Latgalian language

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Latgalian language can mean one of two things:

It was a language spoken by Latgallians in a great part of the area what now is Latvia. Latgalian was a member of the Baltic group of the Indo-European language family. Historically the Latvian language is derived from Latgalian (with mix-in from few other languages, e.g. Old Curonian and Semigallian).
Nowadays it normally refers to a language spoken in 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 Latgale being separated for several centuries from other parts of Latvia.

Contents

1 History
2 Classification
3 Geographic distribution
4 Official status
5 Dialects
6 External links

History

Latgalian language developed since 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 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 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 forepost of the Catholic religion; their writings included religious literature, calendars and poetry.

Publishing books in Latgalian language along with Lithuanian was forbidden from 1865 to 1904. The ban of using Latin letters in the part of Russian Empire followed immediately after 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 Jūrdžs.

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, but after the coup staged by Kārlis Ulmanis in 1934 severe limitations on the use of Latgalian language were introduced. Latgalian survived as a spoken language during the Soviet annexation of Latvia (1940-1991); printed literature in Latgalian virtually ceased between 1959 and 1989. Some Latgalian intellectuals in emigration continued to publish books and studies of Latgalian language, most notably Miķelis Bukšs, see [bibliography].

Since the restoration of Latvian independence there is a noticeable increase of interest about Latgalian language and cultural heritage. It is taught as an optional subject in some universities; in Rēzekne the "Latgales kultūras centra izdevniecība" (Publishing Company of the Culture Centre of Latgale) lead by [Jānis Elksnis], 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 and Lithuanian). Latgalian is a moderately inflected language; the number of verb and noun forms is characteristic to many other Baltic and Slavic languages.

Geographic distribution

Latgalian is spoken by about 150 thousand 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 [Latvian Language Law] stating that "The Latvian State ensures the preservation, protection and development of Latgalian literary language as a historical variant of Latvian language" (§3.4). There is a state-supported orthography commission of Latgalian language. Whether Latgalian language is a separate language or a dialect of Latvian has been a matter of heated debate throughout the 20th century. The research by Antons Breidaks, Lidija Leikuma and other linguists indicate that Latgalian has all characteristics of an independent language.

Dialects

The 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 Jasmuiža, Vuorkova, Vydsmuiža, Viļāni, Sakstagols, Ūzulaine, Makašāni, Drycāni, Gaigalova, Bierži, Tilža 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.

External links

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