Latgalian is not one of the most widely spoken languages. Moreover, the scope of its existence today is narrowing rather quickly - largely due to demographic reasons. However, despite this, it arouses keen interest among both professional linguists and amateur polyglots.
Latgale - where is it?
Despite the fact that the article will not talk about geographical realities at all, but about language, first of all it is worth noting that the territory of the Latgalian language is the country of Latvia. More specifically, Latgale is the name of the historical and cultural region of Latvia, located in the northeast of this country. Despite the fact that it is not an independent state, but only a part of it, it (like, for example, the constituent entities of the Russian Federation) has its own coat of arms (a griffin with a sword) and a flag (a coat of arms against the background of two blue and one white stripes). The region includes a number of cities, as well as territories of territories and regions, each of which has little autonomy.
Latgalian speakers
The population of the region in 2013 is slightlyless than 300 thousand people. It is worth noting that the population decreases significantly over time. So, back in 2010, it was about 315 thousand. There is nothing to compare with 1990: then it was at least 420 thousand people.
In addition to the Latvians, who make up about half of the total population of the region, the second largest ethnic group is Russians (about 40%). This can be explained by the entry of Latvia into the USSR in the 20th century - that is why there are so many Russians in the B altic today, the descendants of the Soviet inhabitants of these territories.
Basic information about the Latgalian language
Actually, the original language that historically was spoken (and is spoken!) in Latgale is Latgalian. The number of speakers of it, alas, is even less than the population of the region itself - only 250 thousand people, although this figure is quite considerable.
The Latgalian language belongs to the group of Indo-European languages and belongs to the B altic languages, just like Lithuanian and Latvian. The writing used in Latgalian is based on the Latin alphabet, and in Latgalian itself its name is as follows: latgaļu volūda.
Apart from everything else, there are a number of interesting features in which Latgalian differs significantly from Latvian. Firstly, it retained many archaic features that are not reflected in modern Latvian. It can be said that, to some extent, Latgalian “conserved” the ancient language processes in its structure. To this day, B altic linguists, as well as B altists from other countriesIt is the Latgalian language that serves as such a solid help in tracing connections and changes in the B altic and related languages. Needless to say, how useful such a property can be for historians, ethnographers, anthropologists?
It is also worth noting how in the 18th century, on the basis of the Latgalian dialect, the so-called literary Latgalian language was formed, which later became a religious, sacred, sublime language; the language of education: prayer books and other sacred literature were written in it, as well as many ABCs.
Latgalian - dialect or language?
One of the pressing problems today can be considered the problem of the classification of the Latgalian language. Is it an independent system, already dissociated from its kindred Latvian, or just a dialect of the latter?
The problem of identifying a language or dialect is actually quite complex and multifaceted; Quite often, in cases with some countries, it lies in political contradictions between countries or regions of one country. It would seem that one can listen to the opinion of language experts, and immediately everything will become clear. But no: and they hold different points of view. Thus, some linguists are ready to recognize Latgalian as the third B altic language (along with the only B altic languages - Latvian and Lithuanian). However, others disagree.
In Latvia itself, Latgalian is officially recognized only as a historical variant of modern Latvian. The dialects of the Latgalian language are considered as a systemUpper Latvian dialect.
Phonetic features
Features of the Latgalian dialect are often considered in comparison with similar aspects of the Latvian language. We will follow this example: if one or another language is not known, comparing it with another gives a good example and makes information easier to learn.
Thus, the phonetic features of languages are most noticeable. Vowels often differ in Latvian and Latgalian. In the places where in the first one we meet the phoneme /e/, in the second we get /a/, /i:/ is often inferior to /ei/, and /a:/ is replaced by /uo/. Perhaps it would not be a mistake to assume that in Latgalian preference is given to such a linguistic sound phenomenon as diphthongism: homogeneous sounds tend to be divided into heterogeneous components.
Morphological and lexical features
You can also find differences in the names of third person pronouns (for example, jei instead of jì, juos instead of jõs or jiẽdvi) and in the formation of the reflexive form (what in Russian is built using the postfix “-sya”): pasaruodeit instead of pasirodyti and others
There are many lexical differences as well. At first glance, in some of them the words begin to lean even more towards similar Lithuanian words, and yet Lithuanian, although it is related, has a more distant and not as strong connection with Latgalian as Latvian! Examples include the word "girl", in Latvian having the form meita, in Lithuanian - mergina, and in Latgale - mārga.
Learning Perspectives
Learning the Latgalian language on your own can turn out to be quite difficult: after all, it is not very common, it is unlikely that there will be a sufficient number of high-quality self-study manuals freely available on the Web, and a tutor who knows this rather exotic language for Russia can do without not cheap.
Even schools in Latvia do not teach Latgalian. But this is done in many universities around the world. In particular, at St. Petersburg State University. Since there are a number of books published in Latgalian, as well as a film (so far, however, only one - “Child of Man”, 1991, directed by Janis Streičs), it may be quite promising to become a translator from Latgalian! However, that's not all.
Since the Latgalian language is not widespread enough, it opens up wide horizons and the scope of its scientific development. For example, the world will benefit from the development of language learning in a practical sense: in compiling dictionaries in Latgalian, etc.
Current situation
As mentioned above, the number of people living in the territory of Latgale is steadily decreasing. And this means that the scope of this language is also getting poorer. So, not even the entire population of the very area of \u200b\u200bits existence owns it. Moreover, Latgalian has increasingly been influenced by Latvian and Russian in the course of time, being used in the neighborhood and in a more dominant form.
CurrentlyAt the same time, even some kind of “actions” are being taken in support of the Latgalian dialect, so to speak. For example, in the past 2018, some of the deputies of Latvia took the oath of office in the Latgalian language. This is in line with Latvian law, is a legal act, albeit a very unusual one. Consequently, it draws attention to the problem of the degeneration of Latgalian, which can have a very beneficial effect on its fate.
