Latvian(endonym:latviešu valoda,pronounced[ˈlatviɛʃuˈvaluɔda]),[3]also known asLettish,[4]is anEast Baltic languagebelonging to theIndo-European language family.It belongs to theBaltic subbranchof theBalto-Slavic branchof the family and it is spoken in theBaltic region.It is the language ofLatviansand the official language ofLatviaas well as one of the official languages of theEuropean Union.[5]There are about 1.2 million native Latvian speakers in Latvia and 100,000 abroad. Altogether, 2 million, or 80% of the population of Latvia, spoke Latvian in the 2000s, before the total number of inhabitants ofLatviaslipped to 1.8 million in 2022.[6]Of those, around 1.16 million or 62% of Latvia's population used it as their primary language at home, though excluding theLatgaleandRigaregions it is spoken as a native language in villages and towns by over 90% of the population.[7][8][9]
| Latvian | |
|---|---|
| Lettish[1] | |
| latviešu valoda | |
| Pronunciation | [ˈlatviɛʃuˈvaluɔda] |
| Native to | Latvia |
| Region | Baltic |
| Ethnicity | Latvians |
Native speakers | 1.5 million[2](2023) |
Early forms | |
| Dialects |
|
| Latin(Latvian alphabet) Latvian Braille | |
| Official status | |
Official language in |  Latvia European Union |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-1 | lv |
| ISO 639-2 | lav |
| ISO 639-3 | lav– inclusive codeIndividual codes: lvs–Standard Latvian languageltg–Latgalian language |
| Glottolog | latv1249 |
| Linguasphere | 54-AAB-a |
 Use of Latvian as the primary language at home in 2011 bymunicipalities of Latvia | |
As aBaltic language,Latvian is most closely related to neighboringLithuanian(as well asOld Prussian,an extinct Baltic language); however, Latvian has followed a more rapid development.[10]In addition, there is some disagreement whetherLatgalianandKursenieki,which aremutually intelligiblewith Latvian,[11]should be consideredvarietiesorseparate languages.[12]
Latvian first appeared inprintin the mid-16th century with the reproduction of theLord's Prayerin Latvian inSebastian Münster'sCosmographia universalis(1544), inLatin script.
Classification
editLatvian belongs to theIndo-Europeanlanguage family. It is classified as a part of theBalticsubbranch of theBalto-Slavicbranch of the family. It is one of two living Baltic languages with an official status, the other beingLithuanian.The Latvian and Lithuanian languages have retained many features of the nominal morphology ofProto-Indo-European,though their phonology and verbal morphology show many innovations (in other words, forms that did not exist in Proto-Indo-European),[13]with Latvian being considerably more innovative than Lithuanian. However, Latvian has been also influenced by theLivonian language.[14]For example, Latvian borrowed first-syllable stress fromFinno-Ugric languages.[15]
History
edit
Origins
editAccording to someglottochronologicalspeculations, theEast Baltic languagessplit fromWest Baltic(or, perhaps, from the hypotheticalproto-Baltic language) between 400 and 600 CE.[16]The differentiation betweenLithuanianand Latvian started after 800 CE. At a minimum, transitional dialects existed until the 14th century or 15th century, and perhaps as late as the 17th century.[17]
Latvian as a distinct language emerged over several centuries from the language spoken by the ancientLatgaliansassimilating the languages of other neighboring Baltic tribes—Curonian,Semigallian,andSelonian—which resulted in these languages gradually losing their most distinct characteristics. This process of consolidation started in the 13th century after theLivonian Crusadeand forcedchristianization,which formed a unified political, economic, and religious space inMedieval Livonia.[18]
16th–18th century
editThe oldest known examples of written Latvian are from a 1530 translation of a hymn made byNikolaus Ramm,a German pastor inRiga.[19]The oldest preserved book in Latvian is a 1585 Catholic catechism ofPetrus Canisiuscurrently located at theUppsala University Library.[20]
The first person totranslate the Bibleinto Latvian was the GermanLutheranpastorJohann Ernst Glück[21](The New Testamentin 1685 andThe Old Testamentin 1691). The Lutheran pastorGotthard Friedrich Stenderwas a founder of Latvian secular literature. He wrote the first illustrated Latvianalphabet book(1787), the first encyclopedia "The Book of High Wisdom of the World and Nature"(Augstas gudrības grāmata no pasaules un dabas;1774), grammar books and Latvian–German and German–Latvian dictionaries.
