Latgalian language

For the language spoken by the ancient Latgalian tribe, see Latvian language § History.

Latgalian (latgalīšu volūda, Latvian: latgaliešu valoda) is an Eastern Baltic language belonging to the Baltic branch often spoken in Latgale, the eastern part of Latvia. It is debated whether it is a separate language with heavy Latvian influence, due to historical mutual exposure, or an eastern dialect of Latvian.^[3] Nevertheless, its standardized form is recognized and protected as a "historical variety of the Latvian language" (vēsturisks latviešu valodas paveids) under national law.^[4] The 2011 Latvian census established that 8.8% of Latvia's inhabitants, or 164,500 people, speak Latgalian daily. 97,600 of them live in Latgale, 29,400 in Riga and 14,400 in the Riga Planning Region.^[5]

Latgalian
latgalīšu volūda
Native to	Latvia, Russia
Region	Latgalia, Selonia, Vidzeme, Siberia, Bashkiriya
Ethnicity	Latgalians (modern)
Native speakers	150,000–200,000 (2009)^[1]
Language family	Indo-European Balto-Slavic Baltic Eastern Baltic Latgalian
Early forms	Proto-Indo-European Proto-Baltic
Writing system	Latin script (Latgalian alphabet)^[2]
Language codes
ISO 639-3	ltg
Glottolog	east2282
Linguasphere	54-AAB-ad Latgale
Use of Latgalian in everyday communication in 2011 by municipalities of Latvia
Latgalian is classified as Vulnerable by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger
This article contains IPA phonetic symbols. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Unicode characters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA.

History

 

Distribution of the Baltic tribes, circa AD 1200 (boundaries are approximate).

Originally Latgalians were a tribe living in modern Vidzeme and Latgale. It is thought that they spoke the Latvian language, which later spread through the rest of modern Latvia, absorbing features of the Old Curonian, Semigallian, Selonian and Livonian languages. The Latgale area became politically separated during the Polish–Swedish wars, remaining part of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth as the Inflanty Voivodeship, while the rest of the Latvians lived in lands dominated by Baltic German nobility. Both centuries of separate development and the influence of different prestige languages likely contributed to the development of modern Latgalian as distinct from the language spoken in Vidzeme and other parts of Latvia.

The modern Latgalian literary tradition started to develop in the 18th century from 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 the 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 insurgents in Poland, Lithuania, and Latgale had challenged the czarist rule. During the ban, only a limited number of smuggled Catholic religious texts and some hand-written literature were 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 grammar 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 in Soviet Latvia (1940–1991) while printed literature in Latgalian virtually ceased between 1959 and 1989. In emigration, some Latgalian intellectuals continued to publish books and studies of the Latgalian language, most notably Mikeļs Bukšs, see the bibliography.

Since the restoration of Latvian independence, there has been a noticeable increase in interest in 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 (Latgales kultūras centra izdevniecība) led by Jānis Elksnis, prints both old and new books in Latgalian.

In 1992, Juris Cibuļs together with Lidija Leikuma published one of the first Latgalian Alphabet books after the restoration of the language.

In the 21st century, the Latgalian language has become more visible in Latvia's cultural life. Apart from its preservation movements, Latgalian can be more often heard in different interviews on the national TV channels, and there are modern rock groups such as Borowa MC and Dabasu Durovys singing in Latgalian who have had moderate success also throughout the country. Today, Latgalian is also found in written form on public signs, such as some street names and shop signs,^[6] evidences of growing use in the linguistic landscape.

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 (see Inflection in Baltic Languages).

Geographic distribution

 

Use of Latgalian in everyday communication in Latvia (2011)

Latgalian is spoken by about 150,000 people,^[7] mainly in Latgale, Latvia; there are small Latgalian-speaking communities in Siberia, Russia.

