Latvian (language)

Latvian
formerly Lettish
latviešu valoda
Pronunciation	[ˈlatviɛʃu ˈvaluɔda]
Native to	Latvia
Region	Baltic
Native speakers	1.75 million (2015)
Language family	Indo-European Balto-Slavic Baltic Eastern Baltic Latvian
Writing system	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	– inclusive code Individual codes:  – Standard Latvian language  – Latgalian language
Glottolog	latv1249
Linguasphere	54-AAB-a
Use of Latvian as the primary language at home in 2011 by municipalities of Latvia
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Latvian (latviešu valoda [ˈlatviɛʃu ˈvaluɔda]) is a Baltic language spoken in the Baltic region. It is the language of Latvians and the official language of Latvia as well as one of the official languages of the European Union. It was previously known in English as Lettish, and cognates of the word remain the most commonly used name for the Latvian language in Germanic languages other than English. There are about 1.3 million native Latvian speakers in Latvia and 100,000 abroad. Altogether, 2 million, or 80% of the population of Latvia, speak Latvian. Of those, 1.16 million or 56% use it as their primary language at home. The use of the Latvian language in various areas of social life in Latvia is increasing.

As a Baltic language, Latvian is most closely related to neighboring Lithuanian. In addition, there is some disagreement whether Latgalian and New Curonian, which are mutually intelligible with Latvian, should be considered varieties or separate languages.

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 (1544), in Latin script.

Latvian belongs to the Baltic branch of the Indo-European language family. It is one of two living Baltic languages with an official status (the other being Lithuanian). 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.