Latgalian language

Latgalian language can mean one of the following:

1. 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).
2. 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) Latgallian 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

A a [a]	Ā ā [ā]	B b [be]	C c [ce]	Č č [če]	D d [de]	E e [e]
Ē ē [ē]	F f [ef]	G g [ge]	Ģ ģ [ģe]	H h [he]	I i [i]	Y y [y]
Ī ī [ī]	J j [je]	K k [ka]	Ķ ķ [ķe]	L l [el]	Ļ ļ [eļ]	M m [em]
N n [en]	Ņ ņ [eņ]	O o [o]	Ō ō [ō]	P p [pe]	R r [er]	S s [es]
Š š [eš]	T t [te]	U u [u]	Ū ū [ū]	V v [ve]	Z z [ze]	Ž ž [že]

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

Latgalian / Latvian

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 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!	Šobrīd esmu aizņemts!	I am busy at the moment!
As tevi mīļoju!	Es tevi mīlu!	I love you!
Asu nu Latgolys.	Esmu no Latgales.	I am from Latgola. (In Latvian, "esu" is short for "es esmu.")
Es īšu da sātys.	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.	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.)

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).

in English	Latvian	Latgalian	Lithuanian	Comments
around	apkārt	apleik	aplink
always	vienmēr	vysod	visad(a)	visādi in Latvian is "all ways"
to submit to interrogation, to ask	taujāt, izjautāt	klaust	klausti, klausinėti	klausīties in Latvian is "to listen"; klau! means "hey!"
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
to swim	peldēties	mauduotīs	maudytis
top, apical	virsa	viersyune	viršūnė
stake	miets	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, line	aile	aiļa	eilė
to sit	apsēsties	atsasēst	atsisėsti
to answer	atbildēt	atsaceit	atsakyti	atsaukties in Latvian means to call back (as in after being hailed)
to blunge	mīcīt	maidzeit	maigyti
to catch a cold	saaukstēties	puorsaļt	peršalti	saaukstēties in Latvian is a compound word meaning to fill one's self with cold
cold	salts	solts	šalta	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	i	i	ir	un and ari are common usage in Latvian, "i" is archaic
to settle in	iekārtoties	īsataiseit	įsitaisyti	iesaistīties in Latvian means to go into (as in become part of)
family	saime	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, resepctively, of the household
homeland ("fatherland")	tēvija, tēvzeme	tāvaine	tėvynė
east	rīti	reiti	rytai	"to the morning" whereas austrumi in Latvian means toward the rising of the sun
west	rietumi	vokori	vakarai	"to the evening" whereas rietumi in Latvian means toward the setting of the sun
to stand	stāties	atsastuot	atsistoti
other, another	cits	cyts	kitas
to pain	sāpēt	pierkšēt	perštėti
scissors	šķēres	zirklis	žirklės	šķēres in Latvian is adapted from the German eine Schere, any native term has been lost

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 bibliography.

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 "Latgales kultūras centra izdevniecība" (Publishing House of Latgalian Culture Centre) led 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, 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 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). 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.

External links

• The Two Literary Traditions of Latvians
• Some facts about Latgalian language
• The Grammar of Latgalian Language (in Latvian, PDF document)
• "Aglyunas Zvaneņš" - a Catholic weekly (in Latgalian)
• Community portal latgola.lv
• Latgalian Language at Latgale Research Center
• "Forgetting Latgalian" - A Survey on Language Status
• Publishing House of Latgalian Culture Centre