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 Latvian Language Law 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).^[4] The law regards Latgalian and Standard Literary Latvian as two equal variants of the same Latvian language. Even though such legal status allows usage of Latgalian in state affairs and education spheres, it still happens quite rarely.

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.

Dialects

 

Direction signs in Latgalian and Latvian, Salnava Parish, Ludza Municipality

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 the 18th century was more influenced by the Southern accents of Latgalian.

Alphabet

See also: Latgalian phonology

The Latgalian language uses an alphabet with 35 letters. Its orthography is similar to Latvian orthography, but has two additional letters: ⟨y⟩ represents [ɨ]), an allophone of /i/ which is absent in standard Latvian. The letter ⟨ō⟩ survives from the pre-1957 Latvian orthography, but is being used less during modern times in Latgalian and is being replaced by two letters ⟨uo⟩ that represent the same sound.^[8]

Alphabet

Upper case	Lower case	Pronunciation
A	a	/a/
Ā	ā	/aː/
B	b	/b/
C	c	/t͡s/
Č	č	/t͡ʃ/
D	d	/d/
E	e	/ɛ/
Ē	ē	/ɛː/
F	f	/f/
G	g	/ɡ/
Ģ	ģ	/ɡʲ/
H	h	/x/
I	i	/i/
Y	y	/ɨ/
Ī	ī	/iː/
J	j	/j/
K	k	/k/
Ķ	ķ	/kʲ/
L	l	/l/
Ļ	ļ	/lʲ/
M	m	/m/
N	n	/n/
Ņ	ņ	/nʲ/
O	o	/ɔ/
Ō	ō	/ɔː/
P	p	/p/
R	r	/r/
S	s	/s/
Š	š	/ʃ/
T	t	/t/
U	u	/u/
Ū	ū	/uː/
V	v	/v/
Z	z	/z/
Ž	ž	/ʒ/

The IETF language tags have registered subtags for the 1929 orthography (ltg-ltg1929) and the 2007 orthography (ltg-ltg2007).^[9]

Language examples

Poem of Armands Kūceņš

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 zvaigznēs.

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 tēmēt,
A pruots rauga skaitejs pa rokstaudža zeimem,
Kai riedeits, kod saulei vēļ vaiņuku jēme.

Lord's Prayer

Tāvs myusu, kas esi debesīs,
svēteits lai tūp Tovs vōrds.
Lai atnōk Tova vaļsteiba.
Tova vaļa lai nūteik, kai debesīs,
tai ari vērs zemes.
Myusu ikdīneiškū maizi dūd mums šudiņ.
Un atlaid mums myusu porōdus,
kai ari mes atlaižam sovim porōdnīkim.
Un naīved myusu kārdynōšonā,
bet izglōb myusus nu ļauna Amen.

Phrasebook

Phrases

Latgalian	Latvian	Meaning
Vasals!	Sveiks!	Hi! (literally, "Hale and Hearty!", "Sveiks" is more common as "Hi" in Latvian but has a different meaning)
Loba dīna!	Labdien!	Hello, Good day!
Muns vuords Eugeņs.	Mans vārds ir Eugeņs.	My name is Eugene.
Šudiņ breineiga dīna!	Šodien ir brīnišķīga diena!	Today is a wonderful/beautiful day!
Vīns, div, treis, niu tu breivs!	Viens, divi, trīs, nu tu esi brīvs!	One, two, three, now you are free! (Counting game for children)
Asu aizjimts itamā šaļtī!	Esmu aizņemts šobrīd!	I am busy at the moment!
Es tevi mīļoju!	Es tevi mīlu!	I love you!
Asu nu Latgolys.	Esmu no Latgales.	I am from Latgalia.
As īšu iz sātu.	Es iešu mājās.	I will go home. (Note, "sēta" in Latvian means the courtyard to a homestead, also homestead; so a more rural/agrarian sense of "home" in the Latgalian than in the Latvian "mājās", which is more evocative of a house.)
Maņ pateik vuiceitīs (muoceitīs).	Man patīk mācīties.	I like to learn. (Note, this marked difference between Latgalian and Latvian is quite typical. The set of examples here are quite similar because they relate to basic concepts.)

