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Latgalian | |
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latgalīšu volūda | |
Native to | Latvia, Russia [citation needed] |
Region | Latgalia, Selonia, Vidzeme, Siberia, Bashkortostan[1] |
Ethnicity | Modern Latgalians |
Native speakers | 200,000 (2009)[2] |
Early forms | |
Latin script (Latgalian alphabet)[3] | |
Language codes | |
ISO 639-3 | ltg |
Glottolog | east2282 |
Linguasphere | Latgale 54-AAB-ad Latgale |
![]() Use of Latgalian in everyday communication in 2011 by municipalities of Latvia | |
![]() Latgalian is classified as Vulnerable by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger | |
Latgalian (latgalīšu volūda, Latvian: latgaliešu valoda) is an East Baltic language; it is sometimes considered a dialect of Latvian. The language law of Latvia classifies it as a "historical form of Latvian".[4] It is mostly spoken in Latgale, the eastern part of Latvia.[5] The 2011 Latvian census established that 164,500 of Latvia's inhabitants, or 8.8% of the population, spoke Latgalian daily. 97,600 of them lived in Latgale, 29,400 in Riga and 14,400 in the Riga Planning Region.[6]