Latvian belongs to the Indo-European language family. It is classified as a part of the Baltic subbranch of the Balto-Slavic branch of the family. It is one of two living Baltic languages with an official status, the other being See more

There are three dialects in Latvian: the Livonian dialect, High Latvian and the Middle dialect. Latvian dialects and their varieties should not be confused with the Livonian See more

Latvian grammar represents a classic Indo-European (Baltic) system with well developed inflection and derivation. Primary word stress, with some exceptions in derivation and inflection, is on the first syllable. There are no articles in Latvian; definiteness is … See more

Consonants
Consonants in consonant sequences assimilate to the voicing of the subsequent consonant, … See more

Origins
According to some glottochronological speculations, the East Baltic languages split from West Baltic (or, perhaps, from the hypothetical See more

The history of the Latvian language (see below) has placed it in a peculiar position for a language of its size, whereby many non-native speakers speak it compared to native speakers. The immigrant and minority population in Latvia is 700,000 people: See more

Latvian in Latin script was first based upon the German orthography, while the alphabet of the Latgalian dialect was based on the See more