Latvian Language

Latvian Language, the official language of Latvia since 1918. Latvian is one of the Baltic languages, a subdivision of the Indo-European language family. Latvian is closely related to the Lithuanian language, but is the less conservative of the two, showing numerous sound changes in its historical development. Latvian has short vowels and monophthongs (vowels made of a single sound) in the final syllables of words where Lithuanian has long vowels and diphthongs (two vowels pronounced together). Grammatically, Latvian, like Lithuanian, is a highly inflected language, having seven noun cases and six verb declensions. Word order in sentences follows the subject-object-verb pattern. However, word endings indicate cases, such as indirect and direct objects, and allow some flexibility in word order. The influence of the Finnish language on Latvian has meant that word accent has been fixed on the first syllable. Other languages that have influenced Latvian over the course of its history include German, Polish, Swedish, and Russian.

The earliest printed writings in Latvian are written in Gothic script, a form of writing once used in Germany, and are religious in nature. They include a Roman Catholic catechism (1585), a Lutheran version of the catechism (1586), and a translation of the Bible (1685). Two major dialects of Latvian exist: West Latvian (also known as Central Latvian or Tamian) and East Latvian (also known as High Latvian or Latgalian). Literature has been written in both Latvian dialects, but standard Latvian is based on West Latvian. The Latvian language has used the Roman alphabet with diacritical marks since 1922. The Latvian alphabet has 48 letters.