Latgalian language can mean one of the following:
- It was a language spoken by Latgalians in a great part of the area which is now Latvia. Latgalian was a member of the Baltic group of the Indo-European language family. Historically the Latvian language is derived from Latgalian (with additions from a few other languages, e.g. Old Curonian, Semigallian and Livonian).
- Nowadays it normally refers to a language spoken in Latgale, the eastern part of Latvia. 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.
Read more about Latgalian Language: History, Classification, Geographic Distribution, Official Status, Dialects, Alphabet, Language Examples, Comparison Between Latvian, Latgalian and Lithuanian
Famous quotes containing the word language:
“When a language creates—as it does—a community within the present, it does so only by courtesy of a community between the present and the past.”
—Christopher Ricks (b. 1933)