19th century
editUntil the 19th century, the Latvian written language was influenced byGerman Lutheranpastors and theGerman language,becauseBaltic Germansformed the upper class of local society.[10]In the middle of the 19th centurythe First Latvian National Awakeningwas started, led by "Young Latvians"who popularized the use of Latvian language. Participants in this movement laid the foundations for standard Latvian and also popularized the Latvianization of loan words. However, in the 1880s, whenCzar Alexander IIIcame into power,Russificationstarted.
According to the1897 Imperial Russian Census,there were 505,994 (75.1%) speakers of Latvian in theGovernorate of Courland[22]and 563,829 (43.4%) speakers of Latvian in theGovernorate of Livonia,making Latvian-speakers the largest linguistic group in each of the governorates.[23]
20th century
editAfter the death of Alexander III at the end of the 19th century, Latvian nationalist movements re-emerged. In 1908, Latvian linguistsKārlis MīlenbahsandJānis Endzelīnselaborated the modern Latvian alphabet, which slowly replaced the old orthography used before. Another feature of the language, in common with its sister language Lithuanian, that was developed at that time is that proper names from other countries and languages arealtered phoneticallyto fit the phonological system of Latvian, even if the original language also uses the Latin alphabet. Moreover, the names are modified to ensure that they have noun declension endings, declining like all other nouns. For example, a place such asLecropt(a Scottish parish) is likely to become Lekropta; the Scottish village ofTillicoultrybecomes Tilikutrija.
After theSoviet occupation of Latvia,the policy ofRussificationgreatly affected the Latvian language. At the same time, the use of Latvian among theLatvians in Russiahad already dwindled after the so-called 1937–1938Latvian Operation of the NKVD,during which at least 16,573 ethnic Latvians and Latvian nationals were executed. In the 1941June deportationand the 1949Operation Priboi,tens of thousands of Latvians and other ethnicities were deported from Latvia. Massive immigration fromRussian SFSR,Ukrainian SSR,Byelorussian SSR,and otherrepublics of the Soviet Unionfollowed, primarily as a result of Stalin's plan to integrate Latvia and the other Baltic republics into the Soviet Union throughcolonization.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 Soviet Latvia, most of the immigrants who settled in the country did not learn Latvian. According to the 2011censusLatvian was the language spoken at home by 62% of the country's population.[7][8]
After the re-establishment of independence in 1991, a new policy of language education was introduced. The primary declared goal was the integration of all inhabitants into the environment of the official state language while protecting the languages of Latvia's ethnic minorities.[24]
Government-funded bilingual education was available in primary schools for ethnic minorities until 2019 when Parliament decided on educating only in Latvian. Minority schools are available forRussian,Yiddish,Polish,Lithuanian,Ukrainian,Belarusian,EstonianandRomaschools. Latvian is taught as a second language in the initial stages too, as is officially declared, to encourage proficiency in that language, aiming at avoiding alienation from the Latvian-speaking linguistic majority and for the sake of facilitating academic and professional achievements. 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).[25]
The Official Language Law was adopted on 9 December 1999.[26]Several regulatory acts associated with this law have been adopted. Observance of the law is monitored by theLatvian State Language Centerrun by the Ministry of Justice.
21st century
editTo counter the influence ofRussianandEnglish,government organizations (namely the Terminology Commission of the Latvian Academy of Science and the State Language Center) popularize the use of Latvian terms. A debate arose over the Latvian term foreuro.The Terminology Commission suggestedeiraoreirs,with their Latvianized and declinable ending, would be a better term foreurothan the widely usedeiro,whileEuropean Central Bankinsisted that the original nameeurobe used in all languages.[27]New terms are Latvian derivatives,calquesor new loanwords. For example, Latvian has two words for "telephone" —tālrunisandtelefons,the former being a direct translation into Latvian of the latter international term. Still, others are older or more euphonic loanwords rather than Latvian words. For example, "computer" can be eitherdatorsorkompjūters.Both are loanwords; the native Latvian word for "computer" isskaitļotājs,which is also an official term. However, nowdatorshas been considered an appropriate translation,skaitļotājsis also used.
