of the immigrants who settled in the country didn't learn Latvian. Today, Latvian is the mother tongue of more than 60% of the country's population. A first language (also mother tongue, native language, arterial language, or L1) is the language a human being learns from birth

After the re-establishment of independence in 1991, a new policy of language education was introduced. The primary goal declared was the integration of all inhabitants into the environment of the official state language, while protecting the languages of Latvia's ethnic minorities.

Government-funded bilingual education is available in primary schools for ethnic minorities. These include Russian, Jewish, Polish, Lithuanian, Ukrainian, Belarusian, Estonian, and Roma schools. Russian ( transliteration:,) is the most geographically widespread language of Eurasia, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages Polish ( język polski, polszczyzna) is the Official language of Poland. Lithuanian ( lietuvių kalba) is the official state language of Lithuania and is recognised as one of the official languages of the European Union. Ukrainian (in Ukrainian украї́нська мо́ва ukrayins'ka mova,) is a language of the East Slavic subgroup of the Slavic languages. The Belarusian language, or Belorussian,(беларуская мова BGN/PCGN: byelaruskaya mova, Scientific: belaruskaja mova Estonian (; ˈeːsti ˈkeːl is the official language of Estonia, spoken by about 1 Latvian is taught as a second language in the initial stages to encourage proficiency in the language, aiming to avoid alienation from the Latvian-speaking linguistic majority and to facilitate academic and professional achievement. Since the mid-1990s, the government may pay a student's tuition in public universities only provided that the instruction is in Latvian. Since 2004, the state mandates Latvian as the language of instruction in public secondary schools (Form 10–12) for at least 60% of class work. (Previously, a broad system of education in Russian existed. )

The Law on State Language was adopted on December 9, 1999. Events 536 - Byzantine General Belisarius enters Rome while the Ostrogothic garrison peacefully leaves the city Year 1999 ( MCMXCIX) was a Common year starting on Friday (link will display full 1999 Gregorian calendar) Several regulatory acts associated with this law have been adopted. The observance of the law is monitored by the State Language Centre run by the Ministry of Justice.

To counter the influence of Russian and English, government organizations (namely the Terminology Commission of the Latvian Academy of Science and the State Language Center) try to popularize the use of Latvian terms and linguistic purism. Russian ( transliteration:,) is the most geographically widespread language of Eurasia, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages English is a West Germanic language originating in England and is the First language for most people in the United Kingdom, the United States Linguistic purism (or linguistic protectionism) is the definition of one language variety as purer than other varieties often in reference to a perceived decline Purism is often observed in the coining of new terms, which are usually disputed by the public — although purists have invented some euphonic words, many neologisms are widely seen as 'alien' and unnecessary, as pre-existing words could be used instead; for example, a heated debate arose when the Terminology Commission suggested that “eira”, with its 'latvianized' ending, would be a better term for euro than the widely used “eiro”. Please update other articles as well to avoid contradiction within Wikipedia e Other new terms are literal translations or new loanwords. For example, Latvian has two words for "telephone" – "tālrunis" and "telefons", the former being a direct translation into Latvian of the latter international term. Still others are older, more euphonic loanwords rather than Latvian words. For example, "computer" can be either "dators" or "kompjūters". Both are loanwords (the native Latvian word for 'computer' is "skaitļotājs"). However, for some time now “dators” has been considered an appropriate translation.

There are several contests held annually to promote correct use of Latvian. ^[7][8] Notably, the State Language Center holds contests for language mistakes, named "Gimalajiešu superlācis" after an infamous incorrect translation of Asiatic Black Bear. These mistakes, often quite amusing, are both grammatical and stylistic; sometimes also obvious typos and mistranslations are considered to belong here. Organizers claim that mistakes are largely collected in areas heavily populated by Russians-speakers, as well as from Lithuanian-owned chain stores. Mistranslations are not necessarily grammatical, but also stylistic and vocabulary mistakes, such as literal translations from the English language.

Bibliography

• Bielenstein, Die lettische Sprache (Berlin, 1863-64)
• Bielenstein, Lettische Grammatik (Mitau, 1863)
• Bielenstein, Die Elemente der lettischen Sprache (Mitau, 1866), popular in treatment
• Ulmann and Brasche, Lettisches Wörterbuch (Riga, 1872-80)
• Bielenstein, Tausend lettische Räthsel, übersetzt und erklärt (Mitau, 1881)
• Bezzenberger, Lettische Dialekt-Studien (Göttingen, 1885)
• Bezzenberger, Ueber die Sprache der preussischen Letten;; (Göttingen, 1888)
• Thomsen, Beröringer melem de Finske og de Baltiske Sprog (Copenhagen, 1890)
• Bielenstein, Grenzen des lettischen Volksstammes und der lettischen Sprache (St. Adalbert Bezzenberger (1851-1922 was a German philologist, born at Kassel. Petersburg, 1892)
• Baron and Wissendorff, Latwju dainas (Latvian Folksongs, Mitau, 1894)
• Andreianov, Lettische Volkslieder und Mythen (Halle, 1896 )
• Bielenstein, Ein glückliches Leben (Riga, 1904)
• Brentano, Lehrbuch der lettischen Sprache (Vienna, c. 1907)
• Wolter, "Die lettische Literatur," in Die ost-europäische Literaturen (Berlin, 1908)
• Kalning, Kurzer Lettischer Sprachführer (Riga, 1910)

Literary histories in Latvian

• Klaushush, Latweeschu rakstneezibas wehsture (Riga, 1907)
• Pludons, Latwiju literaturas vēsture (Jelgava, 1908-09)
• Lehgolnis, Latweeschu literaturas wehsture (Riga, 1908)
• Prande, Latviešu Rakstniecība Portrejās (Rīga, 1923)

References

External links

• Latvian Language Law in English
• Letonika
• Overview of the Latvian Language (en)
• State (Official) Language Commission (linguistic articles, applicable laws, etc.)
• English-Latvian/Latvian-English dictionary
• Latvian English Dictionary from Webster's Online Dictionary - the Rosetta Edition
• National Agency for Latvian Language Training
• The Latvian Alphabet
• Examples of Latvian words and phrases (with sound)
• Latvian for beginners
• Latvian and Croatian with Japanese translation
• Languages of the World:Latvian
• Latvian bilingual dictionaries