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Latvian as a distinct language emerged over several centuries from the language spoken by the ancient Latgalians assimilating the languages of other neighboring Baltic tribes—Curonian, Semigallian, and Selonian—which resulted in these languages gradually losing their most distinct characteristics.
Latvian language, East Baltic language spoken primarily in Latvia, where it has been the official language since 1918. It belongs to the Baltic branch of the Indo-European family of languages. (See Baltic languages.) In the late 20th century Latvian was spoken by about 1.5 million people.
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
The Latvian language, along with Lithuanian, is considered one of the oldest among the Indo-European languages in Europe, forming the Baltic language branch. Out of the approximately 6,700 languages spoken worldwide, Latvian constitutes one of the smaller segments, with a speaker population more than 1 million.
The Latvian language, a member of the Baltic language family, has a rich history that reflects the cultural and political changes of the region. It is one of the oldest languages in Europe, with roots that trace back to ancient Indo-European tongues.
- From The Language of Serfs to Becoming An Official EU Language
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- Loanwords Fit Neatly Into Latvian
- Russian and English Influence Is Becoming Apparent
- The Old Prussians Disappeared, But Their Words Did Not
LSM: What's special about Latvian in the context of European and world languages? O. Lāms:The Latvian language is a sort of a mirror for the wonderful story of the Latvian nation. In mid-19th century the Latvian language was not taken seriously. Baltic Germans called it a peasant language suitable for giving agricultural lessons, strengthening [Chr...
Going back to the 19th century, another process is worth noting - the development of historical linguistics. This branch of linguistics explores the relationships between languages, their development in time, and unites languages into branches and families. That's how the Latvian language attracted researchers' attention with its unique grammatical...
LSM: What's significant in the historical development of the Latvian language? What other languages have influenced it? O. Lāms:Up until the early 20th century Latvian was harshly ruled by German syntax, with the verb often moved to the back of the sentence. In the old Livonian times many words from Middle Low German flowed into Latvian. These word...
Russian started, and English is continuing to do away with the vocative case. It sounds lame when a Latvian says, "hey, Aivars" [instead of "hey, Aivar"]. While the rarely used third declension, which ends in -us in the nominative, is being seriously distorted nowadays. While compound tenses have lost their once clearly defined usage. While even fo...
While in terms of mutual influence, Latvian has the most organic relationship with its ancient neighbors - Baltic Finno-Ugric peoples, especially Livs, as well as our Baltic neighbors - Lithuanians and Old Prussians. During the Latvian awakening, culture luminaries borrowed conscientiously from the Lithuanian, evident from the word veikals(store). ...
- Lauris Veips
Latvian evolved from Proto-Baltic, the common ancestor of the Baltic languages, which in turn originated from Proto-Indo-European. The Latvian language has retained many archaic features that have been lost in other Indo-European languages, making it of considerable interest to linguists. Germanic and Slavic Influence.
Latvian at a glance. Native name: latviešu valoda [latviɛʃu valuɔda] Language family: Indo-European, Balto-Slavic, Baltic, Eastern Baltic; Number of speakers: 2 million; Spoken in: Latvia; First written: 1530; Writing system: Latin script; Status: official language in Latvia and the European Union