There are several contests held annually to promote the correct use of Latvian. One of them is "Word of the year" (Gada vārds) organized by theRiga Latvian Societysince 2003.[28]It features categories such as the "Best word", "Worst word", "Best saying" and "Word salad".In 2018 the wordzibmaksājums(instant payment) won the category of "Best word" andinfluenceris(influencer) won the category of "Worst word".[29]The word pair ofstraumēt(stream) andstraumēšana(streaming) were named the best words of 2017, whiletransportias an unnecessary plural of the name fortransportwas chosen as the worst word of 2017.[30]
Dialects
editThere are threedialectsin Latvian: the Livonian dialect, High Latvian and the Middle dialect. Latvian dialects and their varieties should not be confused with theLivonian,Curonian,SemigallianandSelonianlanguages.
Livonian dialect
edit
The Livonian dialect of Latvian was more affected by theLivonian languagesubstratumthan Latvian in other parts of Latvia. It is divided into theVidzemevarietyand theCourlandvariety (also calledtāmnieku). There are two syllableintonationsin the Livonian dialect, extended and broken. In the Livonian dialect, short vowels at the end of words are discarded, while long vowels are shortened. In all genders and numbers, only one form of theverbis used.Personal namesin both genders are derived with the endings -els, -ans. Inprefixesieis changed toe.Due to migration and the introduction of a standardised language, this dialect has declined. It arose from assimilatedLivonians,who started to speak in Latvian and assimilated Livonian grammar into Latvian. Although initially its last native speaker,Grizelda Kristiņa,died in 2013,[31]a child, Kuldi Medne, born in 2020 is reported to be a native speaker of Livonian. Her parents are Livonian language revival activists Jānis Mednis and Renāte Medne.[32]The Latvian Government continued attempts to preserve the dialect following therestoration of independence in 1990and currently it is learned by some people as a hobby.[9][33]
Middle dialect
editThe Middle dialect spoken in central and Southwestern Latvia is the basis of standard Latvian. The dialect is divided into the Vidzeme variety, the Curonian variety and the Semigallian variety. 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 syllable intonations in some parts of Vidzeme variety of the Middle dialect, extended, broken and falling. The Curonian and Semigallian varieties have two syllable intonations, extended and broken, but some parts of the Vidzeme variety has extended and falling intonations. In the Curonian variety,ŗis still used. TheKursenieki language,which used to be spoken alongCuronian Spit,is closely related to the varieties of the Middle dialect spoken inCourland.
Upper Latvian dialect
editUpper Latvian dialect is spoken in Eastern Latvia. It is set apart from the rest of the Latvian by a number of phonetic differences. The dialect has two main varieties – Selonian (two syllable intonations, falling and rising) and Non-Selonian (falling and broken syllable intonations). There is astandard language,theLatgalian language,which is based on deep non-Selonian varieties spoken in the south ofLatgale.The term "Latgalian" is sometimes also applied to all non-Selonian varieties or even the whole dialect. However, it is unclear if using the term for any varieties besides the standard language is accurate. While the term may refer to varieties spoken inLatgaleor byLatgalians,not all speakers identify as speaking Latgalian, for example, speakers of deep Non-Selonian varieties inVidzemeexplicitly deny speaking Latgalian.[34]It is spoken by approximately 15% of Latvia's population, but almost all of its speakers are also fluent in the standard Latvian language and they promote the dialect in popular culture in order to preserve their distinct culture.[9]The Latvian Government since 1990 has also taken measures to protect the dialect from extinction.[9]
Non-native speakers
editThe history of the Latvian language (see below) has placed it in a peculiar position for a language of its size, whereby many non-native speakers speak it compared to native speakers. The immigrant and minority population in Latvia is 700,000 people:Russians,Belarusians,Ukrainians,Poles,and others. The majority of immigrants settled in Latvia between 1940 and 1991;[citation needed]supplementing pre-existing ethnic minority communities (Latvian Germans,Latvian Jews,Latvian Russians). The trends show that the proficiency of Latvian among its non-native speakers is gradually increasing. In a 2009 survey by theLatvian Language Agency56% percent of respondents with Russian as their native language described having a good knowledge of Latvian, whereas for the younger generation (from 17 to 25 years) the number was 64%.[35]
The increased adoption of Latvian by minorities was brought about by its status as the country's only official language and other changes in the society after thefall of the Soviet Unionthat mostly shifted linguistic focus away fromRussian.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
editLatvian grammar represents a classic Indo-European (Baltic) system with well developed inflection and derivation. Primary word stress, with some exceptions in derivation and inflection, is on the firstsyllable.There are no articles in Latvian; definiteness is expressed by an inflection of adjectives. Basic word order in Latvian issubject–verb–object;however, word order is relatively free.