Common words in Latgalian and Lithuanian, different from Latvian

Note the impact of foreign influences on Latvian (German in Kurzeme and Vidzeme, Polish and Lithuanian in Latgale).

English	Latvian	Latgalian	Lithuanian	Comments
around	apkārt	apleik	aplink	aplinkus in Latvian means "indirectly"
always	vienmēr	vysod	visad(a)
every day	ikdienas	kasdīnys	kasdienis
he	viņš/šis	jis	jis	šis in Lithuanian means "this"
urgent	steidzams	skubeigs	skubus	skubīgs has the same meaning in Latvian, but is rarely used
to interrogate/to ask	taujāt/izjautāt	klaust	klausti	klausīties in Latvian is "to listen"; klau! means "hey!"; klaušināt means to ask several people
girl/maid	meita/meitene	mārga	mergina/merga	meita in Latvian is used more often as "daughter" while meitene means "girl" exclusively
kerchief	lakatiņš	skareņa	skarelė
dress/frock	kleita	sukne	suknelė	kleita in Latvian is adapted from the German das Kleid, any native term has been lost. Latgalian and Lithuanian – comp. Polish suknia.
top/apical	galotne/virsotne	viersyune	viršūnė
pillar/column	stabs	stulps	stulpas	stulpiņi (diminutive, plural for "stulps") in Latvian is preserved as "leggings"
to read	lasīt	skaiteit	skaityti	skaitīt in Latvian means to count, noskaitīt is to recite
to come	nākt	atīt	ateiti	atiet in Latvian means to depart (the root word "iet" means "to go")
row, range, or line	rinda	aiļa	eilė	aile in Latvian means row in very narrow sense – it refers to space between two lines
to sit down	apsēsties	atsasēst	atsisėsti
to answer	atbildēt	atsaceit	atsakyti	atsacīt in Latvian means to reject, refuse (and to do it quickly and sharply), atsisakyti can be used with this meaning in Lithuanian too
to torture	mocīt	komuot	kamuoti
to die (about animals)	nosprāgt	nūgaist	nugaišti
to squeeze	maidzīt	maidzeit	maigyti
to catch a cold	saaukstēties	puorsaļt	peršalti	pārsalt in Latvian means to freeze overly (near death)
cold	auksts	solts	šaltis	auksts is more common in Latvian for "cold" than "salts" which is a chilling cold
mistake	kļūda	klaida	klaida
page	lappuse	puslopa	puslapis	compound word, in Latvian the order is "leaf"+"side", reverse of the order in Latgalian and Lithuanian
down/downward	lejup	zamyn	žemyn	zemu in Latvian means "low"
and/also	un	i	ir	un and arī are common usage in Latvian, "i" is archaic found mainly in folk songs and poetry
to settle in	iekārtoties	īsataiseit	įsitaisyti/įsikurti
family	ģimene	saime	šeima	"ģimene" is used in Latvian for the core family, saime denotes extended family and household, for example, saimnieks, saimniece are master and mistress, respectively, of the household while in Lithuanian it is giminė which is used for extended family
homeland	tēvija	tāvaine	tėvynė
east	austrumi	reiti	rytai	"rīti" is less common, poetic form in Latvian
west	rietumi	vokori	vakarai	"vakari" is less common, poetic form in Latvian
to stand up	piecelties	atsastuot	atsistoti
to sore	sūrstēt	pierkšēt	perštėti
scissors	šķēres	zirklis	žirklės	šķēres in Latvian is adapted from the German die Schere, dzirkles refers to shears
to forgive	piedot	atlaist	atleisti
owl	pūce	palāda	pelėda
toad	krupis	rupucs	rupūžė
fear	bailes	baime	baimė
last name/surname	uzvārds	pavuorde	pavardė
smith	kalējs	kaļvs	kalvis
to clatter	rībēt/skrabēt	brazdēt	brazdėti
to perish	iet bojā	propuļt	prapulti
on horseback	jāšus	raitu	raitas
inside	iekšā	vydā	viduj	vidū in Latvian means "in the middle"
to notice	ievērot	ītiemēt	įsidėmėti
a little	mazliet	drupeiti	truputį
to bore/to become boring	apnikt	atbuost/atsabuost	atsibosti
to undress	noģērbties	nūsaviļkt	nusivilkti
swamp	dumbrājs/muklājs	liuņs	liūnas
kidney	niere	eiksts	inkstas	niere in Latvian is adapted from German and has replaced the native īkstis
to poke	bakstīt	badeit	badyti
to hover	plivināties apkārt	laksteit	lakstyti
to bathe	peldēties	mauduotīs	maudytis
clover	āboliņš	duobuls	dobilas
first of all	vispirms	pyrma	(visų) pirma/pirmiausiai
suddenly	pēkšņi	ūmai	ūmai
to stretch (oneself)	staipīties/gorīties	rūzeitīs	rąžytis
to detect	uziet/konstatēt	aptikt	aptikti
to snatch	pakampt	sačupt	sučiupti	"pagauti" in Lithuanian means to catch
to grope	taustīties	čupinētīs	čiupinėtis
church holiday	baznīcas svētki	atlaidys	atlaidai
variable (dates)	mainīgi (datumi)	cylojamuos (dīnys)	kilnojamos (dienos)
remotely	attālu	atostai	atstu/atokiai
to make faces	vaikstīties	šaipeitīs	vaipytis
to shell	lobīt	gaļdeit	gliaudyti
to thresh (by beating)	kult (dauzot)	bluokšt	blokšti
to break (about glass)	plīst (par stiklu)	dyuzt	dūžti

