Latgallian language

Latgallian (latgaļu volūda)
Spoken in	Latvia
speaker	150,000
Linguistic ; classification	Indo-European Baltic East Baltic Table Latgalian ;
Official status
Official language in	nowhere official language
Language codes
ISO 639 -1	lv (Latvian language)
ISO 639 -2	lav (Latvian language)
ISO 639-3	according to

Latgalian can have two meanings as a language :

It was the language of the Latgals in a large part of what is now Latvia . Latgalian was part of the eastern group of Baltic languages within the Indo-European language family . Historically, Latvian has evolved from Latgalian with influences from a few other languages, e.g. B. the Curonian and the Semgallic developed.
Today the language usually meant is as it is spoken in the eastern part of Latvia; it is sometimes seen as a separate language, sometimes as a regional dialect of Latvian. Modern Latvian is a result of the political separation of Latgale from the rest of Latvia over several centuries.

history

Historical representation of the distribution of fonts in Europe from Petermann's Mitteilungen (1901). However, the representation depicts the conditions at the beginning of the 20th century unrealistic: In Denmark and Norway at that time Antiqua was already predominantly used, and in Germany - as can already be seen from the lettering on the map - printing was not exclusively in Fraktur. Note the conditions in the Baltic States

The Latgalian language developed in written tradition from dialects spoken by Latvians in the eastern part of the country since the 18th century . The earliest surviving book in Latgalian is the Evangelia toto anno ('Gospels for the whole year') from 1753. The first spelling rules were borrowed from Polish and used Antiqua fonts. They differed greatly from the spelling in the rest of Latvia, which, influenced by German , was usually written in Fraktur (script) or Gothic script . Many Latgalian books of the late 18th and early 19th centuries were written by Jesuit priests who came to Polish -influenced Latgale from various European countries , at that time the north-eastern outpost of Catholicism ; her writings included religious literature, calendars, and poetry.

The publication of books in Latgalian was banned from 1865 to 1904. The associated ban on using the Latin alphabet in this area of the Russian Empire followed immediately after revolts in Poland , Lithuania and Latgale challenged tsarist rule. During the ban, only a small amount of smuggled Catholic literature entered the country and, beyond that, little, mostly handwritten literature was available, e.g. B. the calendars of the farmer and self-taught Andryvs Jūrdžs .

After the ban was lifted in 1904, there was a rapid rebirth of the Latgalian script tradition; first newspapers, textbooks and grammars appeared. In 1918, Latgale (Latvian: Latgale ) became part of the newly created Latvian state. From 1920 to 1934 the two Latvian languages developed side by side, but after Kārlis Ulmanis came to power in 1934, severe restrictions were placed on the use of Latgalian. Latgale only survived as a spoken language during the Soviet occupation from 1940 to 1991; between 1959 and 1989 there were practically no printing works in the country. However, some emigrated Latgalian intellectuals continued to publish books and studies in and about their language, among them Mikelis Bukšs in particular .

Since the restoration of Latvian independence, there has been a noticeable increase in interest in the Latgalian language and cultural heritage. The language is taught as an optional subject at some universities, in Rēzekne the publishing house of the Latgallian Cultural Center (Latgales kultūras centra izdevniecība) prints old and new Latgalian books. In view of the centuries-long Catholic character of the majority of the Latgalian population, it is of great importance for the use of one's own language (and at least as well for its appreciation) that St. Celebrate Mass in Latvian. For this purpose, the Roman Missal was translated into Latgalian. In 2013 and 2014 - with the support of Renovabis - the Latgalian Lectionary was also published in seven volumes.

description

Latgalian is a moderately inflected language; the number of verb and noun forms is characteristic of many other Baltic and Slavic languages .

Geographical distribution

Latgalian is spoken by around 150,000 people, mainly in Latvia; there are small Latgalian-speaking communities in Siberia and the rest of Russia .

Official status

Between 1920 and 1934 Latgalian was the official and educational language in Latgale. Today the language no longer has an official status as an official language. However, it is protected by the Latvian Language Law, which stipulates in its §3.4: "The Latvian state ensures the preservation, protection and development of the Latgalian language as a historical variant of the Latvian language." There is a state-supported commission for spelling.

Whether Latgalian is a separate language or a dialect of Latvian was the subject of heated debates in the 20th century. The research results of Antons Breidaks, Lidija Leikuma and other linguists indicate that Latgalian has all the signs of an independent language.

alphabet

Latgallian is traditionally written with Latin letters. The letters “Q”, “X” and “W” only appear in quotations of foreign origin. Different diacritical marks enrich the possibilities of expression. Today's orthography uses the same 33 characters as the Latvian language plus “Y” and the “long O” (O with macron : “Ō”).

The following table shows the letters with their names and in the correct sort order:

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 [he]	S s [es]
Š š [eš]	T t [te]	U u [u]	Ū ū [ū]	V v [ve]	Z z [ze]	Ž ž [že]

(Sub) dialects

Latgalian speakers can be divided into three main groups: northern, middle and southern. These three local dialect colors are mutually completely understandable and differ only in small differences in vowels, diphthongs and inflectional endings. The regional dialects of central Latgale (as spoken in the cities and rural communities Jasmuiža, Vuorkova, Vydsmuiža, Viļāni, Sakstagols, Ūzulaine, Makašāni, Drycāni, Gaigalova, Bierži, Tilža and Nautrāni) now form the sound basis of modern standard Latgalian . The literature of the 18th century, however, was more influenced by the southern dialects.

Web links

Wikipedia in Latgalian

Individual evidence

↑ Lekcionarijs . Ievadvārdi latīņu valodā, teksts latgaliešu valodā. Rēzeknes-Aglyunas dieceze, Rēzekne. ISBN 978-9984-9662-2-9 . Volume 1: Adventa laiks, Zīmassvātku laiks ; Volume 2: Parostais liturgiskais laiks nu I Leidz XI nedeļai ; Volume 3: Gavēņa laiks, Leldīnu laiks ; Volume 4: Parostais liturgiskais laiks nu XII Leidz XXIII nedeļai ; Volume 5: Parostais liturgiskais laiks nu XXIV Leidz XXXIV nedeļai ; Volume 6: Lasejumu teksti Dīva Svātūs gūdam ; Volume 7: Ritualmisem, Votivmisem un Misem dažaidōs vajadzeibōs .

[1] Lekcionarijs . Ievadvārdi latīņu valodā, teksts latgaliešu valodā. Rēzeknes-Aglyunas dieceze, Rēzekne. ISBN 978-9984-9662-2-9 . Volume 1: Adventa laiks, Zīmassvātku laiks ; Volume 2: Parostais liturgiskais laiks nu I Leidz XI nedeļai ; Volume 3: Gavēņa laiks, Leldīnu laiks ; Volume 4: Parostais liturgiskais laiks nu XII Leidz XXIII nedeļai ; Volume 5: Parostais liturgiskais laiks nu XXIV Leidz XXXIV nedeļai ; Volume 6: Lasejumu teksti Dīva Svātūs gūdam ; Volume 7: Ritualmisem, Votivmisem un Misem dažaidōs vajadzeibōs .