Nouns
editThere are twogrammatical gendersin Latvian (masculine and feminine) and twonumbers,singular and plural. Nouns, adjectives, and declinable participlesdeclineinto seven cases:nominative,genitive,dative,accusative,instrumental,locative,andvocative.There are six declensions for nouns.
Verbs
editThere are three conjugation classes in Latvian. Verbs are conjugated for person, tense, mood and voice.
Orthography
editLatvian inLatin scriptwas first based upon theGerman orthography,while the alphabet of the Latgalian dialect was based on thePolish orthography.At the beginning of the 20th century, it was replaced by a more phonologically consistent orthography — which is heavily based of fromCzech orthography.
Standard orthography
editToday, the Latvian standard orthography employs 33 characters:
| Majuscule forms(also calleduppercaseorcapital letters) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| A | Ā | B | C | Č | D | E | Ē | F | G | Ģ | H | I | Ī | J | K | Ķ | L | Ļ | M | N | Ņ | O | P | R | S | Š | T | U | Ū | V | Z | Ž |
| Minuscule forms(also calledlowercaseorsmall letters) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| a | ā | b | c | č | d | e | ē | f | g | ģ | h | i | ī | j | k | ķ | l | ļ | m | n | ņ | o | p | r | s | š | t | u | ū | v | z | ž |
The modern standard Latvian alphabet uses 22 unmodified letters of the Latin alphabet (all except⟨q, w, x, y⟩). It adds a further eleven characters by modification. The vowel letters⟨a⟩,⟨e⟩,⟨i⟩and⟨u⟩can take amacronto show length, unmodified letters being short; these letters are not differentiated while sorting (e.g. in dictionaries). The letters⟨c⟩,⟨s⟩and⟨z⟩are pronounced[ts],[s]and[z]respectively, while when marked with acaron,⟨č, š, ž⟩,they are pronounced[tʃ],[ʃ]and[ʒ]respectively. The letters⟨ģ, ķ, ļ, ņ⟩,written with a comma placed underneath (or above them for lowercaseg), which indicatepalatalizedversions of⟨g, k, l, n⟩representing the sounds[ɟ],[c],[ʎ]and[ɲ].Latvian orthography also contains nine digraphs, which are written⟨ai, au, ei, ie, iu, ui, oi, dz, dž⟩.Non-standard varieties of Latvian add extra letters to this standard set.
Latvian spelling has almost one-to-one correspondence between graphemes and phonemes. Everyphonemecorresponds to a letter so that the reader can almost always pronounce words by putting the letters together. There are only two exceptions to this consistency in the orthography: the letters⟨e, ē⟩represent two different sounds:/ɛæ/and/ɛːæː/.The second mismatch is that letter⟨o⟩indicates both the short and long[ɔ],and thediphthong[uɔ].These three sounds are written as⟨o⟩,⟨ō⟩and⟨uo⟩inLatgalian,and some Latvians campaign for the adoption of this system in standard Latvian. However, Latvian grammarians argue that⟨o⟩and⟨ō⟩are found only in loanwords, with the/uɔ/sound being the only native Latvian phoneme. The digraph⟨uo⟩was discarded in 1914, and the letters⟨ō⟩and⟨ŗ⟩have not been used in the official Latvian language since 1946. Likewise, the digraph⟨ch⟩was discarded in 1957, although⟨ō⟩,⟨ŗ⟩,and⟨ch⟩are still used in some varieties and by many Latvians living beyond the borders of Latvia. The letter⟨y⟩is used only in Latgalian, where it represents/ɨ/,a sound not present in other dialects.