See also

• Latgalian Wikipedia
• Samogitian language

References

1. Request for New Language Code Element in ISO 639-3
2. Latgalian language at Ethnologue (21st ed., 2018)  
3. Druviete, Ina (22 July 2001). "Recenzija par pētījumu "Valodas loma reģiona attīstībā"" [Review of the Study "The Role of Language in the Development of the Region"] (in Latvian). Politika.lv. Retrieved 20 August 2013.
4. "Official Language Law". likumi.lv. Retrieved 15 August 2013.
5. "Tautas skaitīšana: Latgalē trešā daļa iedzīvotāju ikdienā lieto latgaliešu valodu" [Census: In Latgale, a Third of the Population Uses the Latgalian Language on a Daily Basis]. LSM.lv (in Latvian). 6 July 2012.
6. Lazdiņa, Sanita (2013). "A Transition from Spontaneity to Planning? Economic Values and Educational Policies in the Process of Revitalizing the Regional Language of Latgalian (Latvia)". Current Issues in Language Planning. 14 (3–04): 382–402. doi:10.1080/14664208.2013.840949. S2CID 144103270.
7. UNESCO Interactive Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger (Select "Latvia" in the drop-down Country or area menu and then "Latgalian language" from the drop-down suggestion list in the Language field.).
8. lakuga.lv, Portals (6 September 2018). "UO i Ō. Kurs pareizuoks?". lakuga.lv. Retrieved 23 November 2022.
9. "Language Subtag Registry" (text). IANA. 8 August 2022. Retrieved 9 November 2022.

External links

 

Latgalian edition of Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Latgalian language.

 

For a list of words relating to Latgalian language, see the Latgalian language category of words in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

• Latvian–Latgalian Dictionary
• Sanita Lazdiņa, Heiko F. Marten: In: Journal on Ethnopolitics and Minority Issues in Europe
• The Two Literary Traditions of Latvians
• The Grammar of Latgalian Language (in Latvian, PDF document)