Latgalian language can mean one of the following:
- Nowadays it normally refers to a language spoken in the eastern part of Latvia known as Latgale. Sometimes it is referred to as a distinct separate language, while others consider it to be a dialect of Latvian. This modern Latgalian developed as a result of two main factors: Latgalians having preserved more features of the archaic (tribal) Latgalian language than the other Latvians and Latgale being separated for several centuries from other parts of Latvia.
Latgalian alphabet
A/a Ā/ā B/b C/c Č/č D/d E/e Ē/ē F/f G/g Ģ/ģ H/h I/i Y/y Ī/ī J/j K/k Ķ/ķ L/l Ļ/ļ M/m N/n Ņ/ņ O/o Ō/ō P/p R/r S/s Š/š T/t U/u Ū/ū V/v Z/z Ž/ž
Language example
Tik skrytuļam ruodīs: iz vītys jis grīžās,
A brauciejam breinums, kai tuoli ceļš aizvess,
Tai vuorpsteite cīši pret sprāduoju paušās,
Jei naatteik - vacei gi dzejis gols zvaigznes.
Pruots naguorbej ramu, juos lepneibu grūžoj,
Vys jamās pa sovam ļauds pasauli puormeit,
Bet nak jau sevkuram vīns kuorsynoj myužu
I ramaņu jumtus līk īguodu kuormim.
Na vysim tai sadar kai kuošam ar speini,
Sirds narymst i nabeidz par sātmalim tiemiet,
A pruots rauga skaitejs pa rokstaudža zeimem,
Kai riedeits, kod saulei vieļ vaiņuku jieme.
(Poem of Armands Kūceņš)
Latgalian phrases
Comparison between Latvian, Latgalian and Lithuanian
Note the impact of foreign influences on Latvian (Germanic in Kurzeme and Vidzeme while Latgale was less influenced by the Polonic).
History
The Latgalian language developed from the 18th century as a literary tradition based on vernaculars spoken by Latvians in the eastern part of
Latvia. The first surviving book published in Latgalian is "Evangelia toto anno" (
Gospels for the whole year) in 1753. The first systems of orthography were borrowed from
Polish and used
Antiqua letters. It was very different from the German-influenced orthography, usually written in
Blackletter or Gothic script, used for the
Latvian language in the rest of
Latvia. Many Latgalian books in late 18th and early 19th century were authored by
Jesuit priests, who came from various European countries to
Latgale as the north-eastern outpost of the
Roman Catholic religion; their writings included religious literature, calendars and poetry.
Publishing books in the Latgalian language along with the
Lithuanian was forbidden from 1865 to 1904. The ban on using Latin letters in this part of the
Russian Empire followed immediately after the
January Uprising, where Polish insurgents in
Poland, and also in
Lithuania and
Latgale, challenged the czarist rule. During the ban, only a limited number of smuggled Catholic religious texts and some hand-written literature was available, e.g. calendars written by the self-educated peasant
Andryvs Jūrdžys.
After the repeal of the ban in 1904 there was a quick rebirth of the Latgalian literary tradition; first newspapers, textbooks and grammars appeared. In 1918
Latgale became part of the newly created Latvian state. From 1920 to 1934 the two literary traditions of Latvians developed in parallel. A notable achievement during this period was the original translation of the
New Testament into Latgalian by the priest and scholar
Aloizijs Broks, published in
Aglona in 1933. After the coup staged by
Kārlis Ulmanis in 1934, the subject of the Latgalian dialect was removed from the school curriculum and was invalidated for use in state institutions; this was as part of an effort to standardize Latvian language usage. Latgalian survived as a spoken language during the
Soviet annexation of Latvia (1940-1991) while printed literature in Latgalian virtually ceased between 1959 and 1989. Some Latgalian intellectuals in emigration continued to publish books and studies of the Latgalian language, most notably
Mikeļs Bukšs, see .
Since the restoration of
Latvian independence there has been a noticeable increase of interest about the Latgalian language and cultural heritage. It is taught as an optional subject in some universities; in
Rēzekne the (Publishing House of Latgalian Culture Centre) led by , prints both old and new books in Latgalian.
Classification
Latgalian is a member of the
Eastern Baltic branch of the
Baltic group of languages included in the family of
Indo-European languages. The branch also includes
Latvian,
Samogitian and
Lithuanian). Latgalian is a moderately
inflected language; the number of
verb and
noun forms is characteristic of many other
Baltic and
Slavic languages.
Geographic distribution
Latgalian is spoken by about 150,000 people
, mainly in
Latvia; there are small Latgalian-speaking communities in
Russia,
Siberia.
Official status
Between 1920 and 1934 Latgalian was used in local government and education in
Latgale. Now Latgalian is not used as an official language anywhere in Latvia. It is formally protected by the stating that "The Latvian State ensures the preservation, protection and development of the Latgalian literary language as a historical variant of the Latvian language" (§3.4). There is a state-supported orthography commission of the Latgalian language. Whether the Latgalian language is a separate language or a
dialect of
Latvian has been a matter of heated debate throughout the 20th century. Proponents of Latgalian such as linguists Antons Breidaks and Lidija Leikuma have suggested Latgalian has the characteristics of an independent language; one should note that in Latvian, Latgalian itself is generally referred to as an
izloksne (dialect) and not a
valoda (language).
Dialects
Latgalian speakers can be classified into three main groups - Northern, Central and Southern. These three groups of local accents are entirely
mutually intelligible and characterized only by minor changes in vowels, diphthongs and some inflexion endings. The regional accents of central Latgale (such as those spoken in the towns and rural municipalities of Juosmuiža, Vuorkova, Vydsmuiža, Viļāni, Sakstygols, Ūzulaine, Makašāni, Drycāni, Gaigalova, Bierži, Tiļža and Nautrāni) form the phonetical basis of the modern standard Latgalian language. The literature of 18th century was more influenced by the Southern accents of Latgalian.