Old orthography
edit
The oldorthographywas based on German and did not represent the Latvian language phonemically. Initially, 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: twelve variations of writingŠ.In 1631 the German priestGeorg Manceliustried to systematize the writing. He wrote long vowels according to their position in the word – a short vowel followed byhfor a radical vowel, a short vowel in the suffix, and vowel with adiacriticmark in the ending indicating two accents. Consonants were written using multiple letters following the example of German. The old orthography was used until the 20th century when modern orthography slowly replaced it.
Latvian on computers
edit
In late 1992, the official Latvian computing standard LVS 8-92 took effect. It was followed by LVS 24-93 (Latvian language support for computers) that also specified the way Latvian language (alphabet, numbers, currency, punctuation marks, date and time) should be represented on computers. A Latvian ergonomic keyboard standard LVS 23-93 was also announced several months later, but it did not gain popularity due to its need for a custom-built keyboard.[36]
Nowadays standardQWERTYor the US keyboards are used for writing in Latvian; diacritics are entered by using adead key(usually ', occasionally ~).[36]Some keyboard layouts use themodifier keyAltGr(most notably the Windows 2000 and XP built-in layout (Latvian QWERTY), it is also default modifier in X11R6, thus a default in most Linux distributions).
In the 1990s, lack of software support of diacritics caused an unofficial style of orthography, often calledtranslits,to emerge for use in situations when the user is unable to access Latvian diacritic marks (e-mail, newsgroups, web user forums, chat,SMSetc.). It uses thebasic Modern Latin alphabetonly, and letters that are not used in standard orthography are usually omitted. In this style, diacritics are replaced by digraphs – a doubled letter indicates a long vowel (as in Finnish and Estonian); a followingjindicates palatalisation of consonants, i.e., a cedilla; and the postalveolarsŠ,ČandŽare written withhreplacing theháček,as in English. 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.[37]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 sometimes used for financial and social reasons. Asšandžare part of theWindows-1252coding, it is possible to input those two letters using anumerical keypad.Latvian language code for cmd and.bat files -Windows-1257
Comparative orthography
editFor example, theLord's Prayerin Latvian written in different styles:
| First orthography (Cosmographia Universalis, 1544) |
Old orthography, 1739[38] | Modern orthography | Internet-style |
|---|---|---|---|
| Muuſze Thews exkan tho Debbes | Muhſu Tehvs debbeſîs | Mūsu tēvs debesīs | Muusu teevs debesiis |
| Sweetyttz thope totws waerdtcz | Swehtits lai top taws wahrds | Svētīts lai top tavs vārds | Sveetiits lai top tavs vaards |
| Enaka mums touwe walſtibe | Lai nahk tawa walſtiba | Lai nāk tava valstība | Lai naak tava valstiiba |
| Tows praetcz noteſe | Taws prahts lai noteek | Tavs prāts lai notiek | Tavs praats lai notiek |
| ka exkan Debbes tha arridtczan wuerſſon ſemmes | kà debbeſîs tà arirdſan zemes wirsû | Kā debesīs, tā arī virs zemes | Kaa debesiis taa arii virs zemes |
| Muſze beniſke mayſe bobe mums ſdjoben | Muhsu deeniſchtu maizi dod mums ſchodeen | Mūsu dienišķo maizi dod mums šodien | Muusu dienishkjo maizi dod mums shodien |
| Vnbe pammet mums muſſe parrabe | Un pametti mums muhſu parradus[later parahdus] | Un piedod mums mūsu parādus | Un piedod mums muusu paraadus |
| ka mehs pammettam muſſims parabenekims | kà arri mehs pamettam ſaweem parrahdneekeem | Kā arī mēs piedodam saviem parādniekiem | Kaa arii mees piedodam saviem paraadniekiem |
