Standard Latvian language
| Latvian | |
|---|---|
| Latviešu valoda | |
| Native to | Latvia |
| Region | Baltic |
|
Native speakers
|
1.75 million (2015) |
|
Latin (Latvian alphabet) Latvian Braille |
|
| Official status | |
|
Official language in
|
Latvia European Union |
| Regulated by | Latvian State Language Center |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-1 | lv |
| ISO 639-2 | |
| ISO 639-3 |
Individual codes: lvs – Standard Latvian language ltg – Latgalian language |
| Glottolog | latv1249 |
| Linguasphere | 54-AAB-a |
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Use of Latvian as the primary language at home in 2011 by municipalities of Latvia
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Latvian (latviešu valoda [latviɛʃu valuɔda]) is the official state language of Latvia. It was previously known in English as Lettish which remains the standard today in various forms in most other Germanic languages. 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.
Latvian is a Baltic language and is most closely related to 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.
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.
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Wikipedia