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Latvian (endonym: latviešu valoda, pronounced [ˈlatviɛʃu ˈvaluɔda]), [3] also known as Lettish, [4] is an East Baltic language belonging to the Indo-European language family and it is spoken in the Baltic region.
The Latvian language is an extensively inflected language, with complex nominal and verbal morphology. Word order is relatively free, but the unmarked order is subject–verb–object. Latvian has pre-nominal adjectives and both prepositions and postpositions.
The modern Latvian orthography is based on Latin script adapted to phonetic principles, following the pronunciation of the language. The standard alphabet consists of 33 letters – 22 unmodified Latin letters and 11 modified by diacritics .
Latvians (Latvian: latvieši) are a Baltic ethnic group and nation native to Latvia and the immediate geographical region, the Baltics. They are occasionally also referred to as Letts, [42] [43] especially in older bibliography. Latvians share a common Latvian language, culture, history and ancestry.
Standard Latvian has three tones called, by convention, the level (stiepts), broken (lauzts) and falling (krītošs,) indicated by a tilde (~), circumflex (^) or grave (`) accents, respectively. [12] Different tones are distinguished if the stressed syllable (the first syllable, in most all cases) has either a long vowel or a diphthong.
Latvian is the sole official language. [10] [11] Livonian is considered an indigenous language and has special legal status. [12] Latgalian written language and Latvian Sign Language also have special legal status. [13] Latvia is de jure continuous with its declaration of 18 November 1918.
Countries where an East Baltic language is the national language The Baltic languages are a branch of the Indo-European language family spoken natively or as a second language by a population of about 6.5–7.0 million people [ 1 ] [ 2 ] mainly in areas extending east and southeast of the Baltic Sea in Europe .
Latvian nouns can be classified as either declinable or indeclinable. Most Latvian nouns are declinable, and regular nouns belong to one of six declension classes (three for masculine nouns, and three for feminine nouns). Latvian nouns have seven grammatical cases: nominative, genitive, dative, accusative, instrumental, locative and vocative ...