| Vnbe nhe wedde mums exkan kaerbenaſchenne | Un ne eeweddi muhs eekſch kahrdinaſchanas | Un neieved mūs kārdināšanā | Un neieved muus kaardinaashanaa |
| Seth atpeſthmums no to loune | bet atpeſti muhs no ta launa[later łauna] | Bet atpestī mūs no ļauna | Bet atpestii muus no ljauna |
| Aefto thouwa gir ta walſtibe | Jo tew peederr ta walſtiba | Jo tev pieder valstība | Jo tev pieder valstiiba |
| Vnbe tas ſpeez vnb tas Goobtcz tur muſſige. | Un tas ſpehks un tas gods muhſchigi[later muhzigi]. | Spēks un gods mūžīgi. | Speeks un gods muuzhiigi. |
| Amen. | Amen. | Āmen. | Aamen. |
Phonology
editConsonants
edit| Labial | Dental/Alveolar | Post-alveolar/Palatal | Velar | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | m | n | ɲ | [ŋ] |
| Stop | pb | td | cɟ | kɡ |
| Affricate | t͡sd͡z | t͡ʃd͡ʒ | ||
| Fricative | (f)v | sz | ʃʒ | (x) |
| Central approximant/Trill | r | j | ||
| Lateral approximant | l | ʎ |
Consonants in consonant sequencesassimilate to the voicing of the subsequent consonant,e.g. apgabals[ˈabɡabals]or labs[ˈlaps].Latvian does not featurefinal-obstruent devoicing.
Consonants can be long (written as double consonants)mamma[ˈmamːa],or short. Plosives and fricatives occurring between two short vowels are lengthened:upe[ˈupːe].Same with 'zs' that is pronounced as/sː/,šs and žs as/ʃː/.
Vowels
editLatvian has six vowels, withlengthas distinctive feature:
| Front | Central | Back | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| short | long | short | long | short | long | |
| Close | i | iː | u | uː | ||
| Mid | e | eː | (ɔ) | (ɔː) | ||
| Open | æ | æː | a | aː | ||
/ɔɔː/,and the diphthongs involving it other than/uɔ/,are confined to loanwords.
Latvian also has 10diphthongs,four of which are only found in loanwords (/aiuiɛiauiɛuɔiu(ɔi)ɛu(ɔu)/), although some diphthongs are mostly limited to proper names and interjections.
Syllable accent
editStandard Latvian and, with some exceptions in derivation and inflection, all of the Latvian dialects have fixed initial stress. Long vowels and diphthongs have a tone, regardless of their position in the word. This includes the so-called "mixed diphthongs", composed of a short vowel followed by asonorant.
Loanwords
editDuring the period ofLivonia,manyMiddle Low Germanwords such asamats(profession),dambis(dam),būvēt(to build) andbikses(trousers) were borrowed into Latvian, while the period ofSwedish Livoniabrought loanwords likeskurstenis(chimney) fromSwedish.[39]It also has loanwords from theFinnic languages,mainly fromLivonianandEstonian.[40]There are about 500-600 borrowings from Finnic languages in Latvian, for example:māja‘house’ (Liv.mōj),puika‘boy’ (Liv.pūoga),pīlādzis‘mountain ash’ (Liv.pī’lõg),sēne‘mushroom’ (Liv.sēņ).[15]
Loanwords from other Baltic language includeķermenis(body) fromOld Prussian,as well asveikals(store) andpaģiras(hangover) fromLithuanian.[39]
History of the study
editThe first Latvian dictionaryLettuscompiled byGeorg Manceliuswas published in 1638.[41]
The first grammar of the Latvian language is a short “Manual on the Latvian language” (Latin:Manuductio ad linguam lettonicam) byJohans Georgs Rehehūzens,published in 1644 in Riga.[42]
Bibliography
edit- 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 Sprach 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. 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)
- Holst,Lettische Grammatik(Hamburg, 2001)
- Wolter, "Die lettische Literatur," inDie ost-europäische Literaturen(Berlin, 1908)
- Kalning,Kurzer Lettischer Sprachführer(Riga, 1910)
Literary histories in Latvian
edit- 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)
See also
editReferences
edit- ^"Lettish".TheFreeDictionary.com.Retrieved2007-07-28.
