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Latvian

Also known as Latvian language, Lettish, Lettish language, Latviešu

Baltic language, official in Latvia and the European Union

AI overview

Latvian is a Baltic language that serves as the official language of Latvia and is recognized as an official language of the European Union. It is one of only two surviving Baltic languages and represents a distinct linguistic tradition in Europe.

AI-generated from the Wikipedia summary — may contain errors.

Wikidata facts

Instance of: macrolanguage
Subclass of: East Baltic
Has part: Kursenieki
Country: Latvia

Show 18 more facts

linguistic typology: nominative–accusative language
Commons category: Latvian language
Wikimedia language code: lv
topic's main category: Category:Latvian language
language regulatory body: Latvian State Language Center
native label: latviešu valoda
number of speakers, writers, or signers: 1500000
indigenous to: Latvia
exact match: afbo.info/languages/63
category for films in this language: Category:Latvian-language films
short name: латышская
has grammatical case: vocative case
topic has template: Template:-lv-
Stack Exchange tag: tex.stackexchange.com/tags/latvian
entry in abbreviations table: латыш.
has tense: future tense
has grammatical gender: feminine
P11012: Iceland

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Encyclopedic overview

Latvian (latviešu valoda, IPA: [ˈlatviɛʃu ˈvaluɔda]), also known as Lettish, is an East Baltic language belonging to the Indo-European language family. It is spoken in the Baltic region, and is the language of the Latvians. It is the official language of Latvia as well as one of the official languages of the European Union. There are about 1.5 million native Latvian speakers in Latvia and 100,000 abroad. Of those, around 1.16 million or 62% of Latvia's population used it as their primary language at home, though excluding the Latgale and Riga regions it is spoken as a native language in villages and towns by over 90% of the population.

As a Baltic language, Latvian is most closely related to neighbouring Lithuanian (as well as Old Prussian, an extinct Baltic language); however, Latvian has developed in different directions. In addition, there is some disagreement whether Standard Latgalian and Kursenieki, which are mutually intelligible with Latvian, should be considered varieties or separate languages.

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Latvian” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.