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Latvian
Indo-European/Baltic/Latvian
Latvian Language or Lettish, the official
language of Latvia since 1918. Latvian is one of the Baltic
languages. It is closely related to the Lithuanian language, but
is the less conservative of the two, showing numerous sound
changes in its historical development. Latvian has short vowels
and monophthongs in the final syllables of words where Lithuanian
has long vowels and diphthongs. Grammatically, Latvian, like
Lithuanian, is a highly inflected language, having seven noun
cases and six verb declensions.
The earliest printed writings in Latvian are religious in nature:
a Roman Catholic catechism (1585), a Lutheran version (1586), and
a translation of the Bible (1685). In the 19th century a modern
literary language developed, based on the Central Latvian
dialect. Two other major dialects exist: West Latvian (also
called Livonian, or Tahmian) and East Latvian (High Latvian).
First written in Gothic script, the Latvian language has used the
Roman alphabet with diacritical marks since 1922.
The stress in Latvian is always on the first
syllable.