- ^Valsts valoda
- ^Prauliņš (2012),p. 1
- ^Prauliņš (2012),p. 1
- ^"EU official languages".European-union.europa.eu.Retrieved1 August2022.
- ^"Dažādu tautu valodu prasme".vvk.lv(in Latvian).
- ^ab"At Home Latvian Is Spoken by 62% of Latvian Population; the Majority – in Vidzeme and Lubāna County".Central Statistical Bureau of Latvia.26 September 2013.Retrieved30 October2014.
- ^ab"Latvian Language Is Spoken by 62% of the Population".Baltic News Network.26 September 2013.Retrieved30 October2014.
- ^abcdŽemaitis, Augustinas."Languages".OnLatvia.com.Retrieved1 August2022.
- ^abDahl, Östen; Koptjevskaja-Tamm, Maria, eds. (2001).The Circum-Baltic Languages.John Benjamins Publishing.ISBN9027230579.OCLC872451315.
- ^"How Latgale chose to join Latvia".Public Broadcasting of Latvia.2 May 2017.Retrieved27 October2017.
The Latgalian language falls within the High Latvian dialect and is of course mutually intelligible with the other dialects.
- ^"Latgalian Language in Latvia: Between Politics, Linguistics and Law".International Centre for Ethnic and Linguistic Diversity. 30 March 2018.Retrieved6 August2018.
- ^For example the Latvian debitive verb form (man ir jāmācās “I must study” or “it is necessary for me to study” ) and the Lithuanian frequentative past (jie eidavo “they used to go” ).Baltic languages - Comparison of Lithuanian and LatvianArchived2021-10-25 at theWayback Machine,Encyclopedia Britannica
- ^"Livones.net - Mutual influence between Livonian and Latvian".
- ^abStafecka, Anna (2014)."Baltic and Finnic linguistic relations reflected in geolinguistic studies of the Baltic languages".
{{cite journal}}:Cite journal requires|journal=(help) - ^International Business Publications, Usa. (2008).Lithuania taxation laws and regulations handbook.Intl Business Pubns Usa. p. 28.ISBN978-1433080289.OCLC946497138.
{{cite book}}:|last=has generic name (help) - ^Ramat, Anna Giacalone;Ramat, Paolo (1998). "The Baltic Languages".The Indo-European Languages.Routledge. pp. 454–479.ISBN9781134921867.OCLC908192063.
- ^"Livonia. 13th-16th Century".Archivedfrom the original on 2017-10-27.Retrieved2017-10-27.
- ^Vīksniņš, Nicholas (1973)."The Early History of Latvian Books".Lituanus.19(3). Archived fromthe originalon 24 April 2012.Retrieved3 September2019.
- ^"National treasure: The oldest Latvian-language book in Rīga".Public Broadcasting of Latvia.25 August 2016.Retrieved27 October2017.
- ^Rozenberga, Māra; Sprēde, Antra (24 August 2016)."National treasure: The first Bible in Latvian".Public Broadcasting of Latvia.Retrieved27 October2017.
- ^"The First General Census of the Russian Empire of 1897 – Courland governorate".Demoscope Weekly.RetrievedDecember 31,2018.
- ^"The First General Census of the Russian Empire of 1897 – Governorate of Livonia".Demoscope Weekly.RetrievedDecember 31,2018.
- ^Minority Protection in Latvia(PDF).Open Society Institute. 2001.Retrieved3 September2019.
- ^Latvian Centre for Human Rights and Ethnic Studies (2004).Analytical Report PHARE RAXEN_CC - Minority Education(PDF).Vienna: Minority Education in Latvia.Archived(PDF)from the original on 2022-10-10.Retrieved3 September2019.
- ^"Official Language Law".likumi.lv.Retrieved9 January2018.
- ^"No 'eira' - but 'eiro' will do".The Baltic Times.6 October 2004.Retrieved28 July2007.
- ^"'Glābējsilīte' is word of the year ".Latvians Online. 18 January 2010.Retrieved14 February2010.
- ^"Best and worst words of 2018 underlined".Public Broadcasting of Latvia.28 January 2019.Retrieved28 January2019.
- ^"Best and worst words of 2017 underlined".Public Broadcasting of Latvia.31 January 2018.Retrieved28 January2019.
- ^"Obituary: Last Native Speaker of the Livonian Language Died Age 103".GeoCurrents. Archived fromthe originalon October 26, 2013.Retrieved2013-12-01.
- ^"«Kūldaläpš. Zeltabērns» – izdota lībiešu valodas grāmata bērniem un vecākiem"[ "Kūldaläpš. Golden Child" - Livonian book for children and parents published].Lsm.lv(in Latvian). 2022-10-18.Retrieved2023-07-19.
- ^Charter, David."Death of a language: last ever speaker of Livonian passes away aged 103".The Times.Retrieved1 August2022.
- ^Markus, Dace (2012)."The deep Latgalian variants of the High Latvian dialect in North-East Vidzeme (so-called Malenia)".Baltistica(in Latvian) (8 priedas). Vilnius University: 99–110.doi:10.15388/baltistica.0.8.2114.
- ^Language situation in Latvia: 2004–2010(PDF).Latvian Language Agency.2012. pp. 18–20.ISBN978-9984-815-81-7.Archived(PDF)from the original on 2022-10-10.
- ^abGross, Arnis (July 4, 2015)."The Next Challenge for the Latvian Language".Latvians Online.RetrievedOctober 27,2017.
- ^Veinberga, Linda (2001)."Latviešu valodas izmaiņas un funkcijas interneta vidē".politika.lv(in Latvian). Archived from the original on 2012-05-24.Retrieved2007-07-28.
{{cite web}}:CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link) - ^BIBLIA,published Riga, 1848 (reprint), original edition 1739; "modern" old orthographies published into the 20th century do not double consonants
- ^abVeips, Lauris (13 May 2017)."From the Language of Serfs to Official EU Communication – the Journey of Latvian".LSM.lv.Retrieved27 October2017.
- ^"Baltic languages – Loanwords in Baltic".britannica.com.
- ^Viiding, Kristi (2004). "Das Porträt eines liv- und kurländischen orthodoxen Theologen (Georg Mancelius), anhand der ihm gewidmeten Geleit und Begrüßungsgedichte". In Sträter, Udo (ed.).Orthodoxie und Poesie(in German). Leipzig:Evangelische Verlagsanstalt.ISBN3-374-01997-8.
- ^Kabelka, J. (1982).Baltų filologijos įvadas: Vadovėlis respublikos aukštųjų mokyklų filologijos specialybės studentams[Introduction to Baltic Philology: A Textbook for Philology Students of Higher Education in the Republic] (in Latvian). Vilnius: Mokslas. p. 101.
Further reading
edit- Derksen, Rick(1996).Metatony in Baltic.Amsterdam: Rodopi.
- Kalnača, Andra; Lokmane, Ilze (2021).Latvian Grammar.Rīga: University of Latvia Press.doi:10.22364/latgram.2021.ISBN978-9934-18-635-6.
- Prauliņš, Dace (2012).Latvian: An Essential Grammar.London: Routeledge.ISBN9780415576925.
External links
edit
- Live Latvian-language radio streams online
- Official Language Law in English
- Overview of the Latvian Language (en)
- State (Official) Language Commission (linguistic articles, applicable laws, etc.)
- English–Latvian / Latvian–English dictionary
- English-Latvian and Latvian–English online translation
- Latvian–English DictionaryfromWebster's Online Dictionary–The Rosetta Edition
- National Agency for Latvian Language Training
- Examples of Latvian words and phrases (with sound)
- Languages of the World:Latvian
- Latvian bilingual dictionaries
- Latvian Swadesh list of basic vocabulary words(from Wiktionary'sSwadesh-list appendix)